I had the camera in my hands on Saturday and to say the least, very impressed....balance, viewfinder (nice diopter) re-locatable grip, etc......it's going to do well

Jim Martin
EVSonline.com

No sensor cleaning system. The sensor is well protected in a sealed unit behind the optical port.

Thanks for the reply Alister. So I imagine it's not too dangerous to clean it, as long as you take reasonable care. I usually use the rocket blower thingy and that seems to shift most stuff.

Sony G Series XQD cards "PRE-ORDER"
•Max. Read Speed: 400 MB/s
•Max. Write Speed: 350 MB/s
•Includes Dedicated USB 3.0 Adapter


32GB $163.00
64GB $363.00
128Gb $799.00

xqd cards g | B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=xqd+cards+g&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=)

At those prices for memory, it sort of makes the propriety SSD drives from Convergent Design for the Odyssey quite the bargain.

Let me see, 3 Sony memory cards or a Samsung NX1 with lens. Hmmm.

reminds me of the $950 I paid for the 16GB SXS when EX1 was first launched. That was crazy price to paid back then but looks like history repeats itself

I was expecting Sony at least throw in a 32GB XQD card with FS7 purchase like what they did for EX1 with the free 8GB SXS card

Sony G Series XQD cards "PRE-ORDER"
•Max. Read Speed: 400 MB/s
•Max. Write Speed: 350 MB/s
•Includes Dedicated USB 3.0 Adapter


32GB $163.00
64GB $363.00
128Gb $799.00

xqd cards g | B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=xqd+cards+g&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=)

I believe these are not true USA "street prices". The street price will probably come in close to the price as seen here ($550 to $600) : Buy - Sony XQD-128A (XQD128A) 128GB XQD G Series Memory Card for Professional Shooting (http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/sony_xqd-128a).

Otherwise people will be buying all their cards from England - even considering $40 shipping charge it is still a "bargain".

After buying many SxS and P2 cards over the years, the XQD cards are a bargain.

I'm going to an FS7 demo tomorrow. It's crazy how excited I am over this.
I'm bringing my supply of E and A mount lenses.

I'm going to an FS7 demo tomorrow. It's crazy how excited I am over this.
I'm bringing my supply of E and A mount lenses.

It's been a joy to shoot with mine. Using it on a first gig Saturday.

It's been a joy to shoot with mine. Using it on a first gig Saturday.

Jealous here! It's going to be a long 8 week wait for my FS7K to come in.

Let us know what lens combinations you are using with the FS7.

I went to the demo, and...holy cow! I love this camera!

It was lightweight, perfect for shoulder mounting. I thought it was a near perfect fit, especially with the adjustable arm. It's an ergonomic dream.
We saw the image in UHD and it looked great. We played with my Sony 35 and 50mm primes, my Tamiya 17-50 zoom and the supplied Sony 18-200 power zoom. The power zoom was very slow for zooming. We had the camera's zoom speed turned up to 8 and it was still unusually slow. I don't know if it's just this particular lens. We had two and both were slow.

Everyone in attendance was blown away by the camera. The dealer said they had almost 500 back ordered, so it would probably be next year before you could get one. This is going to be a very popular camera. One of the guys at the demo was all ready to buy an FS700, but immediately changed his mind and will buy the FS7.

I can't say enough good things about the FS7, it really is that good, especially for the price.
Now, I just need to sell my PMW300...

Jealous here! It's going to be a long 8 week wait for my FS7K to come in.

Let us know what lens combinations you are using with the FS7.

Perhaps waiting until December or January is not so bad after all - I have read of some software problems including getting the histogram to display (unless you either reset the camera or make sure the outputs are in HD and not 4K). Also getting the LUTs to work in CineE1 mode without "baking" them into the recorded video (a workaround was to turn off the compensation for barrel lens distortion - but I wonder what that does for picture quality with certain lenses). A third was the wheel that controls the iris requires multiple turns to adjust the iris (more than one full rotation per stop).

As with any new complex electronic equipment there are bound to be bugs in the first few batches - hopefully they will get software fixes out soon.

Had mine since Monday.

Used it on one shoot so far and I really love it. Been using it with a Speedbooster Ultra a Nikon lenses and it is a great combination. It's just such a flexible camera which is perfect for the range of applications that I film.

So do you guys think I could replace my pmw-300 with this camera and still run and gun?

So do you guys think I could replace my pmw-300 with this camera and still run and gun?

As a fellow PMW-300 owner, absolutely I do!
I've held both. The FS7 is far more comfortable on the shoulder. It balances way better and is lighter. You can buy power zooms for the FS7, perfect for run-n-gun shooting. It will be better in low light situations.
AS much as I like my 300, the FS7 is just that much better of a camera. It's simply more versatile.
I am going to switch to the FS7 as soon as I can.

Being an FS700 owner I am pretty interested in looking at the S7. Something a few of us will be able to do this coming Tues as Sony Aust are putting on an invite night to for a look, see and feel out of this new cam.

With this in mind I was looking over the camera's specs and functionality. Someone who has seen the camera please confirm this observation for me. I'm under the impression that if you have a fully auto e-mount lens on the camera and DO NOT have the original Sony S7 hand grip on the camera then you have NO WAY of adjusting the lens iris when in manual mode. Is this correct?? Seems like a major oversight to me as it virtually compels a camera op to use the S7 hand grip whether you like it or not.

Another observation is that the control cable from the grip to the body is a pretty small lightweight cable that appears to hang out in the breeze somewhat and that appears to plug into the body on the body end but does not appear to plug in on the grip end. On the grip end it looks like the cable is hard wired into the handle. Is this correct? Because if it's hard wired into the handle it's not going to be a quick plug and play replacement situation in the field if you have damaged or broken this control cable.

Observation and a question. If this cable becomes damaged, broken or whatever how does one control an e-mount lens iris when in manual mode? Or any other brand lens iris for that matter that does not have a manual iris ring. I can see nothing but problems trying to run full auto iris EF lenses with a Metabones adapter if the grip or cable goes down. Bad enough trying to control EF stepped auto irises at the best of times.

Currently when running e-mount auto lenses on an FS700 in manual mode you have full control of the e-mount iris from the camera body. The camera hand grip is not required for manual iris control. This does not appear to be the case with the S7.

Obviously all of the above is totally immaterial if all you are going to use on an S7 is legacy or contemporary manual glass. Can anyone throw any light on this auto lens observation because as of yet I see no iris control on the S7 body?

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Of course there is a dial on the body itself for the Iris...

But for R+G there is still a lack of th eright lens.

The Sony 18-200 (which I own) is wobbly, slow and has the very
cumbersome focus by wire which is rarely repeatable.
The Iris dial has an issue until today. You'll need many throws of the dial to
change from open to a smaller opening. This needs to be adressed quickly
by Sony. There's even no 100% function with the Speedbooster and Canon lenses.

The FS7 is already waiting at my local dealer's office. I'll take it out to some tests soon,
but for R+G the above mentioned issues must be solved first.

I am still searching for the right R+G lens as I don't like the Sony 18-200 that much.
It's okay, but there's heavy CAs on the edges, the by-wire-focus and the slow end of the lens.

I'm thinking to try the new Tamron 18-300 on a speedbooster. We'll see...

I have to agree. The 18-200 is very poor. Extreme barrel distortion, CA, lacking constant aperture and the zoom speed on the rocker is simply pointless for anything other than creeping zooms.

Such a shame they didn't make the new F4 slightly less long and wider. It seems to sit in a frustrating middle ground. 18-90 at f4 would have worked much better as a staple.

Erik ~

So what you are saying is that the #2 button selects iris man or auto and then you dial iris up or down on the roller wheel that sits behind button #2. If so okay I follow that. I've only just found a picture good enough and close enough to see those controls properly. As you say though all very fly by wire. Lenses are the main issue with nearly all the S35 cameras. On Tuesday I will be curious to look at Sony's f4 28-135mm to see how that shapes up. I am sure I read somewhere, maybe a posting by Alistair Chapman that this lens was a touch soft. We will find out soon enough I guess.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I have to agree. The 18-200 is very poor. Extreme barrel distortion, CA, lacking constant aperture and the zoom speed on the rocker is simply pointless for anything other than creeping zooms.

Such a shame they didn't make the new F4 slightly less long and wider

Yes because the new f4 28-135 being a full frame lens on an S35 sensor with a crop factor of 1.6 is going to become a 45-216mm lens. Pretty narrow on the back end for run and gun. Especially if you have been used to a 4.5mm wide on a 2/3" cam. With the crop factor between 2/3" and S35 being 2.46 that means you would need an 11mm lens on the S7 to give you an equivalent run and gun wide lens.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I wonder if anyone can answer a few questions that I have regarding this camera:

1) the interface connection between the hand grip and the camera appears to be via LANC. If this is so, can one use existing LANC controllers such as the Manfrotto pan and tilt handle, all be it with reduced capabiliies?

2) Can the hand grip be removed from the extension bar that attaches it to the camera? I am thinking about making a bespoke attachment that would allow it to be mounted on a pan/tilt handle.

3) Nothing to do with lenses, but is it possible to download clips using the USB3 connector on the camera or do I need to get Sony's card reader?

I've done something that I always recommend against and that is to order one of the first off the line, this camera appears to tick all the correct boxes and I have an eight week overseas shoot coming up so I hope that I won't have to swallow my pride!!

Geoff

Sony FS7 E-mount and A-mount with LA-EA4 and Speedbooster lens tests


https://vimeo.com/groups/fs7/videos/111294945?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=twitterfeed

I wonder if anyone can answer a few questions that I have regarding this camera:

1) the interface connection between the hand grip and the camera appears to be via LANC. If this is so, can one use existing LANC controllers such as the Manfrotto pan and tilt handle, all be it with reduced capabiliies?

2) Can the hand grip be removed from the extension bar that attaches it to the camera? I am thinking about making a bespoke attachment that would allow it to be mounted on a pan/tilt handle.

3) Nothing to do with lenses, but is it possible to download clips using the USB3 connector on the camera or do I need to get Sony's card reader?

I've done something that I always recommend against and that is to order one of the first off the line, this camera appears to tick all the correct boxes and I have an eight week overseas shoot coming up so I hope that I won't have to swallow my pride!!

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Just had a play with my FS7 to answer your questions.

1) I have just tried my stoneage Manfrotto 521 LANC controller in the FS7 handgrip port and it seems to work! Well, it records and you can even turn off the camera too. I don't have a lens to try out the zoom or focus controls but I wouldn't bet against it.

2) I don't think the handgrip is designed to be moved as it is held on by four tiny cross-head screws.

3) As far as I know you can download clips via USB but all of the recent G series XQD cards come with a compact USB reader. Also you can buy the Lexar XQD reader from Amazon for £30 which works fine, I have two of them.

Hope this helps.

Does momentary auto-iris work faster than the very slow manual iris shown in the video above? Could you hit the momentary auto-iris and then spin the dial from there? That would also indicate whether or not it was possible to speed that up (or make it a variable in the menu) at a later firmware date.

Thank you for that information, Neil. Using a Manfrotto LANC pan handle may be all that I really need for when the camera is on sticks.

Geoff

Another observation is that the control cable from the grip to the body is a pretty small lightweight cable that appears to hang out in the breeze somewhat and that appears to plug into the body on the body end but does not appear to plug in on the grip end. On the grip end it looks like the cable is hard wired into the handle. Is this correct?
Correct - and something I mentioned when I saw a demo of the camera.
Because if it's hard wired into the handle it's not going to be a quick plug and play replacement situation in the field if you have damaged or broken this control cable.
Exactly my thought.

Overall, I was impressed by the camera. I think it represents easily the best value for money in it's class today. But it's not perfect, and this was a little matter that could so easily have been much better very easily. (Plug on both ends of cable.)

I have to agree. The 18-200 is very poor. Extreme barrel distortion, CA, lacking constant aperture and the zoom speed on the rocker is simply pointless for anything other than creeping zooms.

Such a shame they didn't make the new F4 slightly less long and wider. It seems to sit in a frustrating middle ground. 18-90 at f4 would have worked much better as a staple.

There is a 18-105 F4 Emount powered zoom available. Doesn't extend, nice OS,
good autofocus, only cost $600. I think it would be a good R&G lens on the F7.
It had 'pillow distortion' on the FS700 but the F7 is supposed to offer lens
correction,

Hi Gabe
Thanks for that heads up...missed that one!

I will do some reading. Servo focus is always a pain :/

I wonder how the zoom speed is !?

Mat

Yes I tried the 18-105 constant f4 on the FS700. Had it not been for the distortion I would probably have bought it. Martinez from Sony stated that there is a firmware upgrade coming for the FS700 that will have lens file corrections for a number of the later e-mount lenses. Due late this year. Will believe it when I see it!

Back to the 18-105. I found it to be pretty sharp but a bit of a horror for focusing and zooming manually as its all fly-by-wire. All very vague if you are used to B4 broadcast glass. If you spin quickly on the focus and zoom rings you can easily overtake the lens response. Feels like a fluid clutch type arrangement although I believe it's all electro servo in operation. In full auto mode it did what it was supposed to do with a reasonable degree of precision. Stabilization, focus tracking, face recognition all seemed to work okay.

I found with the zoom that using the built in servo switch it was pretty slow even on its quickest settings. Interestingly though when I hooked up a Varizoom Lanc controller the zoom speeds were considerably faster if required. As a guesstimation I would say up to 2.5 to 3 times faster. Why is this? Who knows.

Still concerns me that skinny little cable on the S7 hand grip. I guess time in the field will prove or disprove its durability.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Yes I tried the 18-105 constant f4 on the FS700. Had it not been for the distortion I would probably have bought it. Martinez from Sony stated that there is a firmware upgrade coming for the FS700 that will have lens file corrections for a number of the later e-mount lenses. Due late this year. Will believe it when I see it!

Back to the 18-105. I found it to be pretty sharp but a bit of a horror for focusing and zooming manually as its all fly-by-wire. All very vague if you are used to B4 broadcast glass. If you spin quickly on the focus and zoom rings you can easily overtake the lens response. Feels like a fluid clutch type arrangement although I believe it's all electro servo in operation. In full auto mode it did what it was supposed to do with a reasonable degree of precision. Stabilization, focus tracking, face recognition all seemed to work okay.

I found with the zoom that using the built in servo switch it was pretty slow even on its quickest settings. Interestingly though when I hooked up a Varizoom Lanc controller the zoom speeds were considerably faster if required. As a guesstimation I would say up to 2.5 to 3 times faster. Why is this? Who knows.

Still concerns me that skinny little cable on the S7 hand grip. I guess time in the field will prove or disprove its durability.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

This sound exactly like the 18-200 we used on the FS7 - very slow. I asked the guy I borrowed the lens from how it works on his EA50. He also felt it was slow, but since I didn't try the lens on his camera, I don't know how to compare the zoom speeds. I'll see if I can work with the 18-200 on his EA50. If this very slow servo zoom only occurs with the FS7, I hope it's fixable with a future firmware update. Or just buy the 28-135.

As far as the 18-200's function, I had the manual zoom version on my FS100 and it worked just fine. I don't recall seeing much distortion and the images were pretty sharp. It was a workhorse of a lens, with its long zoom range. My favorite go-to lens was the constant f2.8 Tamron 17-50, which I tried on the FS7. Understand we could only base our judgment of the image on the monitor we had, but the UHD images we saw looked great. I was very pleased with the camera.

As far as the wire connecting the grip to the camera, if it breaks, you can still work the camera. The functions on the grip are duplicated on the camera body. You'd still have complete control of the start/stop, iris, extended focus, etc. It would be nice to have it removable on both ends, but it is what it is.

I tried the 18-200 on an EA50. It was also very slow to zoom. Must be a lens issue.

Slow is snail and fast is turtle. Tried the same. The SLEP18200...

Sony FS7 Un-Boxing Vid

Sony PXW FS7 - unboxing - YouTube

Hi All,
Can anyone conform if we can backup from XQD Card to Built in SD / SDXC slot.

No you can't. The SD slot is used to save user's profiles and config files only.

I believe these are not true USA "street prices". The street price will probably come in close to the price as seen here ($550 to $600) : Buy - Sony XQD-128A (XQD128A) 128GB XQD G Series Memory Card for Professional Shooting (http://cvp.com/index.php?t=product/sony_xqd-128a).

Otherwise people will be buying all their cards from England - even considering $40 shipping charge it is still a "bargain".

Has anyone ordered XQD 128GB G SERIES cards from CVP.com?

Sure have. The last of 3 shipments should be arriving at Miami airport momentarily and be delivered tomorrow. Postage $40 whether you order one card or 6. Sort of a no brainer as long as the company is reliable(which it is) considering that US street prices are still astronomical. 128GB G series costs less than 2 - 64GB S series XQD cards.if you compare the UK prices for the G series and the US prices for the S series

My first two shipments (2 cards each) were test shipments to make sure system works, no customs problems (media cards are supposed to be duty free between UK and US) and everything went fine. The last shipment is 6 cards.

I will be constantly shooting at XAVC-I UHD 30p which is only 40-44 minutes per card and I always like to have the original cards and original files (even though backed up on a hard drive) until I get them into my NLE and make sure they are editable. .

Barry did you have to pay any addition credit card fees?

Not at all. Just looked online - shipment of 6 cards just released in customs (whew!) so should have delivery tomorrow. They charge what they say online 345 pounds sterling - right now $540 + postage of $40 for - 2-3 day air - same for 1 as for 6 cards so I'm paying around $7 per card.. $550 vs $800!!!

Of course, as with the 4 other cards I will upload and download about 120GB of video files and check times that it takes just to make sure not a defective card (will do same thing with camera when it arrives).

For testing cards etc. you may find h2testw software useful. (Free)
It will write and then verify what is written and give write and read speeds
And confirm capacity.

Brian Crow
Videographer and one man band
Cardiff UK

Thanks Brian, I will try it out

Sony and Metabones released new firmware today which are designed to improve the performance of the FS7.

FIRMWARE UPDATE V1.01
http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/product/broadcast-products-camcorders-digital-motion-picture-camera/pxw-fs7/support/


Firmware update V0.38 for EF-E Speed Booster ULTRA
Metabones® (http://www.metabones.com/article/of/EF-E_Speed_Booster_ULTRA_Firmware_Win)

I know not many people have their FS7s yet but I was wondering if anyone has tried the Sigma 18-35 f1.8 lens paired with the Sony LAEA4 adaptor or a metabones adaptor for that matter. I was wondering about any significant cropping or vignetting (APS-C and s35 are not that different). Also wondering if there were any iris control problems such as what has been reported by Dan Chung and others (mainly on E mount lenses)

i've been using a Canon EF 18-35mm Art lens on the FS7 and it is a beautiful combination, no vignetting. There are some iris control issues with both the commlite and metabones adapters with the old firmware, not had a chance to test with the new firmware yet.

Alister - I have tried to look up "Canon 18-35mm Art Lens" and I keep getting redirected to the Sigma 18-35mm f 1.8 for Canon - are they one and the same? I have seen a report where the Sony LAEA4 adaptor works with this lens (Sigma) and allows for proper iris control.

Barry, Art is the series for the 18-35 lens. Think of it like "L" for Canon. But yes, same lens unless they've changed something.

Anyone know what the minimum XQD card speed needed for the FS7 is offhand? Can't find any exact answer. I imagine the Sony 180 MB/s cards are plenty, just wondering if the slightly slower/older ones work in a pinch.

Anyone know what the minimum XQD card speed needed for the FS7 is offhand? Can't find any exact answer. I imagine the Sony 180 MB/s cards are plenty, just wondering if the slightly slower/older ones work in a pinch.

Using N cards here. XAVC-L records up to 120p no problem. In Intra can only record 1080 1-48p and 4k 24P on N cards