When Sony's FS700 camera was first announced, it was rumored to be under $10k, with some folks pegging it at $8k.  When the European version's price came out at roughly 8,000 euros (~$10,500) the promise of being under $10,000 transformed into "probably around $10,000".  So what am I going on about?  Well, the price has finally been confirmed in the U.S., and it's just as hoped for -- $8,000 dollars for the camera body, or $8,600 with an E-mount zoom lens.  With this announcement, I figure it's a nice moment to check out some more test videos shot with the camera that look at how well it handles whip pans, high contrast lighting, auto-focusing situations and more:

First, here are two quick test shots that John Hess (a frequent contributor at FilmmakerIQ.com) did at the recent NAB convention.  The first one looks at rolling shutter while doing a whip pan:

The second looks at the FS700's dynamic range:

And here's a really nice test video by David Leitner.  The first half goes into how the camera handles auto-focusing with different lenses (pretty useful if you're a run-and-gun shooter), but the test shoot really comes into its own in the second half where we get to see how it uses these features outdoors in a real-world shooting situation:

For more "real-world" sample footage, check out our last round up!  I know a lot of folks are pretty excited about this camera -- it seems to hit the sweet spot between providing great footage now, while allowing for some near-future proofing.  I think the big feature that will sell this camera to folks needing to shoot now is the slow-mo, since that seems to be the thing that really distinguishes it from the FS100 and the F3.  Once the 4k upgrade details come out we'll know more about just how it stacks up with other cameras in that market space.

What do you think?  Is $8k the sweet spot?  How much do you think they'll charge for that 4k upgrade?  Are you in a rent-and-wait mode?

[via NextWaveDV]

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Cinematography & Cameras