Tech Column

Sony’s F5/55 Puts Users into the Picture

Sony’s new F5 and up-model F55 have been called the “RED Killer,” but company reps play down the notion they’re gunning for any particular camera maker or model. RED Digital Cinema might say the same thing, noting their dramatic 50 per cent price drop for the Epic to $19,000 – putting it smack at Sony’s F5 pricing level – was merely coincidental. Coincidences like this, however, only happen in movie scripts, don’t they?

Nudges and winks aside, however, these black boxes have intrigued the marketplace with their technology and modular design. Officially, they are the PMW-F5 Cineastes 4K and PMW-F55 Cineastes 4K Camera, clocking in at $19,400 and $34,900 respectively. What you get is a modular system weighing in at about five pounds before you slap a rig or glass on it. It’s 4K ready from capture to distribution with 2K/HD options and 4K/2K RAW recording options.

Recording is either through two internal Six’s Flash memory card slots with MPEG2, MPEG4 compression, while the F55 also compresses 4K internally to the internal cards. Both cameras have 4K RAW to the AXS-R5 ($6,300) SSD modular recorder which clips on to the body.

There’s 60 fps out of the box (XAVC HD), 120 fps (XAVC 2K/HD) with upgrade, and 120 fps 2K RAW with the AXS-R5 in 16-bit. On the front end, there are PL and FZ lens mounts with thirdparty adaptors for a variety of glass such as Nikon, Cooke, Canon and Leica.

Extras include the DVF-EL100 OLED Viewfinder at $5,800, the DVF-F350 3.5” LCD Viewfinder for $3,800, and the DVF-L700 LCD viewfinder for $5,000. Lens packages are the SCL-PK6/F PL sixlens set for $24,600 with the SCL-PK3/F PL mount three-lens set for $13,600.

The adage that form necessarily follows function is fading to black in the digital age, which perhaps gives designers more time to research how their products are actually used on the front lines and to incorporate that feedback into their output.

François Gauthier, Sony Canada market manager - broadcast acquisition and production, says Sony made a concerted effort to go out and poll users and shooters for their wants and needs and then built accordingly. “Also, and this is new, the F5/55 is more of a platform which can be built out for what the user needs” rather than just a purpose-built camera, said Gauthier. “And it has a wide range of connection options from HDSI to HDMI.”

The F5 is a video camera that can be used for broadcast capture, for studio, for documentaries, even cinematography, while the F55 is a cinematography capture device that can be used for video shoots. “It’s very popular with the rental houses already,” said Gauthier, because it’s a flexible platform, which meets their clients’ diverse range of needs.

Sony made sure not to depart from standard menus and workflow, and it will be also familiar to anyone who uses Sony equipment now. There’s already a range of rigs and accessories available from a variety of sources including ARRI.

It’s also relatively light at 5 lbs in base

form, which is either a plus or a minus, depending on point of view, says Gauthier: “A lot of Steadicam operators prefer something a little more robust.” Still, it’s also slim enough to work in a side-by-side capture for 3D, which is a plus, he adds.

Toronto-based director of photography Nigel Akam, an 18-year veteran of the industry, was among the first to shoot with the F5 last summer using a pre-production model with an early firmware version that was upgraded for the February launch.

“My first impression out of the box is I think they got it right,” he said. “It addresses a lot of the things people have been asking for over the last couple of years in this space.” He likes the diversity of range: “It fills a lot of different needs from corporate video, to commercials, documentaries and film. It has a lot of different flavours of codecs to address what anyone wants to shoot, incorporates 4K, and it’s got some future proofing.” The latter is important, he says, because lifecycles on cameras are shortening dramatically. Those old Betacams that cost $120,000 back in the day may have required a mortgage but they lasted a decade or so. Today’s gear is quickly eclipsed by something newer, faster, lighter and most often, cheaper.

The convergence of the H265 codec approval and the release of the F5/55 is also a happy coincidence, he notes. “All of a sudden, the 4K codec makes it more manageable for people to shoot RAW because there’s a big segment of the market which doesn’t have the capability to handle that workflow.” What’s also interesting is the controls setup, said Akan. “As an owneroperator, the controls are set up on the left side, which is normal for me, but for film, an Alexis, for example, would be set up with the controls on the right for the camera assistant,” he said. “However, there’s a remote control option, and there’s also an iPad Wi-Fi control option, too, which is really 21st century.”

Ted Mitchener, sales manager at HD Source and business development manager at ZTV Broadcast Services, says the arrival of the F5/55 has turned his head. “Six months ago I would have laughed at the talk around 4K and asked, ‘What are you going to do with all that data?’” he said. “But that’s where the market is going.”

Even if 4K isn’t the intended output, 4K is the default capture, just as HD became the default even before the rest of the world caught up. “They finally realized that instead of building a camera and saying, ‘Here it is,’ they should go out to the field and build a camera back to the factory,” Mitchener said. “We’ve had a lot of interest and got a few on order for customers. The real advantage is that the 35 mm sensor gives you so much creative control.”

Ian Harvey is a veteran Toronto-based journalist who writes for a variety of publications and covers the technology sector. He welcomes feedback and eagerly solicits subject matter ideas at ian@pitbullmedia.ca.