PARK RIDGE, NJ — Sony (www.pro.sony.com) is expanding its line of large sensor 4K technologies with the PXW-FS5 compact Super 35mm camcorder. The new model rounds out Sony’s line of 4K professional cameras and, according to the company, fills an important niche between cameras like Sony’s PXW-FS7 and the NEX-FS700.
As a companion camera or on its own, the PXW-FS5 fits a range of applications, including documentary and independent filmmaking, online content creation, student film projects and even DSLR users looking to “step up.”
“We are continually developing and growing the most complete, fully featured line of cameras for every level of production, and the new FS5 model is the missing piece our customers need,” says Francois Gauthier, director of digital imaging, Sony’s Professional Solutions Americas. “Sony has the right production tool for any application — HD, 2K or 4K — and for any budget.”
Sony says it ergonomically designed the PXW-FS5 so that it is versatile, and offers handheld shooting. The lightweight body has excellent weight balance, ensuring reliability and all-day comfort. It can be used in almost any location, even airborne when mounted on a drone. A variety of shooting angles is possible with the one-touch rotatable grip. All key controls are at the user's fingertips, allowing for shooting flexibility and instant switching between low or high angle shooting.
Users can attach the 3.5-inch type LCD panel to different positions on the handle or the compact camera body, further supporting easy handheld operation and customized shooting.
Capable of 4K XAVC high-definition shooting, the camera’s Super35 Exmor CMOS sensor incorporates 11.6 million pixels and 8.3 million effective pixels. The high sensitivity and large size of the sensor delivers background defocus, increased low-light sensitivity and lower image noise. High-quality imagery is further ensured by high frame rate cache recording at 10-bit 4:2:2 Full HD and a high frame rate of up to 240 fps, in 8 second bursts, which makes 1/10 times Super Slow Motion possible without sacrificing bit depth or loss of image quality.
According to Sony, the PXW-FS5 is the first Super35 camcorder to feature built-in electronic variable ND filters, further expanding the depth of field representation by the large-format sensor and enabling flexible exposure control.
The compact power zoom E lens PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS (SELP18105G), provided in the PXW-FS5K kit model enables zoom operation with one hand.
Integrating easily with other camera lenses, Sony’s α Mount System offers compatibility with both Sony and third-party lenses. The PXW-FS5’s E-mount can take virtually any lens, such as SLR lenses via an adapter, as well as Sony’s E-mount and A-mount lenses, ensuring the camera adapts to multiple environments. Sony’s α Mount System and its enhanced interfaces include 3G-SDI, HDMI output and dual SD card slots. Also equipped with Wi-Fi and a wired LAN terminal, the PXW-FS5 features enhanced network functions such as file transfer and streaming transmission. A planned future firmware update will provide RAW output.
Key features of the PXW-FS5 include flexible handheld shooting with a lightweight body (1 lb., 13.2 oz.), 4K shooting and 240 fps high-speed shooting, and variety of shooting applications and rich network functions.
The PXW-FS5 is planned to be available in November 2015, at the suggested list pricing of $6,699 (PXW-FS5, body only) and $7,299 (PXW-FS5K, with lens).