F65: Woody Allen and Vittorio Storaro go for the F65 on Woody's first digital film

Mitch Gross said:
In its first year on the market, one could not shoot ARRIRAW on the Alexa. It was not available and the first production in ARRIRAW was "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," which started rolling some 9 months after the camera first shipped. For the first three years I would say that 95% of work done on the Alexa was all recorded in ProRes on the internal SxS cards. Compare this to the F65, which offers no workflow other than RAW, and at its introduction that workflow was complicated and very slow. Because of that, no one and I mean no one wanted to use the camera. It took several years for the rest of the support system to catch up to the camera body, but by then there were already other choices on the market. By then the damage was done, and that's tough when your a rental house investing in a +$100K camera system. It's a huge pile of cash sitting on the shelf gathering dust.
Click to expand...

Wait.... WHAT??? Seriously?? Oh my goodness, this explains everything! Why was Sony so dumb??

Is this still true now in late 2015 that it has nothing else than raw??? Does it not at least have an output option so you could capture 4K with an Odyssey or similar in easy to handle ProRes?
 
IronFilm said:
Wait.... WHAT??? Seriously?? Oh my goodness, this explains everything! Why was Sony so dumb??

Is this still true now in late 2015 that it has nothing else than raw??? Does it not at least have an output option so you could capture 4K with an Odyssey or similar in easy to handle ProRes?
Click to expand...

No, it's pretty much only 1080p monitor out ports, 1080p compressed recording (SRMaster though, so an top notch codec) to the docked recorder, or 4k/6k raw to the docked recorder. You can only access the raw stream via the docked recorder, and outside of possibly a very high end fiber feed that raw recorder is pretty much it. No easy 4K prores or Odyssey workflow.
 
Viddovation said:
No, it's pretty much only 1080p monitor out ports, 1080p compressed recording (SRMaster though, so an top notch codec) to the docked recorder, or 4k/6k raw to the docked recorder. You can only access the raw stream via the docked recorder, and outside of possibly a very high end fiber feed that raw recorder is pretty much it. No easy 4K prores or Odyssey workflow.
Click to expand...

To be fair, 4k compressed recording (to ProRes at least) is kinda silly, given it's basically as data intensive as 3:1 compressed 4k Sony Raw. But offering HD/2k ProRes at 1-120fps, and 4k XAVC are very useful options to have available.

The ProRes board for the F5(5) was a total waste of time because they only included 24/25/30p recording at ProRes4444 and 60p only at 4:2:2 flavours - and not having any proper offspeed recording options, really nullifies the appeal of most codecs.
 
I am a bit slow at the minute because of being in LA, but as others have pointed out - recording 4k 444 prores on the F65 would be pointless. SR lite is almost the same size and has a lot more information to play with.
 
Hmmmm.... so this means "x years" (be that 5yrs, or 7yrs, or whatever) down the track once the F65 has seen a large drop in price, then it seems like there won't be any easy way to tap into accessing using the F65 cheaply like people are doing with the F35? Pity. As will still need the same awkward raw workflow that held it back from being popular back when it was first released.
 
I think Sony needs to get into the VR camera game. I think as of now, I don't see any professional options and optics for shooting good VR stuff beyond crappy gopro rigs. Ugg no thanks. Slog 2 vr
 
Hey Mitch, has the Varicam 35 been making a lot of inroads? For me it's been all Alexa, then F55/ FS7. One camera that has dropped off has been Red, though I shot with a Dragon for 3 days last week. Have had heard nothing about the Varicam 35.

Ed, you're in a better spot than me. Producers are still dictating camera choice, more often than not because of Post and Post workflow and THEIR preferences. I just grin and bare it.

As for the armchair thing, once the local multiplex went all digital projection, even watching films shot on 35mm I thought- what's the point now- it looks like video...
 
JMtheDP said:
Mitch

The odd thing is, I recall the original RED being an utter pig on all fronts, didn't stop them being massively popular.
Click to expand...

It is because RED offered something at a price point never before seen. RED One would've been dead in the water if close in price to a F35/F65

Which btw, is what BMD repeated a few years later with their BMCC. Also offered something at a price never before seen. And also was initially a pain to work with in many ways. But hugely hugely successful because: "it offered something never before seen at that price point".
 
klk said:
Hey Mitch, has the Varicam 35 been making a lot of inroads? For me it's been all Alexa, then F55/ FS7. One camera that has dropped off has been Red, though I shot with a Dragon for 3 days last week. Have had heard nothing about the Varicam 35.

Ed, you're in a better spot than me. Producers are still dictating camera choice, more often than not because of Post and Post workflow and THEIR preferences. I just grin and bare it.

As for the armchair thing, once the local multiplex went all digital projection, even watching films shot on 35mm I thought- what's the point now- it looks like video...
Click to expand...
The VariCam 35 has been doing rather well in gaining traction. I've seen it used more often then I would have expected at this point. Mind you there are a LOT of Alexas out there but the Panasonic is working its way in. It's a very attractive camera with a number of interesting features.
 
IronFilm said:
Yup, but not a camera! ;) Like the R1 & BMCC is.
Click to expand...

Oh! But it is! There totally is a lens on the O7Q+, it's just been disabled by firmware and will suddenly be available on the O7Q++AwesomeMoneyGrabEdition++.
It's all a conspiracy! The lens is only the size of an iPhone, but it's global shutter and has optical Leprechaun stabilization. The tiny leprechauns also personally paint in the bokeh frame by frame so it's just as if you'd had a 65mm lens on the front, but without having to buy any glass whatsover. The future is here! But it's being held hostage by greedy malevolent wizards!
 
I watched Oblivion on Blu-Ray a few days ago. I hadn't seen it in some time, so I saw it with something of a fresh eye and was reminded of just how good the IQ out of the F65 can be. Obviously Claudio Miranda is a huge factor in how the movie looks, but the quality of the images produced by the F65 is very evident. There is a clarity and sophistication to the color palette and tonality that is very pleasing and delicately rendered. No odd color shifts or muddiness like I notice from other cameras. Skin tones looked great and natural.
 
strancali said:
What's the current going price for the F65?
Click to expand...

They were going for as low as $25,000 USD recently, but the price seems to have gone back up a fair bit. Locally, here in Australia we have a few TV series shooting on them apparently, and a feature or two.

I was hoping to get a cheap rental on an underused one for a feature I have coming up next year - but the camera is actually busy enough at the rental house that I can't get it any cheaper than an Alexa. So clearly some people are seeing it's merits, just a shame you never hear about any of it because the marketing effort is so poor.

I finally got around to watching Belle recently, and that was a beautiful looking picture. Very crisp and clear without any diffusion, but a gorgeous look regardless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top