FS7: If FS5 will get raw output from the body is it possible for FS7 to get same with FM?
- Thread starter alohype
- Start date
starcentral
Veteran
Good question.
Looks like on the F7S there is a lot of data coming out that port that mates with the XDCA interface which then converts it to RAW. If the FS5 can do this without the device, then they've put those boards from the XDCA interface internally on the FS5:
Looks like on the F7S there is a lot of data coming out that port that mates with the XDCA interface which then converts it to RAW. If the FS5 can do this without the device, then they've put those boards from the XDCA interface internally on the FS5:
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I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the Sony way to sell more XDCA. So you get 4 features with it: v-lock powering, genlock, prores and raw. But once they've sold enough of them they may enable raw straight from the body to boost FS7 sales again. If FS700 can do it why not FS7? That is mind boggling as FS7 is newer and superior camera. But maybe someone that have more technical knowledge and knows detailed specifications could confirm or deny that possibility. I'd love to hear good news though 
starcentral
Veteran
The board that is in the FS700 and FS5 needs to be inside the FS7. It converts some digital data off a bus from the camera to serial 12-bit RAW stream. You are not going to get it in the FS7 unless Sony has it there already and just hidden it for some future paid-for unlocking. (like the internal 4K that was never in the F5 supposedly).
The best bet for any FS7 owner is to cough it up and buy the XDCA - like you said you get 4 features with it and I think the ProRes option is probably most handy. 12-bit RAW is fantastic and I also wish there was a way to record 12-bit on the F55 because not everything needs to be 16-bit.
In the end Sony is masterful at marketing.
The F55 announced at $13k more than the F5 only 18 months later to really only have a silver ring and global shutter as a difference. While F5 owners are too busy defending the F55 owners attacking them about it, the FS7 comes out which is the same camera as the F5 except 1/2 price.
And now Sony introduces to you the FS5 for 70% of the FS7 price. Sure no LUTs and a few other missing bits but half the people argue LUTs are useless and they don't need them anyway.
The best bet for any FS7 owner is to cough it up and buy the XDCA - like you said you get 4 features with it and I think the ProRes option is probably most handy. 12-bit RAW is fantastic and I also wish there was a way to record 12-bit on the F55 because not everything needs to be 16-bit.
In the end Sony is masterful at marketing.
The F55 announced at $13k more than the F5 only 18 months later to really only have a silver ring and global shutter as a difference. While F5 owners are too busy defending the F55 owners attacking them about it, the FS7 comes out which is the same camera as the F5 except 1/2 price.
And now Sony introduces to you the FS5 for 70% of the FS7 price. Sure no LUTs and a few other missing bits but half the people argue LUTs are useless and they don't need them anyway.
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Dennis - not sure I would use the word "masterful" to describe Sony marketing. They sure are something, though. It feels to me as though they are simply being pulled / pushed / shoved / re-acting on the fly to the engineering group and perhaps the left hand is not always aware of what the right is doing... or has up its sleeve...
Liam Hall
Veteran
It doesn't convert it to RAW, it already is RAW. The XDCA converts the RAW to ProRes and provides connection for RAW out, Genlock etc.
Liam Hall
Veteran
As an FS7 owner, I think they've positioned the FS5 bang on the money.
starcentral
Veteran
That's possible, but how can we tell for sure?
Jim Ritscher
Well-known member
Good question.
Looks like on the F7S there is a lot of data coming out that port that mates with the XDCA interface which then converts it to RAW. If the FS5 can do this without the device, then they've put those boards from the XDCA interface internally on the FS5:
Okay, what is this? It doesn't look like the XDCA interface.
Mitch Gross
Veteran
That image is the overhead view of the FS5 without the top handle attached. I also wonder what it was chosen to illustrate.
Back to the original question, the FS7 will never output RAW over SDI without the XDCA back. It was simply not engineered to. The board to do the work resides in the XDCA, where it can take this RAW signal and process it to turn it into HD ProRes and feed that back to the camera for recording. I believe (but I could be wrong) that this may have been "outsourced" from the FS camera to the group that makes the F5/F55 series cameras (a different factory). That group was already doing the work turning RAW data into HD ProRes for the F5/F55 cameras. That's why it happened as a separate unit. Note that the FS5 does not offer any of the functions of the XDCA other than the RAW output (in the future).
Back in the day when Sony had cameras like the F35 and F65 with separate, detachable recorders, the two devices were made at different factories by different teams. They each specialized in their own work.
Back to the original question, the FS7 will never output RAW over SDI without the XDCA back. It was simply not engineered to. The board to do the work resides in the XDCA, where it can take this RAW signal and process it to turn it into HD ProRes and feed that back to the camera for recording. I believe (but I could be wrong) that this may have been "outsourced" from the FS camera to the group that makes the F5/F55 series cameras (a different factory). That group was already doing the work turning RAW data into HD ProRes for the F5/F55 cameras. That's why it happened as a separate unit. Note that the FS5 does not offer any of the functions of the XDCA other than the RAW output (in the future).
Back in the day when Sony had cameras like the F35 and F65 with separate, detachable recorders, the two devices were made at different factories by different teams. They each specialized in their own work.
starcentral
Veteran
sorry i attached wrong diagram, I meant to show the multi pin connector on the back of the XDCA that mates with the FS7.
cheers,
cheers,