» Posts Tagged ‘sony’
I suppose it makes sense that with the $5,000 FS100 out there, Sony would not want to make the newly-announced $1,600 VG20 a direct competitor. At the same time, you’d think they would want the picture quality of the VG20 to be significantly better than the $600 NEX-5N hybrid camera. But here’s some video evidence from EOSHD’s Andrew Reid that shows otherwise: More »
I was in the room at this year’s NAB when Sony revealed the F65, and one of my first thoughts was to wonder why it was called the F65 if the F35 was named because its sensor size matched that of 35mm film. With their announcement today that the F65 will retail for $65k, perhaps the camera was named because of target price? Strange. The F65 has the same size sensor as the F35, but upgrades the pixel count to a “true” 4K (I’m putting “true” in quotes because the F65 has a nonstandard pixel array that producers a resolution of 8768 x 2324). More »
In addition to the A77, A65, NEX-7 and NEX-VG20, Sony will also soon be shipping the $600 NEX-5N, a diminutive, low-cost hybrid camera with an APS-C sensor. Despite the lack of a mirror (thus making the NEX-5N not a DSLR, technically), this camera should be capable of the same shallow depth-of-field images that have popularized HDSLRs, and a few sites have gotten their hands on it for testing purposes. Note that some of these videos follow the standard tradeshow practice of camera manufacturers: bring in female models to a predominantly male world in order to show “skin tones.” I’m not judging, just saying. To the tests: More »
Along with those intriguing hybrid cameras, Sony also made the NEX-VG20 official today, replacing the VG10. The VG20 shoots at 1080/60p (50p in PAL countries) using a 16 megapixel APS-HD CMOS sensor (what size is that, exactly?) and takes both Sony E-mount and A-mounts lenses, which should also allow for third-party adapters. Here’s the promo video: More »
Sony has announced several new hybrid still/video cameras, and they’ve got a number of innovative features to go with impressive specs. The flagship camera, the $1,399 A77, might just be the first significant new camera in the HDSLR market in quite some time — if it delivers on its numbers. First off, the 24MP camera goes from 1080p/24p all the way up to 1080p/60p (NTSC models; PAL cameras go up to 50p) and is based around the newer AVCHD 2.0 standard (which ranges from 17Mbps up to 28Mbps). The A65 and NEX7 use the same APS-C sized sensor and retain these same specs. Sony’s bringing a number of intriguing new features to the table as well. More »
The internets seem to believe this rumor’s real, so here we go: reports are that Sony will make an official announcement on August 24th about their next lineup of DSLRs and large-chip camcorders, which will come with a laundry list of much-requested features. With a lack of significant new HDSLR features from Canon and Nikon in quite some time, Sony’s new features are even more welcome: namely, full 1080p at 60/50/25/24p with full manual controls. More »
Well, this is interesting. Sony’s $14,000 F3 camera has all manner of professional HD-SDI outputs, including S-LOG with a $4,000 firmware upgrade. You’d therefore expect Sony’s $5,000 FS100 to ship with a more limited set of outputs, and it does — to an extent. While the FS100 only has a “consumer” HDMI output, there are some interesting things about this particular HDMI output. The same goes for the documentary-friendly HXR-NX70 and the twin-lens stereoscopic HXR-NX3D1 as well — but don’t get your hopes up, as that asterisk in the title comes with some disclaimers. What is it about these HDMI outputs that are unique? More »
As a first-time attendee, one of the things that surprised me about NAB in Las Vegas was the fact that the majority of the trade show was focused on broadcast and delivery tools. Cinema production and post-production tools were secondary, which makes sense — it’s the National Association of Broadcasters, after all. But there is an annual trade show specifically for motion picture tools, and that is Cine Gear, which took place in Los Angeles this past weekend. I didn’t fly across the country to check it out, but I’ve rounded up some of the more relevant coverage from several sites that did cover the show; here’s part one, covering Sony, RED, Technicolor, and Zeiss: More »
Sony has released version 1.1 of the F3‘s firmware, which adds simultaneous HD-SDI/HDMI output, ND filter color correction, Planning Metadata (file naming convention schemes), and other new features. They’ve also released the much-touted S-LOG upgrade, the tongue-twisting CBK-RGB01 paid upgrade, which adds awesome uncompressed output capability — for a price. More »
When a director like Michael Bay talks about his $195 million 3D blockbuster to-be (regardless of whether it’s any good) Transformers: Dark of the Moon, you might think that very little of it would apply to indie pictures. But in the new era of large sensor digital cameras, the Sony F23 and F35 cameras Bay used are more similar to the new Sony F3 and FS100 than you’d think. When I watched F35 and F3 footage side by side, in fact, the F35 actually lost to the F3 in some tests (notably low-light). The Hollywood Reporter, in its reincarnation as a weekly publication, recently sat down with the duo of blockbuster directors to talk 3D, which, love or hate the technology, is a technology all filmmakers should be aware of — whether you’re indie or Hollywood. More »
The Sony F3 has a wealth of image adjustment options, befitting its pro price tag. Users can create custom scene files and upload them via SxS card, and while I’m sure we’ll be seeing hundreds of custom styles released in the coming months (none of which have any effect should you shoot in the upgradeable S-Log mode), AbelCine is the first to my knowledge to release ten styles of their own: More »
The Sony F3 is a $13k professional camcorder, upgradeable via paid firmware upgrade to a $16k “even more professional” camera with a 4:4:4 S-LOG output. The Sony FS100 is the more compact, $5k prosumer version of the F3. However, despite the price difference, the two cameras share the exact same sensor. So are those initial negative reviews of the FS100 justified? It appears not. In the words of tester Alastair Chapman, “The FS100 is remarkably close to the F3. You would have no problems cutting between the two of them in a project.” Here’s a video comparison of the two: More »
While I was catching some Zs at NAB, the guys from Next Level Pictures and a number of shooters who have appeared on this site in the past (Vincent Laforet, Jared Abrams, Timur Civan, Tyler Ginter) were off testing the Sony F3‘s S-Log firmware upgrade. This is the first time the uncompressed outputs from the F3 were enabled outside the walls of Sony (in this case, they were recording to a Cinedeck), and the footage should demonstrate greater latitude than the default F3 settings. Here’s the test: More »
I’m not going to go into much detail on Sony’s new F65, which I covered at launch, or the new offerings in the ARRI ALEXA lineup, because cameras that run six figures aren’t exactly the purview of DIY filmmakers (though they’re nice to think about, at least as a rental). Briefly, here’s what I saw at NAB about the latter: the ALEXA has gotten a number of new features, upgrading it to Plus status — 3.5K ARRIRAW codec, 120FPS shooting mode in 2K (which was working fully on the camera I toyed with briefly), and iPad wireless camera control. There are also two new models — the ALEXA M, which separates the camera head from the recording body, and the ALEXA Studio, which has a mechanical shutter, optical viewfinder, and 4:3 sensor with anamorphic de-squeezing. And of course, Sony has their new F3. More »
At their press event today at NAB, Sony demonstrated their previously previewed 8K camera and officially gave it a name: the CineAlta F65. When we’d last heard of this 8K camcorder, I’d assumed the high resolution was designed for the purpose of providing a full 4K image after de-bayering. But it turns out the sensor has dedicated green photosites for every pixel (unlike other bayer-pattern sensors, as far as I know), and thus Sony is designing the F65 for not only 4K, but beyond. More »
FilmsDaMente has posted some beautiful uncorrected Sony F3 footage shot in Portugal, using nothing fancier than the stock 4:2:0 35Mbps codec. Some of these shots (by Nuno Rocha and Victor Santos) are downright painterly, and make one wonder about the supposed “limitations” of shooting traditional video vs. working with a RAW workflow. RAW has plenty of advantages — it gives the most flexibility in post — but video also has its advantages, by allowing for a shorter (and cheaper) post-production pipeline. Always something to keep in mind when planning for any production. Here’s the footage: More »
Andy Shipsides at Abel Cine has put the Sony F3 through some more dynamic range tests, which confirm earlier tests that the F3 gets about 12 stops of dynamic range (the S-Log firmware update will reportedly add another stop when it is released for $3,300). In addition to demonstrating the number of stops, Abel Cine has gone through the differences in gamma settings and has put together an informative video stepping through the chart: More »
In addition to the baby brother to the F3, the NEX-FS100, Sony has also officially announced the HXR-NX70, a rain- and dust-proof camera with 1080p/60p capabilities, a built-in GPS, and 96 gigabytes of built-in flash memory. In conjunction with the weatherproofing and long recording times (up to 40 hours to internal memory), a 26mm-equivalent wide-angle 10X zoom lens should make this camera great for shooting documentaries. Here’s an overview of the $3,200 (list) camcorder: More »
The ink has barely dried on the Sony NEX-FS100 announcement, and here we are with videos and reviews. Some things have been clarified: the 4:2:2 HDMI output is 8-bit (not 10), and the MSRPs are as follows: NEX-FS100U (without lens) is $5,850, and the NEX-FS100UK (with lens) is $6,550. For street pricing, remove about a grand from each sticker price. Here’s the first footage, which is a music video shot on a pre-production unit: More »
The unnamed prosumer version of the F3 that Sony has been keeping under wraps is now semi-official. The NEX-FS100 will have the same (roughly Super35-sized) sensor as the F3, offers XLR audio inputs, a detachable viewfinder, a detachable hand grip, up to 1080p/60p shooting, GPS capabilities, and will retail for around $6,000 (including a Sony E-mount zoom lens). More »
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