#sony f65

[namrekl]

Vittorio Storaro: master of light & color.

[nyfa]

MFA Cinematography students at the "Ultimate Camera Shoot-out" were able to get their hands on the following cameras:

Arriflex 535 (35mm)

Arriflex SR3 (Super 16mm)

Arriflex Alexa

Red Epic

Red Scarlet

Sony F65

Canon C300

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema

Canon 5D mk3

[feldmanfile-blog-blog]

For 4K cameras, price is A thing, but not THE thing

I'm back from NAB, where the overriding theme this year was 4K everything--cameras, monitors, editors, special effects, routers, switchers, etc. Perhaps the biggest battle was in cameras, where AJA Video entered the market for the first time and Blackmagic Design and Sony announced new 4K cameras. (JVC also announced its first 4K digital cinematography cameras, but gave no prices or availability dates.) 4K cameras have been a "thing" ever since the RED One, but $10,000 was the least that you could spend to buy one (Canon's 1D C) until Blackmagic shipped its 4K Production Camera late last year, priced at $2,995. The floodgates have now opened:

Panasonic's GH4: $1,699, or $3,299 bundled with its SDI/XLR interface dock

Sony's A7S: $2,499.99, will ship in July

Blackmagic's 4K Production Camera: $2,995

Blackmagic's URSA EF: $5,995

AJA's Cion: $8,995

None of these cameras cost more than a fraction of the price of an ARRI Alexa ($80,000+) or Amira ($40,000-$52,000 depending on enabled features,) RED EPIC-M Dragon ($50,000+), or Sony F55 ($29,000+) or F65 ($65,000+). You'd think that ARRI, RED and Sony would be shaking in their boots, but they're not. There are two reasons why the companies that make high-end cameras aren't necessarily threatened by the new inexpensive models:

There are many elements that determine whether or not a specific camera is appropriate for an application, and

You get what you pay for.

Here are some (but far from all) of the elements of camera design that influence how the camera performs and what it's good (or not good) for:

Imager size

Imager resolution

Color space (e.g., YUV or xvYCC)

Color sampling (e.g., 4:2:0, 4:2:2 or 4:4:4)

Bit depth (8-bit vs. 10-bit)

Video output resolution (DCI 4K (4096 x 2160), UHD (3840 x 2160), 1080, 720)

Video compression formats (e.g., AVCHD, H.264, ProRes, DNxHD, XAVC, XAVC S, AVC-Intra, AVC-Ultra)

RAW storage and/or output

Frame rates supported at specified resolution (e.g., 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 59.94, 60 or 120)

Dynamic range in stops

Native ISO speed

Sensitivity (maximum usable ISO speed, NOT the camera's rated top ISO speed)

Lens mount(s)

Lens control (manual, automatic or limited automatic)

Image stabilization (digital or optical, in the camera body or in the lens, or no stabilization)

Viewfinder, display screen, both or none

User interface design (e.g., touchscreen(s), menus, dedicated buttons and knobs)

Storage capacity

Storage media

Internal or external storage

Video interface(s) (HDMI or HD-SDI, with different HDMI versions and, for HD-SDI, maximum speeds)

Audio connector(s)

Balanced or unbalanced audio in

Phantom power availability

Run time on battery

Removable or permanent battery

External power voltage and connector

Camera shape

Camera weight

Ruggedness

Manufacturer and design maturity (how much experience does the manufacturer have in designing cameras, and how long has the manufacturer been making this particular camera)

There's an enormous number of elements to consider, and some elements work much better for certain applications than others. In some cases, buyers have a wealth of cameras to choose from, while in other cases, there may only be a handful that can do what they need.

Rather than salivating when you hear about a new low-priced camera with attractive features, ask yourself these questions:

What am I going to use it for?

What trade-offs am I willing to accept (for example, are you willing to live with less sensitivity in order to get a higher-quality compression format?)

How often will I use the camera (do you know that you'll be using it over and over on new projects, or do you have one project in mind and you don't know when you'll have the next one?)

How much can I afford to pay?

Answering the first two questions will allow you to compile a list of cameras that meet your needs. Answering the final two questions will tell you whether you should buy or rent the camera that you can afford. In some cases, you may decide to buy a less-expensive camera and use your remaining budget to buy lenses or mounting equipment. In other cases, you could rent a camera and use the savings elsewhere on your production, or rent a camera that you can't afford to buy that's superior to other choices for your application. In short, you should answer the four questions first, rather than starting with the price of the camera and instead hoping that it will meet your needs.

[techitstubs]

Sony F65 Tops Weekend Box Office

With Oblivion being released – and topping the box office – this weekend and After Earth nearing its release date; the Sony F65 camera is really in the spotlight at the minute, and it’s showing well.

The F65 released last year as a direct competitor to the Red Epic digital cameras that have been dominating the big budget movie scene in the past few years; but we haven’t had a chance to view it on the big screen until this month.

(The first large cinematic release of an F65 movie was the April 5th Evil Dead remake.)

The Sony F65 is advertised as “true 4K,” but as mentioned in the update video above, is apparently capable of up to 8K resolution, which should enable it to remain more than competitive with latest Red Epic Dragon camera, advertising as 6K digital resolution.

The overviews, technical specs and more can be found here:

Sony F65: http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-highend/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-highend-F65.shtml

Red Epic Dragon: http://www.red.com/products/epic-dragon#tech-specs

Digital cinema is continuing to develop, and push the boundaries of what we can expect to see realized in theatres. The competition between Sony’s 4K range of cameras, and the Red Epic digital cameras will, in my opinion, only be a good thing for the future of cinema. Competition fuels innovation, and we can expect to get further developments in the quality of digital recording, projection, and overall performance in the coming years.

I saw Oblivion on Friday and the visuals really were stunning. The scenes were crisp, clear, and infused with a depth of color that highlighted the setting of the movie well and really showed off the many sweeping shots of a war-ravaged post-apocalyptic Earth.

Arguably the Sony F65 has found a niche in these Sci-Fi settings; after all the next F65 cinematic outing will be father and son survival story: After Earth (US release date May 31st). If it’s a pairing that works, the opportunities will be endless; there is always a demand for Sci-Fi movies.  

The Red Epic cameras have greatly impressed me in the past, and continue to do so now. For example, the trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming The Great Gatsby highlights just how beautifully director vision and digital technology can be combined into something captivating.

As the newcomer, the Sony F65 has a way to go in terms of impressing the theatre audience, but it seems more than equal to the task. 

[bertonevisuals-blog]

First F65 Anamorphic Aerial Footage

Monday April 8th NAB 2013 will take place like every year at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Bertone Visuals as its tradition contributes to the show with its own 4K contents shot with the Sony CineAlta F65 4K camera exactly like we did last year with the first self produced F65 camera test shot at Joshua Tree National Park. That camera test, still available on Vimeo and on this blog, was subsequentially licensed to Black Magic Design for the implementation of the DaVinci Resove 9 manual and its tutorials.

This year we graded the video starting with an official LUT from S-Log 2 to Rec 709 color space. The anamorphic footage was shot using a Hawk 75mm C series X 2.0 prime lens in conjunction with a SpaceCam gyrostabilized Systems mounted on a turbine powered A-Star helicopter piloted by the SAG movie pilot John Tamburro. The video will be displayed at NAB 2013 on a LG 4K Ultra HD TV set at Aberdeen’s Booth #N4919. Aberdeen designs Servers and Storage solutions for Post Houses and his Accounting Executive Steven B. Cohen contributed in the summer of 2012 to development of the Bertone Visuals DI Suite in El Segundo, CA.

A true 4K resolution video is going to be played also during the Fusion I/O party on Tuesday and the 4K DPX 10 bit sequence will be hosted on super fast Solid State Drives directly mounted on PCIe 3 cards.

Finally, Bertone Visuals Rental will have one of its Sony F65 at Focus Optics (lens manufacturer for the Ruby series PL Zoom 17-24mm T2.8) and many Cineped Rotary Sliders installed at BandPro Film and Digital booth.

Hope to meet you there this upcoming week!

[requiemvalkas]

someone unearthing that new Sony F65 film camera! The 4K resolution on that thing is bananas

[zennis]

The RED Epic (5k raw) was used for steadicam, handheld, mini-heleicopter and vehicle mount shots on this new Tom Cruise sci-fi movie, 'Oblivion'. Sony F65 (4k raw) was used for everything else... Click here for some technical behind-the-scenes stuff.

[bertonevisuals-blog]

Everybody in town these days is trying to get a Cine Ped system to try it on set. I have done it once and since then I never stop using it and I have always one or two with me when I'm involved in a production.

As you can see in the picture above that I have taken at Bertone Visuals Studio in El Segundo,CA the weight of a Sony CineAlta F65 fully geared-up with a 24-290mm PL Angenieux Optimo was not that much of a big deal for the Cine Ped system with the Quattro that can handle smoothly up to 85 lbs.

Anyway, I thought that it can be very informational to read what Shane Hurlbut ASC has to say about the Cine Ped so here there is the link to his recent blog-post enjoy it: 

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/10/the-cineped-full-360-rotatable-slider/