FS7: New firmware

@ Ben

Or worse, the F66 at a lower price than the FS7! I have heard a rumor from a good source that there will be new cameras, but I can't get much more information than that. Sony has really clamped down on information and is strictly limiting who gets pre-NAB training. I think some resellers are not even being told anything or allowed to log into the online training they do every year. I'm pretty sure there will be a new 2/3" 4K studio camera for live productions (mostly sports) that is based on the HDC2500L. It makes sense there will be a brother to that camera, just like the F800 was the brother to Sony's studio cameras. Big sensors and small sensors seem to be covered, but there is a gap in the 2/3" zone of Sony's product line. Personally, I hope there are no new super-35 cameras. I've got to get more milage out of my F55 and FS7 before they aren't the flagships anymore.
 
Surely they're going to have 'something' at the high end to take the attention off the Red Weapon and new Arri which will both have mahusive hype machines behind them? Maybe just a massive price drop on the F55 or something.
 
Sony already has the F65. If they couldn't get Hollywood to adopt that, they face a really uphill battle. I think they should go back to focusing on broadcast, corporate, and high-end freelancers -- us guys who made them successful in the first place. It is clear Hollywood mainstream wants Arri. Stop chasing the starlet and come back to the girl next door that loves you.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Sony already has the F65. If they couldn't get Hollywood to adopt that, they face a really uphill battle. I think they should go back to focusing on broadcast, corporate, and high-end freelancers -- us guys who made them successful in the first place. It is clear Hollywood mainstream wants Arri. Stop chasing the starlet and come back to the girl next door that loves you.
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This is the best advice Sony can take.
 
Sony dosn't have it's roots in the cinema world, and it shows when they try to cover both markets at the same time. So now that they have been essentially rejected by the big feature film boys in Hollywood, they should get back to meeting the needs of their core customers. That's all I'm saying. From my standpoint, the F55 and FS7 would be better cameras if they stripped off some of the clutter that appeals mostly to cinema users. And I know for a fact the the opposite is also true. That's one reason Arri has succeeded, because of the simplicity, but simplicity is not what broadcast/TV people generally want or need. I am not scared by menus and I love the flexibity to tailor the cameras to meet my needs on a day to day basis. I don't want a platypus camera, but I'll accept it until there is something that suits my needs better. My dream camera right now would be a 4K F800 with a 35mm sensor, PL mount, built-in RAW recorder and XAVC recording to XQD cards. That would be a sweet camera.
 
At the same time though it was producing CineAlta camera being used for movies before Red even existed. I'm very happy to have a 'Swiss Army Knife' camera but I just need the blades to not just all be that tool for getting stones out of horses' hooves, and I need both the flat head screwdriver AND the can opener to work like they are supposed to.

A perfect FS7 would be perfect for me right now.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Sony dosn't have it's roots in the cinema world, and it shows when they try to cover both markets at the same time. So now that they have been essentially rejected by the big feature film boys in Hollywood, they should get back to meeting the needs of their core customers. That's all I'm saying. From my standpoint, the F55 and FS7 would be better cameras if they stripped off some of the clutter that appeals mostly to cinema users. And I know for a fact the the opposite is also true. That's one reason Arri has succeeded, because of the simplicity, but simplicity is not what broadcast/TV people generally want or need. I am not scared by menus and I love the flexibity to tailor the cameras to meet my needs on a day to day basis. I don't want a platypus camera, but I'll accept it until there is something that suits my needs better. My dream camera right now would be a 4K F800 with a 35mm sensor, PL mount, built-in RAW recorder and XAVC recording to XQD cards. That would be a sweet camera.
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The distinction between what you call Hollywood and broadcast/TV world is not the same as it used to be. You are referring to old times really. Look at what is considered TV and tell me if it often isn't more "Hollywood" than the actual Hollywood. That's why what Sony has always been historically is not very relevant, they have to be responsive and change. It is a different landscape, different demands, different expectations.
 
I hear what you're saying, but I'm not talking about prime time dramas when I say broadcast TV. I'm talking about reality, sports, news, news magazines, cable network shows, etc. I would argue those needs are still very different than Hollywood feature films and primetime programming. And those markets have been Sony's bread and butter for the last 30 years. It's fine if Sony can expand into film-style production too, but don't kill the golden goose in the process.
 
Doug is right. Any high end production be it Fiction Film or commercial will chose one of two cameras either an Alexa if skin tones are important or a Red Epic if Resolution is more of a factor. They will never ever choose a sony or a canon why on earth would they. All these 35mm sensor cams are geared for Broadcast- Doc, Magazine show- high end news feature production. And yes there will be that one feature film that will be shot on an fs7 that gets picked up in Sundance but it will not be YOUR film and the maker of that film will choose an Alexa or a Red for his new project.
 
And I would argue that the firmware would be a hell of a lot simpler and easier to update if they weren't trying to do so much with one camera. I do not need a swiss army knife, I just need a really sharp blade that deploys smoothly and holds its edge. If I need a corkscrew one time a year, I'll rent one. The rest of time I don't want it getting in my way. I wonder if they could call the next camera the "Spork"
 
I have made the update but I notice that there is no histogram in 4K.

And I have the XDCA extension connected but I can't access to ProRes format, it's in gray, even in 1920 x1080 ! Is it normal ?

Thanks
 
Did you update the extension unit as well? Two separate updates. Must update both. And ProRes is only 1080.

Ned Soltz
 
I have made an "all reset" and now I have the histogram in 4K.

I'm going to see the update for the extension Unit. Thanks
 
Duol said:
I have made an "all reset" and now I have the histogram in 4K.

I'm going to see the update for the extension Unit. Thanks
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do you get the histogram in 4K with LUTs (in the VF) on? i did the upgrade and reset and only have waveform/histogram if i do NOT have LUTs enabled...

sony does have quite a foothold in hollywood...they have a studio:)....
netflix just shot the most expensive show ever (marco polo) on the F55....
i have a pretty good source who told me that a F5 follow up is coming out...this will probably also be a F55 follow up since those two won't get two separate upgrades....the FS7 is the base, the F? the mid-higher production camera and there is a F65 follow up planned but who knows when...
 
Hi Paul,

I have not yet tested LUTs, sorry ! I have received the camera just Wednesday.
 
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Question: For the sake of sanity, is everyone rebuilding their ALL FILES or just doing a factory reset and loading their V1.10 ALL FILES back up? I did the factory reset and reloaded my V1.10 ALL FILES into the camera. No problems so far *knock on wood*
 
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