Just got a new camera - Sony F35

Without being rude - what did it cost

I have seen them around the price of a R1 and 1/4 of an alexa

What rationalle made you choose this over the 'current' S35 cams?

S
 
morgan_moore said:
Without being rude - what did it cost

I have seen them around the price of a R1 and 1/4 of an alexa

What rationalle made you choose this over the 'current' S35 cams?

S
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Surely 4:4:4 colour space and no beyer pattern on the sensor - at a guess. It is a very highly thought off ,very sharp . That and a CCD imager with the lack of rolling shutter. The only thing you might lose out on really seems to be lower light sensitivity. That and more expensive ancillaries (v locks, 19mm rods etc..)
Quite a good idea over getting a new F3 or C300.
 
morgan_moore said:
Without being rude - what did it cost

I have seen them around the price of a R1 and 1/4 of an alexa

What rationalle made you choose this over the 'current' S35 cams?

S
Click to expand...

I paid about the price of a F3 or C300.
Reasons?Colorimetry, dynamic range, resolution... well you just can't compare those to the existing 35mm sensor prosumer cameras line.

The F35 inherits all the work Panavision developed with the Genesis. I was always in love with this camera when it was launched 3 years ago and now that rental companies (the only ones who could afford them) are getting rid of them I though, heck, I'll get one even if I only use it to shoot home videos.

To me, the F35 delivers the best film look of all current cameras. Yep, above Alexa and F65. And I´m not saying it's the best. I´m just saying it produces the best looking footage. The alexa might have more DR, the F65 might produce cleaner footage but to me they don't look as good as the Genesis/F35. Of course this is subjetive to everyone. But I could support my pov with 2 facts.
The Red One or the Alexa for example have tons of Dynamic range, but it's mostly allocated in the shadows. To the point of having something like 7 stops of shadows and just 3 and a half stops in the highlights. Film doesn't work like that. Film shows way more dynamic range above mid gray. The F35, up to a point works in that way, delivering more detail in the highlights than in the shadows (I think it´s the only camera to do this actually, about 6 stops of highlights and about 5 stops of shadows). So this produces footage that resembles how film stock portrays reality. And I like that.
Also the tone curve is very pleasent and doesn't scream digital as many other cameras do. Skintones looks just right and not plastic (ie: Red).

You could say, hey but the F3 shoots in Slog! Isn't that the same then? Meeeh, nice try, but the short answer is not. I've shot a lot with the F3 and while it produces very clean images, it doesn't look very filmic where the F35 does. Not the same colorimetry. After all, Sony use to sell the F35 for like $180K for a reason I guess...

The 2nd reason why I decided to go with this camera (besides the drop in price) is that we no longer need to carry a heavy HDCAM SR with it. Today, an inexpensive Hyperdeck shuttle will record beautifull 10bit 422 DNxHD files, ready to edit in real time (premiere, vegas, AE, Scratch...), easy to grade and really fast to copy. Perfect workflow.
 
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macgregor said:
The Red One or the Alexa for example have tons of Dynamic range, but it's mostly allocated in the shadows. To the point of having something like 7 stops of shadows and just 3 and a half stops in the highlights. Film doesn't work like that. Film shows way more dynamic range above mid gray.
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Erm, you do understand that with a 14 stops of nearly uniformly distributed dynamic range as in Arri Log-C you can put mid-gray whereever you like, right? :)
In fact, it defaults to 7.5 stops above midgray and 6.5 stops below midgray at base ISO 800 with standard exposure.

(And grats on the new camera! :))
 
Alexa looks plasticy. And while you can set mid grey where you want it easily, it is no that easy to cut the dr in the shadows to a given amount.
 
Very interesting decision Miguel. Having seen the prices F35s are going for these days I've had quite similar thoughts - F35 with a 4:2:2 ProRes/DNxHD recorder would be fantastic. How managable is the camera (size/weight-wise) for small crews in your opinion? I know the old recorders made it a huge beast.
 
Miguel, how do you think the DR of the F35 compares to the current crop of cameras (Alexa, Epic, SLOGged F3?)
 
Wow, the F35 is now a real contender for my next camera. The footage you shot looks more like film than anything out there. Is there any concern about the cost of ownership for this high end camera? It may be similar to owning a 5yr old rolls royce.. I can afford to purchase it, but the dealer can break me on maintenance. I read somewhere that the software upgrades are quite high. Are there any ideas to how reliable these 4-5yr old F35's will be?
 
I upgraded the camera the other day. Free or charge. Now I have 12bit 444 (but no way to record it lol) and new ISOs settings.

One thing to consider is that this camera has the worst menus I´ve ever seen. BUT, if you connect the camera via ethernet to your laptop and just use your internet browser, suddenly everything is easy and quick. In any case, once the camera is properly configured, it´s the fastest and easiest camera I´ve ever used. I set it in Cine mode and I just use my lightmeter for exposure.

Seriously, the only reason I see to buy a C300 or F3 instead of a F35 right now is the weight. Otherwise this camera rocks:

 
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gorgeous images, those highlights are just awesome, this camera loves to play with the sun
 
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So does "cine mode" just hard-select s-log or do you have control over the gamma?
 
Cine EI mode defaults to Slog, extended DR and one of the 2 WB presets. No error for mistake. If you want to start playing with the supergammas, then don't use cine mode. ;D
 
macgregor said:
Didn't I talked about that before?
Click to expand...

You mentioned that Alexa has more DR (which is kinda a given) but not how it compares to other cameras in a similar price range. Do you think it's a match for the Red, C300 or SLOGged F3?
 
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