Administrators Andrew Reid Posted June 28, 2012 Administrators Share Posted June 28, 2012 [html][img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/fs700-in-mongolia.jpg[/img]The first pro field report of the FS700 is in. This compliments some of the other reviews pretty well and a general consensus about the camera is starting to form amongst pros. Is it worth selling both your FS100 and 5D Mark III and buying this with the money left over? Let’s find out…[url="http://www.eoshd.com/content/8288/revealing-sony-fs700-field-report-video-review/"]Read full article[/url][/html] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_tee_vee Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 How well do the Sonys resolve detail? Can they compare to the $700 GH2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted June 28, 2012 Author Administrators Share Posted June 28, 2012 As you'd expect for the price they resolve detail very well. A little less detailed than the GH2 but more organic looking. Not quite up there with the C300 and GH2 for sharpness and fine grain but very close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gene_can_sing Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I can't wait to get mine as I have it on Pre-order. But it's super popular already. Abel Cine told me they have over 300 pre-orders to fill at this point. The thing I've noticed about footage from the FS700 is that it's really, really clean, especially in well lit / daytime type shots. It's so clean that it almost looks plasticy, maybe that's why it looks more video like. I don't think it would be very hard with a quick bit of tweaking in post to get it to look like the C300 (which has a really nice image out of the box, but it costs way too much IMO). Plus, not being able to shoot real slow motion on the C300 is such a downer. Slow motion can just add so much drama to a shot, especially for doc type work. I think even just adding a bit of grain in post might give the image some more substance. Like the guy said in the video, I'm sure people will come out with good profiles for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted June 28, 2012 Author Administrators Share Posted June 28, 2012 Agree, it isn't really a worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenogears Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 I work mostly in postproduction and animation, and the Raw format is a great feature and more at 2.5k for compositing and greenscreen work, but the FS700 is kind of more versatile. Keep the FS100 and get the Blackmagic?, or sell the Fs100 and get the FS700, interesting times ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurtinMinorKey Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 For me, slow motion in a movie is like loud melodramatic music (see LOTR for both). It's okay if it's an action movie, otherwise it comes across as a cheap trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen de Vere Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 [quote author=Andrew Reid link=topic=911.msg6639#msg6639 date=1340920328] As you'd expect for the price they resolve detail very well. A little less detailed than the GH2 but more organic looking. Not quite up there with the C300 and GH2 for sharpness and fine grain but very close. [/quote] That's disappointing to hear. My testing shows my hacked GH2 to be not as detailed as my EX3 even. Doesn't bode well for 4k either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted June 30, 2012 Author Administrators Share Posted June 30, 2012 Your tests need fixing ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kickass Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 I'm sure people will come up with both good and bad usage for slow-mo that has not yet been prevalent in your average productions.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen de Vere Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 [quote name='EOSHD' timestamp='1341093429' post='13313'] Your tests need fixing ;D [/quote] The lenses on the GH2 were: Panasonic 14-42 Nikon 18-55 Tamron SP 90/f2.5 macro (manual) Canon 500/4.5L (manual) On the EX3 - the stock Fuji zoom. It's close though - it's mainly the ailiasing in the GH2 image that holds it back, compared with the EX3 which has 'none' - and the difference only really starts to show when looking at everyday scenes (rather than a chart) on a big display or projector. Is there a test that shows the GH2 can resolve 1000 lines I can refer to ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted September 5, 2012 Author Administrators Share Posted September 5, 2012 Those lenses are very ill suited to the GH2. You should try the Olympus 12mm F2, Voigtlander 25mm F0.95, Olympus 45mm F1.8 and Zeiss 85mm F1.4. Aliasing? What video mode are you in? Maybe it is being introduced in your workflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen de Vere Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Those are all skewed to the very fast category and not focal lengths that are so much use to me, thanks. I think it must be a question of degree. It does a great job for the price. Alan Roberts' teachings in 'Circles of Confusion' explain better than I can. I'm using HBR 25p Smoothe, -2 on all but the colour, with FlowMotion v1.11 (actually loaded v2.02 today for it's promise of better banding handling) and viewing 1:1 in VLC. I guess the max I-frame bit rate of the new GH3 is deliberately sub BBC broadcast spec for a good reason. I can't wait to see if that camera improves on the aliasing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted September 5, 2012 Author Administrators Share Posted September 5, 2012 Don't take this personally Stephen but you really need better optics, and here's why... The 14-42mm looks crap, it is F3.5 at best. May as well get an EX3 and go back to small chip. You will be shooting ISO 800 in doors with this and still be under exposed, noise everywhere... You need faster glass. Nikon 18-55 is designed for APS-C, it is neither very wide or very long on the GH2 so I don't see the point of that either, another slow lens aperture wise too. Canon 500mm F4.5L is incredibly expensive - you do realise you can put a 300mm F4 Zeiss on there for £300 don't you? And use crop mode to enable the equivalent of 1380mm - at F4? How is 70Mbit i-frame sub BBC-spec? They allow 50Mbit 4-2-2 long GOP! Anyway I couldn't give a crap about the BBC broadcast specs frankly. If I was shooting for the BBC I'd buy a C300 and be done with it. Zzzz. What does it have to do with CINEMA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen de Vere Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 [quote name='HurtinMinorKey' timestamp='1340986531' post='13288'] For me, slow motion in a movie is like loud melodramatic music (see LOTR for both). It's okay if it's an action movie, otherwise it comes across as a cheap trick. [/quote] In much high end wildlife doco films you don't even notice gentle slowmo (and fastmotion) being used it's so commonplace. Very little gets shot at 'normal' frame rate. We've been stuck with a general 60fps limit on the Varicam for almost 15 years now when we had 150fps in super16 for years before that. If it wasn't for the big sensor the FS700 would have been a huge advance in the wildlife film genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted September 5, 2012 Author Administrators Share Posted September 5, 2012 Slow-mo is not a cheap trick at all in my book! And yes works superbly in nature documentaries. I don't see how the big sensor in the FS700 is a disadvantage, you can still use a very long lens on it and stop down for more manageable focus. The FZ200 could be interesting for wildlife shooting... Small chip and 720/120fps for the price of a middle of the range laptop. And 600mm F2.8 optically stabilised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen de Vere Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Hmmm, I don't follow you on the lenses, sorry. I have a £25k f2.8 constant aperture zoom that isn't very good wide open but it's not what it's good at so it's not really a problem. [quote name='EOSHD' timestamp='1346877180' post='17392'] How is 70Mbit i-frame sub BBC-spec? They allow 50Mbit 4-2-2 long GOP! [/quote] Needs to be minimum 100 I-frame or 50 long-gop last time I checked, (at constant bit rate too ?). BBC spec only matters to me while I'm in EX3/Nanoflash land with my personal films and selling out-takes to stock libraries. It's a standard adopted by others too. Good reasons for having a few standards, otherwise there's no telling what it'll all look like on eg. somebody's TV. I can use the GH2 for some shots that would be impossible with the bigger EX3, not in crop mode though - that stands out too much. I love my GH2 but I can't see how investing in yet more lenses will give me more detail with no aliasing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen de Vere Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 [quote name='EOSHD' timestamp='1346878227' post='17395'] I don't see how the big sensor in the FS700 is a disadvantage, you can still use a very long lens on it and stop down for more manageable focus.[/quote] It IS a major problem due to lens magnification crop factor. Creating a lot of fresh interest in the very good Sigma 300-800 zoom though but still that doesn't match what you get in the frame with the standard wildlife kit - a 2/3" Varicam and 28-500 (with 2x) zoom, and will be harder to stabilise. [quote] The FZ200 could be interesting for wildlife shooting... Small chip and 720/120fps for the price of a middle of the range laptop. And 600mm F2.8 optically stabilised. [/quote] Yes, that could be very interesting for certain wildlife productions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted September 6, 2012 Author Administrators Share Posted September 6, 2012 As far as DSLRs and mirrorless cameras go, the GH2 is as good as it gets for aliasing. You won't find better. In the Ex Tele mode you do get less aliasing, but more noise. You need to be shooting at ISO 160 in that mode. But it is superb for the telephoto end of things compared to the FS100. And yes I do see your point about the FS700 and Super 35mm (let alone full frame) being more challenged at the very extreme telephoto length. This is a little comparison test shoot in Derbyshire with the 5D Mark III, NEX 7 and GH2 but at the end around 1 minute in you will see what a 300mm lens looks like in Ex Tele mode, it is quite incredible. And holding it steady was a lot easier than going to 800mm on Super 35mm. http://vimeo.com/39509327 Do you have a frame grab of the kind of aliasing you are seeing in your GH2 footage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen de Vere Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 [img]http://www.eoshd.com/comments/uploads/inline/19454/5048b245a5535_vlcsnap00002.png[/img] This is the whole image [attachment=290:vlcsnap_00003.png] This is the 1:1 crop of the full 1080 frame to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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