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Sony FS700 vs GH4 - owners chime in?
  • SuperSetSuperSet

    Very happy GH4 owner here but wish it had more slo mo options. I'm seriously considering upgrading to the FS700. Can anyone who owns both chime in here and offer some pros and cons?

  • 9 Replies sorted by
  • JLemosJLemos

    I don't own a one but i've worked several times with FS700 footage, all i have to say is that the internal codec is very poor like the dynamic range. You can have good images when very well lit, with a good contrast, but otherwise the image falls apart… and the 240fps looks almost like an SD image upscaled. Otherwise it's an average camera, but i was able to do one of my own favourite works with footage taken with a FS700, hard work on this one.

    I own a GH4, and it is much better in terms of image quality and codec.

  • brianlbrianl

    I've shot with FS700. It's more of a dedicated cinema cam and with 4k implementation is in another category than the GH4. GH4 is a tremendous swiss army knife rig, but it's no FS700.

  • SuperSetSuperSet

    Thanks for chiming in, fellas. That video looked really awesome! Although I do see some of the alluded-to softness. So, IIRC, the FS700 records to 8-bit 4:2:0 AVCHD on SD card and 12-bit RAW via CD Odyssey, correct?

  • exhardyexhardy

    I don't agree @JLemos about the 240fps softness, the camera works at 1080 in 240fps (also that is also the reason it max out at 240fps in RAW Record mode, the sensor simply won't go higher than 240fps in 2K) and one thing to remember that the 240fps only works in 8 seconds burst if you don't have the RAW recorder (the Sony one or Odyssey7Q). But I agree with the weak internal codec, AVCHD doesn't really grade well especially if you choose to use the sLog2 profile, the new FS7 had a better codec but it maxed out at 180fps continuously without the raw recorder.

    @SuperSet That is correct, it only records AVCHD internal. I have worked with the FS700+7Q, with the combination I can get a nice result, the only problem that I have is the high noise level in sLog2 in the shadows, I've attached a screen capture, which shows the FS700+7Q in 4K to HD ProRes mode, with a good amount of detail and also good amount of noise in the shadows LOL.

    Untitled12131_1.4.2.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 1M
  • JLemosJLemos

    I forgot to mention that i've only worked with footage recorded with the internal codec, i have no experience with footage recorded with external recorders.

  • SuperSetSuperSet

    Fellas - what do you think about having both units on hand and using the same Canon EF lenses btw them?

  • kellar42kellar42

    I used an FS700 repeatedly at the beginning of the year...wanted to like it better than my GH(2&3 at the time, now 4) due to size, ND filters, slow-mo, perception of it being a more 'pro-camera', etc...but at the end of the day I just couldn't love the image...soft, hard to get nice color from, ew, ew, ew...I know guys can really get into it and pull nice images out of the camera, but it was not forgiving, and not fun.

  • robmneilsonrobmneilson

    I was an FS-100 owner, and I use the FS700 quite a bit for two of my clients. There was a time when I quite liked the camera, but that has passed. Like the FS-100 the 700 is a bit weird on the magenta side. I've also used one with the 4K upgrade...which has been problematic. We often have to factory reset the camera (white balance suddenly changes in the middle of a shot, you fix it, and then 30 seconds later it has shifted again). I can get nice images out of it, but the dynamic range isn't so great...so not my favorite "real world" camera. In the studio where you can control stuff it works just fine...just don't try to intercut it with another camera system without expecting to do a great deal of work matching skin tones in CC.

  • SuperSetSuperSet

    Hmm.. you guys are making me reconsider the FS700. Seems like no one really loves it. What are my options for HD 240fps and above? Am I looking at a RED EPIC?

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