A DAY WITH THE SONY F65

     This week I had the pleasure of testing the Sony F65 workflow at Sony Studios through their free (yes, free) workshop at the brand new DMPC (Digital Motion Picture Center). I shot an int/night scene using a Sony F65 with a Fujinon 18-85 T2 zoom and Leica S Primes. 

     This camera is an absolute game changer and Sony has set a new standard for digital cinema. This is the first and only true 4K camera on the market and we were able to see the entire process from initial capture to projection thanks to Sony's DMPC 4K workflow system and Fuji's new onset color grading system, the CC Box. 

     I rarely like talking about cameras and am much more lighting oriented, but this camera is certainly worth talking about because it's the first digital camera I've come across that is capable of doing things that film negative cannot. 

     TEST Int/Night: I wanted to push this sensor's toe to the maximum so I lit a scene almost entirely using practical sources: (4) wall sconces, (4) table lamps w/ 60w bulbs, and (1) 2x2' neon sign of a Geisha. The only non-practical light I used was several BJs out the windows with 1/2CTB to illuminate the curtains for a subdued moonlight. We shot the scene at a 2.8/4 split at 800IE ... Yeah, a 2.8/4, the camera is THAT sensitive! My focus puller was very pleased! We shot a wide of a woman walking from one side of the room to the other, ending on her final mark, sitting on top of a desk in front of the neon sign. As she walks through the room she stays 2 under until she reaches the neon sign where she is over 1 stop. We did another take at 60fps and intentionally underexposed 1 full stop. Literally, all of the detail is there. We could see detail that I couldn't see with my naked eye; the fireplace and the corners of the room that were reading 4 and 5 under on my spot meter, still had information. This camera handles low-light situations better than any camera i've seen and has a very pleasing fall-off to true black similar to 35mm ... Between this camera and lighting fixtures shifting toward energy-efficient LED & plasma, you're certainly going to make your producers happy with lower lighting costs. 

     Resolution: The resolution of this camera is unparalleled and once the anamorphic desqeeze firmware update is released (August), this will be my first choice for shooting anamorphic. Sampling from an 8K sensor, the F65 has a 2880 green pixel count (the green pixels carry resolution) where the Red Epic has 2048 and the Alexa has 1440. We projected in 4K and the detail you can see with this camera is unbelievable. A popular argument of late in response to high-res sensors is the need to throw old glass on the camera or diffusion filters in front of the lens because the resolution is too great but Curtis Clark ASC screened his short film 'Eldorado' with naked Leica Primes (which are incredibly sharp) and the results were astounding. His leading lady looked absolutely stunning ... proving that through good makeup and attentive lighting, you don't need to soften the image for women. On the contrary, she was even more striking than if they had thrown pro-mists or used Cookes because her features were powder soft juxtaposed to the incredible detail of her hair and the textures of her dress. She really popped! Day/exts were filmed outside Las Vegas at a T8 and the scope & detail was akin to IMAX. The F65 has a base sensitivity of 800IE and we pushed the camera up to 1600IE and there was little to no noise when projected 4K. The noise is very similar to film grain and dances in an organic and random nature that is quite pleasing. 

     Frame Rates: I'm going to hate on RED a little bit here because the windowing at higher frame rates drives me bonkers. One of my favorite features of the F65 is that there is no windowing when you want to do higher frame rates (currently does 60fps, 120fps coming soon). When you do want to do framerates higher than 60fps however, you have to switch from a mechanical shutter (another HUGE benefit of the camera, which I'll get to in a bit) to an electronic shutter.detecable, even with quick panning

     Shutter: The mechanical shutter is a brilliant antidote for the plague of "jello and moire effects" and "aliasing" that has been infamously associated with CMOS sensors. The F65 uses a CMOS sensor just like DSLRs but because of the mechanical shutter you no longer have the problems associated with image scanning. We shot close-ups of fabrics and there was absolutely no aliasing or moire effects; just clean, crystal-clear detail. We also tested the mechanical vs the electronic shutter and there was almost no difference between the to as long as you don't whip pan. 

     Dynamic Range: This is by far the most impressive aspect of this camera. With 14 stops of latitude shooting S-log-2 with 6 stops in the curve at it's native 800IE  (7 stops at 1600IE), you're able to overexpose the scene as you would with film for a denser image. The camera's sensor is actually set at 39% as apposed to middle grey, allowing for 60% of the information to lay in the highlights. A wonderful feature on the camera is the #3 assigned button which allows you to do a high/low check to ensure that all the information in your highlights and shadows are there. Great confidence check! The latitude of this camera gives your colorist optimal room to play with contrast, power window, and the like. 

     Color Gamut: OK, this was also pretty nifty. The color space of the F65 has the widest color space of any digital camera and wider than any of the modern kodak or fuji stocks. This also is a HUGE plus if you plan on finishing in LUSTRE, Da Vinci, Scratch, or any other color software you might use. The color space is fully integrated into the Academy's newly proposed "ACES" (Academy Color Encoding Specifications) workflow which has 26 stops of latitude and a wider color space than the human eye can see. The idea behind this is that it will be a future proof system that will accommodate for any camera to come out in the future. Pretty brilliant!

     Viewfinder: Best viewfinder I've ever used on a digital camera. I suggested they consider releasing a model with an optical viewfinder but to be honest, I wouldn't be terribly bummed if they didn't because this is the first EVF I've looked through where I can really, and I mean reallllly check the focus while operating. The native aspect ratio marker is 1.90. There are a bunch of presets with the whole range from 1.33 to 2.39 but also has a "custom marker" and you can make any size you can think of. They took note from the complaints of the F35's lines being too thick and bright so they've made the lines thinner and there is a brightness adjustment as well. 

     Built in NDs: You have a range from N.9 to 1.8. Great for narrative and even better for documentary. There is a built in IR filter BUT if you do wish to add even more ND in front of the lens, you MUST use IR ND or else your image is going to suffer. 

     Output Formats: You can record 16bit linear RAW SQ (3:1 compression) which gobbles up around 2.0 GB@24fps. BUT, the latest feature is the brand new RAW LITE which eats around half as much space with only a 6:1 compression. We screened both in 4K and you can barely see any difference. This is fantastic for documentary especially considering you can record onto 1T SR cards (the cheapest form of recording memory) and transfer faster than the Alexa. You have the option of using the old S-log 1 but I would definitely go with the update S-log 2 because the 1 is around 1000% on the curve, where the 2 is around 1400%. 

     Salvage Mode: This was pretty nifty. If you accidentally kick the power out from the camera or if hair plugged in too many hair dryers there is a salvage option that will pop up when you reboot the camera. You can either salvage the footage in camera (takes anywhere from 3 minutes to an hour) or take the safer route of salvaging at your download station using Sony's free software (available online). 


     Weight & Ergonomics: Don't let the pictures deceive you. It looks beefy but it's actually quite compact at 11 lbs. You can detach the recorder from the back which will work up to 5m away making it perfectly suitable for steadicam. If you leave the recorder on, it nicely balances the camera for handheld and is very comfortable. 

     SDi outputs: Unfortuantely both of these signals are identical. There was a lot of talk of potentially changing this and allowing to separate the signals because sometimes you want the DIT to see something different than what video village is watching ... 

     The only Con: No timelapse? They're thinking of changing this but to be honest it's much better to shoot at 24fps and remove the frames you want later (gives you far more flexibility in post). It would still be a nice feature to have though ... 

Overall: This is the best digital camera on the market if you can afford it. 

Nicholas Wiesnet, July 12th 2012