Sony PXW-FS5 - Initial User Impressions

[Olof Ekbergh]

I just got my FS5 from BandPro Tuesday, they may still have few in stock, call them, they ordered a lot of them.

I spent most of yesterday playing with it. I absolutely love it.

I will post some video later over the Holiday but I am really exited about this compact mini FS7. The footage is really good and the ergonomics of this lightweight cam are great.

I played around with the digital zoom and on my Canon 1979 FD 50mm f1.4 it is fantastic with a cheap mechanical adapter FD -> NEX. It is now a f1.4 50-100 mm zoom, wow.

I also played around with the vary ND. It is fun to turn on auto iris and then change the ND from 1/4 to 1/128, it works very smoothly and is a very interesting effect changing DOF dramatically w/o zooming. Talking about zooming in HD the kit lens is 18-210mm smooth zooming ENG lens for $500.00 that is remarkable. And it is really smooth, seamless from optical to digital and no loss of resolution I could spot.

I played around with 4K a bit and even though it is only 8 bit 422, as long as you nail exposure it looks really good even grading a bit. I am playing around making PPs. This is a really simple to use cam, not as powerful/compex as the FS7 but much easier to tune and the menus seem much more navigable and the response is instant, with my 7 I have to slow down and make sure I really press the multi knob exactly right, quite frustrating at times. The FS5 is really smooth and instant, I am not missing settings the way I do on the 7. I hope that Sony can make the menus as easy to use in the 7 as the new 5.

So far I really like CINE4 and I made up a couple scene files with that and Slog. Just starting to experiment.I will see how much time I can take away from family and turkey in the next few days.

[Erwin van Dijck]

My first impression of the FS5:

First impression: the new Sony FS-5 | Erwin van Dijck Videoproducties

[Andy Wilkinson]

Just bought one of these JCI Multi Interface Shoe adapters - hope it's the right one for the FS5. Should have it in a few days then I'll report if it does fit the front shoe position.

JJC MSA-MIS Cold Mount Adapter Converter for Sony Multi: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

[Dave Mercer]

Can anyone report on light sensitivity is like comparative to C100? I'm thinking low-light shooting.

Thanks!

[Mike Watson]

First impressions of low-light are good - gained up a LOT I did not notice a lot of grain in the external monitor, but I did not record to review on a real monitor. Visibility via the camera was better than with the naked eye in the room. I was impressed.

[Jody Arnott]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

First impressions of low-light are good - gained up a LOT I did not notice a lot of grain in the external monitor, but I did not record to review on a real monitor. Visibility via the camera was better than with the naked eye in the room. I was impressed.

Is that with the stock lens?

[James R. Wilson Sr.]

Originally Posted by Olof Ekbergh

I just got my FS5 from BandPro Tuesday, they may still have few in stock, call them, they ordered a lot of them.

I spent most of yesterday playing with it. I absolutely love it.

I will post some video later over the Holiday but I am really exited about this compact mini FS7. The footage is really good and the ergonomics of this lightweight cam are great.

I played around with the digital zoom and on my Canon 1979 FD 50mm f1.4 it is fantastic with a cheap mechanical adapter FD -> NEX. It is now a f1.4 50-100 mm zoom, wow.

I also played around with the vary ND. It is fun to turn on auto iris and then change the ND from 1/4 to 1/128, it works very smoothly and is a very interesting effect changing DOF dramatically w/o zooming. Talking about zooming in HD the kit lens is 18-210mm smooth zooming ENG lens for $500.00 that is remarkable. And it is really smooth, seamless from optical to digital and no loss of resolution I could spot.

I played around with 4K a bit and even though it is only 8 bit 422, as long as you nail exposure it looks really good even grading a bit. I am playing around making PPs. This is a really simple to use cam, not as powerful/compex as the FS7 but much easier to tune and the menus seem much more navigable and the response is instant, with my 7 I have to slow down and make sure I really press the multi knob exactly right, quite frustrating at times. The FS5 is really smooth and instant, I am not missing settings the way I do on the 7. I hope that Sony can make the menus as easy to use in the 7 as the new 5.

So far I really like CINE4 and I made up a couple scene files with that and Slog. Just starting to experiment.I will see how much time I can take away from family and turkey in the next few days.

Glad to hear you say that about the FS/7 joystick and menus. I really have to concentrate on pressing the stick straight in, or I end up on a menu that I did not choose.

[Mike Watson]

Originally Posted by Jody Arnott

Is that with the stock lens?

Yes. This is in a dark livingroom with the family dozing off watching TV after Thanksgiving dinner. :-)

[Jody Arnott]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

Yes. This is in a dark livingroom with the family dozing off watching TV after Thanksgiving dinner. :-)

Good to know. If you have good impressions of the low light performance with an f4 lens, I'm very excited to see what it will do with much faster glass.

[Mark Watson]

I did a quick and dirty test with the FS7 just to get an idea of how it stacks up against the FDR-AX100 in low light. The AX100 has been my best low light performer. I set both cameras to UHD 30p, 1/60th shutter and f/4 iris. The FS7 was at 6dB to get the scene bright enough for me to make out details and to get about the same level of brightness I had to crank the AX100 up to about 18dB. In my editor, I was able to go to white balance effect and increase the brightness of the FS7 clip A LOT with no issues, very clean looking. Wouldn't have needed any Neat Video to remove grain. The AX100 is still pretty good as far as I'm concerned, but I guess that Super 35 sensor makes all the difference, which is the same sensor in the FS5, so I'd conclude the two cameras should be quite similar if not identical low-light performers. No time to do any more in-depth testing at the moment.

Mark

P.S. This was with the kit lens 28-135mm.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Andy Wilkinson

Just bought one of these JCI Multi Interface Shoe adapters - hope it's the right one for the FS5. Should have it in a few days then I'll report if it does fit the front shoe position.

JJC MSA-MIS Cold Mount Adapter Converter for Sony Multi: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

It arrived yesterday. Fits perfectly - nice and secure.

[Nate Haustein]

Originally Posted by Andy Wilkinson

It arrived yesterday. Fits perfectly - nice and secure.

I forgot it has one of those goofy shoes on the front. One more thing...grrrr....

I can see myself permanently attaching a cold shoes to a couple of the side handle 1/4" points.

[Andy Wilkinson]

I bought one (a metal cold shoe) from Small Rigs just for that purpose - but when I thought about fitting it I noticed it would then prevent the top handle being fitted! It would be a pain to fit it every time I whip the top handle off - but not impossible.

Maybe someone makes a cold shoe that is "not so wide" or chunky as the one I have. Basically, the two rows of fitting holes (either side of the handle) are several mm (between an 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch) too close to the centre line of the camera body. It would have been much better if they were positioned a bit wide so accessories using these holes do not foul the sides of the top handle - when fitted.

I guess you could fit a narrow/rectangular cheese plate type accessory on one or both sides that allows more flexibility, so it is not the end of the world. Not had time to look into that yet.

This is just one of the issues with having such a compact body - which I love for so many other reasons, apart from this!

[Walter Brokx]

One question: how much does the body only weigh?
How much does it weigh with only a small battery?

I'm curious because I'd like to compare with a C100 mk2 setup o a MoVI M5.

[Jeroen Wolf]

Some random observations:

Does NOT accept third party batteries which is quite annoying, since I have three of them that work perfectly with my EX3.

Viewfinder is really handy when shooting handheld outside but it's hard to really judge anything on it. Good for composition, obviously, and for an extra point of contact when shooting handheld.

Rubber eyecup comes loose relatively easy.

LCD screen is ok.

Could not connect my iPhone 6S via Wifi...

Fits in my messenger back! Very nice to haul around town.

Super slo mo introduces flicker from any artificial light source- which almost always seems to be around in some corner of the frame... and it needs sufficient light or there will be noise.

I have a lot to learn about working with a large sensor camera. Colors straight out of the camera look very uninspiring, most likely because I have not a clue of what I'm doing.. I've shot 709 and a cine setting without much cc. Really looking forward to getting some tips on picture profiles/paint settings and post production with these files.

I don't see myself doing a lot of work in Resolve or other CC but rather would like to shoot relatively flat (no s-log) and get a nice look with something like FilmConvert. Anyone care to comment on this approach to working with this camera?