Sony: Flexible 35mm Options for All Digital Cinematography Needs

With the aim of providing technology that increases the creativity of film professionals with a flexible 35mm option for everyone, Sony now has different possibilities so that technology is never an obstacle. In terms of digital cinematography, Sony marked a milestone in 2000 with the launch of the HDW-F900, to which other options would later be added such as the HDW-F900R (2006), F23 (2007), F35 (2008) and already this year the new SRW-9000PL and PMW-F3. Next year the launch of the new NXCAM camcorder with Super 35mm CMOS sensor is expected.

With the objective of providing technology that allows increasing the creativity of film professionals with a flexible 35mm option for everyone, Sony It now has different possibilities so that technology is never an obstacle.

In terms of digital cinematography, Sony marked a milestone in 2000 with the launch of the HDW-F900, to which other options would later be added such as the HDW-F900R (2006), F23 (2007), F35 (2008) and this year the new SRW-9000PL.

The latter has PL mounts and a Super 35mm sensor with 1080/50p RGB recording and the possibility of recording ramps between 1 and 50p. With S-Log that allows a cinema-style workflow and greater dynamic range, the SRW-9000PL has become a very comfortable to use and highly flexible option, even supporting SR memory cards. These cards are a much faster option than the SxS, since while they allow material to be transferred at 850 Mbps, in the case of the SR this speed rises to almost 6 Gbps.

As a perfect complement to this environment, Sony has the SRW-5800 recorder with the possibility of recording at SR Lite (220 Mbps), SQ (440 Mbps) and HQ (880 Mbps), offering maximum transfer speed, greater storage efficiency, in an open platform environment and MXF file transfer. The SRW-5800 allows you to work in 1920x1080, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 formats; 1280x720, 4:2:2; as well as 2048×1080 and 2048×1556, 4:4:4. An additional advantage of this recorder is that it allows multi-stream recording and playback, thus being able to get the maximum performance in 4K, 3F, 1080p productions and in productions that require high transfer speeds above 5 Gbps.

PMW-F3

The options for working with Super 35mm capture do not end here, which is why Sony has recently launched the new PMW-F3. Building on the success of the XDCAM EX family, Sony now has a camcorder with the advantage of being able to have DoF adapters that allow the use of PL mount lenses (de facto industry standard).

With a Super 35mm EXMOR CMOS sensor, the new PMW-F3 offers us more recording options (24/25p, cinegamma, hypergamma, s-log...), being able to configure a flexible workflow depending on the application. In this way, we can use the camcorder as a conventional XDCAM EX, HD-SDI 4:2:2, RGB (S-Log Gamma) in an integrated workflow with SRW-1 (Sony's first full-bandwidth 4:4:4 (RGB) HD portable VTR system that allows great freedom of use and magnificent interconnection possibilities) or in stereoscopic productions in conjunction with the MPE-200 3D processor.

Supplied as standard with 3 fixed focal lenses 35, 50 and 85mm 2.0, with the new PMW-F3 Sony aims to revolutionize the world of film production in terms of price, features and performance, making television, advertising and music video filming available to a wider audience... and in Super-35 mm

This, together with the existence of a low-cost model with a PL lens kit that will include 35/50/85 mm optics with T2.0 aperture and fixed focal length, makes it a perfect device to use as a second 35 mm camera unit or as a B camera for the SRW-9000PL.

XDCAM EX

The new PMW-F3 is based on Sony's XDCAM EX workflow (its codec is MPEG-2 Long GOP 4:2:0 8-bit at 35 Mbps) and uses recording to SxS ExpressCards. Its Super-35mm CMOS image sensor reduces the depth of field and produces images with high sensitivity, low noise levels (ISO 800, F11 and a signal-to-noise ratio of 63dB in 1920x1080/59.94i mode) and wide dynamic range.

The device offers a wide variety of options for image creation, as well as the possibility of editing images recorded with the PMW-F3 and with the Sony F35 or SRW-9000PL cameras on the same film by using an HD-SDI Dual Link output for external recording (4:2:2 1080 50/59.94P as standard and RGB 1080 23.98/25/29.97PsF as an option).

Likewise, it is possible to select the “S-Log” and “Hyper Gamma” options. This allows users to take advantage of the wide dynamic range of the CMOS sensor and retouch their images in post-production in the same way they would when shooting them on film.

Recording formats include 1920x1080, 1440x1080 and 1280x720 at 23.98/25/29.97p, 50/59.94i and, in DVCAM mode, 25/29.97PsF and 50/59.94i. Directors can also use slow and fast motion recording at rates ranging from 1 to 30 fps in 1920x1080 format (17 to 30 fps in Dual Link mode) and 1 to 60 fps in 1280x720 format (17 to 60 fps in Dual Link mode).

The PMW-F3's PL mount adapter can accommodate PL and zoom lenses and will offer compatibility with numerous cine lenses, including Cooke, Arri, Fujinon and Zeiss.

Additionally, Sony has announced plans to introduce a portable recorder with SR memory compatible with the PMW-F3 camcorder. This will add a high-performance production option, as well as the ability to record images in native RGB format using the HDCAM SR codec.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XDqhHMnuFs[/youtube]

NXCAM, now also in 35mm

Sony anunció la pasada semana en Londres que el próximo verano introducirá el nuevo camcorder en 35mm con sensor CMOS Super 35mm y monturas intercambiable e-mount. La adopción de este sistema de lentes intercambiables E-mount (pudiendo incluso utilizar monturas A-mount mediante el adaptador LA-EA1), abrirá, sin duda, nuevas puertas creativas a los cineastas profesionales.

Integrada en la línea NXCAM, que tan popular se está haciendo últimamente, la nueva cámara llevará integrado un sensor CMOS Super 35mm que permitirá a los directores de fotografía contar con una cámara digital con aplicaciones cinematográficas de nivel de entrada.

Con la incorporación de esta nueva propuesta en la gama NXCAM, Sony ofrecerá a partir del próximo año una solución asequible y profesional para numerosas aplicaciones como cine independiente, publicidad, videoclips y corporativo de alto nivel, consiguiendo un look cinematográfico excepcional en este tipo de cámaras.

El nuevo sensor Super 35mm, diseñado específicamente para obtener la mejor respuesta en captura de imágenes en movimiento, ofrecerá un rendimiento extraordinario en términos de calidad de imagen y sensibilidad, siendo capaz de ofrecer profundidad de campo y flexibilidad con una amplia gama de opciones de objetivos disponibles.

La adopción del sistema de monturas E-mount resulta idéntica a los objetivos tipo “a” utilizados en la NEX-5, 3 y NEX-VG10.

Además, una mínima distancia entre a superficie del objetivo y el sensor permitirá también utilizar otros objetivos tipo A-mount mediante el uso del adaptador LA-EA1. Por otra parte, también será posible trabajar con otros objetivos utilizando adaptadores de lentes de terceros. Con esta flexibilidad, los usuarios podrán experimentar con diversas expresiones creativas sin que la óptica sea una limitación.

El formato de grabación del nuevo modelo será AVCHD, ampliamente soportado por la mayoría de editores no lineales, siendo el mismo formato que la HXR-NX5E NXCAM. Sony prevé también implementar modos de grabación 1080p (50p / 25p) con compresión MPEG4-AVC/H.264.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGzahFZizkE[/youtube]