View Full Version : Next camera after FS-100?


Mike Watson
June 20th, 2015, 02:49 PM
Curious to know what my fellow FS-100 friends are doing for a new camera? I have looked at FS-7, Ursa, Ursa Mini, Cion, C100, C300... would like to move into high-framerate and 4K, as well as WiFi client monitor. Not sure which direction to go. Curious what others have done.

Matt Sharp
June 22nd, 2015, 07:58 PM
I'm happy with mine, not planning to upgrade for at least a year but if I dropped my FS100 into a river tomorrow I'd go buy an FS7. I also shoot with the A7S, totally different level of cam, but it blows the FS100 away in terms of picture quality.

For now, I'm still holding out for an FS7-like cam that records UHD or 4K to SD cards. Ergonomically the FS7 already has everything that I've added to my FS100, with the addition of having all those features you mentioned.

Oren Arieli
June 23rd, 2015, 09:00 AM
I'm with Matt. If I could score an FS7 used, then I would consider it...but right now, I'm fine with keeping the FS-100 going for another year.

Duncan Craig
July 17th, 2015, 06:15 AM
My FS100 is still performing really well on a variety of broadcast commercials, industrial and dramatic corporate work. Of course I'd like better highlights handling, 10bit, and a slightly less compressed codec - wouldn't we all!

The JVC GY-LS300 seems like an obvious 4K successor to the FS100.
SD Cards, S35 etc.

Of course the FS7 is a great camera, but at a much higher price with new batteries and media.
All the other options like the A7s and the BM cameras are good too, but I can't see myself ever owning them.

I'll hold out a while longer, Sony just updated the a6000 with X-AVC-S although it's already been a good little B-Cam with the FS100.

David Peterson
August 18th, 2015, 08:39 AM
Go for the Sony F3! They're almost the same price as a FS100 on eBay :-o
Yet a big step up over an FS100. They're more like a C300, but... far better! ;-)
Can even hang with an FS7, if you don't care about all that 4K and slow motion nonsense :-P

Otherwise, the JVC GY-LS300 is looking good as a very affordable 4K option (especially now it has their "J log"), or spend up much larger to get a Sony FS7 or URSA Mini 4.6K

Duncan Craig
August 18th, 2015, 09:00 AM
Hi David. I've bought a JVC 300!
Mixed feelings about it at the moment.

OK for the money of course.

Cheers, Duncan.

Mike Watson
August 18th, 2015, 10:19 AM
Why the mixed feelings? It's the camera I have my eye on right now.

Duncan Craig
August 18th, 2015, 10:21 AM
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/jvc-4k-pro-handheld-camcorders/529304-upcoming-new-features-gy-ls300-announced.html

Rob Katz
August 18th, 2015, 05:10 PM
Shot with the FS100 today paired with the Sony 24-70/2.8 and the A mount adapter.

We managed to craft some very pretty images.

Client seemed quite pleased.

Sure, the FS100 is old (4yrs), slow (24mps) and worth less than a few years ago but so am I (at least the first two items listed!) and damn glad too!

YMMV

Be well.

Rob
Smalltalk Productions/NYC

Dmitri Zigany
August 18th, 2015, 06:15 PM
I used (or new as they're getting cheap) FS700 could be an option. It offers a few advantages over the FS100 for HD (cinegammas, high frame rates, ND filters, zoom rocker etc). So, while not an enormous step up from the FS100 right off the bat. But add a Shogun or 7Q and you have a totally different beast, that isn't far off from the FS7. The advantage is you can use most of your old accessories and batteries etc. And for quick and chap jobs still record to dirt cheap media in space effective AVCHD.

Granted, the FS7 looks pretty sweet, but with expensive media, batteries and much bigger file sizes always etc, it's quite a step financially.

Ryan Douthit
August 18th, 2015, 06:40 PM
I sold my FS100 earlier this year. Held out using a rigged A7S for several months and just finally bought the FS700 (now that it dropped to $5k).I already had an Odyssey and, fact is, with the new Odyssey firmware this combo can out-do the FS7 with 4k at 120fps. Granted, not as compact. But the FS7 isn't exactly a lightweight to begin with (and that media cost - ouch!). Still kind of surprised Sony hasn't announced an official replacement for the FS100 yet. Maybe at IBC next month...

Dmitri Zigany
August 18th, 2015, 06:53 PM
Still kind of surprised Sony hasn't announced an official replacement for the FS100 yet. Maybe at IBC next month...
Now that the price of the FS700 is getting so low, it is kinda the FS100 replacement. There's not a lot of improvements that can be made to the FS100 without turning it into a FS700 and there's not a lot of improvements that can be made to the FS700 without turning it into a FS7. My pet theory is that the next FS camera will be a full frame video camera. But but with lower frame rates and worse codecs than FS7. They need a proper video camera for that 28-135 full frame lens.

David Peterson
August 19th, 2015, 10:09 AM
Ryan, from my experience shooting with the FS7 it is very lightweight, at least it is compared to a rigged up FS700 with an Odyssey.

Ryan Douthit
August 19th, 2015, 05:25 PM
I was thinking about packing it unrigged. For those trips when traveling light is more important than ultimate quality but you still want that 240fps sweetness (which is my case quite often). Though, yes, rigged, it loses that "advantage."

Gabe Strong
August 20th, 2015, 02:51 PM
I'm actually pretty satisfied with the FS700. I actually LIKE
the fact that you can fit so much video on a card in AVCHD.
It looks surprisingly good, and yet makes it easy to record
(and even more importantly archive!) the footage. What I
WOULD like, would be a 7Q like recorder that was much,
much smaller for the times I DO need to get the 10 bit goodness.
The 7Q is so nice, but it's just too much for lots of types of shoots.
I've been suggesting this to various companies for awhile now.
CD is the obvious one, as if they could take all the features of the
7Q+ and put it in a small package, it would be perfect.

David Peterson
August 24th, 2015, 12:04 AM
For a much much smaller package get the Video Devices (of Sound Devices fame!) PIX-E5 or a BMD Video Assist for a heaps cheaper price.

Gabe Strong
August 24th, 2015, 10:27 AM
David,
Yes, but it doesn't take the Sony raw output, so all you can get is the 8bit output. As far as I know, only the Odyssey and Shogun can take the Sony FS7/700 raw and record it or convert it into 10bit ProRes. And only the Odyssey at HFR. The Odyssey is really nice, just wish there was a version with all its features but much smaller.