SHOP SECOND-HAND MOVIE MATTERS
SONY FS700 There’s a direct blood line from Sony’s FS700 through to the current FS7 Mark II, and one that makes buying a used FS700 an interesting prospect. The FS700 has the same basic sensor as the very latest Sony FS7 Mark II and FS5, at a fraction of the price as you can get one for around £1500/$2000. The FS700 won the hearts of many action filmmakers as it was the first affordable Super 35 camera capable of recording 240fps in Full HD. Internally, a bit like the current FS5, the FS700 uses a low bit rate codec. But with a Raw upgrade, it can output 10-bit 4:2:2 and 4K Raw to an external recorder. That’s amazing, considering the price and age of the camera – it’s now six years old. It has an unusual form factor but has all the pro features you’d need like XLR inputs and ND filters, and has proven to be a solid and dependable camera for many filmmakers. RAWCAMERAS
CANON EOS C500 4K It’s a rare beast, but Canon’s EOS C500 was the first of the cinema line to record in 4K when it came out in 2012. It has a Super 35 CMOS sensor and can output uncompressed Canon Raw to an external recorder via dual 3G-SDI ports. Dual uncompressed HD-SDI out ports support external live monitoring, and HD footage can be simultaneously recorded to the twin CF cards too. The image quality is excellent, it’s good in low light and there are lots of different recording options. But it was much more expensive than a C300, and you need an external Raw recorder. That’s why not manywere sold, but they do come up for sale at around £3500/$4000 which is a snip, considering new it was around 20 grand!
“It can output 10-bit 4:2:2 and 4KRaw…amazing, considering the price”
BLACKMAGIC URSA MINI 4.6K BlackMagic prides itself on unusual designs, which maywork on small cameras like the Pocket Cinema Camera, but isn’t quite so successful on more traditional shoulder-mount cameras like the URSA Mini. Although the camera had rave reviews for its performance, its minimalist design wasn’t very popular so it was quickly redesigned into the URSA Mini Pro which has more external control buttons and knobs rather than the large touchscreen of the earlier camera. But that means the original URSA Mini is now going for a song, around £3000/$3400, and has prettymuch the same performance of the later Pro version at almost half the price. For around £3000/$3400 you get a camera that records 60fps in 4.6K Raw internally, 120fps slow-motion in full HD and has 15 stops of dynamic range. It’s available in EF or PLmount versions, and can be used as an ENG camera or full cinema camera.
BLACKMAGIC CINEMA CAMERA If you want a camera that really is very different, then the BlackMagic Cinema Camera could be your ideal buy. It shoots 2.5K video in Raw, Apple ProRes, lossless Cinema DNG and Avid DNxHD formats via its Super 16 sensor. That’s a Micro Four Thirds size sensor, so the effective focal length is doubled. It has a huge five-inch touchscreen to control everything, but that’s where the useful video features end. There are no XLR inputs or ND filters, the screen can be hard to see in bright light and battery life is not great. And there’s no slowmotion. But for such a small camera, the image quality is decent in good light and the camera has a unique look that many people like. And for around £800/$1000, you’re getting a Raw- capable compact camera.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER SUMMER 2018
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