Hi gang. We are getting ready to do a shoot where we might be using an F900. We normally use an XL H1 and have used an XDCAM F330 in the past. We use Final Cut Pro.

I've searched DVInfo and Sony's sight but am having trouble finding some comprehensive sources for someone who has never shot with and captured from an F900.

I'd like to know the basics like what codec it shoots, best workflow in FCP, general camera settings to consider for getting a non video look, etc. We will be using it on a shoot that may be a national spot for AIG Insurance. Any other good sites you guys can recommend?

I know that it'll take some time and experience with the camera to get the best out of it in the best of situations but I've been tasked with finding out as much as I can in a short period of time.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

The 900 records to the HDCAM format. I suspect if you contact the rental house, they might have some info, maybe even a manual to look over.

You'll likely want to rent a deck for ingest. I recall you built that nice portable ingest station a while back.

I can't help you much further than that.

-gb-

Where to start? You can create many looks in camera buy tweaking the matrices, adjusting the gamma etc, much like an F350. You may want to use a fairly flat setup for the shoot and then create the final look in post. You could try getting hold of the a copy of BBC F900 set-ups on a memory stick. For ingest you will need a deck. The HD-SDi output from the F900 is designed as a monitoring output, it can be used for ingest but you won't have any deck control.

With FCP you will need a HD-SDi card such a Kona or Decklink card. I would capture to either 10 bit uncompressed (requires VERY fast big raid array) or to Apple Pro-Res HQ. This will need a lot more storage space than HDV or XDCAM.

Remember it's a big and heavy camera so you will need a substantial tripod. The optional colour viewfinder is nice but not as sharp as the mono one.