Sony PXW-FS7 User manual

Quick Reference Guide

PXW-FS7

PXW-FS7M2

sony.net/pro/PXW-FS7

sony.net/pro/PXW-FS7M2

Contents

A. Introduction to this guide 03

B. Saving the camera setup 04

C. Choosing the right operating mode 06

D. Preparing the camera and shooting 11

E. Advanced picture settings for Custom Mode 38

F. Detailed guide to the Cine EI Mode 51

G. Slow motion, time-lapse and picture cache 65

H. Audio recording 75

I. Recording, media and troubleshooting 78

Index 83

Contents

A. Introduction to this guide

A1. Introduction

This guide does not replace the user manual. It is intended

to be used in conjunction with the user manual and it is

recommended that you read both this guide and the user

manual to get the very best from the camera.

Where you see text in bold it indicates a menu setting,

button or switch setting. For example:

(MENU: System – Base Setting – Shooting Mode)

Indicates: refer to the camera menu, System page, Base

Setting page, Shooting mode sub page.

Where there are multiple menu choices a suggested or

recommended setting will be given as an initial starting

point to get you going. These settings should give good

results in the majority of cases.

Status Button: The STATUS button on the camera body

allows you to view several pages of information about

the way the camera is set up. This can be very useful

for checking settings, audio levels and setup, media

remaining and camera conﬁguration. Press STATUS to

enable the status display pages and then use the scroll

wheel to step through the information screens. Pressing

STATUS again will turn the status pages o.

Contents

B. Saving the camera setup

B1. All ﬁles All ﬁles are a great way of quickly changing

shooting modes and saving your favorite settings. Once

you have the camera setup in a way you are happy

with I recommend saving those settings as an All File.

See the section on all ﬁles for more information.

All Files: All Files can be used to save a snapshot of

the way the camera is set up or to load a speciﬁc set of

camera settings.

An all ﬁle saves almost every available user setting,

including things like frame rate, shooting mode, paint

settings, viewﬁnder and MLUT settings. All ﬁles are very

useful for quickly switching between modes of operation

or for sharing settings across multiple cameras. Each all ﬁe

can be given a unique alpha-numeric name that describes

the settings being saved. You can save up to 99 all ﬁles on

an SD card.

To save an all ﬁle you will need to insert an SD card (SD

card or SDHC card) into the SD card slot. You do not need

a large capacity SD card. The ﬁles are very small. An 8GB

card would be large enough for most peoples needs.

To save an All File ﬁrst you must set the name for the

All File you wish to save.

Contents

B. Saving the camera setup

(MENU: File – All File – File ID)

Set the ﬁle name and select Done when ﬁnished.

Then save the ﬁle:

(MENU: File – All File – Save SD Card)

Choose an empty “No File” location to save the ﬁle in an

unused location or overwrite a previously saved all ﬁle

with the new ﬁle.

To recall an All File:

(MENU: File – All File – Load SD Card)

Choose the desired All File from the list and press

SEL/SET to load. The camera may reboot during the

loading process.

Contents

C. Choosing the right operating mode

C1. Understanding the dierent operating modes

Custom Mode and Cine El Mode: The PXW-FS7 has two

distinctly dierent operating modes which are called

“Custom” and “Cine EI”. The camera will create high quality

images at all available frame rates and resolutions in both

modes.

In Custom Mode the PXW-FS7 behaves much like any

other conventional video camera where the picture you

see in the viewﬁnder is the picture recorded to the XQD

cards and this is the image the end viewer will see.

This is the image as seen in the viewﬁnder and this is the image

recorded when shooting in custom mode.

Contents

C. Choosing the right operating mode

This is the picture that is

recorded in the Cine EI mode.

And this is how the

image may look after post

production grading.

In the Cine EI mode the camera operates using optimized

settings that allow it to capture the widest possible

dynamic range and color range. This wide range image

will look ﬂat and washed out if viewed directly. But it

contains a huge amount of picture information that can

be manipulated and adjusted on a computer in post

production to achieve the desired ﬁnal look. To make

shooting this way easier the camera incorporates a system

of MLUT’s (Monitor Look Up Tables) that allow the operator

to see in the viewﬁnder or on a monitor an approximation

of how the footage being shot will look after it has been

adjusted in post production.

Contents

C. Choosing the right operating mode

C1.1 More information on custom mode

In this mode you have the ability to change many of the

cameras image quality settings including gamma (contrast

and brightness range), the matrix (color) and sharpness if

you wish to alter the look of the recorded images. In most

cases in this mode the dynamic range (scene brightness

range) that can be captured is limited by the need to

create an on screen image with natural looking contrast

and colors that will not need any further adjustment. To

achieve this the camera must produce a signal range

that is directly compatible with the display device that

the pictures will be viewed on. For HD TV this standard is

called “Rec-709”.

Having to stay within the limitations of conventional TV

and monitor displays does impose some limitations on

the amount of adjustment available within the camera

and on the dynamic range that can be captured while still

producing a realistic looking image. But by staying within

this range very often it is not necessary to adjust the

images in post production.

Contents

C. Choosing the right operating mode

Custom mode would normally be used for projects that

have little or no time for post production grading or

adjustment. Where a fast turn-around is important or a

simple, straight forward workﬂow is desired. Although

the image quality in custom mode can be very high, it

is normally possible for experienced users to get better

quality images and greater post production ﬂexibility by

using the Cine EI mode.

C1.2 More information on Cine El Mode

The Cine EI mode is quite dierent to custom mode and

the way a conventional video camera works. In the Cine EI

mode the camera is setup to capture the greatest possible

brightness and color range. A range that will often exceed

what can be shown correctly on a conventional TV or

monitor. These extended range images are then taken in

to post production where they will be adjusted or “graded”

to create the desired look for the ﬁnished production.

As a result of the greatly extended capture range the

images captured will typically look very ﬂat and lack

contrast and color if viewed on a conventional monitor.

This can sometimes make exposure assessment dicult.

Contents

C. Choosing the right operating mode

To help with exposure and to help gauge what the

material will look like after grading the camera can apply

a Monitor Look Up Table (MLUT or LUT) to the viewﬁnder

or monitor outputs. The MLUT converts the image from

the ﬂat looking S-Log2/3 range to a conventional viewing

range. Dierent MLUT’s can be used to give dierent

monitoring ranges and dierent looks. You can even load

user created MLUT’s in to the camera. The MLUT isn’t

normally recorded. It is just added to the viewﬁnder or

monitor output as a tool to help estimate what the ﬁnal

pictures will look like.

In order to maximize the cameras dynamic range in Cine

EI the recording ISO of the camera is locked to it’s native

ISO of 2000. To help cope with dicult or challenging

lighting situations the camera can be “rated” at a higher or

lower equivalent ISO by changing the cameras Exposure

Index or EI. This changes the brightness of the MLUT or

LUT rather than the actual recording ISO. For a detailed

explanation of this please see the Using Cine EI chapter.

In the Cine EI mode the auto exposure functions such as

auto iris, auto shutter speed and automatic gain (AGC) are

disabled, so exposure must be set and adjusted manually.

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