Saturday, February 2, 2013

Sony FS-700 Day One: Let's Blow Up a Building.



I borrowed the Sony FS-700 demo camera from the shop for the weekend thinking this was going to be a leisurely review of features.  I'm thinking about buying this camera, so it seemed like a prime opportunity to try before I buy.  I even had a bit of time to make the silver riser plate you see in the picture above.  ...then my friend Clarence calls me up and tells me they are planning an implosion of the South Bay Power Plant tomorrow morning.  On top of that, Salvador from the shop calls me and says the same thing.  Both guys offer to meet me down there tomorrow morning bright and early.  It seems like a good opportunity to test the camera's slow motion capabilities, after all, destruction equals awesome slo-mo, yes?

So I spend all night reading the manual, translating Japanese user manuals to something a filmmaker can understand (i.e. "detail" = sharpness, huh?), and reading up on cine-gamma curves.  I'm ready - except for the 6am call time.  By the time I finish my FS-700 self-education and have the camera built I manage to get 4 hours of sleep and make it down to Chula Vista just before the last parking spaces are gone.  Clarence doesn't show up.  Salvador is there, but can't find me.  I'm on my own with fifty pounds of gear, 4 hours sleep, and the camera set to cine4 gamma at 120fps.

The "Super Slow Motion" feature of the Sony FS-700 is really it's selling point so I was most anxious to try this out.  Regular capture is at 24, 25, and 30fps.  In super slow motion the camera can capture at 120, 240, 480, and 960fps (NTSC mode).  It's only at 120 and 240fps that you get full HD, the other two resolutions have reduced vertical resolution in the captured video file.  Unlike the Epic and Alexa, the slow motion features are time limited (120fps=16 seconds, 240fps=8 seconds), instead of being memory limited.  Likely one of the many limitations of capturing to an SD card.  The time does not get extended if you have the FMU (Flash Memory Unit) installed for some reason.

There are 3 trigger types for super slow motion, start, middle, and end.  The "Start" trigger captures from the time you hit record.  The "Middle" trigger captures half the time duration before the record button is pressed and the other half afterwards.  The "End" trigger captures the time duration before you press the record button.  The frames are stored in an internal memory buffer and written to the SD card after the trigger and capture are complete - which takes lots of time.  Don't plan on high speed shots back to back!

Now for an admission of stupidity on my part, albeit with 4 hours of sleep.  I should have used the "Middle" trigger for capturing the implosion, but no....I was going to be all smart and stuff and capture everything by pressing the record button after the building fell so would get all the detonations too - Wrong bozo move on my part.  For events like this I highly recommend just sticking with the middle trigger so you capture the core event.  With the loud explosions I accidently hit the trigger just as the building was falling.  Guess I won't be working at the Discovery Channel anytime soon. 




One other thing that I noticed is quite a bit of aliasing at 120fps.  I know this is a down-scaled 4k sensor, but the video appeared to have jaggies, just like anyone with a line skipping DSLR knows all too well.  I'm not sure if this artifact was just at high frame rates, or if this is normal.  Hopefully my adventure with the camera tomorrow will reveal the true nature of the sensor. Tomorrow's tests will mainly be at 24fps and under, but until then the picture below is a full resolution frame grab.  If you download the view the picture at full resolution you'll see a lot of jaggies in the building support structure.  I know it isn't obvious with a still picture, but the jaggies pop out when there is just the tiniest camera shake - like the shock wave from the detonations.  It also didn't help that I was using my brand new razor sharp Zeiss 100mm macro lens.  When perfectly focused that lens will show line skipping in a heartbeat.

   

Which brings me to my next point.  The "Focus Expansion" function on this camera is excellent.  I used the default settings that allow you to cycle through normal, 4x, and 8x zoom for setting focus perfectly.  This is just as useful as my DSLR for focus checks, PLUS unlike a DLSR you can use the function while recording!  "Say hello to my little friend", the focus puller screamed!

One thing this camera doesn't have is a good way of measuring the image exposure versus it's auto-exposure.  On Canon DSLR's there is a little meter that tells you if you are over-exposed or under-exposed, however the FS-700, like most video cameras, only has a histogram.  It would be a good firmware feature update if they added this "exposure suggestion meter" to their display.  Yes, you can override it, but sometimes it's quickest to go along with the camera's suggestion.  I typically use manual lenses, so auto-exposure isn't a feature that I can take advantage of.

I found a friend with an Atmos Ninja to test the internal AVCHD codec implementation with the industry standard Prores HQ.  From what I've seen so far the detail in the building doesn't seem to be any better or worse than my experience with a Canon 5D mark II DSLR.  Perhaps that was because I was capturing at 120fps, or perhaps it's a limitation of the on board consumer AVCHD codec.  Either way, I hope to have that answered before I return the camera on Monday.  The $3k BMCC shoots to SSD in Prores or CinemaDNG.  The $10k Red Scarlet shoots to SSD in R3D.  It seems like just a matter of time before Sony joins the club at a reasonable price.

So did I like what I saw so far...yes and no.  The over-cranking is a nice feature that otherwise doesn't exist at this price range, however the aliasing turns me off.  The ergonomics of the camera are usable, but the buttons are in the wrong positions for fast operation (fixed in F5, in theory).  Inclusion of cine-gammas and the range of color matrices are very good, but the camera doesn't include typical paint controls of a pro camera.  The inclusion of peaking and focus expansion while recording is awesome, but the display lacks a continuous exposure meter.  AVCHD is adequate for a lot of things, but other cameras in this price range have far better codecs and storage media solutions.  Low light sensitivity and inclusion of ND filters is great (no caveat implied...they just are).  You have to realize that in this range you're dealing with the equivalent of a fully loaded Honda Accord.  It's not a BMW or Mercedes.  You get lots of wonderful features and most people will be happy with the performance.  Maybe I'm just too picky after getting spoiled with the Red Epic - which isn't a fair comparison.

When I left the shop on Friday, Salvador gave me the stink-eye for suggesting that I might return it Wednesday.  Yes Salvador, the camera will be back Monday.  Then the rest of you can stop by the shop and check it out for yourselves.

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