Sony NEX-FS700 - It's real

[Curtis Campsall]

Shallow focus in slow motion... It will be like, wait for it, wait for it, sharp focus, ah nuts soft again.

As an aside, there is still a supposedly significant firmware upgrade for the fs100 coming at the end of NAB. Many of the software based features, touch to focus, cinegamma, etc, could still be coming to the fs100, to allow it to be a competent b-cam for the 700.

[Dean Harrington]

Originally Posted by Jerry Porter

Looking lovingly at my EX3 right now, but if this camera is what it appears to be, there will be anther EX3 ready for "Don's EX3 Rest Home"

ditto .. ditto ... and more ditto

[Walter Brokx]

Originally Posted by Murray Christian

........Slow motion is the new shallow focus.
................

I'm already planning for a slowmo-project now :-p

But I don't think the FS-700 will be sold in numbers that can compare with number of video-DSLR's and large sensor camcorders. So slowmotion at real high speeds won't be as common as shallow depht of field.

I'd go for slow motion with shallow DoF on a Cinevate Atlas track :-p

[Mark OConnell]

FS700 480 FPS Test on Vimeo

[Ben Fullerton]

Originally Posted by Curtis Campsall

Shallow focus in slow motion... It will be like, wait for it, wait for it, sharp focus, ah nuts soft again.

As an aside, there is still a supposedly significant firmware upgrade for the fs100 coming at the end of NAB. Many of the software based features, touch to focus, cinegamma, etc, could still be coming to the fs100, to allow it to be a competent b-cam for the 700.

Yes, the rampant abuse of shallow DOf is well documented, and even before the announcement of the fs700, I've been feeling the same thing coming on with slo-mo. Phantoms are getting popular enough, and the epics shooting at 300fps, I'm starting to see it everywhere, at least in the circles I travel in. Most of what I do and /or watch is in the adventure sports world; and the last year or so, I've just been seen more and more and more and more super slow motion stuff, to the point where I'm like, "I love this stuff, but even I'm getting sick of it."

I fear this will only make it worse. But maybe as more and more "cool" techniques become available, they will all somehow filter back into appropriate proportions.

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Walter Brokx

I'm already planning for a slowmo-project now :-p

There are time limitations on the length of your slow motion shot, plus the quality isn't quite as good, due to how they they achieve the slow mo.

Like a lot of things, it has to be appropriate. otherwise it just becomes an affectation.

[Walter Brokx]

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

There are time limitations on the length of your slow motion shot, plus the quality isn't quite as good, due to how they they achieve the slow mo.

I know about the time limitations.
But you are most welcome to elaborate on how they achieve the slow mo and why it affects quality.

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

Like a lot of things, it has to be appropriate. otherwise it just becomes an affectation.

Lol, are you trying to explain that story and content should dictate the techniques that are being used? ;-)

(BTW, it will be a project to try and test the slow mo of the FS700.)

[Brian Drysdale]

Adam Wilt has been running tests on the slow motion, I imagine he'll put them on line at some stage. He was testing a pre-production camera and found it slightly less sharp than at normal frame rate, although it could be an issue with the camera's status.

There seems to be some line skipping at the higher frame rates seemingly the missing lines are interpolated back, but they look "better than they should".

I'm sure the slow motion will work extremely well for most people's requirements.

[Felix Steinhardt]

Ooops! That´s a real disappointment and might be a deal breaker for me.
I assumed the 240 fps are maximum quality. So it´s just another mode to play with but nothing to use seriously...

[Murray Christian]

In a new record for feature disappointment, high res high speed above 60fps and under 10 grand is out before the camera is even on sale because its not true 1080 at 480fps.

If someone were serious about high speed I'd think they were already in the market for much more expensive specialty gear anyway and not expecting anything from a lowly video camera.

[Brian Drysdale]

In practise, at the 240 fps I suspect you wouldn't notice the difference in quality. I gather the drop off was very slight on his initial test, so unless you're filming test charts the slow motion is the key feature. It's at 480 fps they use the the line skipping.

[Brian Drysdale]

Here the Adam Wilt slow motion test I mentioned, together with some thoughts:

http://provideocoalition.com/index.p..._amuse-bouche/

I gather the camera was quite power hungry, perhaps it's because of the processing of the slow motion material.

[Andrew Stone]

Adam Wilt's article referenced above explains the business about how it copes with all the data in slomo. Apparently the camera uses line skipping (a la DSLR) to achieve the high frame rate.

[Jean-Philippe Archibald]

The very high (480, 960) .

There is no line skipping in the 120 and 240 FPS mode.

[Walter Brokx]

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

In practise, at the 240 fps I suspect you wouldn't notice the difference in quality. I gather the drop off was very slight on his initial test, so unless you're filming test charts the slow motion is the key feature. It's at 480 fps they use the the line skipping.

And this is no surprise as the press release already mentioned that 480fps won't be full resolution.
It's like a lot of highspeedcameras: there is a maximum bandwidth of data. More fps can only be achieved by dropping resolution.

Is there any 120fps and 240fps imagequalitytest comparing it to 30fps or 24fps?

I'm also curious about noise at higher iso/dB, since that will tell us more about low-light performance and the abilty to get a deeper DoF when needed.
(Sony: send me a cam to test it :-p)