F3: The cameras and lenses actually used in major motion pictures!

Duke M.

Duke M.

Veteran
The Arri Alexa still seems to be the most popular despite being 1080p, so even the F3 (being a baby Alexa) should keep on chugging along.

RECENT RELEASES:

After Earth
Canon EOS C500
Sony CineAlta F65, Cooke S4 and Angenieux Optimo Lenses

Oblivion
Red Epic, Zeiss Master Prime and Fujinon Premier Lenses (cloud shots)
Sony CineAlta F65, Zeiss Master Prime and Fujinon Premier Lenses

Pacific Rim
Red Epic, Zeiss Ultra Prime and Angenieux Optimo Lenses

The Lone Ranger
Arri Alexa Studio, Panavision C- and G-Series Lenses (some scenes)
Arriflex 435, Panavision C- and G-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2, Panavision C- and G-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Platinum, Panavision C- and G-Series Lenses

Love is All You Need
Arri Alexa

World War Z
Arri Alexa M, Panavision Primo and Super Speed MKII Lenses
Arri Alexa Studio, Panavision Primo and Super Speed MKII Lenses
Arriflex 435, Panavision Primo Lenses

This is the End
Red Epic, Panavision G-Series, ATZ and AWZ2 Lenses

Star Trek Into Darkness
Arriflex 435 ES, Panavision Primo, C-, E-Series, ATZ and AWZ2 Lenses
IMAX MSM 9802, Hasselblad Lenses
Iwerks MSM 8870, Hasselblad Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2, Panavision Primo, C-, E-Series, ATZ and AWZ2 Lenses
Red Epic (some shots)

Iron Man 3
Arri Alexa Studio, Leica Summilux and Zeiss Ultra Prime Lenses
Arri Alexa, Leica Summilux and Zeiss Ultra Prime Lenses
Phantom Flex, Leica Summilux-C and Zeiss Ultra Prime Lenses (high-speed shots)

White House Down
Arri Alexa Plus, Zeiss Master Prime, Ultra Prime, Master Macro, Lightweight Zoom and Fujinon Premier Lenses

Man of Steel
Arriflex 235, Panavision C- and E-Series Lenses
Arriflex 435 ES, Panavision C- and E-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2, Panavision C- and E-Series Lenses
Red Epic (5K)

Now You See Me
Arriflex 235, Panavision C-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Gold II, Panavision Primo, C- and G-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Lightweight, Panavision C- and G-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2, Panavision Primo, C- and G-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Platinum, Panavision Primo, C- and G-Series Lenses

Mud
Arriflex 235, Panavision G-Series Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2, Panavision G-Series and ATZ Lenses


OLDER RELEASES:

Avatar
PACE Fusion 3-D
Sony CineAlta F23, Canon and Fujinon Lenses
Sony CineAlta HDC-1500, Canon and Fujinon Lenses
Sony CineAlta HDC-F950, Canon and Fujinon Lenses

Bones
Sony CineAlta F35, Zeiss Ultra Prime, Angenieux Optimo and Fujinon Lenses (season 5-)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Sony CineAlta F23

Cloverfield
Panasonic AG-HSC1U
Panasonic AG-HVX200
Sony CineAlta F23
Thomson VIPER FilmStream Camera

Collateral
PanArri 435, Panavision Primo Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL, Panavision Primo Lenses
Panavision Panaflex Millennium, Panavision Primo Lenses
Sony CineAlta HDW-F900, Zeiss DigiPrime Lenses
Thomson VIPER FilmStream Camera, Zeiss DigiPrime Lenses

From Prada to Nada
Sony CineAlta F35

Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Sony HDW-F900
Sony Cameras, Panavision Lenses

Red Tails
Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EOS 7D
Sony CineAlta F35, Zeiss Master Prime and Angenieux Optimo Lenses
 
Duke one things for sure, now that the basic Alexa model has been reduced in price its conveivable to maybe get a used one for $30k and that's something seriously worth considering... I'd dump my F55 in a heart beat for one.
 
Interesting to hear that, Dennis--are you not loving your F55? I've used it a few times and I've decided to wait until it is a more fully realized and enabled camera system to really give it a fair shake, but given the 4K, global shutter etc. I would have thought it wouldn't have been a "dump in a heart beat" situation.

Still, the Alexa is still my weapon of choice. Simple, intuitive, rock-solid and great images. Even at 1080 it's a great cinema camera (I have a feature coming out shot at 1080 4:4:4:4 and I feel confident no-one will sit in the theatre wondering about resolution).
 
I'm definitely loving the F55 but the Alexa as I'm sure you already know has the best internal highlight handling characteristics from any camera I know that can record using a log gamma format.
 
I still think the F3 is underrated, I cant believe how fast it depreciated over the last few years, Tech moves fast, but damn, I wouldn't have expected it to drop in half that quick. I'm thinking about grabbing one now that their so cheap.
 
The F3 is an amazing camera, I shot it a lot without 10-bit or slog using cine gammas depending on the lighting and contrast of the scenes. Most of the work I did was in 8-bit, and some of it looked amazing.

I went to F5/F55 in hopes of more mojo in the highlights and think so far feel it's better than the F3, but highlight management and that elusive film look probably only matters to a very small percentage of users on this board.
 
starcentral said:
The F3 is an amazing camera, I shot it a lot without 10-bit or slog using cine gammas depending on the lighting and contrast of the scenes. Most of the work I did was in 8-bit, and some of it looked amazing.

I went to F5/F55 in hopes of more mojo in the highlights and think so far feel it's better than the F3, but highlight management and that elusive film look probably only matters to a very small percentage of users on this board.
Click to expand...

I've had some very nice shoots with the F3, but with 10 bit and S-Log it really shines. That's when it becomes the baby Alexa.
 
From what I've seen footage-wise I agree. I just got my 10-bit recorder before selling the F3 so never really got a chance to give it a good go in 10-bit. (BTW I have the Hyperdeck shuttle v2 with cheeseplate, rail block, d-tap to dc jack, v-mount plate, d-tap splitter all listed in the marketplace if anyone is interested.)
 
My experience with the F3, which I described elsewhere here so apologies for the redundancy, was that the S-log made all the difference (as it effectively removed the Sony "look" and made the images much more malleable) but the bit depth was more subtle. Obviously it's always best to start with a "thick negative" but after shooting a very demanding season of television recording to XDCAM, I never saw any banding issues or had the codec fall apart on me. Granted we were recording externally to XDCAM disc (so 4:2:2 50 mbs vs the 4:2:0 35 mbs of the internal cards) which helped a little, but it was still 8 bit no matter how you slice it.

I've always wanted to a do a test of the Alexa, C300 and F3 shooting the same scene in their respective log modes and graded to match as closely as possible to see which is more deserving of the "baby Alexa" moniker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top