Paul Ream's Sony F5 4K hack is real - Sony F55 owners not happy

Sony F5 owners just got an early Christmas present. Paul Ream's latest podcast describes exactly how he unlocked 4K recording on the heretofore 2K Sony F5 (discussion of Sony business ethics starts at 11:30 - legal caveats and technical discussion start at 17:15).

For those who need to see the procedure in writing, Paul has spelled it out:

Following on from our fourth podcast, this is the page where we’ve written the 4K4F5 guide down. It goes like this:

• Save a 2K XAVC ‘All Files’ setting to a blank SD card.
• Pop the SD card into your computer.
• Go to the Private/Sony/PRO/CAMERA/PMWF5 directory.
• Open the 001.ALL file with a plain text editor.
• Delete the whole of the first line (32 digit checksum)
• Change line 150 to one of the settings listed below.
• Save the file as 001.ALL (Plain text)
• Generate a new md5 checksum for the file.
• Open the file in your text editor again and add the new checksum as a new first line.
• Save and pop the SD card in your F5.
• Enjoy your new settings which can then be copied in camera to taste.

Your choice of new line 150′s are:

• 4K at 23.98 enter: 150=4096,2160,1001,24000,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,6
• 4K at 24 enter: 150=4096,2160,1,24,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,6
• 4K at 25 enter: 150=4096,2160,1,25,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,5
• 4K at 29.97 enter: 150=4096,2160,1001,30000,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,4
• 4K at 50 enter: 150=4096,2160,1,50,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,3
• 4K at 59.94 enter: 150=4096,2160,1001,60000,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,3
• QFHD at 23.98 enter: 150=3840,2160,1001,24000,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,6
• QFHD at 24 enter: 150=3840,2160,1,24,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,6
• QFHD at 25 enter: 150=3840,2160,1,25,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,5
• QFHD at 29.97 enter: 150=3840,2160,1001,30000,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,6>/li>
• QFHD at 50 enter: 150=3840,2160,1,50,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,3
• QFHD at 59.94 enter: 150=3840,2160,1001,60000,1,1,0,8,0,0,0,1,1,1,3

To generate an md5 checksum on a mac you can simply use terminal. Just type “md5 001.ALL” when you’re in the same directory as the file. Finally paste the 32digit code back into the first line in the file.

Not sure how to do this on Windows but there are web sites that will generate an md5 file code just by dropping it on a page!

Alternatively, here’s all my ‘ALL file’ settings as an example. They were generated on my camera with firmware 4.11. These can be saved to an SD card and used directly in your camera. Once loaded you can change any other menu settings and save them to your own camera cards as normal.

ALL_files_4.11

It is very interesting to see the shock and outrage over this discovery on Philip Bloom's Facebook page among the F55 crowd, though.

Camera companies make business decisions that disadvantage consumers all the time - at both consumer and pro ends of the market. I don't know why people continue to be surprised by this.

That said, if you've been thinking about getting the F5, but have been holding out for 4K, now may be the time to pick one up from existing stock from retailers (they are still $16,490 at Adorama). Sony will probably close this loophole in units that are yet to ship from the factory.

Which is better for Chromakey - the 4K compressed Panasonic GH4 or the 2.5K RAW Blackmagic Cinema Camera?

Here's a very nicely done video from Paul Shillito at Video-Alchemy, who gives us an in-depth discussion of keying with 10-bit ProRes 422 and uncompressed RAW video from the 2.5K Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC)  - and then compares the results to an 8-bit 4:2:0 compressed video key from the 4K Panasonic GH4.

In this 15:25 video, Paul does a 9 minute, detailed walk through of the setup - and then about 6 minutes of side-by-side conclusions. If you'd like to cut straight to the bottom line, please click here.

It would be reasonable to expect that the 8-bit compressed video would not hold up well to the key as uncompressed RAW - but let's take a look at the video and see:




So - to my eyes at least, compressed 4K looks clean enough for a production quality key. This should be interesting to two groups of people. First, those who have already bought their GH4s, and who have had concerns that they'll need to buy an external 10-bit recorder to get a clean key. Those folks can relax - internally recorded 4K works just fine.

The second group is those who have hesitated before buying the GH4 because they were concerned about this issue. Those folks can relax too - and go ahead and order their cameras.  The best price for an in-stock GH4 right now is $1793.95 at Cameta via eBay.

First Sony A7s Reviews Rolling Out - Better than the GH4?

Even though my GH4 will be arriving soon, I am still interested in how well the Sony A7s performs. I was impressed by what I was able to see of this camera at NAB - but it's a challenge to know what a camera can really do without reports from the field (or, preferably, shooting with it yourself) - so I will probably rent one and compare it to the GH4 at some point.

But until we can get our hands on it, we'll have to settle for early reviews like this one from The Camera Store in Calgary:



I always enjoy Chris' reviews. Lots of energy - and he knows his way around a camera menu. But he's not a video guy, and, in my view, he misses a couple of significant issues in his short comments on the A7s versus the GH4.

He mentions the obvious stuff, of course - the A7s' unmatched high ISO capability and apparent DR advantage over the GH4 at 1080p - and he counterbalances this by mentioning the A7s' 1080/60p maximum frame rate, lack of internal 4K and lack of 4K 10-bit output - but, in my view, he glosses over a couple of significant differences between the cameras that many shooters care about.

First - both the EU and the non-EU versions of the A7s stop recording after 30 minutes. Followers of this blog and my forum comments know that I consider this to be a significant limitation. Many non-EU Canon, Nikon and Sony users buy these cameras expecting to be able to record religious services, wedding ceremonies, plays, lectures and other events - and are surprised when their cameras shut down after 12 to 30 minutes. This is not a deal breaker for most narrative and documentary shooters, but for people who want to get rid of their camcorders and carry just one camera (this is the Hybrid Camera Revolution, after all), this is a big deal.

The second major issue is that this is not a "world camera". Unlike the GH4, the A7s is region-locked, and does not allow switching between NTSC (60Hz) and PAL (50Hz) frame rates. Frustrating for shooters who travel extensively or who have clients or viewers in other regions.

And, of course, the GH4 is $800 less than the A7s (although, I wouldn't be surprised if the price gap narrows over the next few months).

All of that said, the proof will be in the pudding. Shooters are starting to produce some incredible 4K work with the GH4 (please see the "GH4K" group I moderate over on Vimeo). We'll see what the future holds for the A7s - it's still a tremendous camera.

As Philip Bloom just tweeted,

GH4 4K internal, A7s sees in dark. Both cheap cameras! Yet people still whinge? Never been a better time technology wise to be a shooter!!

— Philip Bloom (@PhilipBloom) June 27, 2014

As usual, if anything here has helped you to make a buying decision, please click on the links above or the display ads below and in the margins. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help to keep these blog posts coming. And, for the latest hybrid camera news, views, tips and tricks, please follow HCR on Blogger on YouTube, on Google+ and now, on Twitter! Thanks so much for your support.

Hands On GH4 Review from Chris and Jordan at The Camera Store!

Panasonic DMC-GH4 with DMW-YAGH Pro Audio Video Interface Unit - $3298

I admit it. I really like these guys. I bought my trusty Panasonic GH2 from The Camera Store in Calgary based on a review Chris did on it back in 2010, and I have watched their videos with interest ever since.

Here is their latest review - a fairly comprehensive hands-on with a pre-production GH4 . Watch out for the truest statement ever made in a camera review video on the graphic at 7:20:



If you're in Canada, please pre-order your camera from The Camera Store. They are great folks, their service is top-notch and their videos are a real service to the community.

If you're in the States or elsewhere, please pre-order your GH4 and accessories through these links to Amazon and Adorama - or through the display ads below - it won't cost you anything extra and it will help to keep the blog up and running.

Thank you so much for your support!