I managed to grab some clips on the NAB camera set.

Sony NEX FS700 sample clips from NAB on Vimeo

That looks pretty GOOD! This is the camera that is on my short list to replace my EX3....

Thanks Alister. I really like the colors. Seems like there's quite a bit of aliasing in the chair in the first shot though.

Yes there is some aliasing and Sony are aware of this. There will be more aliasing when using the FS-700 at Hd than you would see with a FS100 simply because the optical path of the FS700 is tailored for 4k and not HD, so some some higher frequencies than needed for HD will be hitting the sensor. There's not really much that can be done about this. I expect Sony will work on the scaling algorithm to get the best possible downscale from 4k to HD but don't expect the FS700 to be completely alias free at HD, that's the penalty you pay for a 4k front end. I supposed the FS700 might actually benefit from a sub standard lens in some HD situations as this will act as a low pass filter.

Ugh, the aliasing is bad in this clip. My FS100 has more aliasing than I like, so if the 700 has even more...

But I do hope, that the FS700 really resolves 1000+ lines like the EX1. My FS100 is considerably softer (850 lines) than the EX1. You can see it especially on landscape shots. Always looks very slightly out of focus if your used to full HD resolution.

The aliasing is indeed there, and - as Alister (and Juan Martinez here: NAB 2012: Sony NEX-FS700 on Vimeo) both explain - is unavoidable on a 4k sensor in HD mode.

But, also having (and intercutting) the FS100 and EX1, I can assure you that it's just a matter of proper PPs and/or post work to match them just OK...

I cannot stress this enough, the cameras at NAB were pre-production units with very early firmware versions, so the image quality is not yet finalised. There are likely to be improvements in the image quality as Sony refine the firmware based on some of the things that those of us that have shot with the camera have discovered. Aliasing when using a 4K camera to shoot at HD is not surprising, unexpected, a fault or design error. It is simply down to the way a sensor and it's optical low pass filter must be tuned for the highest resolution that the camera is designed to operate at. When you use the camera below that optimum resolution, you may see problems with aliasing. This is why DSLR's suffer from a lot of aliasing, they are designed for high resolution stills, not much lower resolution video. Sony could put a stronger anti alias filter in the FS700, but then when used for 4K the pictures would be soft. The images I have seen from the FS700 have blown me away. There is very little noise, the colours are rich and vibrant and the dynamic range impressive. There is likely to be slightly more aliasing from the FS700 at HD than an FS100 due to the 4K sensor. But once the 4K RAW output is enabled, at 4K, I fully expect that aliasing to go away and the FS700 to really shine.

I aware that the flickering and nosily pictures when the higher frame rate is on like beyond 120FPS - 480FPS or even worse in 960FPS.

BTW, what lenses and Frame Rate that you shoot that CLIP ?

I believe you are not using their internal ND filters right ?

Cheers,

Stewart

Felix,
You said
"But I do hope, that the FS700 really resolves 1000+ lines like the EX1. My FS100 is considerably softer (850 lines) than the EX1. You can see it especially on landscape shots. Always looks very slightly out of focus if your used to full HD resolution. "

Do you think what you might be seeing is the slightly shallower dof in the background. In other words, is there something more crisply in focus in the foreground? If so, this would be an example of the more cinematic look we get with our fs100's, as opposed to the long dof typical of a more "video" cameras, like the ex1.
Bruce Yarock
Yarock Productions (http://www.yarockvideo.com)

Noise does not increase as you increase the frame rate, but the much shorter shutter opening mans that you may need more gain to compensate. The footage in the clip was shot at 800 iso for the normal motion and 3200 for the slow mo which is 240fps.

Flicker tends to be a result of the very short shutter period going in and out of phase with the lighting.

Why is it too hard for these manufacturers to add a servo zoom to interchangable lens? Its happened before with the very first interchangable camcorder, the Canon EX2/L2, and the XL1/2.

http://ampimages.dovebid.com/TESTE031307/fdaa20e6-f15a-41be-a7bc-ebe314ae8e05.JPG

There's a zoom rocker on the hand grip of the FS700, so a pretty good hit that there will be a servo zoom.

You do have to remember that it's much harder and more expensive to produce a parfocal servo zoom for a bigger sensor like the one in the 700. Just look at what most parfocal s35 zooms cost. How big is the market for a servo zoom for the FS700 that cost $60k?

I expect we will see one, but don't expect it to be both fast and cheap, might be one or the other but I doubt it will be both.

Dumb question, but here it goes. If I used this camera to shoot something in 4K that I intended to deliver in HD, would I still run into the aliasing issues when I down-rez in software? I keep hearing people talk about shooting 4K and being able to reframe the picture if needed, but I just wanted to know what happens when we deliver on Blu Ray. Should I just stick with a FS100?

Thanks,

Chad

Dumb question, but here it goes. If I used this camera to shoot something in 4K that I intended to deliver in HD, would I still run into the aliasing issues when I down-rez in software? I keep hearing people talk about shooting 4K and being able to reframe the picture if needed, but I just wanted to know what happens when we deliver on Blu Ray. Should I just stick with a FS100?

Thanks,

Chad

I don't know the answer, don't think it is a dumb question and would like to know the answer as well. So herewith I push this topic to the top of the list again, hoping someone has an answer for Chad.

Dumb question, but here it goes. If I used this camera to shoot something in 4K that I intended to deliver in HD, would I still run into the aliasing issues when I down-rez in software?
I strongly suspect the answer must be "depends on the software" - and that's true of all downconversions. It needs to do a good job of softening the image *before* doing the downconvert so that there are no high spatial details to cause the aliases. To the user that will be transparent - it will just be a case of pressing "downconvert".

The processing should (ideally) keep all detail up to the limit of the format being downconverted to, and reject everything above. Better the algorithm, better the end result.

I concur with David that with a good downconversion algorithm you should not get any aliasing. One advantage of shooting at 4K and down converting is that you should end up with better micro contrast at HD than you would with a typical HD only camera as with an HD camera the optical low pass filter will be reducing contrast before you get to the resolution limits of the camera to minimise aliasing. Optical filters don't have sharp cut-offs so contrast reduction close to the cameras resolution limits are to be expected. However if you start with a 4K image then the electronic filtering in the downconversion which should be more precise than any optical filter should result in better contrast. Sony's F65 with it's 8K sensor produces beautiful 4K images and ultra impressive HD with incredible detail close to the resolution limits because of the over sampling and software anti-aliasing.

Just a quick FYI. For those that are interested Philip Bloom now has a taster of his forthcoming FS700 review up on his site along with a slomo video shot in Brighton. His full FS700 review is coming on Friday.

And I have just seen on Alister's blog that he now has a FS700 to review too, amongst some other new cams!

The next few days/weeks should prove interesting!

Yep, reviews of the FS700, PMW100 and NX30 coming soon. Love the little NX30, but can't stop shooting super slow mo with the FS700, it's highly addictive!