But what about Sony’s 4K FS700?

by Sebastian WöberNovember 19^th, 2012

When the Sony FS700 came out they also announced a firmware update to unlock its 4K mode, making the camera “future proof” in a way. With the F5 and F55 Sony also announced the 4K solution for the FS700, but this looks a lot more costly than expected.

Recently the prices for Sony’s AXS-R5 recorder leaked on Sony’s Japenese coming in at about $5800 excluding tax (after Yen conversion). Apparently it is also necessary to get a special module called HXR-IFR5 (as seen on the left) to get 4K RAW via 3G HD-SDI out of the FS700 (at 59.94p max).

With varying accuracy the information sums up to making the update cost around $8000 – $9000 in total.

Considering that this makes the 4K FS700 cost about $16000 one has to think twice if the newly announced Sony F5 (or any other new camera) isn’t worth spending an extra $4K. Since I’ve seen the quality that comes from the Sony FS700 sensor in one of my recent projects (VIDEO LINK) I’m rather hesitant on recommending this camera as cinematic.

via NextWaveDV and Sony Japan.