Lots of mystery surrounding this. At first glance it may sound like a new “F” camera, maybe an F3 update or replacement. It could also be a companion camera to the F65 perhaps. But then you also have to consider that Sony have promised to reveal details of the 4k recorder and firmware for the FS700 some time soon, so maybe it’s the FS4K (made up name) recorder? Who knows? Well, I know some things that I can’t discuss, if it is one of the things I know about then it is extremely exciting as it will surprise you. Sony have some very impressive things in development that they believe are so significant that they have been extremely secretive about them. Even within Sony only a select handful know all the details. I don’t know the full story, but what I have heard is very exciting indeed and earlier than expected. Roll on the 30th of October when all will be revealed!
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Alister,
I’ve just decided to finance an F3 and a set of 3 CP2 lenses for our company and have even just been offered your old F3 from Visual Impact hence my curiosity as to why you’d decided to chop it in.
Should we be doing this at this stage? We produce corporate films for our clients and shoot a lot on C300 but the F3 choice was suppose to future proof us a little because we can upgrade to 444 at a later stage if we want to.
I would be very interested in hearing your advice?
Kindest regards,
Colin
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Colin Howell
Self shooting Film Director
I have 2x PMW-F3’s. I needed 2 of them to do a lot of 3D productions, however I’m doing a lot less 3D so no longer need both of the F3’s, one is enough. I can rent an extra if needed for the 3D shoots.
F3 is a fantastic camera, one of the best cameras I’ve ever had. I’m sure that Sony will be releasing a new camera to either compliment or replace the F3 very soon, but this will most likely be a 4K camera and that will mean a drop in sensitivity and maybe more noise, plus as a new camera it would of course be much more expensive than a used F3. Unless you NEED 4K, the F3 is unlikely to be bettered. The F3 is a very capable camera that with the S-Log and RGB option produces a picture that is so close to the images from the Arri Alexa that most people can’t tell the difference. It’s very easy to get caught up in the fuss and hype over every new camera that comes out, but all I can really say is that the F3 produces incredible results, I used mine for big budget Cinema Commercials, that’s how good it is and any future replacement won’t make it a poorer camera, the F3 will continue to be as good in the future as it is today. When used with an external recorder like a Samurai or Gemini there really is very little that you can’t do with an F3. My corporate clients love the film like images I get with it, a new camera won’t change that, just cost me more money.
Of course I’d love you to buy my F3. But just like computers, anything you buy today will be replaced by a newer model very quickly. F3 is an 18 month old model, the one I’m selling is approx 14 months old. BUT when your in business you have to make some tough choices. What will be more profitable for you? A proven, tried and tested top HD camera, designed for HD that can be purchase now for half of what it was new and should give several years of solid service producing stunning HD pictures. Or a more expensive latest model camera that may be less optimised for HD and have options you may never use? Any cameras announced at the end of October probably won’t be available until next year anyway.
I’m selling it primarily because I don’t need 2 of them any more, one is enough. Of course, as a Sony trainer, blogger and film school instructor when Sony releases a new camera I often need to buy the latest model in order to get up to speed on it for the workshops and training, that’s part of what I do. So there is also an element of selling it as in the future I will most likely be purchasing a new camera from Sony. Sometimes I wish this wasn’t the case as I’d love to just save a bunch of money on a nice, well looked after used camera and just get on with making nice pictures with it for several years and only replace it when I need to replace it, again probably with another used camera. That’s what I used to do and it cost me a lot less than buying the latest models all the time.
Thanks Alister,
Much appreciated.
Colin
Thanks Alister for your precious and honest (as usual) insight!
I’m under NDA so there are many things I cannot say at this point, but here is a quote from Ned Stoltz, a Sony ICE from the USA who is also in the know:
“Sony definitely answers many of the issues raised around the F3 while preserving the F3 within the product line. Lots of excellent improvements and I think users will find much to praise.”