Sony NEX-FS700 - It's real

[Bernd Eller]

As expected, the rumors turned out to be true, and the "4K ready" Sony NEX-FS700 is here. Seems they addressed all of the shortcomings of the FS100, added internal ND filters, there is 10x slow-mo in FullHD (and up to 40x with reduced resolution), and even a zoom rocker (!) for future e-mount servozoom lenses on top of the grip.
Sony : NEX-FS700E (NEXFS700E) : Features : Other

[Chris Hurd]

Finally, a legitimate Sony site that verifies the FS700. Thank you for posting this!

For anyone else wondering why their FS700 post didn't make it in the DVi
Industry News forum, Bernd has demonstrated the correct way to do it...
with a link to a legitimate Sony source, and not some other third-party site.

We will have a dedicated forum for the FS700 shortly.

[Brett Sherman]

Wow. I thought my next camera was going to be a Canon. Rethinking that now. I think it's looking more and more like Canon missed the mark with the C300. Unless Canon does something remarkable it looks like this might be my next camera.

[Nigel Barker]

No word on the recording CODEC or media so presumably it's the same AVCHD & single SD card as the FS100 otherwise they would be singing about these improvements too.

[Junior Chan]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

No word on the recording CODEC or media so presumably it's the same AVCHD & single SD card as the FS100 otherwise they would be singing about these improvements too.

Codec -> same as FS100 AVCHD on SD cards. Its the under the same NEX family.

We just had our Sony Conference call for this product. You should see an official release shortly from Sony later today with all the specs.

[Chris Medico]

I'm excited to see what the SDI output will be (8bit vs 10bit) and if there will be anything approaching S-Log as in the F3.

This would make an awesome B camera for the F3 with room to be a great B camera for what ever the 4k version of the F3 ends up being. I'm sure Sony will not leave such a big hole between the FS700 and the F65.

[Bill Koehler]

Sony's USA website appears to be buried, presumably with activity, so I ended up at their Facebook page.
They have a product announcement there as well, and if you scroll down to the bottom they say under $10K.

Sony Expands NXCAM Line With New Full-HD Super Slow Motion Camcorder | Facebook

[Chris Hurd]

Thanks, Bill -- that's published now at Sony Expands NXCAM Line With NEX-FS700U at DVInfo.net

[Simon Wood]

Originally Posted by Chris Medico

I'm excited to see what the SDI output will be (8bit vs 10bit) and if there will be anything approaching S-Log as in the F3.

SDI Out is 8 Bit.

They have to have some separation between the F line and FS line - looks like 8 Bit is the line.

Slick camera.

[Dylan Couper]

Finally someone has made the high speed sub 10k camera that I have been demanding for the past couple years... Good on you Sony (though it would be JVC!)

[Nate Weaver]

Originally Posted by Simon Wood

SDI Out is 8 Bit.

Do you have a source for this? I understand it makes sense given history, but I've been scouring looking for insight on this bit (no pun intended). [edit: Nevermind, saw post by Ned Soltz and his Sony briefing]

Also, a 4K RAW output over 3G implies a greater bit depth than 8...usually it's 12 or 14 bits to the cameras internal DSP. So I think the door is open to get greater than 8 bits out the SDI, even if it's not a 1080p signal? My bet would be 8 bit 1080p output over SDI, and then higher depths with higher resolutions to the proprietary Sony 4K recorder.

Other thoughts:

-Man, I hope they have a cheaper recorder than the SR-R3 to do the 4K RAW. An SR-R3 is on a different planet, price wise. Maybe something cheaper with less processing to just record the stream verbatim, like a Blackmagic Shuttle. I guess uncompressed 4K would be off the chart bit-rate wise though...eat through SSDs like nothing we've ever seen, unless you just bought an F65. Nevermind, it's going to have to be compressed. Question is, what codec?

-S-Log is a omission I would like, but hopefully it doesn't matter if the 4K stream is truly "RAW", as they say?

-Existence of this camera dang near guarantees a counterpart line addition for the F3, leveraging the same 4K recorder solution. Hopefully announced Sunday night before NAB?

[Chris Hurd]

Thread moved to our new FS700 forum.

[Jean-Philippe Archibald]

Originally Posted by Nate Weaver

-S-Log is a omission I would like, but hopefully it doesn't matter if the 4K stream is truly "RAW", as they say?

Apparently there is 4 new cinegamma curves, one of which is very close to S-Log.

[Nate Weaver]

Originally Posted by Jean-Philippe Archibald

Apparently there is 4 new cinegamma curves, one of which is very close to S-Log.

I read from Abel that the 4 CG curves are pulled from the F3, and as an F3 owner, I can tell you CG is no substitute for real benefits of S-Log, as Sony has already done it. Are you talking about the guy on another board who said something like one of the picture profiles came close to his S-Log approximation?

The true S-Log update on the F3 manages to pull/enable another ~2 stops of latitude from the sensor, where picture profiles don't do that. On top of that, the FS100 doesn't even have the latitude of the F3/Cinegamma combo, so...add in a new sensor and I suppose it's all speculation until we see it anyway.

[Steve Kalle]

Are we all reading different sources because the info I got from Abel Cine clearly stated that the 3G-SDI output is 4k 12-bit RAW for recording to an upcoming 4k recorder. The email also said, "The FS700 has a newly designed 11.6M sensor, 8.3M which are used in the video mode."