To clarify, of course the output is still 1920x1080, it's just that the 1080 lines are made up of 540 lines doubled up.

Can't describe how pissed off I am at the 700 not being able to be upgraded to overcrank. From my experience (limited but sufficient) I thought the slomo on the F355 was very nice looking with the half res, and the 700 is a lot sharper to begin with. Will have to discuss with my rep what are the best options but I'm not the biggest Sony fan just at the moment!!!
Steve

Well, I did say when the 700 first came out that it would be better to wait. A lot of people told me that you could wait forever and to buy now, but in this case it was always going to be that Sony would release a sister camera. And with an investment of the price of the 700/800 its as well to get the camera that does *exactly* what you want it to.

Could be worse. You could own a F23 and be staring at the SRW-9000.

Nothing's ever going to fit that bill, you've got to get something even if it has compromises. I just wish there had been some hint that something like the 800 was coming this soon. More to the point, I'd be prepared to bet that there was no reason they couldn't have made the 700 with the 800's spec in the first, just a way to get people to split with their cash for the 700 and then rake in more by releasing the 800 a year or so later.
Steve

There were hints. It's Sony, and XDCAM cameras always come out in pairs. I said this quite a few times when the 700 first came out.

Nope.More likely they were evaluating effects on the HDCAM line and the views of people who had recently invested in F900R's.

You carry on believing that if you like, I'll carry on being a cynic.

Steve

And actually that's the point, if they had come out in a pair people could have made their minds up then which one they needed, I'd have taken the variable speed one. Now they might get my money for a 700 and an 800.
Steve

Steve, I realise that you are annoyed, but you have to calm down a bit. Sony do not play games like that with cameras of the expense of the 700!

The fact of the matter is that the 700 is aimed at news and other similar applications such as documentaries etc. Not specialist cinematography and film style production. It can be used for those things certainly, but it was never the primary remit for the camera.

I know that Sony were concerned about the effect of a do it all high end XDCAM camcorder on recent 900R owners because I was told directly.

The 330 and 350 had a release delay between them. Not as large as the 700 and 800, but still a slight delay. The 700 has had its firmware developed through the year, and I know for the fact that the XDCAM team are under a lot of pressure. A camera like the 800 was always on the cards, all it took was a bit of patience. Did you absolutely need to get the 700 when you did? Or could you have waited just that bit longer?

Don't worry, I'm perfectly calm, I'm fortunate that I've tons of work on so the camera will pay for itself very quickly.
It's just annoying that these companies keep doing this, it's a well-known tactic and I'm surprised you're not aware that it happens!
They should release the sister cameras at the same time and people can then make their minds up - just as they should have done with the EX1 and EX3, you can be sure that a fair few people who bought the EX1 were at least a little peeved that very soon afterwards the same model but with interchangeable lens and decent viewfinder was released.
Steve

With consumer cameras yes, but not with broadcast. Not to anywhere near the same degree anyway. And the reason for that is that they have powerful networks in the US investing in large quantities of equipment who demand to be involved and know developments early on.

The US news networks were chomping at the bit for the 700. Sony had to release something or they would have lost contracts. Sony probably would have liked to have released the two cameras at almost the same time, but you can bet there were development hurdles to overcome, as well as looking at the impact of the 700 on their other lines, and that would be the reason why.

Sony aren't evil. If you speak with their guys I think you'd be taken aback at just how on the ball they are, as well as how accepting of constructive criticism they are. Contrary to common believe they do actually care what we think!

Hi Brad,

As far as I can tell, there is no option to do SD on the 800, being that SD support is included out of the box (wink). It's an option for the 700 though.

regard,

-gb-

No, what they were concerned about was that some folks would buy the cheaper 700 instead of the 900 and they'd lose money, no question about it.
Steve

F800 Slo Mo
 

Has anybody seen the SLo Mo (50/60 fps) from the 800? How well does it cut with the on speed HD422 24/25/30p?

I'm wondering how well the resolution loss is handled?

The 800 overcrank cuts reasonably well with on speed footage. It depends on the picture content as to how big the difference is. The image does look a little soft compared to on speed but the difference is less noticeable than the difference between 1920x1080 on speed and 1280x720 overcrank from the EX.


Remember when the 700 was launched the feature set and firmware was a mile from where it is now. I suspect the main reason the F800 didn't come out sooner was due to firmware development. The team behind these cameras is not huge and they have been flat out trying to get many things working, not just the hardware but things such as NLE integration. I believe Sony had to give AVID a lot of help to get AMA and full proxy integration working. There are also different electronics hardware in the F800, it's not as simple as a 700 with different firmware.