FS7: Is the FS7 as good as the F55? Why own the F55? Opinions...

Osslund said:
From a producers perspective looking at all of these cameras I see no reason to go with the FS7 when there are better tools for high budget work. Not to say the FS7 can't output great image quality, it probably can.
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Budget!
 
starcentral said:
Just a point of view some will either agree or disagree with which is fine. This is my honest thought, which is that if you can afford the F5 (and there are lots of kit deals for them) I would try to get that over the FS7. But if on a budget and you are ok with a few compromises then YES of course the FS7 can give you over 90% (or more) the look of the F5 and possibly even the F55 depending what you shoot - but there are other points aside from that.

You won't get things like PL mount support, better exposure monitoring and/or LUT combination., 16mm crop mode support, 2K swappable OLPF, etc.. a lot has already been listed in this thread so I don't want to repeat them too much.

Through private messages or off the DVXuser website I get asked for a lot of advice or opinions on the FS7 camera and which camera to get, etc.. It's always a very difficult question to answer. I can only say that really each situation and everyone's position is different both project-wise as well as financially. When I got the F55 camera I knew 100% that the ROI wasn't completely in tact. But I knew that going in so for me it was ok to "lose" the extra $10k since at least I was getting GS, CFA, and 4K XAVC. (I actually don't look at it as "losing" because now I have these features). For myself I just wanted the best Sony camera that could shoot RAW, aside from the F65, because after using the F3 for a few years I had made the decision to jump ship and get a RED camera. Then the New F's were announced so I swam back to Sony.

In the end these cameras are all going to be neck and neck in terms of image quality. After grading that FS7 footage in the other thread I think that proves it, and that wasn't even RAW. So where or how you decide to spend your money really boils down to what you think is the right decision and choice to make. It's a huge spread between the three prices but it can be worth it simply because of how you plan to work with each camera or what your type of work entails.

Good luck with whatever you decide and share your decision or rationale here on the forums, it might help someone else with their decision after all.

cheers,
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Well said!
 
"..... it's a one-man-band type camera. It's just not suited
for teamwork."


Precisely why myself and many others will buy this camera over cameras, such as RED, that REQUIRE a team to operate.

"Yes, you can shoot feature movie with a Canon 5D type camera but it's not
really the best thing you can do if enough money is there."


If the money is there, shoot whatever you like. Since for me it isn't, I'll be shooting a feature next year with an FS7. It is probably the first camera that could practically be used to shoot a feature single handedly and still offer respectable quality for direct to DVD or even Blu Ray. In fact, I saw my last feature (shot on FS700) projected on a 40 foot screen, and based on that, know I would be very happy with what the FS7 image would look like.
 
The FS7 can probably get very close to the image quality of the F5 or F55, but as the others have posted, that last 5 percent and the additional features and color gamut are what costs so much more.
One point that perhaps has not been mentioned, is that for high end feature and commercial work, getting 16 Bit RAW is a big deal. A lot of the top DPs are quite aware of the advantages of bit depth and 12 bit linear raw vs 16 bit linear raw would be a big deal to them. The F5 provides 16 bit linear raw output and I would go with that or an Epic Dragon given that I have the extra $$ for the camera budget.
 
mainstreetprod said:
"..... it's a one-man-band type camera. It's just not suited
for teamwork."


Precisely why myself and many others will buy this camera over cameras, such as RED, that REQUIRE a team to operate.
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Why do people post such nonsense? A RED dosen´t require a a team to operate at all. I´ve been shooting with mine on my own, carrying everything I need in a small back pack in high altitude snowy mountains.
That´s the beauty of RED camera system (on top of the image of course) that you can rig the camera to ANY need. Small one man band, to Fincher shooting Gone Girl.
Please don´t post mis-informationabout things you clearly don´t have any idea about.

That said, I´m sure your film can look great using an FS7 (but it would look better if you used a F55 or RED Dragon).

Heck, I shot a feature film with a Sony DV cam and transferred it to 35mm, anything is possible
 
I guess "require" was a bad choice of words- but I stand by my nonsense - because in the context of shooting a feature, I'd say 99% shooting RED are not shooting without assistance, mainly due to the massive amounts of data.
 
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Yoak said:
Why do people post such nonsense? A RED dosen´t require a a team to operate at all.
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You must be a man of steel. I didnt buy Red or F5 because I considered them both too heavy for solo operation.

Took delivery of my FS7 today and, it is significantly more managable but Id still prefer the form (not specs) of my FS100!

S
 
mainstreetprod said:
I guess "require" was a bad choice of words- but I stand by my nonsense - because in the context of shooting a feature, I'd say 99% shooting RED are not shooting without assistance, mainly due to the massive amounts of data.
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Massive amounts of data? Clearly someone hasn't worked with the 7Q RAW files :grin:
 
mainstreetprod said:
I guess "require" was a bad choice of words- but I stand by my nonsense - because in the context of shooting a feature, I'd say 99% shooting RED are not shooting without assistance, mainly due to the massive amounts of data.
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i think that goes for 99% of features no matter what camera, shooting without assistance I mean.
The amounts of data isn't that big ofaproblem IMHO, disks are cheap and thunderbolt and usb3 has made transfer quite a breeze.
I don't think Data amounts is the main reason people feel the need of assistance on a feature shoot either.
 
morgan_moore said:
You must be a man of steel. I didnt buy Red or F5 because I considered them both too heavy for solo operation.

Took delivery of my FS7 today and, it is significantly more managable but Id still prefer the form (not specs) of my FS100!

S
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First time (and probably last) I'm called a man of steel;-) Thanks, but not really. I'm in ok shape, but not very strong. I really don't have a problem dragging my RED around to remote locations though.
I do appreciate the smaller form factor of the FS7, and that's why I ordered one.
We have traveled a lot on a TV show I shoot, and we have used 700 and recently F55 and dragging those camera and accessories across the globe is a bit of a pain and expensive due to weight.
The FS7 seems to be the perfect fit for this production.

How ow come you prefer the form of the fs100, that camera is up there with the c300 (a camera I own) in bad ergonomics in my book
 
Yoak said:
First time (and probably last) I'm called a man of steel;-) Thanks, but not really.
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It depends how the Red (epic/scarlet not R1) is built. I have used it kind of 'naked' like one might use a BMC or DSLR and it is OK, but when I did the full rig thing.. monitor Vlocks etc I found it had morphed into an un-managable beast!

S
 
It can quickly "grow", that's true, but using the Canom mount and v-lock I find it quite manageable.
Still curious as to why you prefer he fs100.
 
Yoak said:
i think that goes for 99% of features no matter what camera, shooting without assistance I mean.
The amounts of data isn't that big ofaproblem IMHO, disks are cheap and thunderbolt and usb3 has made transfer quite a breeze.
I don't think Data amounts is the main reason people feel the need of assistance on a feature shoot either.
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True, it's not the issue it once was... and even I, the definition of "one man band", will still hire a focus puller, etc. when the scene would be compromised without it
 
as a producer - I can rent an alexa EV for cheaper than the sony f55. so why would I shoot with the f55? Would anyone ever make this decision? I did actually recently and got reemed by the colorist. So what's the point of the extra 5% if most colorists have no experience with the f55? That's unfortunately the world we live in, and the reason to get a fs7 and a o7q and use raw out of it and be done with it. And rent the alexa on the higher end gigs.
 
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morgan_moore said:
You must be a man of steel. I didnt buy Red or F5 because I considered them both too heavy for solo operation.

Took delivery of my FS7 today and, it is significantly more managable but Id still prefer the form (not specs) of my FS100!

S
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I guess we all have different thresholds for what we consider 'heavy'. The F5 is (what I would consider) a featherweight even in a ready to shoot state(VF, top handle, shoulder mount). Yes, it could become very heavy by bolting on accessories, but they all can- DSLR, C300, FS7, etc.
 
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