It was a pleasure to attend the Canadian Society of Cinematographers meeting held at Videoscope in Toronto on September 27th, 2011 where I got to see the Sony F65 extremely up close and personal. (Yes I touched it!)

I had the opportunity to meet Ando (seen above) who is one of the Sony engineers flown in from Japan that worked on the development and design of the F65 along with several other 35mm digital cameras from the CineAlta line. The operational Sony F65 8k camera was equipped with a Sony SRW-R1 10-bit 4:4:4 (12 bit optional) recorder deck, and a tremendous Fujion 70-400 PL mount lens.

François Gauthier did a short presentation on the F65 camera and new 8k technology and explained how the new 8k sensor can create a better 4k image compared to conventional 4k CMOS sensors which use bayer-pattern sensors. While other manufacturers claim “4k” in fact the F65 accomplishes it by using dedicated photosites for each pixel instead of sharing some of them.

Due to the high amount of data generated from the F65 (60 minutes of 4k @ 24fps = 1TB) Sony has developed a new open source codec which they call SRMASTER and there are already a wide variety of hardware devices that support it.

Just as important with any new codec, Sony has already started gaining support and commitment from a variety of vendors who will adapt the new codec into their software and hardware.

Some of the other impressive features with the F65 include a mechanical shutter to eliminate the “jello” effect with fast motion pans, wi-fi capabilities, and lastly as seen below, Ando demonstrates full control of the F65 with an iPad right down to adjusting the frame rate, shutter, exposure index, and start/stop recording!

Amazingly this camera is available in Canada for a pre-order price of only $85,000 if you order before December 23rd, 2011. To order, or get more information just email cinealta@sony.ca

The night ended with a variety of short clips shot on the F65 projected on a Sony 4k projector. The images were absolutely amazing, crisp, and free of any pixelation or anything you might look for to find a flaw in the image.