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My F3 Christmas Wish List

OK.  So we didn’t all blow up today – YAY!!!  Now it’s time to start thinking about questions for the big man in red ( and I don’t mean Jim Jannard =)

Here’s my wish list for my Sony F3 from Sony in 2013:
  • Could we get an upgrade for 4:2:2 internal recording with 50 m/bits throughput?
  • Is there enough processing power to give us RAW out of the F3?
  • If the sensor is 4K can it be De-Bayer’d down to 2K to an external recorder?
  • Can we us the new faster SxS cards with an upgrade to the firmware?
  • If not free, could this be done for a purchased upgrade under $2000?
So,  obviously what I’m aiming for here is a 2K RAW F3 upgrade for under $2000 to extend the life of our cameras as we start to save up for the F5 and F55.  I think we’ll need another year or two for 4K to be requested by clients and this gives us a path to stick with and the ability to use our current configurations a little longer.

Seems like there is ‘a storm a brewin’ for the 4K market but we won’t know anything until it passes.  If these cameras can be upgraded for a few bucks now and stay relevant until the new crop (no pun intended ) of sensors is released – could be a good thing.
Just thinking out loud… Santa Sony are you listening???
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.  I look forward to hearing from you in 2013 =)
Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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Which Camera (cont’d) 2012

Well it’s 2012… Yeah!!!

And now we have a few more camera choices – woo hoo!!!

The Canon 5D Mark III is finally on the horizon with the Nikon D800 giving it a good run for the money. The flagship DSLRs are also coming out soon. Then onto the big boys, the Sony PMW-F3 now has S-Log built in and the RED Scarlet-X is more then we were really hoping for (or at least the proposed version =) The Canon C300 seemed to be the best of all worlds except for the price tag… As for me, I’m caught in a spiral of full frame DSLR or Super35 camcorder.

I currently have an EX3 and a 5D Mark II both of which get pretty regular work. The 5D2 has picked up a little more action this year which is great. I’m waiting to see what happens at NAB – it’s going to be crazy this year!!! The acceptance of 35mbs /sec has been hanging in there for a while but now with the Mark III at an estimated 90+ mb/sec it could set a new standard for most cameras. If I go on with the DSLR plan I’ll likely go to the 5D3 first and then the next offering (4K ?) after that. I do have to say the Nikon line up is looking pretty good. I was all Nikon for years and then moved to the Canon side of the street when the 5D came out. Clean – uncompressed 4:2:2 is a step in the right direction for sure… I’m waiting for a box with any mount and a clean out, place for a monitor and external recorder!!! This would be the best solution ever — just change out the body when a new one comes out. Maybe later this year??

At any rate the next 2 months will be really exciting!!!

Until next time, good shooting.

TDTrey.com

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Zeiss ZF.2 lenses with the DuClos Cine-Mod on the F3

Well we had the chance to spend some quality time a Duclos Lenses last week and try out the new Zeiss ZF.2 lenses with our F3. These lenses all had the Dulcos Cine-Mod: aperture de-clicked, solid focus gear added and an 80mm front ring put on. These were fantastic.

Matthew Duclos took us through the 5 lens kit they are now offering – what a cool deal. They also have these available for rental as kits configured with 5 or 9 lenses. The typical group consists of a 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm (macro) and an 85mm. You can also get an 18mm, 25mm or the 100mm (macro).

Zeiss makes a great lens and the Cine-Mod just adds to the experience. A very robust a solid feel with the added features of the focus ring and the common 80mm front. The rotation of the barrel is 270 degrees to 360 degrees in some cases – very nice. To that, very little breathing.

The images from these lenses are very sharp and clear. I did not see any contrast ratios that were out of range or false sharpness. CRI seemed right in there with our Sony PL primes. We did a comparison between the 50mm PL prime and the 50mm ƒ2.0 Zeiss and focal length was identical (within an inch at 10 feet side to side) and the Zeiss was a little faster. (I’ll post some frame grabs soon)

Over all I think these lenses are a great addition to any camera package and deserve a closer look.

Until next time, good shooting

TDTrey.com

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Sony PMW-F3 and Non PL Lenses

OK. So we have the 3 SONY primes 35, 50 and 85mm T3’ish — very nice. Also we have the RED 18-50 T3 PL zoom – handy. When they were offering the pair, 18-50 and 50-150 from Optimo, it was a great range and deal… But now it’s a different pricing structure… So we have steered ourselves down the NIKON road for a little while =)

Ken Rockwell.com and eBay are your friends. We went through Ken’s sight and double checked our lenses for reviews, tips and tricks and finally general pricing considerations. We decided on covering a range from 28mm to 200mm with a 28-70 ƒ2.8 ED and a 80-200 ƒ2.8 ED. Really rugged, well built and clean.

The 80-200 came in a week ago and we were able to take it to Duclos Lenses in Conoga Park last week. REALLY nice guys Paul and Matthew. Boy do they know their stuff. As it turned out they were doing a run of Cinemods on 80-200 Nikkor lenses that week and just added our parts to the run. We dropped off the lens in the morning and went to lunch and it was done by the time we got back an hour later. Awesome!!!

To add to our collection we also got the 28-70 this week. We’ll test it out on a commercial shoot this coming week. We’ll have it modded probably later this week or next. The mod is great – they remove the “click-stops” in the aperture ring and add a focus gear. If you like they will upgrade to front flange to 80mm for consistency.

The look seems very nice from these lenses. Bokeh is pretty smooth. Don’t see that much vignetting in the way we use the lenses. All in all I think a good decision.

While we were at Duclos we checked out their 11-16 lens – very cool. Again – rugged!! Worked really well with the F3. Gives you a great wide look. They are so popular for the RED and EPIC and F3 that there is a fair sized waiting list – well worth the wait and the money.

More to follow as we put the lenses through some real world testing…

Until next time, good shooting

TDTrey.com