The Sony F5 is a Super35 cinema camera and just like the Arri Alexa, it's the same format as those 35mm movie cameras that purred away in film studios for decades.

The F5 delivers a shallow depth of field that we've all seen in the cinemas for many years, the foreground is in focus the background is immediately out of focus; it's a very pleasing look. With an impressive fourteen stops of latitude, the whole picture is reproduced in a very natural way with lots of details in the dark areas with great highlight handling. If your final delivery requirement is standard HD, then the camera can be switched to HD, but that 4K sensor still provides spectacular super-sampled pictures with visibly superior texture and detail that ordinary HD cameras cannot touch.

• Shoots HD, 2K or 4K
• 14 stops of latitude approaches that of traditional motion picture film
• Extraordinary low-light sensitivity with a base rate of ISO 2000
• Extremely low noise in the blacks
• Continuous high speed shooting at up to 120fps; 5 times slower than real life
• Time-lapse interval recording starting at 1 frame per second
• PL Lens mount

Fujinon Cabrio 4K Cine Zoom 20-120mm, T2.9 (PL Mount)
		The new Fujinon Cabrio 20-120mm is a Super35 wide to medium telephoto PL-mount cine zoom lens. The Cabrio provides a sharp prime lens feel, images have a good filmic quality, creamy smooth with good contrast. It brings 4K to the whole picture, right out to the edges and corners; at every focal length. The Ks go way beyond 4K in the Cabrio’s centre zone. Comes with Chrosziel fluid zoom drive. Features: Constant T3.5 aperture throughout the zoom range 9 iris blades for attractive bokeh Minimal focus breathing Parfocal 200° focus barrel rotation and 120° zoom rotation Macro focus function Detachable ENG style zoom control 0.8 Pitch gear focus, iris, and zoom rings
Ultra-Wide Angle Cine Zoom Z11-16mm, T3 (PL Mount)
		The Tokina Cinema 11-16mm is a Super35 PL-mount cine zoom lens that delivers stunning ultra-wide angle perspectives. Centre resolution is way beyond 4K and edge-to-edge sharpness is excellent; it has the optical quality of lenses that cost 10 times as much. Features: T3.0 aperture throughout the zoom range 9-Blade aperture iris Parfocal 166° focus barrel rotation with minimal to no focus breathing 0.8 Pitch gear focus, iris, and zoom rings
Macro Cine Prime 100mm, T2.9 (PL Mount)
		The Tokina Cinema AT-X 100mm T/2.9 macro lens is used to film extreme close-ups of objects.
		With a minimum close working distance of 11.8 inches (0.3 meters), the Tokina Cine Macro is a true 1 to 1 macro lens, which means it can focus on something the same size or as small as the cameras sensor; awesome macro capability. An audience can appreciate for the first time, the delicate complexity of everyday items. Even printed words and maps take on new importance when we can see the very texture of the paper or the indentations of each letter produced by a typewriter. Macro filming brings your audience's focus into places their eyes normally don't go.
Classic Canon J9 & J20 ENG Zoom Lenses
		Sony's B4 to FZ Lens adaptor (LA-FZB1) brings my old 2/3-inch ENG zooms back to life. Fitted to a Sony F5 camera, this lens adaptor gives me the same ‘field of view’ you would expect from a traditional 2/3-inch lens on a 2/3-inch camera sensor, without cropping or loss of angle of view; a super wide zoom lens stays super wide. The Canon J9 and J20 weren’t designed as HD lenses; HDTV wasn’t around in those days. It’s true these lenses don’t have the stunning edge-to-edge sharpness of my high-end cine lenses, but they can be used to achieve another look in my palette; they help to de-digitize the image and offset the hard edge of new breed super sharp cameras. Lets face it, a natural look is very pleasing and that’s why lens filter manufacturers produce whole sets of various diffusion filters to do just that. These lenses were designed as very high-resolution top end lenses and cost an absolute fortune in the day. I own Cabrio and MK cine zooms too, but the personality of these good old ENG zooms gives me further creative options with my F5 camera. B4 ENG lens kit: B4 to FZ Lens adaptor (Sony LA-FZB1) Canon J9a      5.2-47mm  S35 field of view equivalent 15 – 141mm Canon J20a    8-160mm   S35 field of view equivalent 24 – 480mm
Veydra 25mm Mini Prime, T2.2 (FZ Mount)
		I new these lenses were something special when I saw them in a Panavision rental catalogue.
		Veydra Mini Primes are are true cine lenses built for cinema acquisition, they are not re-housed photo lenses. Colour rendition is outstanding and image quality rivals other much more expensive cinema lenses. Close focus of just 10-inches. Veydras optically colour match incredibly well with my Cabrio 20-120mm and Fujinon MK18-55mm cine zooms. It’s a completely different feeling for an audience watching someone shot close range on a 25mm, apposed to the feeling they get when shot in a similar frame size on an 85mm. The 25mm is more intimate, it’s like the camera is within the moment, instead of just observing from a distance on the 85mm. Most movies are predominately shot with short focal lengths around 25mm. For general interest, here are the favorite focal lengths of a few directors: 21mm Spielberg, Tim Burton 25mm Orson Wells, Scorsese 27mm Coen Brothers 28mm Terry Gilliam (early work) 14mm (later work)

Supporting the F5 camera

I’ve owned Arri and O’Connor matt boxes which I thought were the best, until UK based Bright Tangerine came along!

Today I have the VIV studio matte box from Bright Tangerine. The VIV is a lightweight carbon fibre hybrid that uses industry standard "Panavision" size filters. It’s a wing-away too, so lens changes quick and simple. I also have a Bright Tangerine Misfit Atom, which is an amazing ultra lightweight matte box. Matte boxes help bring contrast to the image by blocking out light flares.

No surprise that my choice of follow focus is a Bright Tangerine Revolvr ATOM Cine; the best follow focus I have ever used.

My principal tripod is a Sachtler carbon SpeedLock with an O’Connor 1030D ultimate fluid head. O'Connor heads are world famous for their ultra smooth feel, fluid movement and great balance. Chad O’Connor sold his first fluid heads to Walt Disney in 1949; today these fluid heads are industry standard in Hollywood.

A Sachtler FSB 8 fluid head with carbon SpeedLock legs has served me well too for many years; it’s a great ‘go to’ when I travel light.

Although lenses are one of the most important elements of a camera, just as important are great monitors.

I've been a fan of Small HD monitors since I first saw them at NAB years ago, you really have to see the image quality yourself to appreciate them.

7-inch On-camera field monitor (702 BRIGHT)

The 702 Bright is a new breed of on-camera, daylight viewable, full HD displays from Small HD.
Features; waveform, peeking, zebra, 3D LUTs, frame guides, audio meters and more.

17-inch P3X 10-bit Reference Grade Monitor (1703-P3X)

The Small HD PX3 is a 17-inch high precision monitor with incredible colour accuracy and wide colour gamut display covering 100% of the DCI-P3 colour space for cinema, which is well beyond the rec709 broadcast space.
Mains or battery powered, C-stand mountable, waveform, vecterscope, HDR preview, 3D LUTs, frame guides and 8 audiometers.
The Small HD P3X is the best monitor I have ever owned and trust.

 

Gamma & LOGs

For those of you who want great images straight-off-the-card, I use a highly optimized in-camera profile that will deliver wonderful results, so you don’t need to get caught up in post grading etc.

If you who want to shoot other S-Logs and Gammas, please read on.

Choosing the correct Gamma setting

Standard Gamma 5 (rec709)
For footage to be used as shot in camera; no time to grade.
Standard Gamma gives you a broadcast safe tv signal without grading.
Rec709 is default HDTV standard gamma.

HyperGamma
Is intended for minimal color correction and can be graded in-house using popular edit systems. With 10 stop dynamic latitude, hypergamma is Sony's halfway house between Standard Gamma and S-log. Hypergamma captures much more detail in light and dark shades than rec709.

S-Log
S-Log exploits the F5's full sensor with it's 14-stops dynamic latitude for the widest choice in the grade. S-Log footage is normally graded by someone who has the tools and skills ‘most likely a professional colorist’ in a dedicated grading suite.

 

F5 Workflow

Footage is recorded internally as XAVC, HDCAM SR and XDCAM HD or to an optional external recorder in Apple ProRes 422 HQ, ProRes or Avid DNxHD.

Shot material is transferred via my MacBook Pro to your portable hard drives. The media is edit suite friendly and compatible with up to date Avid, Final Cut Pro, Premiere, etc.

Cards are never erased until I get an all clear from clients.

My F5 Shooting kit

Also included is a comprehensive lighting and sound kit.