F55: Sony F''s now shipping

I believe there is a company in Arizona that makes these eyecups with the iris-like rubber curtain. I vaguely recon they are a military contractor and hold the patent on it.
I'm sure they wouldn't mind going commercial....
 
Was that Sony? I thought those were an aftermarket company making those. They were certainly clever and inexpensive - wonder why they are not more common.
 
Nate Weaver said:
Yeah. I would like to know how many folks have heard from their dealers...

I've seen via Twitter 2 separate rental companies in Burbank/Glendale got their units yesterday. Time to make a call... :-)
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Just finished paperwork yesterday for F55. Hoping for a "large" shipment palette of cameras at Abel.

Don't forget to shoot a pic of the palette of cameras on the dock, Mitch!
 
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The very first F55s are more a trickle than a palette, but soon they will arrive in volume.

It is indeed a new plug on the EVF cable. Same connector, but angled up so the cable does not protrude beyond he width of the audio jacks on the camera.

The OLED EVF has a clever design to prevent burn-in. There is a proximity sensor just next to the diopter. When you pull your head away the screen goes white. This protects the panel from the focused ray of ligt from the sun. A little disconcerting at first but effective. Our QC prep tech came running to me afraid the very first unit was broken but then I explained that it was a good thing!!
 
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Mitch Gross said:
The very first F55s are more a trickle than a palatte, but soon they will arrive in volume.
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Ah yes, the inaugural trickle. Since there was word there was a small fleet ready to go sans current firmware, I was hoping for more, but this is still good.

Thank you for this, Mitch. I'm waiting anxiously for mine through Burbank, there's at least two of us on this board who are early deposits and already paid in full! It must be amusing to watch over and over again the anticipation of new camera shipments firsthand.

The angle on the shipping cable is not what I expected, I assumed it would angle backwards. Odd. I wonder if eventually a right angle connector will be available, if even through 3M and we can make custom cables. Or maybe the thing won't get snagged after all.
 
I'm not sure that I understand how lighting up the OLED elements keeps a concentration of focused light (the sun) from damaging the panel?

I always though the B&W CRT finders were less susceptible mainly because the object receiving the (tiny point) of heat was a glass tube...whereas LCDs have a plastic surface usually and it melts at lower temp?

Either way, I'll accept and assume they know something I don't and somehow it does the job if they say so.
 
The F5 and F55 cameras that were recently shipped, can not be 'booted' or started up without a new SONY viewfinder. Which simply means that the 'first menu' to set date and time can not be seen through another output on a NONE-Sony New viewfinder. A technical 'firmware' update workaround is now being prepared. It will 'reroute' the Menu info through one of the SDI outputs. Until this issue is resolved, dispatch of F5 and F55 has been halted. Who wants a camera ... without a viewfinder ?
 
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beta-test.jpg
 
Very much like the Epic/Scarlet that needs the propitiatory Touch LCD or Bomb EVF initially.

Red ended up doing some custom firmwares for users that didn't have Red displays and wanted to use other monitors (mainly the Scarlet users who wanted to use existing panels and were saving cash by not getting the Touch LCD).

Very odd that Sony make such an odd first step... you'd really have thought video would output from at least one sdi - even just a ref signal.

What next - very long blackshades? LOL

Agree with Starcentral - very 'beta' for Sony.
 
There's *always* something when a camera ships.

There's also a tweet from @Cinealtanews this morning saying more are going out the door this week, so I'm not so worried.

Now that dealers know about it, I doubt it's too much issue to get through the set-up in-office before a camera is sent out.
 
Yeah I'm mostly just razzing, what's a shipment without a hiccup.

Now only if the hiccup could have been an F65 in each box instead of F5/F55.... :cool:
 
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nkerezov said:
Sony looks just like RED with promissing stuff ,but then.....
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I think all of the manufacturers are guilty of this these days, in order to be competitive. It's really rough out there, because now the norm is to announce cameras and features after it's deemed possible and work is underway, but before they are completed. Who are you going to buy from if you're sick of this? Blackmagic? Canon? Red? They've all had their rocky points.

Arri is on top in one or two respects (and not due to paper specs), so they have somewhat less pressure to do so. So it's a matter of degrees.

There is one manu out there that has taken it too far though, and I personally said "enough".

I only feel compelled to speak up because Sony historically has always been the most conservative in marketing, and 9.5 times out of ten they come through on timelines and features. Some aspects of Sony drive me nuts, but there's a very reliable side to them as well.
 
If you can't beat 'em join 'em - and sorry but RED started that precedent back in 2005 so you can't blame Sony and truth be told I would do it too if planning to release a product. It's the world to "tomorrow" we seem to live in.

It's like keeping it a secret to all your current clients that you are planning to increase your services to 4k cameras in both lite codec and raw formats.
 
Some units have 'trickled down' ... but reception wasn't great. One can look forward to his new 4K camera, but some essential things should be working when you unpack it from the box. Besides the already known story about the 'startup menu' not being output to any SDI at the moment, which basically makes it impossible to 'start' your camera without a new SONY F-Viewfinder, (viewfinders that are being shipped in single digit numbers!) ... as you can't get beyond the date and time setting ... (What were they thinking ? ) More issues with the the 'now shipping' firmware have surfaced ... Just as with the pre-production cameras, there is the complete lack of any decent exposure measurement tools. Besides zebras that only go to 50% there is NO spot meter, NO histogram and NO Waveform ... Does SONY really expect we all use a light meter or an external monitor that has those features ? 'NOW Shipping' is one statement ... but this is not what I would call a 'ready for production use' release!

I did not 'copy paste' Alistar Chapmans first expressions on his new F5 ... we just came to exactly the same conclusion. I just feel a bit less 'an idiot' now, when others express themselves the same way ... that a lot is missing with this 'now shipping' 'firmware'.
 
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