sony FS7 vs panasonic DVX200 at DVinfo.net

Tom Van den Berghe · July 27th, 2022, 09:08 AM

I have now a panasonic GH5S and a panasonic DVX200. The GH5S has (for me) the better picture quality.

I can now buy (not far from my place) a second hand FS7 (1436 hours) with 64 and 128 XQD cards. If I buy the FS7 I have to sell the DVX200. My wife doesn't allow me to keep both of them. Already have too many camcorders now. (also have the sony FS100, sony A7, gopro 7 black, dji mini pro 3)

Still have the powerzoom 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 from my sony FS100. So the plan is put that lens on the FS7 for general work like shooting dance performances, theatre. In the deal is also a tamron 24-70mm F2.8, speedbooster, XQD cards, tripod... asking price about 2200 euro.

I have also have a few full frame lenses from sony. (that I use on my A7 for stills)

I have only found one video from the FS7 and the 18-200mm lens and It looked very good to me.

Always liked the viewfinder loupe on my FS100.

I always shoot in 8bit now. Because XQD cards can't hold that long of footage in 10bit I will shoot in XAVC-L in 8bit on the FS7 for longer projects like theatre,...
And 10bit XAV-I for special short projects.

So what are your thoughts ?

Christopher Young · July 27th, 2022, 11:12 PM

The price sounds reasonable for what you have listed as being in the kit. After all these years what you get with the FS7 despite some of its shortcomings is a camera that is still delivering pretty decent images if set up properly. I am regularly using two FS7 kits for everything from broadcast TV, to corporate, sports and stage entertainment. In fact, 48 hours ago I had two of them doing a live stream to the world for the governing body of our Rugby League here in Australia. Everybody was more than very happy with the results. Which is the important thing as that's what most of us get paid for on such gigs.

That old 18-200 lens as slow as it is does surprisingly deliver images considerably better than its price would suggest. Its major drawback is its end aperture of F/6.3. Even with the FS7 that aperture on low light stage shows does mean you will be pushing your ISO up. Quite often to around 4000ISO. The FS7 whilst fairly quiet is showing noise at that level. Nothing obnoxious but it's there. In post, a touch of noise reduction can totally clean that up.

The 4k 8-bit 4:2:0 XAVC-L stands up very well for all of the above scenarios and I've had no problems delivering camera files to any client. When I want 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 files and need long unbroken record times I just record the 4k output to an Atomos Ninja V and record ProRes or DNX depending on the end client requests. If shooting HD, which is still 100% of my broadcast work the FS7's Long GOP XAVC-L is 4:2:2 10-bit.

If the camera is in good condition and all is working fine I think you will get many more good hours out of it.
Good luck if you proceed with the purchase.

Chris Young

Tom Van den Berghe · July 28th, 2022, 02:39 AM

thx Christopher for taking the answer my question!

I always used that powerzoom lens on my sony FS100 and never had problems with noise and stage shows.

I always shoot in 4K because I crop sometimes like stage shows. But that's mostly done with the footage of my fixed camcorder (= the GH5S)

What I read somewhere long time ago (Can't find it back) is that FS7 is as good in low light than the FS100.

Is it possible to share some footage from the FS7 with the 18-200mm lens? I'm very curious how that's look like. (sharpness)

Tom Van den Berghe · July 30th, 2022, 09:33 AM

I went to the seller of the FS7 near my place. He didn't know much about the camcorder because it was from a friend. Bacause I couldn't find the settings i wanted to test he was so kindly to give it to me for further testing! The problem was that the 2x XQD cards were not there at the moment. I said no problem. I will test in HD 1080p on regural sd cards. But now it seems that only XQD cards can be inserted? There are also lots of scratches -> is it possible to remove (cover) them with some black pen ??

Tom Van den Berghe · August 1st, 2022, 12:26 PM

yes I could test the DVX200 vs FS7 now. Seller give my a XQD 128gig card. I recorded UHD XAVC-L on FS7 and UHD on DVX200 (also 8bit long gop)
*I tested my 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 powerzoom lens. I did several low light tests inside my house and always the FS7 was "way" darker. If the FS7 needed ISO 6400 then that was that too bright on dvx200. (cine-d profile) On the fs7 was a custom profile. I didn't see much difference between the 2. and the test were shot wide open so F3.5 on the FS7 vs F2.8 on dvx200. shutter both on 1/50.

Maybe there are better profiles for low light on the FS7? At this moment I see no reason to sell my DVX200 and buy the FS7. Yes faster lenses will have the edge in low light but I mostly use an all in lens that shoots wide open and can zoom in a lot.*

Tom Van den Berghe · August 4th, 2022, 02:11 AM

update from seller: 2 screws were "lose" so that's why the nd filter didn't work. He (fs7) is now in a repair shop.

But is it normal when you turn on the fs7 the lcd screen takes a time to get bright?
on this fs7 turning on it did get bright in "steps". Maybe this is because the broken nd filter? And maybe this is related to the broken nd filter. In my testing at F3.5 the image was twice as dark then my dvx200 at F2.8. I think it was set on HDR and rec709.

July 27th, 2022, 09:08 AM	#1
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	sony FS7 vs panasonic DVX200 I have now a panasonic GH5S and a panasonic DVX200. The GH5S has (for me) the better picture quality. I can now buy (not far from my place) a second hand FS7 (1436 hours) with 64 and 128 XQD cards. If I buy the FS7 I have to sell the DVX200. My wife doesn't allow me to keep both of them. Already have too many camcorders now. (also have the sony FS100, sony A7, gopro 7 black, dji mini pro 3) Still have the powerzoom 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 from my sony FS100. So the plan is put that lens on the FS7 for general work like shooting dance performances, theatre. In the deal is also a tamron 24-70mm F2.8, speedbooster, XQD cards, tripod... asking price about 2200 euro. I have also have a few full frame lenses from sony. (that I use on my A7 for stills) I have only found one video from the FS7 and the 18-200mm lens and It looked very good to me. Always liked the viewfinder loupe on my FS100. I always shoot in 8bit now. Because XQD cards can't hold that long of footage in 10bit I will shoot in XAVC-L in 8bit on the FS7 for longer projects like theatre,... And 10bit XAV-I for special short projects. So what are your thoughts ?

July 27th, 2022, 11:12 PM	#2
Christopher Young Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 1,567	Re: sony FS7 vs panasonic DVX200 The price sounds reasonable for what you have listed as being in the kit. After all these years what you get with the FS7 despite some of its shortcomings is a camera that is still delivering pretty decent images if set up properly. I am regularly using two FS7 kits for everything from broadcast TV, to corporate, sports and stage entertainment. In fact, 48 hours ago I had two of them doing a live stream to the world for the governing body of our Rugby League here in Australia. Everybody was more than very happy with the results. Which is the important thing as that's what most of us get paid for on such gigs. That old 18-200 lens as slow as it is does surprisingly deliver images considerably better than its price would suggest. Its major drawback is its end aperture of F/6.3. Even with the FS7 that aperture on low light stage shows does mean you will be pushing your ISO up. Quite often to around 4000ISO. The FS7 whilst fairly quiet is showing noise at that level. Nothing obnoxious but it's there. In post, a touch of noise reduction can totally clean that up. The 4k 8-bit 4:2:0 XAVC-L stands up very well for all of the above scenarios and I've had no problems delivering camera files to any client. When I want 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 files and need long unbroken record times I just record the 4k output to an Atomos Ninja V and record ProRes or DNX depending on the end client requests. If shooting HD, which is still 100% of my broadcast work the FS7's Long GOP XAVC-L is 4:2:2 10-bit. If the camera is in good condition and all is working fine I think you will get many more good hours out of it. Good luck if you proceed with the purchase. Chris Young

July 28th, 2022, 02:39 AM	#3
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	Re: sony FS7 vs panasonic DVX200 thx Christopher for taking the answer my question! I always used that powerzoom lens on my sony FS100 and never had problems with noise and stage shows. I always shoot in 4K because I crop sometimes like stage shows. But that's mostly done with the footage of my fixed camcorder (= the GH5S) What I read somewhere long time ago (Can't find it back) is that FS7 is as good in low light than the FS100. Is it possible to share some footage from the FS7 with the 18-200mm lens? I'm very curious how that's look like. (sharpness)

July 30th, 2022, 09:33 AM	#4
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	Re: sony FS7 vs panasonic DVX200 I went to the seller of the FS7 near my place. He didn't know much about the camcorder because it was from a friend. Bacause I couldn't find the settings i wanted to test he was so kindly to give it to me for further testing! The problem was that the 2x XQD cards were not there at the moment. I said no problem. I will test in HD 1080p on regural sd cards. But now it seems that only XQD cards can be inserted? There are also lots of scratches -> is it possible to remove (cover) them with some black pen ??

August 1st, 2022, 12:26 PM	#5
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	Re: sony FS7 vs panasonic DVX200 yes I could test the DVX200 vs FS7 now. Seller give my a XQD 128gig card. I recorded UHD XAVC-L on FS7 and UHD on DVX200 (also 8bit long gop) I tested my 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 powerzoom lens. I did several low light tests inside my house and always the FS7 was "way" darker. If the FS7 needed ISO 6400 then that was that too bright on dvx200. (cine-d profile) On the fs7 was a custom profile. I didn't see much difference between the 2. and the test were shot wide open so F3.5 on the FS7 vs F2.8 on dvx200. shutter both on 1/50. Maybe there are better profiles for low light on the FS7? At this moment I see no reason to sell my DVX200 and buy the FS7. Yes faster lenses will have the edge in low light but I mostly use an all in lens that shoots wide open and can zoom in a lot.

August 4th, 2022, 02:11 AM	#6
Tom Van den Berghe Major Player Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: BELGIUM Posts: 401	Re: sony FS7 vs panasonic DVX200 update from seller: 2 screws were "lose" so that's why the nd filter didn't work. He (fs7) is now in a repair shop. But is it normal when you turn on the fs7 the lcd screen takes a time to get bright? on this fs7 turning on it did get bright in "steps". Maybe this is because the broken nd filter? And maybe this is related to the broken nd filter. In my testing at F3.5 the image was twice as dark then my dvx200 at F2.8. I think it was set on HDR and rec709.