FS7: First time shooting with FS7, some questions.

N

Neutral

Active member
Hi all.
So I booked an fs7 rental for a shoot coming up in a few days. It wont be arriving until the day of the shoot so no time at all to do tests or get used to it.
Ive shot on the fs700 and fs5 before so I'm hoping it wont be too different to operate from that. Was hoping you guys could give me a few pointers, advice and maybe answer my questions.

White balance - When I shot on the fs5 in slog3 the whitebalance only had 3 settings, so you basically choose 1 that gets closest to white for your eye (from what I understand. Is the FS7 the same?
4k shooting - I only ordered one 128GB card, I'd like to shoot this project in 4k if possible. How much time will I be able to record in 4k vs 1080p? Or can I shoot everything in 2k?
Codecs - Is there anything confusing I should be warned about when it comes to codecs/shooting modes on this camera? I plan on shooting 24fps/60fps/120fps/240fps.
ND filters - Last time i rented the fs5 I could not for the life of me figure out the ND filter settings. Their pretty self explanatory on the fs700 but for some reason it didn't make sense to me on the fs5, i couldn't quite dial it in the way I wanted. Does the FS7 function the same way?
Glidecam - I plan on using my glidecam HD4000 with it. Any problems anyones run into with this combo? I won't have the vest so I plan on making the camera as light as possible. Any recommendations on the amount of weights to place at the bottom would be nice.

Is there a user tutorial video that someone could recommend that shows the interface and buttons and whatnot so I can get a little familiar with the layout before arriving on set?
Any help would be greatly appreciated guys!
 
WB - in CineEI yes, 3 settings only, in Custom mode whatever ypu need you can dial it in camera
128gb in 4K will gove you 66 minutes in XAVC-I codec in L about 120 (do not remember). XAVC-L in 4K in 8-bit only tough!!
ND works exactly like in Fs700, nothing extraordinary here.
No 240fps in camera in fs7 (external only).

CineEI resembles raw format, if this will be your first time shooting with fs7 go with the custom mode.
 
Check out Doug Jensen fs7 guide (vimeo, paid) or Alister Chapman's (youtube, free)

Sorry for typos, writing from phone.
 
In addition to Chris's link, have you downloaded and read the user manual? Here's a link to a fairly recent version:

http://www.pro.sony.eu/pro/lang/en/eu/support/operation-manual/1237494326712


And maybe check out the FS7 info on Alister Chapman's site. This looks like a good page to start at:
====
GUIDES AND INFO FOR THE PXW-FS7

So you have a PXW-FS7 and your looking for more information on how to get the very best from it.

This page is the place to start. I will be adding a number of guides and information pages specifically forthe Sony PXW-FS7 to the site over the coming months. You will find links to these guides, downloads andother information on this page as it is added to the site. So keep checking back here for the latest information.
====
http://www.xdcam-user.com/guides-and-info-for-the-pxw-fs7/

And if it were me, I'd consider dropping by a rental house and offering to pay a bit for a "prep day" using the camera in their facility for a couple hours.
Maybe bring down your card and format it and then try various settings...there's a "remaining recording time" display that could help you figure out what settings you want to use when you roll...
 
Last edited:
definitely strip the camera down as much as possible to put it on the glide cam, another thread recently posted has a user struggling with weird vibration issues (current consensus is his quick release plate combined with the weight of the camera).

4k is great, but if you only have one card I would be weary to record 4k unless delivering in 4k or only shooting a small bit of stuff. The LAST thing I would ever want to happen on a shoot is run out of media space and have no way to fix it... might as well not even have the camera if you can't record anything. I get 40 minutes per 64gb Card if I recall correctly shooting 4k.

FS7 nd filter is very very easy to understand, There are 4 settings inconveniently named. 1/64, 1/16, 1/4, and clear. These are (in the same order, darkest to clear) 1.8, 1.2, 0.6 and clear. This means you get 6, 4 or 2 stops of ND with the built in filter wheel. And it's an easily adjustable big ol' silver wheel on the front user side of the camera



You are correct about white balance. Shooting slog 3 in CINE EI mode will limit you to 32k, 43k, or 55k..... A work around would be stay in custom mode - but set the gamma to slog3.sgamut.cine - you'll get your greyed out LOG footage, but the user adjustability of white balance off a white card. I don't believe you can monitor with LUTS on in this type of setting though. I usually stick with cine ei- slog3- monitor LUT set to the lc709a and shoot like normal with the limiting factor of choosing one of the three white balances.

If you're using a metabones adapter and canon glass.... be mindful that all firmware is up to date - should be if it's coming from a rental house but definitely verify. You MAY run into this issue. Sometimes when swapping lenses on the metabones adapter, the contacts are not lined up properly and no f stop data is shown, and no change to the f stop when adjusting the dial on the fs7. You will need to remove the lens and re-install it, sometimes multiple times. Really making sure it's properly seated and verify that no pins are stuck pushed in on the metabones. This one really threw me for a loop one day on a shoot, man, i was sweating!!


Other doodads to worry about are adjusting your shutter speed. After you push the shutter button on the exterior of the camera, you must scroll to the desired shutter and SELECT it, if you simply hover over it and hit shutter again - the camera thinks you want it to go into auto shutter mode, and it does just that. So again, SELECT your shutter, and you don't need to push the shutter button a second time, ever. Shutter, scroll, SELECT. and you're golden. I never even noticed this was a bug until i read about it, I always selected anyway and it wasn't an issue - but worth looking out for!


Good luck man! Playing around with the camera the night before the shoot should do you just fine. Menu stuff is the only really complicating stuff, so set that all up the night before when there isn't a producer asking you "how long till you're up?" and you'll be good to go.


-Wes
 
Neutral said:
Is there a user tutorial video that someone could recommend that shows the interface and buttons and whatnot so I can get a little familiar with the layout before arriving on set?
Any help would be greatly appreciated guys!
Click to expand...

Here's a 43 minute video that will help get you started on the right track.

 
Good 'getting started' article, but it is based on old firmware. The camera will record 4k and LUTs and scopes are no longer mutually exclusive.
 
Neutral said:
If I strip the camera down as much as possible you think i'll still be struggling?
Click to expand...
Hope you're a lot stronger than me! Its at least 1.25 lbs heavier than an FS700 but if you're used to that what the heck.
Make sure you have the smaller EX-1 type batteries with it and don't have to go with bricks.
 
Make sure you take the time to set up the custom user menu withfrequently accessed menu options. It will be a god send instead of digging deep in the menu for functions.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. I'm doing as much research as I can before the camera arrives.

Can anyone tell me which recording format I should be using? I plan on shooting in 4k if I have the time to dump cards. However if there's not enough time I'll be shooting 1080p. Is XAVC the way to go?
 
Neutral said:
Thanks for all the input guys. I'm doing as much research as I can before the camera arrives.

Can anyone tell me which recording format I should be using? I plan on shooting in 4k if I have the time to dump cards. However if there's not enough time I'll be shooting 1080p. Is XAVC the way to go?
Click to expand...

Make sure you have enough cards if you shoot 4K..on my F5 SxS.. presume its pretty much the same on XQD cards.. I only get about 1hr on 128 GB cards..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top