Sony's Flagship F23 Camera Offers Cinematographic Versatility

Sony's F23 digital cinematography camera, the newest member of the CineAlta range of digital 24P systems is being embraced by leading film-makers for its technical flexibility, high picture quality, and its ease of use.
With the familiar look and feel of a film camera, and weighing just 5kg, the F23 has been designed for the challenging conditions of location filming. Delivering 4:4:4 1920x1080 imaging, the camera is already being used in major productions worldwide. Andy and Larry Wachowski, the brothers behind the Matrix trilogy, have started making their next movie, Speed Racer, with multiple F23 cameras. Other Hollywood productions will also be shooting with it, including Kerner Opticals, which plans to film a 3D movie in the autumn.
The camera's picture quality and slow motion capabilities led Chroma Film & TV GmbH to choose the F23 for an animal conservation film for the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and Nature Conservation.
Christian Schmidt, Digital Image Technician at Chroma TV, says the camera offers an ideal alternative to film: "It is the right tool for people with a background in traditional film because the new presets make for an easy way of shooting without dealing too much with the internal adjustments of the camera."
Cine mode keeps all the parameters at the optimum setting, so any error made in menu set-up is avoided. Custom mode offers full menu control for users who want to fine-tune camera parameters to produce their desired look while shooting.
Munich-based BandPro, whose major clients include Chroma TV, believe that cost efficiency, international content distribution networks and workflow will drive the shift to digital � however production teams must get out of the mentality of acquiring their content on film.
"With the F23, producers can be as free to move, manipulate and manage images as they could with film because the F23 has been designed with film-users in mind," says Gerhard Baier, Managing Director BandPro Germany.
Further functionality has also been incorporated into the F23, and Sony has today announced a unique feature in that the new accessory board HKSR-103 will allow 1 fps to 60 fps recording in RGB 4:4:4. The F23 will also offer manual ramping whilst recording, and improved gamma curves to match the huge dynamic range of the camera.
Visual Impact sell, hire and service professional audio and video equipment specialising in the broadcast production market. They currently sell and hire out Sony�s F23 camera in the UK.
"The F23 gives the cameraman greater latitude, which is more akin to 35mm film, allowing the picture to be graded in post production," commented Tim Sparrock, Sales Director. "The pre-set gamma curves and variable speed, plus its compatibility with many film-style accessories, make this camera a winner."
Cinematographer Geoff Boyle was impressed by the camera's ability to capture a shot of a rider silhouetted outside against a "totally burnt out" background. "It captured detail amazingly well, even then. It handled the contrast perfectly," said Boyle. "The camera has genuine variable speed in that it doesn't just record high speed then flag frames in post processing like other cameras, it records the full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels at whatever speed you are shooting."
The new CCD technology, together with the high-precision 14-bit A/D converter, provides 700% enhanced dynamic range and a remarkable signal-to-noise ratio,. Furthermore, a newly-developed prism system allows wider colour space capture than film.
French company Bogard believe that the F23 is making the decision to go digital easier for film-makers. "With post production using digital formats more and more, I predict a lot of the French film industry parting company with 35mm," said Guy Delorme, Technical Director, Bogard. "The F23 looks and behaves like a film camera, and the picture quality is amazing."
(SP)