F5: Reams F5??

Most of you are owner/operators who can pick and choose what you do to your own cameras. I would not feel so bad if I had a F55 in a professional world because it is the supported Sony camera to shoot 4K internal. Rental houses and multi cam productions would probably have a lot more of an issue unofficially adding 4k to a F5 because it eliminates Sony's support of the camera. Don't get me wrong, i think this is incredible as you guys do. I just wanted to put in the perspective that a huge percent of sony's F55 and F5 clients are not the owner/operators who are represented here, they are large companies with insurance and legal departments and 12K for the official Sony 4k is probably still worthwhile.
 
So Sunday or Monday night, after I posted the All file hypothesis, I tried it with my friend's F5.

We couldn't get it working.

We found line 150 and were copying that line over from my F55s All file, but of course what we were missing was the md5 checksum, which I was thinking was a security hash with the camera's model # and serial number in it.

So kudos to Paul for sticking to it a bit longer. But I feel a little smart knowing I was on the right track.

I personally think Sony will either ignore this or even open it up, they just have to figure out how to "save face". It will drive F5 sales for another 12-18 months if they just let it go...
 
I can confirm that the MD5 file is not linked to camera serial number. It's created to make sure the ALL file is fully in tact.

Yes Nate you are smart indeed.

Ok now I will go back to being mad.
 
Nate Weaver said:
I personally think Sony will either ignore this or even open it up, they just have to figure out how to "save face". It will drive F5 sales for another 12-18 months if they just let it go...
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I checked B&H this morning. Out of stock on all their F5 cameras except for a package with a whole whack of accessory bits.

People may recall that Sony offerred their long range zoom lens to early adopters of the F3 at a substantial savings after the SLOG key upgrade episode was in full swing.

Nate could be onto something. Sony could very well see this as a blessing in disguise, particularly after IBC. Not only that, the early fall and even late summer is now the time when camera manufacturers trot out their new offerrings to be launched again at NAB. Time will certainly tell if Sony turns this into a win for themselves and their F series camera owners (particularly the F55 owners).
 
i also hope that sony will turn this into a win for them.

look at their their line-up
4k VDSLR out
4k consumer handycams out
4k prosumer handycams out
4k fs100 successor (suppose very soon)
4k fs700 out
4k f5 (hack)
4k f55 out

no other manufacturer is even close.

three solutions to deal with this imho
* ignore it - bad, really bad
* embrace it in V5, give F55ers a little bit back (as i said, there's money to be made with F55ers who might buy a Raw Recorder or something at a better price..)
*ignore it for now - embrace it at NAB when Dust has settled - very bad and very naughty...
 
starcentral said:
Chirp chirp many will not want to admit it in fear of repercussions. ie. warranty, resellability, law suits, bad karma etc.
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It's such a VERY simple hack, I'm not sure Sony will have a leg to stand on if they deny warrantee based on it. (but of course that may not stop them from trying) There is a log file the camera makes as it operates though, so service could probably tell if you've done it. How far back the log file goes though, I can't remember.

Lot of F5s are coming out of warrantee these days anyway.
 
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I can personally attest to the fact that does work, I saw it with my own eyes today on an F5.

Playback does not work, and you can't use the menu to change resolution modes, it's controlled through the All File.
 
If Sony would officially support 4K in the F5, I would seriously consider selling my FS700 + 7Q and upgrading.

Seems like 4K is just necessary in a camera that costs $16K base. Can they increase the resolution any higher than 4K for F55 users, like to 5K just to appease the justifiably angry F55 users? Or does the sensor not go any higher than 4K?

At this point, 4K is the sweet spot. Sure RED can do 6K, but since a huge majority of projects finish in HD, most people just use 4K for re-cropping or VFX plates. Anything more than 4K is icing on the cake, but probably not really needed. I've been loving shooting 4K and re-cropping / scaling down in post for HD finish.
 
My friend Greg did it and he says it works flawlessly. He said there are a few simple caveats but easy to deal with. Greg also said he's not going to undercut 55 guys by offering 4K to clients for 5 rental prices. Using it on a job might be a little sketchy and Greg would prob have the client rent a R5 just to be safe. 99% of Greg's clients have never even asked for 4K so this new feature is really just a novelty for Greg right now. Greg would be happier with MLUTs during HFR and noise reduction in Cine EI.
 
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Fotojorno said:
My friend Greg did it and he says it works flawlessly. He said there are a few simple caveats but easy to deal with. Greg also said he's not going to undercut 55 guys by offering 4K to clients for 5 rental prices. Using it on a job might be a little sketchy and Greg would prob have the client rent a R5 just to be safe.
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My friend Greg sold his F55 and bought an A7s and a Shogun...


All joking aside, Sony should study the release of Amira; one camera, three prices....
 
gene_can_sing said:
If Sony would officially support 4K in the F5, I would seriously consider selling my FS700 + 7Q and upgrading.

Seems like 4K is just necessary in a camera that costs $16K base. Can they increase the resolution any higher than 4K for F55 users, like to 5K just to appease the justifiably angry F55 users? Or does the sensor not go any higher than 4K?

At this point, 4K is the sweet spot. Sure RED can do 6K, but since a huge majority of projects finish in HD, most people just use 4K for re-cropping or VFX plates. Anything more than 4K is icing on the cake, but probably not really needed. I've been loving shooting 4K and re-cropping / scaling down in post for HD finish.
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Hey Gene,

You'd probably be a little disappointed in 4K XAVC. You can see compression in it when you push in on it.

You might be better off with the 700+7Q
 
Honestly this is loony tunes by sony!

One line of TXT - no bigger heatsinks or faster processors.

I bought the F3 used when I was perfectly capable of giving sony money for the f5.

Within months the gopro will do 4k,

Im currently doing a 4k project on bmc and gh4 - certainly we would be doing f5-4k if the release had be 6 months ago

Seems totally nuts not to officilise it

Well done Mr Ream!

S
 
Hey Nate & Dennis, as your both 55 owners, quick unrelated question, sorta..

If one, lets call him Greg. Wants a clean alias free 2K xavc deliverable, would filming in 4K xavc and down rezzing in post give you that?
 
You can tell Greg that I find even shooting in straight 4K alias free, and that you only get aliasing in HFR mode really but typically if you shoot 4K and downscale to 2K, or to HD with cropped sides it turns out just mighty fine.

Tell Greg hacking his camera will void the warranty, and give him very bad karma.
 
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