FireStore FS-100 Version 4.0 released

Just got it and installed without problems.

For those having problems, by any chance do you have the beta version of 3.0? The beta version is "engineered" so that it cannot be upgraded.

Ned Soltz
 
Ugh. I sold my FS-100 last Saturday to switch to P2 mainly because of the no audio in PN and VFR issues (along with the clunkiness factor). Since then I've had to rent one for a long shooting gig and haven't been able to go out for another gig :(

I'm seriously considering buying it back with this new update...
 
I bought mine new w/ v3.0-
Should the fs100.bin file be dragged to the drive itself or to a folder in the drive?
I e-mailed focus for support,
Thanks
 
Got this from them, but after performing the steps, I still get "wrong product ID" message-

Try performing the steps below

1) FACTORY RESET
a. With the Firestore powered OFF.
b. REMOVE the “battery” and connect the “AC Adaptor”.
c. Press and HOLD down the "ON” and “OFF” buttons for 15' seconds, then release just the “ON” Button.
d. Count to five (5) then release the “OFF” button.
e. The Firestore should be powering back up to the home screen

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) FIRESTORE
1) Now mount the firstore, then open it.
2) Go back to the update window.
3) Drag and Drop ONLY the " .bin " file over to any OPEN area at the bottom of the mounted firestore window.
4) Wait for the transfer to complete.
5) Now CLOSE the firestore window.(wait about 5' seconds)
6) Dismount the firestore.
7) Scroll RIGHT to the UTILITIES menu.
8) Scroll DOWN to UPGRADE.
9) Press the RIGHT arrow key. (A message asking you to upgrade will appear.)
10) Press YES.
11) Wait for the UPDATE or UPGRADE to complete.
12) Once the UPDATE or UPGRADE has completed, you will be asked to power the unit OFF (Reboot).
13) Power the unit OFF and back ON.
14) Scroll to the SETUP menu.
15) The upgrade or update should have the NEW UPDATE OR UPGRADE showing.
16) DONE!
 
I'm just getting my FS-100 today...I'm not familiar with the problems people had with i t before... does this update mean that high quality slow motion can now be recorded to it without any problems? Is it the same quality as the slow motion that can be recorded to the P2 cards?
 
John, could you have a NTSC vs. PAL mismatch? There as two separate versions of the FS-100 for each of the two standards.
 
crookedpictures.
the FS-100 was always able to record slow motion without any problems, and at the same quality as the P2 cards. In fact before v3 it always recorder 60p even when you were at 720/24p.

The difference is that before if you recorder 720/24p at 60fps for 10 seconds and played it back, the FS-100 dropped the necessary frames (36 frames) and could only play it back as 10 seconds.

So if you wanted to show every recorder frame (60/sec) you had to go to your computer and use a Frame Rate Conversion utility. then you could play it back in your NLE as 25 seconds or 2.5x slow mo.

Now you can do that on the drive without a computer and without the Frame Rate Conversion. Which is the way the P2 cards behave. So you always had the same slow mo and sharpness, but was cumbersome to do it.

Now you can check on the field if the effect you were looking for was achieved in camera.

As always, if I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me.
Thanks,
Luis
 
crookedpictures said:
I'm just getting my FS-100 today...I'm not familiar with the problems people had with i t before... does this update mean that high quality slow motion can now be recorded to it without any problems? Is it the same quality as the slow motion that can be recorded to the P2 cards?
Click to expand...



Yep, that is what it does.
 
John Babl said:
Hi Luis,
Were you able to do the upgrade? I connected to the ftp, dragged the zip files to my desktop, opened them, took the fs100.bin file, copied it to the FS, but got an error message-"wrong product ID"
Like I said, I followed their instructions-I do have v 3.0...


Is there anything else I should have done? I formatted, turned on, off...
Click to expand...


I updated last night with no problems - following the same steps you did.
I didn't answer earlier because I just got home from a shoot - using the FS100 and shot a bunch of slowmo stuff, so we'll see if it worked alright.
 
I'm speaking to support, tried the update again w/ no success. Still getting 'wrong product ID"
Maybe I'll have to re -register the thing(?)

JB
 
Alright - so I shot a bunch of stuff today, after upgrading to 4.0 firmware yesterday....pulled my footage into FCP and it's still showing it as 59.94fps - which means I still need to use the Panny FRC to create my slowmo clips.

Clearly I did something wrong here.
I'm going to take a look and see if I can figure it out - but just wondering if anyone out there tested this out and got it to work. Is there some step I'm missing?
 
Okay - So i don't know what I'm doign wrong here - but I seem to have found my culprit.
My FS100 was set to 'Quicktime' mode instead of 'Quicktime PN'

This struck me as kind of odd because I've never once shot in Quicktime mode - it's always been set to Quicktime PN. No big deal I guess, so I reset it to Quicktime PN, shot a couple of clips at 60fps and 12fps and imported to FCP. Well, once again they're showing up as 59.94 fps.... so I go back to the firstore and somehow it is back on Quicktime mode...NOT PN.

I've repeated this 3 times now...I set it to QT PN, record...and it defaults back to QT mode. Hmmmm.
 
Alright - I'm an idiot.
Not sure why its defaulting to QT mode...that's a whole other issue.

BUT - to get the VFR to work, you have to go to the SETUP menu, VFR MODE, and set it to 24P or 30p. Shame, I thought it would just work automatically.
About to test it out now.
 
Okay - I got it to work and it works perfectly fine.
BUT - there are a few issues that bother me, and they are mostly all audio related.

1) You have to switch the FS100 into VFR mode, which means if you want to shoot slomo you not only have to change your framerate on the HVX, but also change modes on the FS100.

2) When in VFR mode the FS100 will not record audio (apparently). So if you decide to use the VFR mode, you'd better remember to turn it off - because EVEN IF the HVX is set to 'default' frame rate it will not record audio if the VFR mode is on.

3) Even though it does not record audio when in VFR mode, it still creates 4 empty audio channels when recording in QT PN mode (haven't tested the P2 PN mode yet).
This isn't a huge deal - but it is annoying.

Personally, on some of my shoots anyhow - I think I'd rather just keep using the Frame Rate Converter as opposed to switching from one mode to another on the FS100 during a shoot. I've never had a problem shooting with the Firestore (like many other have) and I think its because, in the words of Ron Popeil, I "set it and forget it"
The last thing I want to have to do during a shoot is fiddle with 2 different sets of menus.

Its nice to see those slomo clips come into FCP at 23.976fps - and if I knew I was just going to be shooting a bunch of slomo one day I'd probably use it. But for 'run and gun' shooting where I might want to switch from default framerate to slomo for just one shot...I'll probably just continue to convert it in post.

Or buy a bigger P2 card.
:thumbsup:


EDITED TO ADD:
Oh - quick tip:
The VFR mode setting is in the 'SETUP' menu, but it is second to last in the list.
It's much faster to go to the SETUP menu and hit the "UP" arrow as opposed to going all the way down the list.
 
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I'll read the new manual for details on the new features. Perhaps time lapse w/ quicktimeN
What about 1080 24P on quicktime native?

JB
 
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