Photo Credit: Eli Tawil

A cinematographer and lighting designer by trade, Rick Siegel has worked on feature length and short films in the narrative and documentary genres. He photographs episodic television series as well – in music, comedy, fashion, home style, reality and magazine formats. In this blog, he tells us all about his Sony PMW-F3 rig.

When it comes to choosing a camera rig to purchase or to rent, what are your biggest considerations?

RS: I apply several criteria to determine and visualize my choices: what are the scripted elements to be photographed, who is going to see this project, what are the deliverables, what is the best equipment to frame the story elements, and last, but not least, what’s my budget. It’s a balance between artistic options, communication skills, dollars and sense. 

…continue reading Show Us Your Rig: Rick Siegel & PMW-F3

In case you missed it over the weekend, Sony has released firmware version 1.13 for both the F5 & F55. Along with a few bug fixes, this update also includes much-requested features like adjustable Exposure Index (EI) while shooting Raw, and remote start/stop trigger. Previously when recording in Cine-EI mode (Raw to the AXS-R5 recorder), you were limited to monitoring and recording to SxS cards in the native EI value of the camera. With the recent update, you can now effectively pull (or gain down) your exposure. While we don’t typically recommend pulling your exposure away from the native sensitivity of the camera, this does provide a quick way to monitor changes you may make in post-production.

This update also brings remote start/stop trigger via one of the 4-pin Hirose DC power outputs. We’re sure there will be numerous third party triggers available shortly, but this update means you can use the AbelCine HDx35 Mark II and HDx35-F5 cable with your 2/3″ ENG lens for full servo zoom and VTR switch functionality.

To download firmware v1.13 and view the rest of the release notes, visit the Sony Community site.

The internet has proven to be a valuable tool for all of us, and there’s no denying that using the internet for deliverables or proxies is changing the way we think about production. Sony’s new CBK-WA100 wireless adapter allows you to directly upload your footage to a new cloud service (or an FTP server of your choosing), and expands your options for delivering content quickly. I was able to spend a few minutes with this interesting adapter, so make sure you watch my first look above!

When the Sony FS700 was first released, Sony announced that a 4K Raw recording option would be forthcoming. The Sony HXR-IFR5 is an adaptor that allows you to use the AXS-R5 recorder to achieve 4K Raw from the FS700, but in an exciting development, Sony has also announced that the Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q will also support some Raw and high frame rate capabilities. Watch my video above to learn more.

We’ve covered a lot of different accessories for Sony’s F5/F55 cameras, and at our booth we’re featuring a couple of new ones from Solid Camera. The Scatter Box is a power breakout box that mounts onto the back of the camera and features multiple power outputs. We all know how important it is to have adequate power distribution for all our accessories, so having a unit like this can come in very handy.

Another useful new accessory is the Sound Swivel, a compact unit that provides two XLR connectors for audio into the camera, and also conveniently repositions the headphone jack. The three connectors are then routed to a small swivel cube (hence the “Swivel” in the name). 

We’ve got both the Scatter Box and the Sound Swivel mounted to the Sony F55 in our booth – watch my video above to learn more about these new accessories from Solid Camera. 

With every new camera, come many new questions about workflow. The term “workflow” can be fairly broad, but today I am looking at importing Sony F5/F55 footage into various non-linear editing systems (NLEs). Both the F5 & F55 can record in MPEG2 (XDCAM), XAVC and HDCAM SR formats internally. With the addition of the AXS-R5 recorder, they can also record in Sony Raw. This article is focused on MPEG2 and XAVC, but be sure to keep an eye out for future blogs on working with Sony Raw and HDCAM SR. The F5 & F55 workflows are similar to that of the F3 and XDCAM EX cameras, but with some significant changes. Below, I outline how to ingest footage onto a hard drive and how to import into Avid Media Composer 6.5, Final Cut Pro X, Final Cut Pro 7 and Premiere CS6. Keep reading for a brief how-to on each process.

…continue reading How to Import F5/F55 Footage in FCP, Avid and Premiere

The Sony F5 & F55 cameras are shipping in quantity now, and we’ve gotten a lot of requests for some custom scene files. I’ve put together five files in our usual flavors. They are designed both to change the cameras’ look and make matching the two cameras easier. The cameras handle colors very differently due to their different Color Filter Arrays (to learn more, read Mitch’s article on CFAs), so you’ll see some obvious differences in the files. My focus on these files was to match skin tones and give a nice overall look. 

…continue reading Sony F5 & F55 Scene Files from AbelCine