The PS-Cam X35 Takes a Bow and the Sony F3 and FS100 Get Serious

Cine Gear Expo, which wrapped yesterday on the famed Paramount lot in Los Angeles, is a kind of Red Bull-ified version of NAB for DPs and cinematographers. This year was no exception, and expo organizers packed shooters in for two days and nights of demonstrations, exhibits, screenings, seminars and plenty of beer, wine and food to help digest it all. A popular evening destination for those stuck on other sets or in the studio during the day, the show concentrates its emphasis on lights, monitors, recorders and cameras and the related gear that connects them all. After the booths are shuttered late Saturday night, the traditional close of the long-weekend show is a full day of master-level seminars on Sunday.
With this much concentrated talent, it's no wonder P+S Technik used Cine Gear to premiere its just announced PS-Cam X35, which the company says it is aiming at commercial, documentary, sports, television drama and even corporate productions. So what does the camera offer, now that the buzz has settled? Filmmaker David Leitner, who blogged for us from this year's Sundance Film Festival, told me that although the new 4:2:2 10-bit uncompressed, direct HD-SDI out camera is not exactly comparable in price to the ARRI ALEXA (it will list for under $95,000, a good $35+K more than ARRI's latest camera), it can do something that camera can't: capture images at speeds up to 450 fps. The PS-Cam is coming this fall, marketed here in the U.S. by ZGC's Les Zellan, with a "range" of optional HD-SDI recorders and IMS lens mounts. P+S Technik is also planning to roll out a 4:4:4 10-bit option at a later date. For the full specs, go to P+S Technik's PS-Cam micro site. One warning: The company definitely wants to know who you are and where you shoot, so you'll have to create a simple registration before you get access to the site.

Leitner says the PS-CAM definitely drew curious onlookers last weekend, but he felt the show's bigger buzz belonged to Sony's F3, which "is gaining momentum and continuing to gain respect" in the wider production community. There were also quite a few F3 rigs on display, something also in evidence at NAB. "Hot Rod Cameras showed a terrific F3 mod that adds rods, bracket for an external viewfinder (moved to the front), an adjustable handle, and side mount for Convergent Design's Gemini recorder," he says. But the most convincing evidence of an F3 rising, he adds, was a split-screen demo of F3 with S-Log footage vs. similar footage shot with the RED One and its MX sensor. "F3 appeared so superior, the results were hard to believe," Leitner admits. "These Convergent tests were very thoughtful, however. They used the same lenses, T-stops, etc. on both cameras to capture the footage." If you were stuck on the East Coast last weekend during Cine Gear, as we were, we can only hope Convergent and others stage similar comparisons when Cine Gear comes to New York in September.

Leitner showed off some of his own footage at another Sony demonstration during the L.A. show, this time for the company's FS100 camera. He says he loved shooting with the FS100 and captured his New York City scenes, which demonstrated the camera's nimble handling of low light, slow motion and time lapse, with Zeiss and Sony G-series lenses.

For some nice exhibition "beauty shots" and detailed product discussion of even more gear, check out Adam Wilt's fine coverage of the show, posted yesterday at his Camera Log site at PVC.