BroadcastPro ME was given exclusive access to the Sony F5, which will make its debut at CABSAT. Dubai-based DoP Andrew Donaldson, who tested the camera for us, shares his views The Sony F5 has essentially been brought into the market to replace the PMW-F3. It is a full HD camera unless you are prepared to […]
BroadcastPro ME was given exclusive access to the Sony F5, which will make its debut at CABSAT. Dubai-based DoP Andrew Donaldson, who tested the camera for us, shares his views
The Sony F5 has essentially been brought into the market to replace the PMW-F3. It is a full HD camera unless you are prepared to spend more on an off-board recorder. As the proud owner of a Canon C300, its nearest competitor, I was very interested to get hold of an F5.
Straight out of the box, if you look at it, youll think it is very Alexa like, with the menu in an LCD window on the side. This is an upgrade from the F3. Gone is the standard setup with the Gain white balance/colour balance on small chrome switches.
The viewfinder with my test unit came with the lower-priced DVF-350 960×540 retailing at USD 3300. For me, this is a bit lacking on the diopter front for the miopic. They have a higher-res version in the DVF- EL100 1280×720 at around USD 5000.
Supplied with this was also a second generation Sony prime 85mm T2 PL mount. This is a true cinematic lens with no breathing when pulling focus.
Battery is v-lock with an adapter plate in between featuring two D-tap outputs, which are, unfortunately, placed on the operators side. The mini jack audio output is also on my side, which is slightly annoying as when tethered to a sound man, this is more than likely to cause problems for both of us.
A headphone jack should be on the back or top, but Sony should really know this. They have been doing this for as long as I can remember. Behind the headphone jack are also two USB interface connections without cover. I assume this would not be the case with the non-beta version. Another point in the same vein is that the connection of the viewfinder is on the opposite side to the operator and is very exposed. It would be much better served to have the connection on the front out of the way where its less prone to damage.
Turning on the camera, I immediately set the camera to slog2. The minimum ISO then jumped to a very large 2000 so the ND was turned to 1.8 giving you -6 stops in bright sunlight a very manageable T5.6.
On first use, the ND filter wheel is not so robust and I am sure if used a bit forcefully, it may be broken or damaged at some point. Placing the camera on the ground would certainly lead to damage to the filter knob and would leave the camera in this region susceptible to ingesting sand.
I went to S&Q top left on the settings screen to set the frame rate and saw that one can run up to 60 frames a second at full resolution internally. The C300 has to be switched to 720 to give you this option. Its nice to have that added function at full resolution if you do need it.
The modularity of the F5 and indeed, the F55, means you can dock an off-board recorder unit on the back of the camera. This gives you the option to run your frame rate at up to 120fps in 4K or 240fps in 2K. This beats the C300, which will run only to 30fps in full HD. It can be argued, of course, that once you have the separate recorder on board, it puts the camera into another price bracket altogether.
The interface window is quick and straight forward with all of the everyday items in easy reach. I really like this feature, as its far less work than the C300. There are no corners to work around and with one press of a button, you are ready to change your ISO, fps, colour temperature and frame rate with the side-mounted toggle.
We took the camera out to the desert for some footage. The whole time, I was also in contact with a post production friend to figure out how to ingest the footage when I got back. Sony has a new codec called the XAVC and my current edit programmes FCP 7 and Adobe 5.5 do not support this format. It seems there is no plug-in to fix this, and only an upgrade to FCP X or Adobe Premiere 6 will. I do hope I can put the footage in for a grade before finishing this article.
Moving on, Zebras on the viewfinder is very user friendly with a punch in to check focus and whether it is recording or not. Just one note of caution. With this lens, the viewfinder needs to be extended out far enough to clear the large barrel of the Sony PL mount lens.
Handling the camera is very good and compared to the F3, I would say its a comfortable experience not fighting to set up an EVF with a magic arm. I never enjoyed working with the F3 as at the time, there was no add-on EVF that could be used comfortably. In bright sunlight, seeing focus was stressful and a hit-and-miss with the fold-out monitor. Having a customised EVF is the way forward here, according to me. The same can be said of the C300.
An integrated viewfinder is a must for these cameras. I have always wondered why we cannot have the full package off the shop floor instead of adding on third-party viewfinders such as Alphatron and Redrock.
The F5 really scores well with this configuration giving you a straight up viable option. Having said that, the only option is to buy their viewfinder. Otherwise, you cannot set up the camera properly as the menu alone appears in the viewfinder. Essentially, you can say that in this configuration, the camera retails at $19,000.
Once mounted on the tripod, the camera is extremely user-friendly and I must say better ergonomically than the C300. It is easy on the shoulder as well and lies flat on the ground perfectly. Its very stable.
The C300, by comparison, is less easy to work around shooting this way if you are using the audio interface and monitor atop the handle with an add-on viewfinder. It is definitely top heavy and is just fiddly when placed on the ground.
The ND range is workable on the F5 but if you want to decrease the depth of field to a minimum, you would have to introduce a matt box. Installing a set of rails off a base plate would cost you but again, the C300 has the same issues.
I liked working with this camera as everything was in easy reach and is ergonomically easier than the C300 to handle. I like to shoot off the ground and the shape of the camera lends itself to this type of shooting. Once I returned home, it was time to look at the footage. I could not ingest with log and transfer so I played the footage out the old-fashioned way SDI out of the camera through an AJA I/O in real time.
Instantly, you see that the quality is good. The detail is what you would expect from a camera in this price range, and reflects a mixture of very good optics and an upgraded sensor. Grading the footage left no trace and did not degrade the pictures at all. In 8-bit 4:2:2, both cameras seem to provide pretty much the same picture quality but with Sonys new XAVC codec and firmware updates, I think the C300 will be surpassed in most aspects of its limited recording recording formats (see update periods below).
*Internally, the F5 can record now in (1) MPEG2 4:2:2 8-bit, (2) XAVC HD 4:2:2 10-bit and (3) XAVC HD 4:2:2 10-bit S&Q 1p to 60p (HFR 120p in Sept 2013, 60p-120p in Dec). And with a F/W upgrade in Feb (4) SStP HD 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. With another F/W upgrade in Sept (5) XAVC 2K 4:2:2 10-bit, will be possible.The R5 adds 4K and 2K RAW 16-bit linear recording.
At high ISOs, both the C300 and the F5 cameras performed very well. I tested both at 16000 ISOs and found very little noise at all.
I think the F5 is a great camera for production houses and higher-end documentary makers. I personally would be very happy to work with it given it has a made-to-order viewfinder. The C300 comes with its own viewfinder but if you are going to be looking through it all day, its going to put a huge strain on your eyes.
Of course, you can buy a third-party viewfinder for the C300 but I think a made-to-order viewfinder offered by Sony for the F5 is preferred.
The extra $3000 dollars is worth it for the viewfinder. You can order the F5 with pretty well whatever adapter you want. You can use the Canon or Nikon glass so budget wise, the two cameras are much the same on that front.
The F5 for me, however, comes out on top as it is closer to what we are used to working with, stable on the shoulder with no need for a handheld rig.
Andrew Donaldson is a DOP working for Atlas Television, Dubai.