This tweet came through from Peter Crithary - @CineAltaNews: "#PMWF3, #F3 will be re-introduced into market as #PMWF3K/RGB & #PMWF3L/RGB with 10 bit #SLog package as standard, no price increase; Models PMW-F3K, PMW-F3L are discontinued (as models only), F3 re-introduced as PMW-F3K/RGB, PMWF3L/RGB with #SLog standard; 422, RGB444, 3G, LUT's, etc All announcements from CineAltaNews are USA Only unless stated otherwise" In other words, you can now buy an F3 with S-Log as standard for the same price as the old one sans S-Log. Existing owners can upgrade at a dealer for about $800 rather than the previous $2k (though you did get a 'free' 64GB SxS card) "But" I hear you cry, "we're in Europe!" Hopefully this awkward situation will resolve its self in the same way as the FS100 update did (for a while it seemed US only, but it was planned worldwide - just that US jumped the communication gun).
I spoke to a contact at Sony about this and they said that they wouldn't be introducing the price reduction/ S-log package into Europe for the foreseeable future. Would be a real shame if they didn't...
My lead at Sony told me the CBK-RGB01 S-Log price reduction would start in the UK in April. It's not the upgrade, (send your camera to Sony deal) but the original software key supplied on an SxS Card. In fact you might find that some dealers have already started listing this item for £525 +Vat.
Well after feeling smug for buying the CBK-RGB01 S-Log upgrade at just £525, I've just heard that S-Log (without the LUT's or 4:4:4) will be included as a picture profile in firmware 1.4 due end of May early June. Actually, it's probably a very good move by Sony to keep the camera competitive in the present market.
If Sony does include S-log in a firmware update, are there any hope that they will also include a better recording format to the SxS card to compete with C300s internal recording? If they bumped up the bitrate to 50+ mbps with S-log 422 internally it would be awesome! Or even better: 10-bit 422 50+ mbps with S-log straight to SxS cards! Drool... Maybe the problem is the XDCAM codec? Can it do such high bitrate etc?
