Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 13, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Update: The official prices for the Sony F5 and F55 have now been released: the PMW-F5 costs 15,340 euros and the PMW-F55 27,804 euros. A price overview, including accessories, can be found at slashcam. Street prices are slightly higher; provider Abelcine offers the Sony PMW-F5 for 16,490 dollars / 12,638 euros: http://www.abelcine.com/store/Sony-PMW-F5-CineAlta-4K-Deposit/ and the Sony PMW-F55 for 28,990 dollars / 22,219 euros: http://www.abelcine.com/store/Sony-PMW-F55-CineAlta-4K-Deposit/
The new Sony F5—which plays in the same price class as the Canon C300—matches the FS100 in its dimensions, but also brings the modular principle familiar from RED—and its controls are loosely based on the operating logic of an Alexa.
The F5’s big sister—the F55—is also the only digital film camera in this segment to date with a global shutter—the camera therefore starts and ends the exposure of all pixels electronically and simultaneously, thus avoiding the dreaded “rolling shutter”, which smears objects in motion. In addition, with new firmware, both cameras are intended to be able to record 4K and HD simultaneously to the same card.
4K
Naturally, with the current buzzword “4K”—whatever it will ultimately be called by consumers—the cameras’ resolution has also been increased. The CineAlta 4K cameras PMW-F5 and PMW-F55 have a new 4K Super 35 mm image sensor that achieves a maximum of 4096 x 2160 pixels (11MP). Recording is in Sony’s XAVC format (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264), the HDCAM SR codec (MPEG4 SStP) and the HD industry standard XDCAM/50 Mbit/s/4:2:2. However, 2K/QFHD on the F55 and 2K on the F5, as well as frame rates above 60 fps, will only become possible with a new firmware version.
4K XAVC—which is based on H.264—can therefore record 16-bit 4K Raw to an external recorder, as is familiar from the “big” Sony, the F65. And with the same colour gamut, at a considerably lower price. If that is the case, the F55 would even surpass the RED Epic in terms of recording—180 fps at 4K means the DIT will have to keep quite a few hard drives available on set.
Added to this is a dynamic range of 14 stops—which is only one stop away from the dynamic range of film and has not yet been confirmed by tests. We will of course examine the cameras as soon as possible.
Lenses
Flexible lens options were created during development—the new PL mount supports Angénieux, ARRI, Canon, Zeiss, Cooke, Fujifilm or Leica. Viewed that way, nothing is left to be desired, and the DoP merely has the agony of choice, rather than the choice of agony.
Initial Assessment
Based purely on the figures on paper, the F5/F55 could be an absolute bull’s-eye—with a targeted price tag of 15,000 US dollars for the F5 and 25,000 US dollars for the F55 (which is so far unconfirmed). The global shutter and 16-bit 4K RAW data in particular could allow the F55 to overtake the Epic—especially as its price competitor Canon manages only 8-bit MJPEG. We will therefore endeavour to arrange a practical test and keep you up to date.
