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Upgrading an F3 in 2017?


Max Field

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Got an F3 again at a steal of a price, but only has Slog 422. I've seen tons of listings reading "with 444 upgrade" on these cameras.

 

Google wasn't exactly giving the clearest of answers, just irrelevant advertisements and articles.

What precise link do I visit to take care of this upgrade? Is it impossible to do in the current year?

 

Thanks for any input.

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It's a software licence key that comes on an SxS card. They're pretty impossible to find these days. Might be better to sell the camera you have, and buy one with the upgrade. So long as you can make the switch for $500 or less, you'll have come out ahead (over purchasing an upgrade licence by itself).

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Macks.. alot of second hand F5,s for sale these days.. buying off the forum that Satsuki mentioned would be a safe route I think.. check to see how long they have actually been a member .. also quite few Fs7 Mk1,s seem to be coming up and being sold off cheaply by dealers ..

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I use two F3s...and very good HD cameras they are. I've also looked into the 444 upgrade but come to a dead end, a shame as there must be hundreds of them about somewhere gathering dust. Does anyone know a Sony tech that might know the whereabouts of any?

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I use two F3s...and very good HD cameras they are. I've also looked into the 444 upgrade but come to a dead end, a shame as there must be hundreds of them about somewhere gathering dust. Does anyone know a Sony tech that might know the whereabouts of any?

 

 

Have you tried topteks in the UK.. they have very good and experienced Sony techs.. Im sure they would know..

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After reading all the replies, you think a magic lantern homebrew thing will start arising for the F3? 4K mod, Raw mod, etc?

 

The price of the body for what it offers leaves endless possibility, or at least should.

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I could be mistaken but I thought that they included s-log and possibly 444 in a free firmware update before they stopped updating it. The only thing that you will for sure loose with the free firmware compared to the paid one is 3G over a single sdi, without you are stuck with 1.5G over 2 sdi's, limiting external recorder options with 444.

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From memory, when you activated the 444 licence, it moved the file over to the camera. You'd have to uninstall the licence to return it to an SxS card to then transfer it to another camera.

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Honestly, given how cheaply the cameras are selling these days, I find it hard to believe that searching for a workaround/hack wouldn't cost you more in time, than buying a 4:4:4 equipped F3 would in money.

You can get a body armoured, 4:4:4 version for around $3,000, and a stock version for $1500-2000.

It's basically silly not to own a camera, when you can get that level of image quality for such an incredible price.

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Macks. Not sure...I've never seen any comparible footage of the 422 versus 444....it would be interesting.

The F3 makes great looking footage anyway.

 

Interesting video from 2011

 

Edited by rob spence
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I saw another thread stating the 444 wasn't even "true 4:4:4" with the F3. Should I even be losing that much sleep over it?

 

The sensor in the F3 is something like 2.3 megapixels all told. What this means, is that it doesn't have enough photosites for a 'true' 1080p 4:4:4 signal with a green, red and blue photosite for each individual pixel.

 

From memory it works out somewhere around halfway between 'true' 4:2:2 and 'true' 4:4:4. So you are still getting significantly more chroma information with the 4:4:4 signal, than you would otherwise. The more important factor, is that none of the chroma information you are recording is compressed, unlike 4:2:2 which will basically cut both you Red and Blue chroma information by half.

 

So having 4:4:4 from the camera is worth it (you can certainly push the picture further in grading before it starts breaking down). But it's still great in 4:2:2 mode, so I wouldn't despair if you can't find the upgrade (unless you have some green screen work or some intense grading to do - in which case, it will matter.

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Damn! This thread made my day. I'm so glad I got the CBK-RGB01 upgrade installed in my F3! ( I bought it already installed off an ebay dealer by the way. Low hours, mint condition too B) )
PIX-E5 even supports ProRes 4444 XQ ( S-LOG ) so it's definitely made my F3 more competitive in 2017!


Edited by Jimmy Jib
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