New Sony FS7 4K XDCAM at IBC 2014

[Cliff Totten]

Sony is making a HUGE investment in FE lenses. (They just announced a few more very nice new ones this morning)

We know about the new Sony FF cine lens...that really is better suited to a FF sensor. (because of crop factor)

We know that the A7s is the best low light light performer that Sony has. (because of it's new FF sensor)

We Know that Sony rarely builds a sensor for one single camera model only....

How would you feel if you purchased an FS7 today....only for Sony to announce an "FS1" with the same body and form factor...but with that A7s FF sensor? (I bet they would lock it to 8 bit only for the FF - loving DSLR crowd..for $5,000+)

Sony is now missing an entry "100" level 4K camera.

Hmmmm...NAB 2015?

We KNOW more FF video cameras are on the way from Sony....

CT

[Brian Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Brian Rhodes

B&H LINK PXW FS7 $9999.00
Sony COMPACT 4K XDCAM W/SUPR 35 CMOS SENSOR PXW-FS7 B&H Photo


Sony PXW-FS7 Compact 4K XDCAM Camera, Super 35 CMOS Sensor, with the New Servo Zoom E-Mount Lens FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS $12599.00
Sony PXW-FS7 Compact 4K XDCAM Camera with Super 35 CMOS Sensor (Body-Only) $9599.00
PXW FS7 : Buy or Learn at Adorama

UPDATED STREET PRICE.
Sony PXW-FS7 Compact 4K XDCAM Camera, Super 35 CMOS Sensor, with the New Servo Zoom E-Mount Lens FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS $10499.00
Sony PXW-FS7 Compact 4K XDCAM Camera with Super 35 CMOS Sensor (Body-Only) $7999.00

[Mike Watson]

Thoughts on how the FS7 compares to the Blackmagic Ursa or AJA Cion? Outside of the fact that this thing appears to be real, and the other two are, as of yet, vaporware.

[Darren Levine]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

Thoughts on how the FS7 compares to the Blackmagic Ursa or AJA Cion? Outside of the fact that this thing appears to be real, and the other two are, as of yet, vaporware.

they will all produce a great image. big difference is how friendly/easily they'll be to work with. in order of usability from worst to best: ursa, cion, fs7

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

Thoughts on how the FS7 compares to the Blackmagic Ursa or AJA Cion? Outside of the fact that this thing appears to be real, and the other two are, as of yet, vaporware.

Technically, the sensor seems to be the same as in the F5 and that must weigh heavily in this cameras favour.

And for "client confidence" I'd far rather turn up with a camera that had something like "Sony", "Panasonic" or "Canon" on the side for an expensive paid shoot. If the competition were a lot cheaper for the same bang, well maybe, but the FS7 itself seems to offer a lot for the money. Why then experiment with other brands?

The Ursa doesn't seem to have a eyepiece viewfinder, which personally would rule it out for me for most outdoor and on the shoulder work.

[Monday Isa]

Originally Posted by Barry J. Weckesser

Just did the same thing (with Abel Cine). Did you opt for the FS7K (bundled lens) or just the body? They told me there is only one other person on that list (Body + lens) and now I am #2

I went body only. Glad to see the $7,999 price!!! :D

[Monday Isa]

Originally Posted by Cliff Totten

....How would you feel if you purchased an FS7 today....only for Sony to announce an "FS1" with the same body and form factor...but with that A7s FF sensor? (I bet they would lock it to 8 bit only for the FF - loving DSLR crowd..for $5,000+)

Sony is now missing an entry "100" level 4K camera.

Hmmmm...NAB 2015?

We KNOW more FF video cameras are on the way from Sony....

CT

For me personally it wouldn't phase me at all. If delivery of my FS7 is October I would have put the camera to work from October-June if that new camera is released at that time. That's 9 months the FS7 will have been working paying itself off probably twice by then. A FS1 will be 8-bit Long Gop in 4K but in HD can be 10bit 4:2:2 long Gop 50mbps like the PXW-X70. I hope it does come out for the lower end market. A cheaper 4K solution even if it has the A7s sensor.

[Erwin van Dijck]

Has anybody any thoughts about that SELP28135G lens that comes with the FS7 kit?

Nice lens but:

It is 28-135... (the equivalent of an 42-202.5mm on the FS7 S35 sensor) so I consider this a telezoom. Not nearly wide enough for daily use.

[Cliff Totten]

Yup!

I don't think they really made this lens for the FS7 or even really so much for the FF A7s.

I think it's intended for 1 or 2 more future FF "pro" camcorders. I strongly suspect that an "FS1" will have a FF sensor and it's pointed at the DSLR full frame sensor guys. (Canon 5D-type folks with about 5 or 6 thousand to spend..tops)

An A7s motherboard and sensor mounted into an FS7 body locked down to 8bit UHD to protect the more expensive FS7.

I'm definitely getting this lens for my A7s. (Anyone know if the A7s will pass a LANC signal to it's E mount?)

CT

[Emmanuel Plakiotis]

I still can't understand the rationality to pair a FF lens with a S35 camera. The added weight and the lack of wide angle can't be compensated with any benefits. This lens can be a perfect much for A7s, but its out of place with this camera. Actually only a7 and the FF camcorder can utilize the lens to its full potential.


Of course maybe this lens implies the existence of a future professional FF camcorder with A7s sensor and better codecs. :)
Does anyone knows something that can validate this hypothesis?

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Erwin van Dijck

Has anybody any thoughts about that SELP28135G lens that comes with the FS7 kit?

Nice lens but:

It is 28-135... (the equivalent of an 42-202.5mm on the FS7 S35 sensor) so I consider this a telezoom. Not nearly wide enough for daily use.

Do you also think that max of F4 will significantly affect the low light performance of the camera?

The comments on the first videos coming out of Sony mentioned using this lens under a wide variety of shooting conditions - I am having some second thoughts about it though...

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Barry J. Weckesser

Do you also think that max of F4 will significantly affect the low light performance of the camera? ...

Probably not.... because a large sensor camera will tend to be more sensitive (higher ISO for given s/n) than a smaller format one. So smaller f stop - higher ISO and they balance out.

I have heard that thinking of f stop alone in regards to sensitivity is irrelevant in isolation - the determining factor is really the size of the lens in terms of light gathering ability. Whether that glass then gets used with big sensor/long focal length or smaller sensor/shorter focal length is then irrelevant. Think about it...... :-)

The only way to improve low light ability is with a bigger diameter lens.

[Brian Jansen]

Have any questions been answered about output recording while internal recording at the same time? < do you lose output when you hit record? >
Also having an HD preview via SDI or HDMI while recording 4K internally would be a nice feature. Is this possible?
And lastly... has anyone seen those fast XQD G Series 400MB/s Memory Cards for sale anywhere?

[Jack Zhang]

These higher end models shouldn't act like crippled DSLRs and change picture format when the record button is pressed. My XDCAM for example always outputs the same picture format even when recording. It's an artificial limit placed by people like Nikon and Canon in lower end DSLRs.

[Erwin van Dijck]

Originally Posted by Barry J. Weckesser

Do you also think that max of F4 will significantly affect the low light performance of the camera?

I'm not really worried about the F4: the FS7 sensor is rated at 2000 iso, so it should be sensitive enough and will work fine with an F4 aperture. We will have to see about image noise. Besides: a full frame cinema zoom lens in 2.8 would be incredibly bulky and heavy (and dito price tag).

But that said, I tried the FS7 with 28-135 at the IBC Sony booth and it gave 'low light' warnings all the time. Camera was set to 0dB. This was indoor with normal artificial lighting you can expect at an exhibition.

The lens clearly was a prototype: it reacted very slow to focussing and zooming, The zoom ring drives a zoom-motor and it was slow and lagging. The minimum focus distance was in no way 40cm as they say in the specs. More like 1.2 meter... But the thing that worries most about this otherwise very interesting lens is the lack of wide angle...

From the Sony booth @IBC I also learned this 28-135 lens is targeted at the A7s camera as well. There was one on demo. Didn't try that one.