Just got a new camera - Sony F35

Sparky874 said:
Here is another short clip of a few shots I grabbed around the house earlier. PASSWORD: F35

https://vimeo.com/61362684
The weather has been shocking all day here in the UK, just hasn't stopped raining so I didn't get a chance to head out and grab something more interesting, so sorry about that. What I am amazed at, is how much you can push the footage, lift the dark areas etc with a color curve and the image hold up so well. I probably underexposed a few of these shots but had no issues lifting them back to where they should be. Really impressed so far by the F35s image. In edit I just played with a color curve on each and added a touch more saturation to the whole timeline.
Really getting to like this camera more and more. It's power hungry though and eats its way through a 160 Wh battery pretty quickly. My Samurai randomly powered itself off a couple of times this afternoon (no idea why) so I need to look into this to see if its just the Samurai acting up (although I have never had an issue with the Samurai doing this before) or something to do with the connection to the camera. Anyway, thanks for listening! Sparky
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Where are you editing/grading the footage and what codec are you recording to?
I'm just saying because if you're using Sony Vegas, like me, have in mind that the QT files (dnxhd or prores) decode at only 8bits (yep, you might no even be using 10bits), and remember that prores also clips highlights since it only shows the limited range (yep, there might be more DR there that you're not seeing).
:D
 
Hi Mac. Yes like you I use Sony Vegas. I am recording ProRes files from a Samurai using the ProRes HQ setting. I don't think the highlights have been clipped, but I also shoot with keeping the highlights in range as much as possible to protect them anyway. Best, Sparky
 
Nice stuff, Sparky. The shadow noise is actually quite pleasing and feels pretty organic. Doesn't much remind me of the digital noise I got when I shot my FS100.


And James, thanks for the fair warning. I honestly do appreciate you looking out for the weekend punter. ;) But I already had most of the kit that Mac had in his rig for my FS100. Once I saw pix of his set up the light went on for me that perhaps this was a good way to go. I saved ample space in my budget for the necessary extra bits (upgrading my sound kit as well. Talk about SYSTEMS, jeesh). The F35 I got came with the viewfinder, so I won't even need my DP4 as a VF. Three cheers for less franken-rigging. Later this year/early next when I get around to shooting the feature I'm writing I'll probably rent a Gemini for the 12 bit 444 color. Lensing was the biggest hang up, to be honest. I'll investigate the Nikon mount solution, but I'm gonna try things with some PL adapted medium format East German pentacon-six Zeiss lenses first. That glass is cheap enough to try out without hurting me badly if it doesn't pan out (hoping that I got some decent samples as quality was apparently varied from unit to unit). I like the idea of older glass on modern digital cams to combat that clinical look. We'll see what the E. German lenses look like. If I can get my hands on a spare front I'll try the Nikon mount. Or if somebody comes up with the swappable mount that'd be even better. Not sure if forum member Verismo is doing that or not.

It'll be a bit before I can get out with it, but once I get things up and running I'll post clips so the pros can poke fun. :grin:

-k

ps: for Mac's user list update- I'm located in the Seattle, WA area.
 
Myls,

Double check all your cabling, although if you see these speckles in the viewfinder, panic. Please note that one black balance may be enough - three or four may be necessary.

Keith,

Glad you're going into it eyes wide open! Can I strongly recommend LOMO glass? I borrowed a set of the dodgiest russian lenses known to man from a friend of a friend. They looked like they wouldn't even make a picture, but I'd be damned if they didn't produce some fine imagery. I have seen sets of eight lenses - PL mount - going for less than $5,000. Crazy money for the glass. Each of my Zeiss standards is that much!
 
I uploaded a sample from the most problematic portion of my footage. It shows both green flickering and small white speckles. What do you think? I suspect at least the flickering to be due to the connection, but the speckles seem to come and go based on luma values...

https://vimeo.com/61384754
Password: f35
 
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JMtheDP said:
... Glad you're going into it eyes wide open! Can I strongly recommend LOMO glass? I borrowed a set of the dodgiest russian lenses known to man from a friend of a friend. They looked like they wouldn't even make a picture, but I'd be damned if they didn't produce some fine imagery. I have seen sets of eight lenses - PL mount - going for less than $5,000. Crazy money for the glass. Each of my Zeiss standards is that much!
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I thought of picking up some LOMOs. I may yet still since the pentacon 50mm I got is only a T3.5. I saw a really affordable 50mm f2 LOMO unit, but I was concerned about the ergonomics of it. As far as I could tell they have an odd layout for focus control (I have to go off of pix online since I haven't ever handled them myself). It seems like the focus ring is right on the front edge of the unit, so I have no idea what I'd do with a matte box if I needed one. But then I suppose if I'm using f2 glass I probably wouldn't have a MB in front of it. For dreamy over-exposed shots, maybe. But certainly it's not like I'll be throwing ND in front of that glass wide open. heh.

How did you find working with the odd ergonomics of the LOMOs?

-k
 
keithlango said:
How did you find working with the odd ergonomics of the LOMOs?
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The particular lomos that I worked with were the worst lenses I've ever used, ergonomically. However, I see many which have been modified and updated for cine use with focus and iris gears, hard PL mounts etc etc... those would be the ones to go for.

I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't use ND on T2 glass? My zeiss are T2.1 and i use a fair bit of ND outdoors to keep them at their sweet spot - around a T2.8/T4
 
JMtheDP said:
I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't use ND on T2 glass? My zeiss are T2.1 and i use a fair bit of ND outdoors to keep them at their sweet spot - around a T2.8/T4
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Ah, yes. True. I was just thinking within my own specific current kit of PL glass, not in the abstract. I have a 50mm T4, so any daytime shoots I'd just use that and not any new T2 lens I'd pick up. That's why I said I wouldn't throw any NDs in front of a T2-- if I got one it'd be my low-light glass and it wouldn't be on the camera in daytime, the T4 would be. Silly me thinking out loud again, forgetting that the rest of the world isn't privvy to the thought process going on in my head.

-k
 
Is that one of the old zeiss 50mm stills lenses you've got?

I would still say in broad daylight, if you're looking to use 1/50th second shutter (which is fairly normal in cine shooting), you'd want some NDs, or an 85 or something.... each to their own of course.
 
Get some IR filter on it if you're doing ND of any significance (starts showing at .6). Shot outside the other day with a .9 and saw IR contamination. It was fixable with Resolve, but any more ND, I'd be wanting IR filters.
 
Get the tiffen "IR ND's" they were made specifically for the F35, and tests showed the least amount of IR contamination compared to the other nd's
 
Yep, I read the Art Adams article regarding F35 IR on PVC. Still deciding if I want to use my current NDs and just get a Schneider TruCut 680, or get a new basic set of Tiffen IRND's and unload my current set.

As for when to use them, of course, I use ND when I need to regardless of what lens is on the camera or what camera it is. I wasn't trying to say I wouldn't ever use NDs on a T4, but on second reading I can see how it came out that way. I seem to be doing a fine job of making myself less clear with each post. :embarasse

-k
 
If anyone needs one I have a Tiffen T1 IR which is surplus to requirements. I believe it does the same job as a Tru-Cut. ie allows you to use more regular NDs and 85s than you normally would without going to IRNDs. Can save a bomb.

If I'm wrong on that, someone correct me.
 
Any experience with the Ki Pro Mini vs Pix 240? Just trying to go over recording options which include audio inputs before I step any further into this camera.
 
I own both. KiPro works great...been using it on my F3 for years. However, it's a 10-bit 422 recorder, not 444 (whether 10 or 12 bit).
On a shoot last week, I noted that the Pix240 didn't properly record timecode for Resolve use--this is a big deal if you're planning to grade color in Davinci. (can provide more details if needed).
 
Here is another little test, recording ProRes files to my Samurai. I get the occassional black frame which isn't great. The weather was cold and miserable again but I popped out into my back garden for ten minutes to grab some shots. What is really impressive about the camera is how you can lift and lower the levels without degrading the quality of footage.
https://vimeo.com/61574339

Sparky
 
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