The market for professional video cameras isn’t one to be taken too lightly. One of the biggest players in the market – Sony, has just released a successor, although not a replacement, to one of its more successful camcorders – the PXW-FS7. The FS7 II offers a little more features, but is still just as relevant.
One of the key features this camcorder comes with is its Electronic Variable ND Filter which automatically sets depth of field and adjusts exposure based on the lighting. Users can also use it in auto mode. The variable ND offers attenuation in a two-to-seven stop range, with a precision up to 1/3-stops.
The new FS7 II camcorder also supports Sony’s α Mount System, which includes more than 70 lenses
This is also helpful in manual mode, where the changes don’t cause any visible stuttering in the image and users can add ND filter adjustments smoothly and quickly. So with this feature, exposure and depth of field can be manipulated without compromising the attenuation. This sort of technology, although hard to grasp, is something that will only be a commonplace within the next 10 years or so. So this makes the camera a big deal when it comes to being future-proof.
Changing lenses has also become a lot less tiresome, since photographers apparently drop their very expensive lenses while switching. The newer lock-lever mount enables the user to change lenses single-handedly now, so that they can fit the bigger zoom lenses and cine-style lenses without much fuss. All this is thanks to the newly designed double-latch release, adding an extra latch of safety, to prevent one of those accidental drops.
Ergonomically, the design has been tweaked a bit to better suit the user’s needs. The clamp on top now allows users to swap between the viewfinder and the mic. Making it more dynamic to access the viewfinder. Even the microphone fibre is made of special material to better reduce ambient noise. They’ve also been thoughtful enough to add the dedicated inserts for rigs. So going around the camera and adjusting its features will not require any tools.
Sony have also taken into account user feedback for how the button layout should be kept. The memory card slots are now placed a little farther so that the cards themselves don’t stick too close to the camera body making them easier to remove. They’ve also added a green LED power light.
As for pricing, it’ll be available at $10,000 for the body only variant and $13,000 variant which includes a swanky 18-110mm servo zoom lens. These sorts of cameras aren’t just consumer-grade devices. So, it should be noted that these are meant for only the professionals.
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