4K and 4G on Amsterdam agenda

Sony’s 4K-capable F5 and F55 are growing in popularity and interested in the cameras is gathering pace now that the updates for both cameras are nearly complete.

You may have seen the recent announcement from Sony that both F55 and the F5 are going to be capable of a whopping 240fps at 2K RAW.

For the Sony F5 in particular that’s an amazingly economical hi-res, slow motion camera.

The reason I single out the F5 is that until recently, Sony had only planned 240fps for the F55  (following firmware updates).

In fact, some would wonder what the main differences are for the two cameras and right now the answer would be “not a lot”, or at least “not enough” to justify the price difference.

But until the firmware has been released (v1.3 and due in September) let’s not get too carried away.

Sony’s PMW-300 will be very high on our list of kit to see in Amsterdam. We loved the EX-1 and the EX-3 and our clients are starting to love the PMW-200.

The PMW-300 has the potential to open up possibilities in terms of what it shoots as there are quite a few mounting options to enable the camera to accept EF and PL lenses (and probably more).

To be fair, the EX-3 also has the same capabilities but is very rarely used in such a way.

And the fact that the PMW-300 will, at some point, be XAVC enabled, should make it a sure-fire hit.

On the subject of 4K, there’s a rumour that Arri may be presenting something in terms of a 4K sensor-driven camera.

Arri is reported to be developing a 4K camera, which is exciting.

Whether it will be called an Alexa “something” or it will be a whole new Arri remains to be seen, and whether it will be announced at this year’s IBC or next year’s NAB is anyone’s guess, but it’s a rumour that just won’t go away.

But let’s face it, rumours are exciting and are often more interesting than the reality. Either way, a visit to the Arri stand is as much of a must as a visit to the Beach Bar.

As well as 4K I suspect that IP and web-streamed broadcasting will be big for IBC.

Now that 4G has entered the UK psyche there are tons of products that will allow near instant streaming from camera to screen.

We at Alias think that this is a very exciting step in broadcasting that will almost certainly enable anything to be filmed and accessed. And most of it in HD or 720p.

Teradek are leading the field in terms of usability and cost and their stand has always been a traditional visit for us so I look forward to seeing them again.

Finally, I’d recommend a trip to the NHK stand for a glimpse of Super HD (8K).

It’s not new but they are now able to demonstrate better devices for capture, which include a new H.265 encoder and a single chip, compact camera.

“Compact” may mean very large to you and me, but I for one cannot wait to see it.

• Danny Dawson is general manager at Alias Hire