FS100 fair game
It would be a trifle unfair to criticise Sony’s new FS100 for not having some of the costly features of a high-end camera.
The new camera is from Sony’s NXCAM budget range, with a list price expected to be NZ$8.5K (Under US$7K) for the bundle including an E-mount 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Optical SteadyShot Sony auto focus zoom lens.
It is a fair game to compare it to a Canon 5D Mk II though, and sure enough one was produced to sit side by side with the Sony FS100 when a group of camera and sound Crews.TV members met recently at Spoon Studios in Auckland. It’s a venue often used by Crews.TV and this time the session was to look at a pre-production FS100 sample loaned by
Sony.
There are lots of spec sheets, press releases and reviews that will give you the details of the camera and cover the image quality, but for this group the discussion turned to three main usability issues, once the amusement of being able to shoot around corners wore off.
Despised HDMI connectors
The monitor cable at the back of the FS100 camera came loose – because that’s what HDMI connectors do.
“I plugged an HDMI monitor in,” says steadicam operator Joe Lawry, “and wiggling the HDMI cable connector on the back of the camera killed the signal.
“It might be fine in a studio situation on a tripod, but I don’t think I would want to use the FS100 with an external recorder out in the field running around with a shoulder rig.”
Unlike the fragile mini-HDMI connector on a Canon 5D, the FS100 HDMI connector is a full size connector, and it might be possible to find a locking type of HDMI connector that can fit, but in the end HDMI connectors were designed for AV connections, not location use.
The FS100 might not be a high-end camera but it’s hard to imagine that using a robust HD-SDI connector would have put it out of its target price bracket.
But for all that, the signal the FS100 sends down the HDMI cable is in a different league to a Canon HDMI output.
On a Canon 5D MK II once you plug the HDMI connector in for monitoring, it blacks out the operator’s viewfinder – the camera LCD.
In contrast the FS100 is a real video camera with a real EX style LCD viewfinder that is a proven system that works properly, and on this camera doubles as a menu touch screen.
The signal out of the HDMI connectors is wildly different too.
The Canon 5D MK II HDMI signal is reduced to SD quality when the camera is recording and has a red recording indicator in the picture making it useless for off-board recording.
On the other hand if you want to boost the codec quality on the FS100 by using an off-board recorder, you won’t have any difficulty doing so, the signal is free from viewfinder indicators and is perfectly good HD.
In fact editor Dylan Reeve, with thanks to twitter, points out that the very latest versions of the FS100 brochure offer uncompressed HDMI RGB 4:4:4 as well as the original 4:2:2.
“For almost all purposes a 4:2:2 output is sufficient and more practical,” says Reeve. “But the ability to get a RGB 4:4:4 output does open up options for things like VFX where any chromatic sub-sampling is undesirable.”
The FS100 HDMI data stream comes with embedded time code meaning an off-board recorder can automatically record when the camera records.
Add all this together and the result is that the budget FS100 camera can be pushed into the realm of HD broadcast quality. (At the same time - let’s not forget – you could buy higher spec camera in the first place.)
Brick-ish form factor
“My first impression was that it looked like a very un-ergonomic brick and that it would be difficult to use,” says Nick Treacy, a sound recordist who also rents out a portfolio of cameras.
“I was wrong,” he says. “The more we handled it the more we realized that it had its own agenda, and it was quite good.”
These days the FS100 isn’t the only brick-ish camera around as DPs shooting with everything from Red Epics to Panasonic AF102s will tell you.
But with so many Canons around, a new breed of accessories has popped up and as one DP put it: “I now realize that I can use a virtually identical built-up rig to turn any of these block shaped cameras into nice shoulder mounted rigs. I have a custom Zacuto rig (for a 5D) that I know the FS100 would drop right onto – no worries.”
Audio big tick
Meanwhile, for sound recordist Wendy Adams the FS100 was a pleasant surprise.
“This is leaps and bounds over the 5D,” she says. “It’s not perfect but the level controls are recessed to avoid accidental resetting, it has XLR connectors and the menu is easy to line up.”
She found the session with the camera informative even if there wasn’t a chance to shoot with it.
“I really like how we all went in there expecting to dislike yet another DSLR contender,” she says.
“Instead we found ourselves looking at the pros of what this camera has to offer.”
Sony New Zealand says the first cameras are expected in New Zealand by the end of June.
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Here are 2 answer for your hdmi problem,
The first thing is a DIY project i did for my 5DII, As i’m own a rental company here in China, i need to buy almost one mini HDMI cable per rental!
Since i did these plug, no more disconnection, no more cable break,
What i did.
I use the scotch tape used to send box by mail, usually a brown colored one.
I choose this for 3 main reasons:
-It’s not too sticky on plastics or metal
-it’s very thin
-it’s heat resistant.
As there is a lot of model available on the market, please make some test to be sure it will hold the pretty high temperature you will have out of a warm glue gun.
And a warm glue gun (i don’t know the exact name)
I put the tape inside the camera enclosure where the HDMI connection should come, and make the tape follow exactly any plastic shape, cutting very little piece to cover each corner right.
I cut a hole at the HDMI location and plug a small hdmi wire.
Heat my glue gun and largely spread the glue inside the camera (look scary at first) to be sure the complete plug will be cover, of course, only on the scotch tape.
I push at the same time the HDMI to be sure no glue got inside the plug.
Wait 30 mn,
And remove the full thing, the tape can be removed from this system, cut the extra glue to make it look right, and it’s DONE!
Of course you need to do this for each camera model as 7D is not as 5D, but it’s really easy.
http://visionrouge.com/blog/2011/06/unbreakable-hdmi-cable-connecteur-hdmi-pro/
Also you can buy these kind of cable:
http://www.perfectpath.com/products/ProductCatalog/tabid/869/c/HDMI/CategoryID/2692/Default.aspx
HDMI is not great, but there is a way out…
How would you compare to Panny’s AF-100?
Any thoughts on a comparison with Panny’s AF-100?
It will be interesting to see as we build up experience when production models are shipped. Given both are good cameras from good manufacturers, my guess it won’t be a competition with a clear winner, it will be a matter of trade offs and preferences.
Yo’ where are the camera tests? All you do is talk a bit about the controls. We want to see Side by side comparisons of video shot on both cameras of the same subject..
Also get with the times, anyone who is really using the 5D to shoot with has the Magic lanter hack on it that gives you full level meters on screen when shooting and give you full HD out now… Peopel are recording full HD out of the 5D. AND you can up the mbps from 45 mbvps up to over 70mbps and get even higher resolution, but it has to be a shorter take than the 12 min limit as befor, it also gives you time code, zebra stripes, hystograms and about 3 pages of new menu settings and you can have audio out with head phones…
Its like you guys arent even film makers and have no idea what is going on, Its a free download that has been out for 3 years now and is already on version 2.7 Get with it bro.
so your next assighnment is to do a web search for magic lantern, download it and put it on your 5D and learn how to use it, then do some real tests that people can see and compair, then post the results.
A couple of things here Hunter. Firstly, there are plenty of comparisons websites out there, go for gold. Zacuto, Phil Bloom and the likes, you can compare to your hearts content. They do it and do it well. We are a collective of working TV professionals so as pros we also have other interests in mind.
Lastly, I find your measure of a film maker; whether or not we use 5Ds with Magic Lantern to say the least.. interesting. There are plenty of indie websites out there with that sort of caliber of information.
Thanks very much for your feedback, you simply have come to the wrong website.
Cheers and good luck.
“Peopel are recording full HD out of the 5D. AND you can up the mbps from 45 mbvps up to over 70mbps and get even higher resolution”
err no – your so far off the mark its not even funny mate… full HD out is a hardware limitation. magic lantern doesnt change the res out at all. Have you tried the bitrate change? no you havent otherwise you’d know it’s not implemended to its full potentual yet.. ie: no one can get that out of it yet.. i get a couple of seconds – thats it. magic lantern for 550d is far more advanced then the 5d build. maybe you read the 550d specs and didnt realise its not the 5d version? .. in any case, both wont give you full hd out of the hdmi port, and never will unless you can hack some new chip hardware in there?
you tosser!
I think peopel have learnt a lot. I certainly have.
I am a fan of FS 100 since the moment i saw it and had a bit of a fiddle with the controles and the menue on one workshop organized by Images and Sound a while a go..I dont care about the shape of the camera as much as weight for certain situations and size and what it can do for given project..I like what i see with FS100 and what this little brick can do..Love it..