The New F

[Ned Soltz]

Tweet today from Peter Crithary: "Ahead of schedule. October 30, 2012. The New F"

Ned Soltz

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Interesting indeed, just saw this post via the shotonf3.com feed on the news page!

So curious about this...

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Tweet from ShotOnF3:


ShotOnF3 ‏@shotonf3
@VisualEdgeChris "assuming it is a camera" - I think you solved the riddle. The F# will be a new ext. 4k recorder for $4k! Happy Halloween!

[Chris Medico]

Looks like we will find out on Oct 30 or so.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Won't affect me since I'm shooting HD

:D

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Dennis Hingsberg

Tweet from ShotOnF3:

I think you solved the riddle. The F# will be a new ext. 4k recorder for $4k! Happy Halloween!

No, riddle not solved. There's no way you'll get 4k out of the F3 to externally record. The chip is not capable of it.

The F3 chip is approx a Bayer 3.5Megapixel, which will give true 1080 resolution after proper deBayering. You won't get any better though, not matter what you do.

The point about cameras like the C100/300/500 and the FS100/700 is that they have well over twice the pixel count, well over 8 megapixels. That enables them to give full 1080 *EASILY* (without a full deBayer) but have the ability to give out a RAW signal for external recording. If that is then fully deBayered, it will give substantially better than 1080 resolution. (Purists will argue - correctly - it's not true 4k, but it's a 4k raster with actual luminance resolution about 80% of that.)

Maybe a XDCAM422 50Mbs upgrade to the F3? Logical when seen in the light of the PMW200, and would answer a big criticism of the F3 since launch, would also make it a stronger competitor to the C300.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Originally Posted by David Heath

No, riddle not solved. There's no way you'll get 4k out of the F3 to externally record. The chip is not capable of it.

The F3 chip is approx a Bayer 3.5Megapixel, which will give true 1080 resolution after proper deBayering. You won't get any better though, not matter what you do.

The point about cameras like the C100/300/500 and the FS100/700 is that they have well over twice the pixel count, well over 8 megapixels. That enables them to give full 1080 *EASILY* (without a full deBayer) but have the ability to give out a RAW signal for external recording. If that is then fully deBayered, it will give substantially better than 1080 resolution. (Purists will argue - correctly - it's not true 4k, but it's a 4k raster with actual luminance resolution about 80% of that.)

Maybe a XDCAM422 50Mbs upgrade to the F3? Logical when seen in the light of the PMW200, and would answer a big criticism of the F3 since launch, would also make it a stronger competitor to the C300.

Not for the F3! For the FS700, F65, and future 4k F3 version...

[Alister Chapman]

IF Sony were going to upgrade the F3 which has S-Log and is designed for 10 bit and RGB would the XDCAM 8 bit codec make any sense? You'll never get a codec update to the existing F3, just the same as you'll never get one for the EX1.

I was expecting this announcement later in the year so it is indeed ahead of schedule!

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Alister, any guess to street price of Sony's 4k recorder given SR-R1 sits at $8800 (plus media)?

[Alister Chapman]

No real idea. I've been asked by Sony what I would pay for an external recorder but I have no idea of pricing. I told them it would need to be less than $5K to have any chance at all and ideally around the $2.5K mark or less to be widely picked up, we shall see. Sony have a very large R&D department to pay for! My guess would be $5k. I've tried to impress on them that they are up against BMD etc. The guys I deal with at the sharp end do seem to understand this, but they don't make the pricing decisions.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

The FS700 only has single 3G link correct? ie. no dual link 1.5G?

[Chris Medico]

Originally Posted by Dennis Hingsberg

The FS700 only has single 3G link correct? ie. no dual link 1.5G?

That is correct.

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

IF Sony were going to upgrade the F3 which has S-Log and is designed for 10 bit and RGB would the XDCAM 8 bit codec make any sense?

It would make sense in so far as it is likely to be easy to implement, doesn't require any serious R&D, could likely be done cheaply, and is immediately widely supported by existing NLEs etc. You're correct that in view of S-log and the low noise of the F3 a 10-bit codec would make even more sense - but then we are likely to be talking of a total redesign.

But going to XDCAM422 would give it parity with the C300 and full broadcast acceptance with no external recorder.

You'll never get a codec update to the existing F3, just the same as you'll never get one for the EX1.

I'm not expecting any existing F3s to be upgradeable, but just as the PMW200 seems to be "the new EX1", a "new F3" (with 50Mbs inbuilt) could be the equivalent.

Dennis - I was led by your quote being from "ShotonF3", and with the new announcement being "The New F" made the assumption it was an F3 related item. I'm now inclined to think that a 4k related item is more probable, maybe even an update to the F3 using the 8 megapixel chip?

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Yeah who knows David, who knows.

Now I'm just speculating the announcement is just the 4k upgrade for the FS700 itself.

[Alister Chapman]

So if they do bring out an F3 with the FS700 chip (which has 11 MP to help with steady shot etc) and then bring out the recorder for 4K raw for the FS700, why would you buy the F3 replacement? It would have to be something special to make the F3 replacement a better buy than a 4k raw capable FS700.