Used F65?

Looking at the System Associates website they have 9 F65's for sale, though being in Australia I have no idea if they are trust worthy. I assume people are getting rid of them because, A) they probably don't rent to well, and/or B) making way for some Sony Venice cameras.

It is interesting that even several of the owners on here have either sold, or are selling, their packages. So as beautiful as they are, they are probably a pain to use. I've never shot on one, however I've shot on plenty of Alexa and it can feel pretty brutal using a Classic after shooting on a Mini.

Any brief F65 owners want to weigh in on the experience of ownership?
 
Dan Pears said:
Looking at the System Associates website they have 9 F65's for sale, though being in Australia I have no idea if they are trust worthy. I assume people are getting rid of them because, A) they probably don't rent to well, and/or B) making way for some Sony Venice cameras.

It is interesting that even several of the owners on here have either sold, or are selling, their packages. So as beautiful as they are, they are probably a pain to use. I've never shot on one, however I've shot on plenty of Alexa and it can feel pretty brutal using a Classic after shooting on a Mini.

Any brief F65 owners want to weigh in on the experience of ownership?
Click to expand...

Listing says they are in Los Angeles.
 
I saw that rental house selling off all their F65s. Some were selling for $20k, while others were selling for $13k.
Not sure why exactly they are selling them now, as opposed to any other time, but I can image the F65s were not big money makers for them, or any other rental house in the US.

I have one, because when I bought one I got a really good price, and I actually really like what I'm able to achieve with it. I had used the camera on two projects prior to buying one.

They are heavy, but if you're operating the big Alexa fully built, you know what that's like. Other than the weight, it's actually really good to use. Great timecode, boots up very quickly, can power accessories from the body, internal NDs, multiple 10bit 422 video outputs for monitoring, with custom LUTs, good audio inputs for camera hops, generating files with synced sound, very robust in wet and sub freezing temperatures, very quiet when rolling, one touch playback, easy menus, and just about the most rubost files you can work with, ACES ready. As far as usability, I find it just a margin better than the Alexa. The only thing I'd give to the Alexa is that highlight handling, and the 4:3 sensor.

It's only suuuper heavy if you're comparing with pro-sumer cameras, or Red and Alexa mini.

I just shot a feature that was mostly hand-held. It was not easy at all. But an Alexa wouldn't have made much of a difference.

I'll probably also sell mine at some point this year or next year. Thats just the way it is, I guess. Lots of Alexa classics on the market as well. Just the way it goes. I won't be selling it because it's a bad camera, but only selling it if I'm in the position to either invest in the Alexa mini or a Venice. If not, I'll hang on to it :)

The influx of F65s is mostly one or two places offloading multiple cameras. Maybe it does have to do with the Venice. But you'd have to ask them, I suppose.
 
System Associates is fine I have purchased from them a couple of times. Everything I purchased from them belonged to and was shipped directly from Otto Nemenez.
 
I imagine the price drop has to do with the beastly nature of the camera itself. Especially now that manufacturers are moving away from the mammoth camera support systems and trying to service the current trend of modern digital cinema cameras, which are much smaller, lighter, and gimbal-able.

It also semi-recently became "discontinued" by Sony, so perhaps that signaled to these sellers that it's older/less desirable technology. I, however, would love to get my hands on one. I love the image these produce and am a glutton for punishment in the hand held department.
 
I would be very interested in getting one but I think a RED Epic Dragon would be a better overall investment as it’s smaller, higher resolution, easier to use workflow-wise, and has great third-party accessory support. The F65, from all that I’ve read has a truly great 4K image but is a locked into a proprietary system environment where you’re stuck with Sony’s media, workflow, and a limited accessory base. The problem with that scenario, of course, is that if a part breaks it may cost more to fix the part than simply buying another camera on the used market. So, with the 4K resolution limit and constrained workflow with widespread 8K coming soon and all around modularity being key, the F65 is a hard sell. Again, it’s a camera I would be interested in because of the great image it produces but I already have a RED One MX and I know how it is to be locked in to a proprietary system with the REDMag SSD’s and with affordable 8K coming down the line it’s almost like when the Sony F3 started crashing down price wise, it’s just too late to invest that much in yesterday’s technology. In my case, I can at least get up to 6K with a bump upgrade to a RED Epic Dragon whereas the F65, despite the 8K sensor is always going to be 4K.
 
Last edited:
There is literally almost no point in going beyond 4K for delivery and if that 4k is a high quality non chroma subsampled down sampled from an 8k like the F65 there is nothing to be gained with 8k other than increases file sizes, higher memory requirements and longer render times. There is barely an appreciable difference between HD and 4k and there will be none with 4k and 8k other than maybe VR. The whole resolution race is pointless and I wish they would focus more on better quality sensors than higher resolution ones.
 
Dan Pears said:
Looking at the System Associates website they have 9 F65's for sale, though being in Australia I have no idea if they are trust worthy.
Click to expand...


System Associates is Otto Nemenz based out of Los Angeles. Its technically a company they bought many moons ago, but for the most part its just their ebay store. If you pick anything up instead of having it shipped, you'll go to Otto in Los Angeles. I've bought from them before and they do a full service on anything they sell like it was going out on a feature. They're clearing out the F65s cause 1 no one wants to deal with them when the F55 is easier and 2 the Venice are on their way in, if not already in
 
Dan Pears said:
Hi David,

Mind me asking why you sold? In another thread you mentioned looking to purchase an Alexa Classic, what is the preference of the Alexa over the F65? I've shot heaps of Alexa (Classic, Mini and Amira), but never F65.
Click to expand...

I purchased the F65 because of a client requirement at the time. It's a great camera capable of delivering a fantastic look. Unfortunately said client ran up a huge bill, then filed bankruptcy. One of 3 that pulled the same stunt with over $300K in losses. I sold the F65 along with most of my higher end gear to pay my freelance crew what was owed.

I was thinking about picking up a used Alexa Classic for the car shoots I still do because I like the look and they are dirt cheap now.

Dave
 
David W. Jones said:
I purchased the F65 because of a client requirement at the time. It's a great camera capable of delivering a fantastic look. Unfortunately said client ran up a huge bill, then filed bankruptcy. One of 3 that pulled the same stunt with over $300K in losses. I sold the F65 along with most of my higher end gear to pay my freelance crew what was owed.

I was thinking about picking up a used Alexa Classic for the car shoots I still do because I like the look and they are dirt cheap now.

Dave
Click to expand...

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply, and sorry about the dirt bag client.

If you don't require 4K and don't mind a heavy camera, the Alexa Classic is an amazing deal.
 
David W. Jones said:
I purchased the F65 because of a client requirement at the time. It's a great camera capable of delivering a fantastic look. Unfortunately said client ran up a huge bill, then filed bankruptcy. One of 3 that pulled the same stunt with over $300K in losses. I sold the F65 along with most of my higher end gear to pay my freelance crew what was owed.

I was thinking about picking up a used Alexa Classic for the car shoots I still do because I like the look and they are dirt cheap now.

Dave
Click to expand...

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch... :cry: That's horrible Dave.

Alexa always looks gorgeous, and is rock solid. I'd say it's a very safe bet for a while yet.
 
Grug said:
Alexa always looks gorgeous, and is rock solid. I'd say it's a very safe bet for a while yet.
Click to expand...

Plus I expect the Arri Alexa Classic is going to drop in price slower than the Sony F65, because sadly the F65 just doesn't have the same brand recognition thus I bet it will continue to slide down in price faster than Arri will.

However all bets are off once Arri launches their new sensor, who knows how big (or small) the impact on Arri secondhand prices that will mean.
 
At this point the Alexa Classic is much cheaper used than the F65.

I'm sure they will both continue to drop in price. But I have looked at a couple of used Alexa's for half of a used F65 price.
 
Very good price indeed. Wish the F65 had been the 4K F35 the name implied. I would be jumping on these deals. But it never matched the F35 mojo and pleasant images. At some point I will have to replace my Alexa with something 4K. But so far there is nothing 4K or beyond which beats the F35 and Alexa. Cameras come and cameras go and the mojo of these 2 is still unmatched. The only thing I'm seeing which could do that at all is the Venice. But it's still unproved and it will be a while till I can justify the price of a Venice.
 
dhessel said:
System Associates is fine I have purchased from them a couple of times. Everything I purchased from them belonged to and was shipped directly from Otto Nemenez.
Click to expand...

System Associates is new to me. And speaking of sellers that are new to me, lately my google searches are returning this seller:

https://bogorcinema.com

Their prices are significantly lower than just about anyone else. Bogor has a selling price of $9974.00 on a 100mm ARRI Ultra Prime. That price is about 66% of the price on B&H. What am I missing here? Are the Bogor prices a result of the exchange rate? Until recently I'd never heard of Bogor...but now Bogor regularly comes up under the "shopping" header whenever you enter cinema and photo products into a google search.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top