Hands on - the new Sony F3

I am in Rotovegas at the moment helping my friend Mahanga shoot a 30min doco for Te Waka Huia.

We are shooting on sony's latest PMW F3 with an Angenieux 16-44mm zoom and a Zeiss 60mm prime and recording to a NanoFlash external recorder.  Paul from Nutshell also threw in an Oconner matt box and follow focus.

This is the first time we have used an F3 but the menus are external button are very similar to the EX cameras with which we are familiar. There has been some hype about the F3 due to its Super 35mm sensor, its PL lens mount and its comparatively low price. The Super 35mm sensor is significantly larger than those of the  EX series cameras but smaller than those of full frame cameras such as the 5D. This means a crop factor to 35mm lenses so the effective focal length of our 60mm is 83.something mm.

The NanoFlash is a cool little device that allows us to up the bit-rate of our 1080 HD video from 35 to 100 Megabits per second (or higher) allowing 4:2:2 sub-sampling. learn more about the NanoFlash.

The Angenieux and Zeiss lenses are both superb in picture quality and design and the follow focus really does make a difference. Check out these pix.

The doco will consist mainly of interviews and controlled cut aways. We are using my 5d and prime lens kit as a B kit. Also squeezed into our rental car is a Kino Flow Diva, 2 Blondes, 2 Arri 650's, 5 stands plus 2 C stands, a light dolly system, a couple of macbook pro's and some sound gear.

Setting up and Packing down we felt we were short a couple of crew members but all was forgiven when I discovered my motel room had a spa bath. =)