FS5: FS5 I love it...

olof

olof

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I just got my FS5 from BandPro yesterday, they may still have few in stock, call them, they ordered a lot of them.

I spent most of today playing with it. I absolutely love it.

I will post some video later over the Holiday but I am really exited about this compact mini FS7. The footage is really good and the economics of this lightweight cam are great.

I played around with the digital zoom and on my Canon 1979 FD 50mm f1.4 it is fantastic with a cheap mechanical adapter FD -> NEX. It is now a f1.4 50-100 mm zoom, wow.

I also played around with the vary ND. It is fun to turn on auto iris and then change the ND from 1/4 to 1/128, it works very smoothly and is a very interesting effect changing DOF dramatically w/o zooming. Talking about zooming in HD the kit lens is 18-210mm smooth zooming ENG lens for $500.00 that is remarkable. And it is really smooth, seamless from optical to digital and no loss of resolution I could spot.

I played around with 4K a bit and even though it is only 8 bit 422, as long as you nail exposure it looks really good even grading a bit. I am playing around making PPs. This is a really simple to use cam, not as powerful/compex as the FS7 but much easier to tune and the menus seem much more navigable and the response is instant, with my 7 I have to slow down and make sure I really press the multi knob exactly right, quite frustrating at times. The FS5 is really smooth and instant, I am not missing settings the way I do on the 7. I hope that Sony can make the menus as easy to use in the 7 as the new 5.

More later Sharyn is ringing the dinner bell.
 
Congrats on the FS5!

Just sold my BMCC so I'm hoping to pick one up in the future.

Looking forward to your footage.
 
Yes the FS5 really is a gem. Loving mine too! It has several killer features; fantastic ergonomics, that variable ND filter; compact and light; and the Clear Image Zoom works amazingly well too...never thought I would say that. This cam has delighted me in so many ways.
 
You guys are getting me excited.. :grin: Mine has been shipped out and I am receiving it on tuesday, cannot wait.. :thumbsup:
 
This will get you into hyper mode then :-)
 

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I did a quick test with mine yesterday and an F55. They matched surprisingly well which is great for my intentions of using it as a B cam on shoots with my colleague.

Loving this camera.
 
JR or regular Helix? What a great design, being able to set it down and having the screen stabilized as well as the camera must be great. I love my Ronin M but not being able to set it down gets to be a royal pain
 
It's the new Letus Helix Junior Aluminium (or Aluminum - depending where you live). Letus currently have a $500 discount across (I think) most of their range ...not sure how much longer that will go on...So I actually bought it just before the FS5 arrived - but in full anticipation of how I'd use it.

I bought 2 batteries, the joystick (which I've decided I don't need at all) and the Standard Camera Plate (not the tiny camera plate the Jr. normally ships with). It's a $75 on-cost. I also bought the Pelican case and it's foam cut-out too - well worth it.

It's a terrific bit of kit - can't wait to tune it (and the FS5) how I want and start rolling it out on paid jobs.

Big thing about the Letus (for me) was that (1) I can put it down anywhere - this is a VERY big plus, (2) I can comfortably hold it at shoulder/head height POV for extended periods - difficult with some 3-axis gimbals...actually that's another VERY BIG plus...and (3) the reputation/service level of the company I bought it from.

It's truly a well designed, user friendly bit of kit and I love the way the iOS App makes it so easy to tweak settings etc.
 
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I am curious if there is any color cast introduced by the electronic variable ND filter?
 
andykwilkinson said:
Same technology has been on the Sony PXW-180 for over a year now with no reported issues whatsoever. Alister Chapman talked about this (and ma other things) in his recent very informative tutorial video. l worth watching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-HrXmRqpME
Click to expand...

Thx, quite informative.

Is the autofocus face tracking in the same league as the c300II (apparently no detectable focus hunting)? I can't find any videos online demonstrating this feature.
 
cpc said:
Thx, quite informative.

Is the autofocus face tracking in the same league as the c300II (apparently no detectable focus hunting)? I can't find any videos online demonstrating this feature.
Click to expand...

No lighting just nat light in our kitchen. I think the hat and low light did not help, notice when Sharyn's head gets close to the bright backlit window it becomes harder for the FS5 to stay with the face.

Here is a Cinegamma4 shot at iso3200, I was testing face detection. Kit lens at f4.

 
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olof said:
No lighting just nat light in our kitchen. I think the hat and low light did not help, notice when Sharyn's head gets close to the bright backlit window it becomes harder for the FS5 to stay with the face.

Here is a Cinegamma4 shot at iso3200, I was testing face detection. Kit lens at f4.

Click to expand...

Hard to tell with vimeo and all, but that looks awfully similar to the
quality of the 'face detection' that the FS700 had on it.
 
olof said:
No lighting just nat light in our kitchen. I think the hat and low light did not help, notice when Sharyn's head gets close to the bright backlit window it becomes harder for the FS5 to stay with the face.

Here is a Cinegamma4 shot at iso3200, I was testing face detection. Kit lens at f4.

Click to expand...

Thx, very helpful. Maybe the glasses picking reflections also interfere.
 
what was that jumping in the image below the window about half way through? Looks strange. IS maybe
 
cpc said:
I am curious if there is any color cast introduced by the electronic variable ND filter?
Click to expand...

Wondering this myself. One of the biggest problems with variable ND filters in general. Any test videos of this yet?
 
alex1 said:
Wondering this myself. One of the biggest problems with variable ND filters in general. Any test videos of this yet?
Click to expand...
I see absolutely no color shift at all.

I will test they more thoroughly soon but I was using a vector scope to check exactly that.

Doing lots of tests and rigging wireless mic, Metabones support and rails etc at the moment.

Figuring out best use of they tiny capable cam for my purposes.

I will add more video as soon as I have time and something interesting to show. This is a busy season...
 
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