First shoot with a F55

xberk wrote on 12/8/2016, 9:15 PM

A friend of mine has a Sony F55. He’s not a cinematographer but has used this F55 mostly for interviews on a documentary project. From what I've seen, he's done fairly well with it. He has an important interview to shoot in a month or so and wants me to handle the camera for him so he can be free to do the interview. I’ve shot lots of cameras but never anything like the F55. I’ll have one day before the shoot to get use to the camera. Should I be worried?

Comments

ushere wrote on 12/8/2016, 10:11 PM

no.if you've shot with pro cameras it's no different. the one day usage should be enough to get you familiar with knobs, buttons, menu. what glass is on it?

xberk wrote on 12/8/2016, 10:53 PM

I don't know the lens yet. But it's just an interview (albeit an important one). But I have not shot with any cameras on this level. I downloaded the manual and watched a rental house video that shows all the features of the camera. Rather daunting with color space .. frequency (what happened to frame rate?) ... etc .. etc ... I imagine my friend will set the camera up as he has on his other interviews and then its just a question of framing, lighting and paying attention to getting good audio. But, naturally, I want to learn as much as I can before the shoot.

I've done many an interview on my own with no other crew. I know that feeling of wondering how the shot is looking or even if the camera is still rolling (did I press the record button?) as you conduct an interview with a locked off, unmanned camera, a lav mic on the subject and an H1 Zoom. I think he just wants me to baby sit his shot and make sure the subject has not fallen out of frame or something strange has wandered into the frame and that we're getting decent sound. I knew this guy had a good camera, but the F55 just knocked me over. I know he uses Final Cut Pro for post and that he shoots in 4k. It's going to be fun to get some test footage from the camera to try in VP14.

ushere wrote on 12/8/2016, 11:59 PM

enjoy and DON'T PANIC. the only caveat i can see (sorry for the pun) is the glass. if he likes shallow dof you're ok if the talent stays relatively still, but i've had numerous occasions where; a tricky question, a 'thoughtful' reply, a cough, etc., has had the talent lean forward / backward / or shifting position enough to require both reframing, and more importantly at 4k, refocusing.

as for the rest, audio, lighting, colour space, etc., i would presume your friend acting as director / producer will sort that out.

set wrote on 12/9/2016, 1:37 AM

http://www.xdcam-user.com/2013/04/sony-pmw-f55-raw-samples-for-download/

http://zsyst.com/sony-4k-camera-page/sony-f55-sample-footage-downloadable-samples/

Hope helpful!

winrockpost wrote on 12/9/2016, 8:08 AM

No worries, have fun with it for the day you have it! For the shoot, Let your friend take care of the cam settings..all you worry about is focus and hitting record, and really important the audio, if you are manning that..

xberk wrote on 12/9/2016, 10:13 AM

Hey thanks guys. It's all helpful and encouraging. I learned that there's a way to "lock" all the various buttons so you don't accidently hit something while shooting. And, YES, I'm it for the camera and the audio. One man band. From what I've learned so far, you can hear the audio via headphones but not see it, VU meters. I'll brilng my H1 Zoom because I really trust it but likely he won't want to bother the talent with pocketing or holding the H1. Even with this top line camera, I'd be worried about the sound somehow not being recorded. .

ddm wrote on 12/9/2016, 12:46 PM

There are audio meters on the side display, You can also turn on audio meters in the viewfinder as well. The side panel is a nice design, modeled after the Alexa, tells you just about all you need to know about what format you're in, timecode etc. It's kind of hard to unintentionally change anything with a bump. but there is a lock out switch, as you said. Great camera. Of course, no auto focus like a lower end camera, but that's why you're there, right? The camera is complicated, as any broadcast Sony camera is, lots and lots of choices and deep menus, but all those settings should be set by your friend to match the settings that he's been using on this project.