We took some time last night to test out our newest piece of equipment, the Sony FS700 (which has recently undergone a supposedly “temporary” $1000 price drop). Used in conjunction with a Metabones Speed Booster, all footage was filmed with a Canon nifty fifty on a Sachtler Ace tripod. The low light performance with this setup was impressive to say the least.
Please note the flicker struggle is real, when dealing with low wattage lights in the vicinity.
“When powered by alternating current (AC) electricity, the lamps power cycles 50 or 60 times per second (depending on the country and its power system). During the down cycle the
tungsten lamp filament can dim slightly. Above certain frame rates a camera sensor is photographing enough images per second to see the alternation of the filament, resulting as flicker
in the image.”
-lovehighspeed.com
(Read more on that here: http://www.lovehighspeed.com/lighting-for-high-speed/)
I found different methods for fixing this in post, but they all seem to leave a minutia of ghosting, so I decided to post all footage straight from the can on this occasion for reference sake. If you’re planning to shoot hi-speed with the FS700 and using artificial lighting, I recommend checking out the link above for reference to what you’ll need in order to reduce flicker in your footage from a production standpoint.
All in all, I’m super happy with the camera so far and excited to see what we can produce in the future with it.
Music: J Dilla – One Eleven
Pixel Thick is a Phoenix AZ based video production company.