Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

But the EX1 is quite power frugal - same compression as the F3.

Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

Fair point, i haven't compared the figures. How different are they?

cheers
paul

Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

The F3 is more power hungry than the EX1, mostly due to having to power 3 x HDSDi outputs, one composite video plus HDMI at the same time. It also has a small (but very quiet) fan that runs when the camera gets hot.

Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

The manuals quote 24 watts for the F3, 5.6 watts for the FS100 - the F3 appears to use well over 4 times the power of the FS100 in normal operation.

If that was solely down to powering HD-SDI outputs (the FS100 is powering HDMI itself), surely it would be sensible to provide a means of disabling them when not in use? (Most of the time, for most people?) And other cameras with HD-SDI don't seem to neccessarily have such power requirements.

Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

When the dual-link connectors are turned off (yes, you can disable them), the F3 only uses about 18 watts. As a comparison, my F800 uses 45-50 watts even when the SDI connectors are turned off.

Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

Thanks - 18 watts is still more than 3x the power consumption of an FS100 though........

Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

The power difference does not surprise me one bit. The FS100 and F3 are as different as night and day except for the actual image sensor.

Just about every high performance product I can think of (cars, computers, digital cameras, appliances) will use more energy that a lower-performance equivalent. There's a hell of a lot more computer processing being done inside an F3, plus you have both a viewfinder and LCD, and two SxS card slots that each require a lot more power than an SD slot. Also, I think by it's very nature, a 12v camera is going to consume more power than a 7v camera.

Although I am shocked by how long my FS100 will run on a single battery, I am still completely satisfied with the battery life on an F3. Anyone who is not happy with how long modern batteries will power modern cameras has not been in the business very long. Wow, people are really getting spoiled. :-)

Re: 10 bit vs 8 bit output
 

Wow these people are spoiled. My Viper uses somewhere around 70 watts just for the camera head (no recorder). When I go out to shoot, I usually bring 12 Anton Bauer Dionic 90s for the day for the Viper.

The amount of power sipping the F3 does is very welcome. My Dionic 90 will power my F3 for hours upon hours, with a recorder built in!