"Crystallize" by Lindsey Stirling
Cyr Wheel - Zoré Espana
D.P. - Michael Tushaus
Shot on the Sony PXW-FS5
18-105mm Sony lens
S-Log 3 Gamut Cine
All shots recorded to the Atomos Ninja Assassin
Apple ProRes 422HQ, 23.98, 59.94, 120, 240fps
Color graded in FilmConvert
This was a test shoot at my local park shooting my girlfriend's niece, Zoré, on her Cyr Wheel practicing her upcoming act. I just bought the Atomos Ninja Assassin and wanted to see how it would play with my Sony FS5 and it's HDMI output with S-Log 3.
I was overall pleased. The 8bit 4:2:2 signal, especially for 4K had a noticeable difference in post. It had a bit more depth in the resolution and color. I recorded to ProRes 422HQ for all frame rates. I set it up so that it would record both internally as well as triggering the Atomos externally to record. I had to set up the FS5 so that the External Ouput was selected in the Rec Out menu so that it would send the 4K signal to the Atomos.
A few things I learned. 1) Even when you send the video signal externally, though you do lose the picture on the Sony LCD monitor, it does maintain displaying your info such as histogram, batt level, f-stop, etc. All the data is still displayed, just no video while recording 4K internally and sending externally.
2) The Atomos will record your 1080p 120 & 240fps footage! Well, in a certain way. It was an interesting discovery. When recording internally, the camera creates a buffer and then internally records the buffer. However, when you are also triggering an external recorder such as the Atomos, the FS5 will trigger your Atomos to record the buffer playback as well. So, what you get is 120 or 240fps recorded externally at timebase 59.94fps. But this still allows you to then go into post and slow these shots to 120 or 240 by taking the 59.94fps clip and slowing it to 50% if it was natively in a timebase of 29.97 or 40% if at 23.98. It's a little weird because it is recording a 120 or 240fps playback at that rate from the camera, but is recorded at a timebase of 59.94fps, thus the needing to slow down the footage in post. So, technically, you get the same clean feed to your Atomos as you would get recorded internally to the SD's.
By recording the buffer externally to ProRes 422HQ, the recording of that buffer footage, I thought originally was noticeably better. Upon further & more detailed review, the differences were so slight that I don't think they are noticeable to the eye unless you zoom in 400% You maybe notice a bit more detail in the ProRes footage, but you will also notice a slight bit more noise in that detail. This is likely because the XAVC-L internal codec applies noise reduction to the footage, where the external signal does not. It's a slight difference at best. Something to note if you are considering an Atomos, and wondering if you can get those higher frame rates, and if it's worth it. After seeing the differences, I think it's worth it overall to get it so you gain more out of your 4K footage, but it's pretty much a wash for high frame rates. However, the other advantage is having ProRes, which is typically much easier to edit natively in your NLE. The biggest advantage will be yet to come when Sony releases the Raw update and you will be able to record 10bit ProRes coming out of the SDI port--which means a Shogun, Shogun Flame, or Shogun Inferno will be the best fit for this camera for the budget. You can go the extra mile and be able to record full Raw in addition to ProRes onto the Convergent Design's Odyssey 7Q+, but it will cost an additional $1000 just for the Raw license in addition to the $1700 price tag for the monitor.
With that said, the camera still has its flaws especially in 240fps. You'll see more grain and moiré in the chain link fence in the back. The grain can be denoised, but the moiré is pretty noticeable. Slog 3 might be too much for 8bit, though. That is just a fact with this camera at these frame rates. Also, I have noticed in multiple shoots that when shooting in 120 or 240fps, and have the ND engaged, there are some weird edge artifacts that happen. This is with the 1.11 firmware as well. I think this is a different problem altogether and may have something to do with high contrast areas, like daylight sky vs. your subject when in high frame rates and possibly because the ND is on as well.
Overall, having this combo of the FS5 with the Atomos Ninja Assassin is a slight noticeable improvement. And even if I am only needing to record internally, I would still have the Atomos as an on-camera monitor. It has some very useful tools that make your life easier. In addition to the 7" 1920 x 1200 touchscreen, the waveform monitor, loadable Luts, peaking and false color make it completely worth having even besides it as an external recorder. It's a full-on pro monitor.
27 сен 2024
