Sony PMW-F3 with 2500 hours on it. Should I buy it?

[FHDcrew]

Why not do a FHD challenge?  Allowing more cameras than just the F3, but see who can make the best piece in under 2 minutes?

[PannySVHS]

@FHDcrew Would love a F3 "challenge". Not a friend of that word in this context. Rather a guide to do some fun and exiting regarding filming and watching. Would love to to a F3 parade or challenge or whatever one might call it. We can do another FHD one, internal 8bit 709, which i would find challenging and worthwhile. If my tagged Eoshd F3 companions don´t chim in, it´s not gonna happen anyways. So start your enginges, fellow Cinealta F3 friends. 🙂

[IronFilm]

On 12/30/2022 at 5:30 AM, FHDcrew said:

but see who can make the best piece in under 2 minutes?

Does the 2 Minute Challenge include pre and post production as well? 

Seems like a much more extreme version of the 48Hour Film Festivals. 

[PannySVHS]

Maybe our friend meant, a piece with running time of 2min max.:)

But see this, one of the coolest F3 posters from the last three years, leaves the F3 behind. So grab a coffee or hot chocolate or tea and some tasty treat like omelette, with eggs from organic farming, grilled tomatoes and onions, and get ready the rollercoaster of emotions. 😥

 

 

[PannySVHS]

Here is one of his last pieces with the F3 with Hollywoodstar Alicia Vikander. Not so many Hollywoodstars in front of that camera I think:) Love the colours and crispyness. Interview is a bit harsher in the highlights. If this camea would offer this great image all internal, it would be my dream. With my still broken mini SDI - SDI cable it is still unused and sitting in my living room. 😁

 

 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

Well gang, I regret to inform y'all that I'm finally selling my F3. Love the camera, got tons of great footage out of it, but the thing basically gathers dust these days. It deserves to be in the hands of a shooter who really needs it. 

If anyone's interested in a solid 4:4:4 body with all the essential accessories, feel free to DM me. 

[PannySVHS]

Oh no:( Would love to see some footage from the beautiful stills you posted. But we are already blessed with your awesome posts. So thank you very much for that. I hardly find time for many other or forum things. Still want to send some examples for blotches in Vlog on the Gh5 in 4k 10bit 150mbit myself.:)

Are you getting a different camera instead?

[Dogtown]

I have a Sony F3 for sale in Los Angeles California. If anyone is interested please DM me.

Broatch

Sony F3 with RGB 444 installed. 
Hours 664
Comes with PL Mount. MTF Nikon Mount.
Berkey Top Plate.
2 SXS 32GB Cards.
2 Sony BPU60 Batteries and Sony Charger.


Both the LCD and the viewfinder work.

Comes with Ablecine Picture Profiles. Also comes with Macie Video Picture Profiles.
The S Log shooting RGB 444 is bloody amazing.

$1200


Looking for a local sale in Los Angeles. 

DM I will get back to you as soon as possible. 

[PannySVHS]

Love the colour the cinematographer shows off in this video. Lush, sublte, attractive, beautiful! Cannot wait to test my own F3. Obviously I can.:) It says in the video description, lens was Canon 18-55 3.5-5.6 kit lens! 🙂 

@TheRenaissanceMan what camera are you getting instead?:)

 

[FHDcrew]

@PannySVHSi wanna see your shoot with the F3 😏

[IronFilm]

On 2/10/2023 at 9:49 PM, PannySVHS said:

Here is one of his last pieces with the F3 with Hollywoodstar Alicia Vikander. Not so many Hollywoodstars in front of that camera I think:) 

Back when the F3 first came out then it would have had lots and lots of Hollywood stars in front of it. 

On 2/11/2023 at 8:37 AM, TheRenaissanceMan said:

Well gang, I regret to inform y'all that I'm finally selling my F3. Love the camera, got tons of great footage out of it, but the thing basically gathers dust these days. It deserves to be in the hands of a shooter who really needs it. 

A sad day, but fair enough, my F3&FS7 doesn't get enough work either. I'm too busy working heaps in the Sound Dept instead (and even worse, I'm back studying full time too! I really don't have any spare time to play around with cinematography now) 

[PannySVHS]

Beautiful video. Title is giving the price of the F35:) The description got right though. Love again, how camera motion looks with several focal lengths. Great video, beautiful image quality. This video is a labour of love and the DPs voice sounds like from the Media Devision gentleman. If that is not a Sunday evening treat, I don´t know what else would be. Tell me in the comments section. Nooot:)

Btw, Fujifilm imprint on the board of the camera. How cool is that! And no chroma smearing this time! 😉

 

 

On 3/13/2023 at 11:12 PM, FHDcrew said:

@PannySVHSi wanna see your shoot with the F3 😏

I feel you, cause I feel the same. 🙂

[IronFilm]

Was browsing eBay, seems like F3 prices are finally becoming sane again! After they were for ages completely out of whack, had no sense whatsoever, due to the hype generated about it due to a few youtubers. 

Hopefully this new video doesn't make them spike up again! But Nostalgia Nexus only has 29 subs, so I reckon we're safe. 😅 (great video though, he deserves many many more subs!)

I wonder if the writer strike is also causing a decline in camera prices. I've noticed Sony FS7 / Sony PMW-F5 / F55 / Sony PMW-EX3 / Panasonic Varicam / Panasonic EVA1 / RED Dragon / Canon C200 / etc are all becoming a lot more affordable than they used to be. (I don't pay so much attention to DSLRs, but it feels like the Nikon DSLRs which I kinda follow have begun to drop more too?)

Partially due to yet more depreciation I reckon, but also now that the easy credit is turned off, and people are feeling a financial crunch, they're selling more gear eBay. 

If you're in a good financial situation, now is the perfect time to grab bargains! 

I'm juggling studies now with work, so trying to watch my cashflow more, but if I wasn't then I'd definitely be grabbing myself a Sony PMW-F5 (or heck, maybe F55!) and a Nikon D500. (maybe I'll get a Nikon D7100 as a treat for myself this Christmas)

 

[IronFilm]

Even very pricy cameras, such as the Sony VENICE I've seen coming down by thousands and thousands of dollars vs what they were just a few months ago. 

This young guy just got a VENICE, upgrade from an URSA Mini Pro G2:

 

How long until a VENICE is as affordable as an F3?? hahaha

A hype video about the old F55:

One day soon they'll be talking about the Sony VENICE like that!

Here is a youtuber who is not using the Sony F3 any longer, got a different older Sony camera (the FS7! Like me):

However he quite quickly got himself a Sony FX9 shortly afterwards (and announced the F3 is sold, to a lovely lady in the UK, hello there! If you're reading this thread): 

(he is still keeping the FS7 for B / C Cam duties) 

Here is another youtuber who is still making F3 videos, has quite a few recent uploads:

https://www.youtube.com/@xavierdegreeves

 

Another video about the F3, which I think has not been shared here yet:

 

Maybe we should make a thread dedicated to old forgotten cameras which were for their time amazing. 

Such as the Sony PMW-EX3? Philip Bloom's video on it, back when he was almost totally unknown, one of the early videos that helped make him well known (there were so few other people back then doing this!!):

More EX3 videos: 

 

Of course if you're shooting a cinematic short film in 2023, don't even choose a Sony EX3! But I reckon if you want a simple, compact, all in one camcorder with massive zoom range & reach, then the EX3 holds up well as a low budget choice in 2023? Or is there anything better I should look at?? 

[PannySVHS]

Cool! What are you studying? @IronFilm Panny HPX250 would be something, with 10bit 422 up to 60p, juicy codec, perfectly resolved 1080p. No need to post shaky Ex1 test videos from 1982 and especially not that maaaaany 😂 It's flooding the really awesome video I posted before. Hopefully Nostalgia Nexus will get more followers. Btw, I posted Xaviers F3 videos before and some from the Swedish connoisseur Josef, also with a bit of writeup. His FS7 video like his others are all quality stuff. But since you are my F3 hero, I will stop bragging. 🙂

An extra thread for vintage beasts would be a blast.

Another interesting prospect for CCD lovers is the 8bit 422 HD 100mbit machine HPX171. Effective Resolution is 720p level though, despite the 1080p label. But 3ccd with 720p, 422 and 100 Mbit it is kinda Andromeda hacked DVX100 level. Both, the 250 and the 170 writing to P2HD cards.

Back to F3. Who would be up do a Cinealta F3 challenge? It has Fujifilm magic in it.:) Here, see youself again 🙂

 

[IronFilm]

On 7/1/2023 at 12:22 AM, PannySVHS said:

Cool! What are you studying?

Doing another degree, in Computer Science. 

 

On 7/1/2023 at 12:22 AM, PannySVHS said:

@IronFilm Panny HPX250 would be something, with 10bit 422 up to 60p, juicy codec, perfectly resolved 1080p.

Have checked out the Panasonic HPX250 before, is about 3 or 4 year younger than the Sony EX3? But a bit more prosumer orientated than the EX3. 

HPX250 was roughly half the price at launch (US$4K-ish) of what the Sony EX3 was at launch (US$8K-ish street prices). 

Seems that on eBay these days they cost roughly the same: $500-ish plus. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/115833842126 

I wonder how they perform head to head in low light? (I'd assume the EX3 wins? As it is a 1/2-inch type image sensor, vs a 1/3-inch sensor on the HPX250)

While the Sony EX3 doesn't have internal 10bit (but it has internal 50mbs 4:2:2 1080p), it can output 10bit over SDI! And 1080 video recorders are cheap as chip (https://www.ebay.com/itm/195787133267) these days , so quite easy to squeeze maximum performance out the Sony EX3. 

But I don't think these old camcorder cameras should be about getting the optimal possible image performance out of them? 

Rather about benefiting from their ease of use features, such as built in NDs, or the SDI outputs. 

It is what makes the Sony EX3 so appealing to me, because you can adapt B4 lenses to the EX3 lens mount, to get truly huge zoom reach!

And I've often thought about dabbling in live sports streaming, if I ever get back into the camera side of filmmaking / video productions. I think it could be a productive little niche for me. (but I shouldn't.... I am already spreading myself too thinly in life!!) 

And a B4 mount is super useful for live sports productions. The Sony EX3 just seems like a cheaper / more user friendly option than some of the more pure B4 cameras. 

For instance the cheapest "proper B4 broadcast camera" from Sony might be this Sony XDCAM PDW-700:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225563250916 Still costs US$1.3K without a lens 😕 

Sometimes I think, "ah ha! I found a cheap one..." like this Sony PDW-F330: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225563250916 until I remember d'oh, this one lacks SDI! Got to pay much more for the Sony PDW-F350 if I want SDI. 

The Panasonic broadcast cameras seem to have been slow to embrace FHD, were stuck on 720 for a few too many years, thus it tends to be when I look for older broadcast Panasonic B4 cameras they tend to be more expensive if I want 1080 as I have to go for a somewhat more recent Panasonic body. 

Plus Panasonic lacks any camcorders which not a B4 mount but allow B4 lenses to be put on them (such as is the case with the Sony EX3), so there isn't that cheaper loop hole to go for with Panasonic. 

Does this train of logic make any sense at all? Is the Sony EX3 really the best choice here if you want to get a handful of cameras on the dirt cheap to live stream sports games?

Maybe the best approach is using a mix of cameras:

One or two Sony EX3 cameras for when you need the absolute max reach. 

One to three Sony EX1 cameras (cheaper!) for more middle of the road general coverage?

One Sony CX900 next to the vision mixing desk, because it doesn't matter if it is using flimsy HDMI rather than proper SDI, as it is only a very short traveling distance to get back to the switcher. 

 

On 7/1/2023 at 12:22 AM, PannySVHS said:

No need to post shaky Ex1 test videos from 1982 and especially not that maaaaany 😂

ah, didn't you see that "shaky EX1 video" also had a Sony PMW-F3 in it? 😉

[IronFilm]

6 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Does this train of logic make any sense at all? Is the Sony EX3 really the best choice here if you want to get a handful of cameras on the dirt cheap to live stream sports games?

Maybe the best approach is using a mix of cameras:

One or two Sony EX3 cameras for when you need the absolute max reach. 

One to three Sony EX1 cameras (cheaper!) for more middle of the road general coverage?

One Sony CX900 next to the vision mixing desk, because it doesn't matter if it is using flimsy HDMI rather than proper SDI, as it is only a very short traveling distance to get back to the switcher. 

ah, I forgot last, but not least:

One Sony PMW-F3 for the locked off unmanned angles. (as it doesn't matter what lens is being used here, if  the camera is unmanned)  

[PannySVHS]

Perfect way to get back to some Cinealta F3 appreciation! 😂 @IronFilm So what are you going to be heading towards to with your newly approached field of computer science?

Ex1 and 3 are Gh2 level regarding lowlight, bettering the Panny Hpx 250 by a clearly visible margin, going by the tests I have seen on the web.

Back to F3, FZ to M-mount to other mounts is an interesting option if desired mount is not available for direct adaption to FZ.

Anyone shot anything lately with this beauty or wants to posts some of their footage? 🙂

[IronFilm]

9 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

So what are you going to be heading towards to with your newly approached field of computer science?

Well, a very long time ago I used to work as a software developer, so I thought I'd return back to study it for a bit, get another degree, then perhaps do a semi-shift in my career. 

9 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Ex1 and 3 are Gh2 level regarding lowlight, bettering the Panny Hpx 250 by a clearly visible margin, going by the tests I have seen on the web.

It's as good as that? That's nice to know! 

Been a very long time since I last shot with a Sony EX1/EX3 (pehaps 7 years), I remember it been ok, but not great. 

https://www.eoshd.com/creative-filmmaking/optimising-the-gh2-for-iso-12800-a-video-tutorial/ 

9 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Back to F3, FZ to M-mount to other mounts is an interesting option if desired mount is not available for direct adaption to FZ.

Whaaaaaaat............. there is FZ to M-mount?? The rangefinder mount??? 😮 This is big news to me! 

[PannySVHS]

Yes, it´s of the rather costly side though, 250 USD. Was hoping for something around 80 or 90 EUR. Well, if I want to mount my Konica 35-100 on my Baby Alexa Cinealta dream camera, well then I guess it will be the route to go. @IronFilm