Large Sensor News

Sony PMW-F3 Firmware Upgrade
Sony has given a hint at the cost of the firmware update for the PMW-F3 that will provide support for Dual Link RGB / S-Log / 3G / Pre-Loaded 4 LUTS & 5 User LUT's for monitoring in S-Log mode. It will be approx $3500.00... ouch!


Impressions of the Sony PMW-F3
Matthew Allard bought one of the first PMW-F3's - though he only just got to play with it! - and he loves it. Particularly the low-light capabilities, and - though this may not be true for all - he actually is glad it supports 50i.
I have been very happy with the image out of the 5D mkII and the F3 certainly has a very different look to it than the DSLRs. It does look more like video on the standard settings and that’s because it is a video camera. The F3 is incredibly sharp on the standard settings and the detail is incredible. It can be made to look more like a 5D mkII but that requires a lot of tweaking and bringing the sharpness way down.
He recommends buying it with the three PL lenses, as he thinks they are a great value.
DSLRNewsShooter: Using the new Sony F3 – by Matthew Allard of Al Jazeera
B & H: Sony PMW-F3K Super 35mm Full-HD Compact Camcorder [$18,950.00]



Sony 4K Camera
Sony previewed a 4K CineAlta camera in Japan yesterday. The camera has a single 8K sensor (8768 x 2324 - 20.4 Megapixels). A half hour of 24p footage will fill 1 TB! People who has seen images from the camera describe them as "stunning" and "incredible."
The camera will be shown at NAB, and may be released in the summer.
fdtimes: New Sony Camera: 4K and Beyond



RED EPIC-M
Mike Seymour at fxguide got play with the new RED camera, and notes that it's really small and that "the HDRx is working well, not that you will need it for every shot, but it is logical and impressive to use."
fxguide: Today was EPIC



Impressions of the Panasonic AG-AF100
Robert Ruscher spent time with the Panasonic AG-AF100 over the weekend. He loves the XLR audio input, ND filter and flip out screen, and made his piece with the viewfinder, but he's unhappy that it records in AVCHD - which he doesn't consider a pro format - and he's also unhappy that the comparatively smaller sensor means it's harder to get a good wide angle lens.

Note: if you don't like using AVCHD with the AG-AF100, you could use the AJA Ki Pro Mini (or similar) to capture the video from the HDMI or HD-SDI port.
RobertRuscher: First Impressions of the AF100




Comments

FocusPulling (.com) said…
Am I missing something? Why the hell would anyone charge $3,500 for a firmware upgrade? I contend that such a move would be totally unprecedented -- and downright evil.
Mar 1, 2011, 2:33:00 PM
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