On Thursday and Saturday I was away on a shoot camera operating for a producer from Adelaide who is creating a documentary on an artist friend named Johnathon Westacott who is a master in the art form of glass blowing.


I was asked to light and shoot two thorough interviews as well as filler footage with two highly renowned artists involved in glass blowing.  The team creating the documentary provided all the equipment needed for shooting which consisted of a Sony F3 Super 35mm Digital Camera with the Sony 35mm, 50mm and 85mm T2 kit lenses as well as a Sony 18mm - 252mm T3.8 high quality 14x zoom lens that utilises the F3 lens mount (FZ mount).  This lens is totally compatible with the zoom rocker on the Sony F3 for electronic control.


Lighting consisted of three dedos and a reflector where we got some stunning results out of some basic three point lighting set ups.  A good collaborative effort by all on this.


Sound saw the interviewees lapelled up with Sony mics.


I also had the opportunity to use a Cinedeck EX to record uncompressed footage directly out the Sony F3 HD-SDI output.


My first time with the Sony F3 was great, I noticed a lot of the controls the media it records onto are set up similar to the Sony EX1 and EX3 however this camera blows it's predecessors image quality out of the water.  Simple functions such as a expanded focus button that can be used while recording impressed me greatly.  Even the peaking function for focussing was stand out for me.


I highly recommend this camera for filmmakers that want to make the turnover from DSLR filmmaking as it is still a rather compact camera that offers the choice of detachable lenses, shallow depth of field and the set up of a professional unit.


I will be shooting more with the Sony F3 in the next coming months, I will report more on my use with the camera soon.