FS7: Odyssey 7Q S-Log3 compatibility update

S

S.Blanchardon

Well-known member
Hi Mitch and everyone,

My XDCA-FS7 is on it's way and I will probably receive it tomorrow !

Back at IBC, you told us that the compatibility update for the Odyssey 7Q to record FS RAW stream from FS7 with S-Log3 would be out the time of the XDCA-FS7 release :smile:

I know it's not an easy task for your engineers but can we expect it for this week ?

Many thanks.
Stéphane.
 
I might get mine tomorrow, too... I have a shoot I'm flying out for on Thursday morning, totally forgot about the fact that the RAW signal will be Slog3 from the FS7... Might have to just try out the internal ProRes and not use the 7Q.

I've unfortunately learned to take CD's timing estimates with a large helping of salt. "Monthly" updates were supposed to start around April, I think? Then months of no updates. When they announced 4K ProRes recording on Sept 11th, the press release said (and I'm quoting here) "The Odyssey7Q September Firmware Update, with 4K ProRes recording capability, is due later this month." Needless to say, it didn't arrive in September. In fact, it barely released in October (came out the 28th of October).

Sony said the XDCA-FS7 would come out in "December", which usually means "end of December." I know I didn't anticipate units actually arriving the first few days of December! CD maybe was hoping for an extra couple weeks of development before the unit actually landed in the hands of users.
 
Hi Josh,

You may be right about the extra weeks of development...

Still, Convergent Design keeps in touch closely with Sony so they know when and where XDCA-FS7 are released.

What I'm amazed is that Sony delivered the extension units at the said date ! (first week of December)

I know, and I say that out of respect, that in the past Mitch got carried away regarding firmware update releases and that it caused some harm from angry customers.

This time he sounded pretty confident that it would be available at the same time as XDCA-FS7 release.
 
Thanks Mitch,

That's disappointing considering you told us that it would be ready on day 1 of XDCA-FS7 availability :( (OK, maybe not on day 1 but as soon as ! )

It would be best for me if it could be ready for next week... not that it would change anything though !
 
John at BandPro told me that the XDCA-FS7 doesn't do ProRes yet... So if that isn't functional and we can't use the Odyssey7Q on the RAW output... I basically just have a glorified v-mount adapter showing up on my doorstep, haha.

Anyone have the XDCA-FS7 already?
 
Unfortunately, Josh, Sony said from the beginning that ProRes would come as a free firmware update to the XDCA in early 2015. And I don't recall Mitch saying that FS-7 RAW support would be available the day the XDCA FS7 shipped. I'm not being critical-- just saying that sometimes with new gear important details can get lost in all the noise and also that we sometimes have immediate expectations. So take a deep breath. RAW will come within a few weeks and the ProRes update will brighten a long winter day early in the new year. And you can still expense or depreciate the XDCA FS-7 in 2014.

Ned
 
nsoltz said:
Unfortunately, Josh, Sony said from the beginning that ProRes would come as a free firmware update to the XDCA in early 2015. And I don't recall Mitch saying that FS-7 RAW support would be available the day the XDCA FS7 shipped. I'm not being critical-- just saying that sometimes with new gear important details can get lost in all the noise and also that we sometimes have immediate expectations. So take a deep breath. RAW will come within a few weeks and the ProRes update will brighten a long winter day early in the new year. And you can still expense or depreciate the XDCA FS-7 in 2014.

Ned
Click to expand...

Oh, I know. I couldn't remember specifically about ProRes support and I had forgotten that Slog3 needed to be supported in the 7Q before being able to capture RAW from the XDCA. I was hoping my "haha" on my last comment would indicate that I'm not taking it too seriously. I'm not upset or worried. I had the Odyssey7Q last December... It wasn't until March that it could record 4K RAW and 1080p ProRes. So I'm not really a stranger to having gear before its potential is unlocked.
 
Good to hear. Just trying to be a bit therapeutic. Should really open a camera-anxiety counseling practice ;)

Ned
 
I do recall Mitch saying or rather typing, that S-Log3 compatibility update would be available as soon as extension unit came off. If my memory serves right it sounded like an "easy" job to make FS RAW recording S-Log3 compatible, but I may have overlooked things.

Anyway, I did receive the unit yesterday so as for now it's a brick for (battery) bricks... Save some useful things like power I/O Genlock and Timecode.
 
Hi Mitch,

Will the 7Q on the FS7 have the exact same functionality as the FS700? RAW, 4K2HD, 4K4UHD?

I could see 4K ProRes and the great monitor of the 7Q being very tempting to FS7 owners. I know in my market, there a huge biased towards Pro-Res over XAVC and seems like now everyone wants 4K. I know the FS7 Pro-Res will only be HD, major minus. Also, the media for the 7Q is so much cheaper than XQD cards, so you'd be able to fit so much more Pro-Res on the 7Q.

Seems like there could be a bit of a market for the 7Q in the FS7 land.
 
S.Blanchardon said:
I do recall Mitch saying or rather typing, that S-Log3 compatibility update would be available as soon as extension unit came off. If my memory serves right it sounded like an "easy" job to make FS RAW recording S-Log3 compatible, but I may have overlooked things.

Anyway, I did receive the unit yesterday so as for now it's a brick for (battery) bricks... Save some useful things like power I/O Genlock and Timecode.
Click to expand...
I did in fact type this. We did the matching work for the S-Log3 but then Sony (to their credit) changed the signal processing and improved white point accuracy and other aspects of the signal. So we had to go back to do our matching work and that made it too late for our last update. But the work is complete and will be in the next firmware.
 
gene_can_sing said:
Hi Mitch,

Will the 7Q on the FS7 have the exact same functionality as the FS700? RAW, 4K2HD, 4K4UHD?

I could see 4K ProRes and the great monitor of the 7Q being very tempting to FS7 owners. I know in my market, there a huge biased towards Pro-Res over XAVC and seems like now everyone wants 4K. I know the FS7 Pro-Res will only be HD, major minus. Also, the media for the 7Q is so much cheaper than XQD cards, so you'd be able to fit so much more Pro-Res on the 7Q.

Seems like there could be a bit of a market for the 7Q in the FS7 land.
Click to expand...
We agree!

The Odyssey7Q will do everything on the FS7 that it does on the FS700. The only exception is the 4K 120p burst, because the FS7 doesn't have the internal buffer.

BTW, there's more FS7/FS700 functionality coming in the next firmware.
 
Mitch Gross said:
We agree!

The Odyssey7Q will do everything on the FS7 that it does on the FS700. The only exception is the 4K 120p burst, because the FS7 doesn't have the internal buffer.

BTW, there's more FS7/FS700 functionality coming in the next firmware.
Click to expand...

This is great to hear. I've got my XDCA showing up soon (Monday at the latest). I'll be anxiously awaiting the firmware update (like usual!)
 
Mitch Gross said:
I did in fact type this. We did the matching work for the S-Log3 but then Sony (to their credit) changed the signal processing and improved white point accuracy and other aspects of the signal. So we had to go back to do our matching work and that made it too late for our last update. But the work is complete and will be in the next firmware.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your honest answer Mitch !

At least it's a fair enough situation where you are not to blame and it can't be helped.

I understand you can't blame Sony openly as they are your business partners but it's good on the customer side to know the whereabouts of such situation, at least if you want to keep our trust.

Cheers.
 
Again, to Sony's credit, they discovered where they could make an improvement to the camera's signal output. Rather than shrugging and stating, "Oh well..." and shipping what they had, Sony instead chose to implement changes and improve the camera. It threw off the schedule but only by a few weeks and in the end I think it well worth it.
 
We can't blame them for wanting to deliver something better indeed !

Again, I think it's best to let the customers be aware of such issues if they arise, at least to know why we wait.

Cheers.
 
Hi Mitch,

Any idea if you can record to 7Q SSDs and also to QXDs simulataneously for a backup?

That would be amazing and more secure for important shoots.
 
gene_can_sing said:
Hi Mitch,

Any idea if you can record to 7Q SSDs and also to QXDs simulataneously for a backup?

That would be amazing and more secure for important shoots.
Click to expand...

My experience wasn't with the RAW output (obviously, it's not available yet) but I did a shoot where I recorded 1080p to the XQD cards while sending the SDI out into the 7Q in normal ProRes mode (not RAW to ProRes). I changed the camera setting on the 7Q to "F5" just so it would recognize Slog3... seemed to work fine. The LUT looked good when enabled. I ended up with ProRes from the 7Q and XAVC files on my XQD card as backup.
 
gene_can_sing said:
Hi Mitch,

Any idea if you can record to 7Q SSDs and also to QXDs simulataneously for a backup?

That would be amazing and more secure for important shoots.
Click to expand...

I can't thinking of any reason why you couldn't record 4K onboard and output 4K RAW at the same time.

Except not enough processing power or thermal management. Not happening on this camera !
 
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