FS7: New Sony F7 XDCAM 4K Super 35mm Camcorder

Ned

You tried the camera?

For it to 'work' it seems that the EVF and focus check need to be great.

Can you give me a sense of quality..

FS700 bad
EX1/F3 OK

Is there off centre focus check (which is there on the 100/700)

S
 
Haven't actually shot one yet. Going by a distant view and specs at the moment. Body quality is excellent and tight. The loupe seemed a little fragile and easy to become detached. But all that Sony has out there now are preproduction cameras.
 
By the looks of it the EVF reminds me of the EX3 which for me worked fine. Even the FS100 loupe was okay to me but the angle of that LCD screen was really poor.
 
Also just reading Sony's white paper on XAVC in general, the XAVC Long GOP format is HALF the datarate of regular XAVC Intra as found on the F5/F55... so if that's the case, you definitely wouldn't need the G line of cards - UNLESS of course Sony programs the cameras to only support the newer G line?! Or maybe the G line of cards are more "robust" for really long record times?

I also see from the FS7 brochure it will support both XAVC Long GOP and XAVC Intra... interesting little camera.

Guess time will tell about these cards.


Reference: Sony XAVC White Paper
 
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Question is if Prores is that big of a selling point these days? Prores has been the format preferred but that was until Adobe CC become so popular and the XAVC gained support. Raw is nice but me personally I wouldn't want to work with raw due to the massive amount of data.

I calculated a bit and came to the conclusion that going to the FS7 from the F3 I can sell my SxS stuff and that'll pay for the XQD cards and reader. I can sell my Prolock mkII and purchase both a speedbooster and regular smart adapter and I can keep my BP-U60 batteries for use on the FS7. Not so painful to make the switch then!
 
Osslund said:
I wish the FS7 have as good focus peaking as the F3.
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Eh? Surely the F3 onboard monitor is so badly positioned that you never use it... and the F3 does not feed Peaking to external monitor?

Personaly I consider the F3 to have - no monitor, no histos etc.!

WHich is a big up for the FS7 whose EVF may actually be of use?

S
 
Yes - a couple of things I'm interested in knowing at this point are -
- How accurate & useful is the color focus peaking in the EVF. (That seems to vary widely with cameras and monitors)

- is the camera processing actually equal to the image quality of an F5 ?

I'm also curious now in the the Sony 18-105 f4 SELP zoom which has IS, powered zoom and even auto focus all of which can be very valuable for hand held doc work. The range is excellent for the same work.
Apparently the lens has terrible distortion but the FS7 has distortion correction internally and with only a few limitations - ( no good on RAW or over 60 fps). The downsides to that could be a greatly increased power draw ( maybe that's where the possible 19 watts comes from) and perhaps loss of resolution. I'd like to check it out though as IS on a lens with a good hand held range would be great on these cameras. Its only $600 .
 
IMO focus peaking is dead. Fine for your 1/3 inch EX1 but no good with a prime at 2.0 with an S35 sensor.

Focus check (zoom in) is required, and this camera has it with the button in the right place - AND THAT IS SUPER - better than Alexa/F5/Red/700
 
morgan_moore said:
IMO focus peaking is dead. Fine for your 1/3 inch EX1 but no good with a prime at 2.0 with an S35 sensor.
Focus check (zoom in) is required, and this camera has it with the button in the right place - AND THAT IS SUPER - better than Alexa/F5/Red/700
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What I want is something that highlights the eyes when they are in focus!
I'm yet to use focus peaking that shows up in the eyes. Today with face recognition and even eye autofocus, there shouldn't be to hard to design a focus peaking thingie that highlights the eyes when they are in focus...

What I loved shooting live performances was the face recognition auto focus with the 18-200 PZ. If they improve this feature and make it more reliable/faster it would be a great selling point for e-mount lenses. Unfortunately, even though it's supported, it doesn't seem to work as well with the 35mm and 50mm lenses. Haven't tried any of the newer Sony e-mount lenses though.

With moving targets I don't find magnification to work very well... (Moving in an unplanned way that is)
 
Mitch Gross said:
Lot of work needed on that spreadsheet, sir.
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Very happy to take further work - in fact Ive given you privs to edit.

Im trying to see the wood for the trees.

Also media cost is a consideration XQD can mount up fast

Simply I think the FS7 is a great solo camera (where low mass and simplicity is king) but starts to fall apart once you build it up - at which point the 700/o7q f5 start to shine a little brighter.

Of course the 7q can also partner with a different 'head' like the new IO4k or my F3!

S
 
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Osslund said:
Question is if Prores is that big of a selling point these days? Prores has been the format preferred but that was until Adobe CC become so popular and the XAVC gained support. Raw is nice but me personally I wouldn't want to work with raw due to the massive amount of data.
Click to expand...

For me ProRes is a huge selling point and it will be even more important when Convergent Design implements their ProRes 4444 (hopefully 12 bit) capture with the FS7 and F700 from the 4K raw data stream. From the reports of F55 owners XAVC isn't quite as good as ProRes HQ so I expect with the 4:4:4 upgrade the gap between the two should get even wider.. I am even crossing my fingers for ProRes 4444 XQ support.

Of course all of that will change if Sony implements a 444 XAVC variant.
 
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morgan_moore said:
IMO focus peaking is dead. Fine for your 1/3 inch EX1 but no good with a prime at 2.0 with an S35 sensor.

Focus check (zoom in) is required, and this camera has it with the button in the right place - AND THAT IS SUPER - better than Alexa/F5/Red/700
Click to expand...

Focus peaking on the F5 (with the OLED EVF at least) is tremendous, mine is on permanently and makes confirming focus a breeze.
 
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