Sony PMW F5 4K Recording to SxS cards and Adobe Premiere Project Setup

This workflow is based on menu settings that can be seen either through the eyepiece or a monitor connected via SDI

You will not see these menu settings on the LCD on the side of the camera

Connect the Monitor to SDI out #3 on the camera

Turn on the Sony F5 using the on switch

Click on Menu Button

Use the knob to Navigate through the menus and press the knob to select the menu item

Go to System Menu

Reset the camera to defaults

Go to System>Scroll down to All Reset press the knob and choose Reset >All Reset>Reset



Press Reset again

Reset>Execute
Yep Execute again
Turn the camera off and on
Power off the camera wait about 30 seconds and power on the camera

If this menu comes up: It's a maintenance self check that the camera does every 5 days or so.

It's best to let the camera do APR whenever it reminds you.

Press Menu to set up some more settings

Go back to System > System Setting and make sure the Frequency is set to 23.98

 

Go to System > Record Format> HD

Choose SxS Format > XAVC 4K Class480

Confirm the Change Select Execute

class 480 is the 480Mb/s version of 4K XAVC. This gives a bit rate of…… drum roll……. 480Mb/s at 24/25/30fps. At 50 and 60fps it runs at a whopping 960Mb/s, this is the top limit for XAVC in it’s current form.

Sony’s PMW-F5/F55 and the FS7 currently record XAVC using Class 300 which is up to 300Mb/s at 24/25/30fps or 600Mb/s at 50/60p. So as you can see Class 480 has the potential to improve the compressed image quality from these cameras still further should it ever make it into a camera.

 

Change to the 4K settings

Next we will show you how to set the camera to Slog 3 for recording Slog

 

Go to >User Menu

Base Settings
shooting mode - change to Cine EI
Execute

Go to Color Space and choose which slog to use

SLog3 extends dynamic range about 1.5 stops.


So it might be best for very high contrast (high dynamic range) scenes, and SLog2 might be best for low contrast "flat" scenes.

Here is what SONY states about the difference between S-Gamut3 and S-Gamut3.Cine:

 

S-Gamut3:

  • Camera native color space, wider than REC-2020
  • Very good for archiving.
  • In camera Look Profiles and 3DLUT’s are not designed for S-Gamut3
  • For experienced Color grading only
  • You need two 3DLUT’s to grade effectively:

1) SLog3SG3toSG3Cine.cube (Sony LUTs provided in the next column)

2) Either Sony provided Look Profile or 3DLUT (Sony LUTs provided in the next column)

 

S-Gamut3.Cine:

  • Very natural color reproduction, wide color space
  • Very easy grading
  • Slightly wider than DCI-P3, and much wider than REC-709
  • Look Profiles, and 709 3DLUT’s provided by Sony are designed specifically for S-Gamut3.Cine

NOTE Use these Sony SXS Pro +

64 gig will hold 21 min of footage

Put the card in the SD Card slot in the camera and format it.

Go to >Media>
Format Media>
Media A or B

Execute to format

Now set to record press record on the Sony F5 camera and it will begin recording

BACK UP THE FILES YOU RECORDED ON THE SXS CARDS IN THE EXACT FORMAT

THAT WAS ON THE CARD


MAKE SEPARATE FOLDERS FOR EVERY CARD

Open Adobe Premiere and select the location to save your media and your project

Click OK to create the project

 

Title your project

Next select the "Scratch Disks" tab and choose from the drop down to set all the parameters to the same as project or a custom destination. If you choose same as project the media and other data will be stored with the project on the location you choose for your project. Then click OK to apply the settings.

Go to >Window>Media Browser

Navigate to the folder you backed up your card data and click on the folder

Right click on the folder and choose Import
You will get a generic error but click OK

The files should open in the "Project" window

 

Format should be 4096x2160/23.976 frame rate

 

We recommend you make Proxies Now using this workflow:

Adobe Premiere Pro - Make and work with Proxies in Premiere

You can choose to edit with the files as is but depending on the processor of the computer you will most likely have to adjust your resolution to 1/16 under your source window to play the clips without stuttering. Also the project will load MUCH Slower using the 4K files.