I had the chance to use the Sony FS5 camera on a few projects I did in Ecuador in January of this year. Together with a fellow filmmaker and friend, Danny Ruan, we used this great little camera on the short film “Lights”, as well as on two music videos.
I will be doing a video review of the FS5 as soon as I can. I have more footage I shot with it, so I will have more examples to show you what this camera is capable of capturing. Overall, my thoughts are that this is a great and very affordable professional 1080P camera that records in 10bit and up to 240fps (for a super slow motion). It does also record in 4K, but in that mode it’s a bit more limited, as it can only record in 8bit 4:2:0 color space. Still, it’s a great little camera with a lot of pro features and also some new tools that no other camera offers. One such a feature is the variable ND filter. It also has an amazing battery life. To top it off, it’s small and very light (it is comparable to DSLR cameras).
The short film – which you can see below – was shot in 1080P mode at 240 frames per second in SLog-2.
You can get the Sony FS5 at B&H Photo Video.
Also, the batteries for this camera
If you want to adapt non-Sony lenses to this camera, you have many choices. Here are my top picks for adapting Canon lenses (i.e. Canon EF or Canon EF-S Mount Lens to Sony E-Mount)
My favorite lens adapter with wireless focus and iris control
Smart Adapter for Canon EF or Canon EF-S Mount Lens to Sony E-Mount
A good inactive adapter from Vello – Canon EF/EF-S lens to Sony E-Mount lens adapter
The cheap inactive adapter I show in the video (Canon EF/EF-S to Sony E-Mount)
You can also find many Canon EF Lens to Sony E-Mount adapters on eBay and Amazon.
Finally, here are stills from the short film in 1080P.
Wow you really got some nice looking shots out of the FS5! I am loving mine, and even more-so with the latest firmware. I haven’t got anything near as beautiful as this short film though. I’m finding the 4K to look great too. I am excited to watch your review Tom. Thanks for posting this.
How much did the firmware update change the image quality? Was it a noticeable difference?
I don’t know because I still haven’t had time to test out the camera with the new firmware upgrade.
Beautiful short Tom and Danny. The FS5 images are stellar – no doubt thanks to a great cinematographer working with a capable camera. The 240 fps was pretty impressive and the images very dreamlike. I might take the FS5 out for a spin on a future shoot. And the piece of music you chose was beautiful.
Outstanding job Tom and Danny, the images on this short film are breathtaking beautiful. Music choice is perfect as well. Congratulations!
Did you put Vasoline on the lens to achieve those blur effects?
Vaseline and lots of different things. I will be showing in more detail in a future video.
Hi Tom, Lovely film. can you tell us more about how this was made please?
Great stuff Tom. I have this camera too. Do you remember what picture profile you used?