Re: First F3 footage
 

Doug thanks for posting up your video. Interesting combination of lenses.

At this point, would you mind commenting on the lenses you used. First time I have seen the combo of the Sony OEM PLs along with a Zeiss and the Schneider. I've been curious how the Sony's stacked up against the Zeiss, With you being up close & personal with them for a bit, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Lastly, I presume you were shooting without an external monitor. How was pulling focus?

Re: First F3 footage
 

Andrew,

it's too early for me to come to any firm conclusions about which lenses I prefer. If you ask me, they all look very good and I can't tell the difference between them in most situations. It really comes down to ergonomics and other non-optical considerations. I'm leaning towards some favorites, but I'll save that for another post once I know I won't have to change my mind and eat my words.

Yes, I was shooting without any external monitor or viewfinder and focusing was not very hard most of the time. Like everyone else, I'm not satisfied at all with the camera's viewfinder, and the LCD is too hard to see outdoors, but I've gotten used to them pretty fast. Just as I did with my EX1. I may add an accessory viewfinder later after I see what's available at NAB, but I certainly don' think the camera is crippled without one. I'd gladly pay a couple thousand bucks for an adapter that would allow me to put the C35W viewfinder from my F800 on the F3. Damn, that'd be a nice setup. Besides adding a mattebox and rods (have not arrived yet) I prefer to keep the camera clean and simple. I am not interested in building a Frankenstein camera or a Rube Goldberg contraption that other people seem to accept. My motto is to keep it simple.

Re: First F3 footage
 

Today is the first time I used my F3 on a paid project. I had really done very little testing beyond basic record and playback and even though it was a fairly simple talking head, I actually brought along my EX1 in case I ran into any snags.

I was shooting in a baseball stadium and my client requested that I include some of the exterior in the background. I had neither an HMI or enough tungsten power to match the outdoor exposure. I had brought along a roll of .9 ND, but it was not enough to cover all the windows with two layers, so I let the brighter windows work as an edge light. The front light was an Omni 600 in a Chimera box with a half blue and a small white card for fill. I used a 1/2 blue rather than a full to get a little more stop out of the light.

My lens was a Nikon 24-70 2.8 at around f4.0 and it worked great with the MTF, although making exposures repeatable was difficult using a G style lens. This image is was shot without any profile setting. I shot using a Nanoflash as well as to the SXS. This result is from the Nano.

At one point during the interview, the sun began reflecting off something in the stadium, boosting the edge light above 100 ire, based on the waveform in my PVM-740, but in the blow up, the image held pretty nicely. Detail is incredible.

I've only included a screen grab as the video is not ready for release
I'll be using this camera in all types of situations and a lot of it won't be dreamy imagery. I've got to make it pay for itself.
All in all I was very impressed (and relieved) with the camera's first performance.

Re: First F3 footage
 

That pic looks very good.

Re: First F3 footage
 

The first thing I did was try to find the moire on the jacket, but I didn't see any.

Re: First F3 footage
 

There was no moire, Great sharpness and detail without added noise.
This was shot at +6db..

Re: First F3 footage
 

These are screen shots from my first outdoor test with the F3. MTF adaptor, Tamron 300mm 2.8 +6db.
My location was New Jersey, about a mile from the NYC side of the river. It was 6:30 pm so it was already pretty dark. Certainly beyond the realm of my EX3. There was some noise when I pushed the camera beyond +6, but it was more like film grain than mosquito noise.

No secret it was difficult to focus outdoors, but the peaking was very accurate.

Re: First F3 footage
 

That shot of the birds with the sunset.... Schneider yea? Thoese are nice lenses if you dont mind the funky ergonomics... Optics are nice.

Re: First F3 footage
 

it looks good, no moire on the jacket and the nikon holds up well.

Re: First F3 footage
 

Chuck's twilight shots to me show the utility of this camera more than the majority of the test shots shown so far.

The F3 will greatly reduce our anxiety when thrust into low lighting situations.

Thanks Chuck!

Re: First F3 footage
 

I love the Cine-Xenars. But I can't tell you how many times I've reached for the focus, and changed the iris instead. It's happening less and less, but it's especially hard to remember when I'm mixing Zeiss and Sony lenses on the same shoot.
Like anything, there's just a bit of a learning curve as you adapt to knew gear.

Re: First F3 footage
 

I have to agree with the learning curve. Even though I am well aware that I am using manual lenses, I have to admit that I have pressed the zoom button on the F3 more than once.

Re: First F3 footage
 

I must say that I've have adjusted to working with primes much faster and easier than I had anticipated. I don't mind changing lenses, and I don't particularly feel limited not being able to zoom. I didn't expect such an easy transition.

Tomorrow I'm shooting a test interview with 12 prime lenses (4 CP, 5 Xenar, 3 Sony) and I am very eager to see how they perform. I've got four Nikons too, but I don't think I'll have time to use them.

Re: First F3 footage
 

That should be an interesting experience going through those lenses Doug. Unfortunate you won't have time to put on at least one Nikon. It would be interesting to see how the Nikon color space rakes up to the Zeiss. It appears the higher end Nikons have similar coatings (at least from a color perspective) to the Zeiss.

Doug do you have a 21mm Compact Prime in the kit you'll be using tomorrow?

Re: First F3 footage
 

I'm talking more about issue with matte boxes and follow focuses, cause the damn things walk so much. Optically great, but just a pain to work with....