There are good reasons why 2/3-inch shoulder mount cameras dominate the run and gun, rough and tumble world of TV news. Compared to Super 35, it’s far easier to maintain proper focus. The high-zoom-ratio lenses give you flexibility to frame your shots. And the servo zoom, iris and focus controls all fall readily to hand, perfect for a single camera operator.

For any given lens focal length, the smaller 2/3-inch image applies a 2.5x crop factor versus Super 35.

[1] 2/3″

[2] Super 35

If you’d like the advantages of large and small sensors in a single camera, you owe it to yourself to check out the 2K Center Scan mode now available on the F55, F5, FS7 and FS5. In these cameras, standard shooting uses the full surface of the Super 35 sensor, maintaining the full Super 35 field of view. But 2K Center Scan establishes a half-size ‘window’ within the 4K frame. This provides a 2x crop factor, which is almost like doubling the focal length of your 35mm glass. For example, your 50 mm prime acts like a 100, with no light loss, no degradation in lens quality. 2K Center Scan is also great for use with 16mm PL lenses. On the F5 and F55, the feature can even be used with broadcast 2/3-inch B4 mount lenses, via Sony’s adapters, sold separately.

2K Center Scan helps make selected cameras even more versatile.

[1] 2K center scan

[2] 4K full scan

Designed for 2/3-inch sensors, B4 mount lenses are so popular because they answer a broad range of photographic needs. The lenses deliver incomparable zoom range. So you can frame landscapes, establishing shots, interviews, and wildlife, all with a single lens. For example, 40x zoom — unheard of in other types of glass — is an attractive choice in B4.

B4 lenses like the Fujinon® HA18x5.5m shown here, combine light weight and compact size with powerful zoom.

From Cooke to Angenieux, Fujinon, Zeiss and Leica, 35mm Positive Lock (PL) mount motion picture lenses inspire critical appreciation and passion among the professionals who use them. PL lenses are generally offered in fixed focal length (primes) or in modest-range zooms. These lenses typically offer smooth, continuous control of iris and robust gears for external control of focus, iris and zoom. Made for motion imaging, they’re designed to minimize ‘breathing’, the unwanted change in image magnification during focus. The zoom lenses also minimize ‘ramping’, the unwanted change in iris during zoom.

Cinematographers have found that Sony’s PL prime lenses deliver exceptional value for the money.

Endowed with the α E-Mount system, the Sony PXW-FS7 and FS5 can accept a growing range of compact, lightweight, cost effective Sony E-Mount lenses. Where typical SLR lenses are designed for stills, every E-Mount lens is built from the ground up for moving pictures. In still photography, noisy power auto focus and power iris are not problems. In motion pictures, these noises can be picked up by on-board microphones. Sony E-Mount lenses minimize the noise. In still lenses, clicked detents for each iris F-stop are common. In motion pictures, the clicks make for visible jumps in exposure when you adjust during a shot. Sony E-Mount lenses eliminate the clicks. In still lenses, there’s no need for smooth zoom during a shot. So power or ‘servo’ zoom is unknown in SLR lenses. But Sony now offers a trio of E-Mount servo zoom lenses that will change the way documentaries are shot.

A game changer for doc shooters: Sony’s SEL-P28135G power zoom lens mounted on the PXW-FS7.

Thanks to very short flange focal lengths, the Sony F55, F5, FS7 and FS5 support Canon® EF and other third-party SLR lenses via third-party adapters. This means you can attach many types of small, lightweight, cost-effective glass.You’ve got access to tons of specialty lenses, including tilt-shift, super telephoto and fisheye. In fact, you may be able to use the SLR lenses you already own.The adapters typically include no glass elements and therefore do not lose light.

The OptiTek® Canon ProLock Mark II adapter enables you to mount Canon® EF lenses on the F5 and F55 and enjoy electronic aperture control. Also shown is the OptiTek OptiTron 2 follow focus unit, which provides wired or wireless focus and iris control.

The great advantage of shoulder mount is the ability to balance the lens on the front with the battery in back, and then adjust the shoulder arch fore or aft to fine tune that balance perfectly. With the camera correctly balanced, your right wrist and forearm won’t be carrying the weight of the camera. So you can keep on shooting for hours. A purpose-designed shoulder mount camera also places the viewfinder in the right spot. And it presents start/stop, zoom, focus, iris and neutral density filter controls right where muscle memory tells you they should be.

The Sony PXW-X500 and PXW-X400 are classic 2/3-inch cameras, designed from the outset to work on your shoulder. The Sony F55 and F5 accomplish a similar result with a brilliant accessory: the CBK-55BK shoulder mount dock. A rear module with audio controls, wireless mic receiver slot, inputs and outputs help balance the lens. A forward control pod includes an industry-standard rosette plus adjustments for Gain, ISO, White Balance and more. And the shoulder arch has generous fore-aft travel for fine tuning camera balance.

The F55 and F5 are transformed when mounted in the CBK-55BK
shoulder mount dock.

Documentaries often require shots from unobtrusive stealth cameras, crash cams and point of view cams. Sony meets the need with a full range of consumer, prosumer and professional cameras. Remarkably, the little FDR-X1000V 4K Action Cam even provides time code.

Small as it is, Sony’s FDR-X1000V 4K Action Cam still provides valuable features like time code.

Featured in the PXW-FS7 and FS5, Sony’s Multi-Interface (MI) shoe is a tremendous convenience for documentary shooters. Among other capabilities, the shoe can provide DC power, audio connections and integrated on/off switching with Sony’s UWP-D Series wireless mic receivers. The UWP-D Series combines tremendous value with the convenience of automatic UHF channel selection, the sound quality of a digital compander, and the simplicity of pre-configured packages.

True to its name, the multi interface (MI) shoe of the PXW-FS7 and FS5 supports a variety of accessories, including a UWP-D Series wireless mic receiver (left) or an HVL-LBPC light, all sold separately.

When it comes time to monitor audio, Sony’s MDR-7506 headphones are the de facto standard everywhere from newsgathering and field production to recording studios and live concert sound. The headphones deliver dependable sound quality, workhorse ruggedness and welcome isolation from ambient noise.

Ask any sound tech about Sony’s MDR-7506. They’re an industry classic.

Today’s high-performance memory cards empower you with an incredible toolbox of digital feats, including 4K resolution, RAW recording and High Frame Rates. That’s why Sony insisted on uncommonly powerful memory cards. And that’s why we’ve developed a series of cards and card readers that balance high speed, large capacity, robust data management and affordability.

On the left, the AXS A Series card, with its supplied card adapter. In the middle, an SxS® Pro+ card. On the right, an advanced XQD™ card.

Recording your documentary footage as data files opens up a world of workflow possibilities that were difficult, if not impossible to achieve with video tape. Now you can move footage across data interfaces like USB 3.0 and eSATA. Or share content over data networks like LANs and LTE. Or archive footage using data servers. Nonlinear editors and color correction packages from Apple, Adobe, Avid and others can ingest and accept Sony data recordings for fast, efficient postproduction. Restrictions apply.

You can protect your work with the Sony ODS-D77U Optical Disc Archive drive and cartridges.

RAW originates from a design characteristic of single-sensor cameras. The single sensor can only detect one color per pixel: either red or green or blue.The color assignment is determined by a color filter array typically arranged in the checkerboard-like Bayer pattern. This original sensor data is the RAW signal, which preserves the maximum information from the sensor—prior to such camera processing as gamma encoding and color matrix, which ‘bake in’ many decisions that may be better left for post. The RAW signal cannot be viewed on a monitor. To view an RGB image, the missing color values must be calculated in a process called de-Bayering.

RAW data has only one color per pixel: Red, green or blue. De-Bayered data fills in the blanks, providing all three colors for every pixel.

[1] Single-chip image sensor with Bayer pattern color filter array

[2] RAW data

[3] Interpolation

[4] De-Bayered data

If RAW recording has a downside, it’s the veritable fire hose of data. The Sony F55, F5 and FS7 work with the companion AXS-R5 RAW recorder, which operates at a net data rate of 960 megabits per second (at 24 fps). This eats up storage at 432 gigabytes per hour. That’s why Sony offers the option of 2K RAW recording of the full frame. Sony 2K RAW gives you everything you love about Super 35 cinematography with no crop factor, no telephoto conversion on your lenses. 2K RAW is a smart choice for HD productions and it’s just one quarter the data of 4K RAW.

At 108 gigabytes per hour, Sony 2K RAW delivers many of the advantages of 4K RAW. But it requires 75% less storage.

[1] 4K RAW [2] 2K RAW [3] 432 GB/hr [4] 108 GB/hr

Standard definition was typically digitized at 720 pixels W x 480 pixels H. Full high definition is 1920 x 1080. 4K acquisition has more than four times the pixels: 4096 x 2160. A variant called Quad Full HD, QFHD or Ultra HD has exactly four times the pixels of Full HD, or 3840 x 1080.

All those pixels add up to a bigger, more engaging picture. Audiences can sit closer, becoming more immersed in your story, without being distracted by visible pixels, jagged edges or other picture artifacts. Landscapes become more sweeping, with a level of texture and detail closer to what we associate with 65mm film. Graphics, titles and credit rolls are much clearer. Beautifully shot 4K content on a 4K screen can be absolutely jaw-dropping.

[1] Standard definition 720 x 480

[2] Full HD 1920 x 1080

[3] 2K 2048 x 1080

[4] Quad Full HD 3840 x 2160

[5] 4K 4096 x 2160

Time lapse enables flowers to open before your eyes, clouds to race by and sunrise to take just seconds. It’s a powerful tool for B-roll and atmosphere. Sony cameras deliver time lapse, overcranking and undercranking with the feature we call Slow and Quick (S and Q) Motion. This enables you to alter the narrative by speeding up or slowing down the action, choosing frame rates from 1 fps to the maximum in 1 fps increments.

Today it is possible to record your projects with digital picture quality that was unheard of just a few years ago. You can pamper your pictures with the amazing detail of 4K resolution, the drama of high frame rates, the extended grayscale of 10-bit precision and the robust color of 4:2:2 sampling. Of course, each one of these advances requires more digital bandwidth, more storage space, and more file transfer time than conventional HD recording (1080/24p, 8-bit, 4:2:0 color). And the higher the recording bitrate, the less time you’ll be able to record on a given memory card. But what if you wanted to have your cake and eat it, too? What if you want ultimate picture quality combined with money-saving data rates? To satisfy all these requirements, Sony created the XAVC® codec family.