Here’s my illustration of ghosting, after-images and edge fuzzing in 4K on the Sony FS5.
Shot on my camera with the latest firmware update (v1.1).
News just in – there might be differences of opinion on the internet. Alister Chapman swears blind there is no problem. No bug. Perfectly normal. Other cameras do it. I really don’t think this is the case! It’s certainly not compression / codec related as the same fuzzing macro blocking and ghosting after image is present over the uncompressed SDI feed.
It took me 5 minutes to make this test. Some people have been shooting with the FS5 for months and didn’t flag it.
You can clearly see a step-change when it kicks in between +6dB and +9dB of gain in most picture profiles.
This makes ISO 3200 unusable on this camera in most of the picture profiles.
My advice
The lack of usable ISO 3200 in the Cine and Rec 709 picture profiles is definitely something to be aware of before putting an Sony FS5 through a shoot. We are so used to high ISOs now and the FS7 certainly doesn’t seem to have the same problem even though it has the same sensor.
I think a $5600 run & gun camera in 2016 should have no problem shooting in available light at ISO 3200 or 6400!
Until (and if) Sony fix this, if you are an FS5 user I recommend backing it up with an A7R II or A7S II, because neither show the same flaw and are excellent at ISO 3200, 6400 and even 12,800.
Frame grabs
Here’s a selection of frame grabs from the 4K video above which clearly show the extent of the problem. Please enlarge these full screen as the reduced size of them to fit the page reduces the visibility of the problem.
Remember the macro blocking is the result of the bug, not the result of compression or XAVC, as it occurs exactly the same over the uncompressed HDMI, SDI feed and even on the camera’s LCD display and EVF. On the LCD it’s most visible when the magnified zoom assist is enabled.
Please click these reduced sized images for the full 4K frame:
Annotated 100% crop of the frame (click for full resolution version):
5 after images from the edge of an out of focus iMac screen when the camera is panned gently up and down at ISO 6400:
