My Sony F3 arrived today from H Preston Media only for review may I add, not to keep and with it came Sony’s 3 prime lenses the 35mm T2, 50mm T2 and 85mm T2. It feels like a Desperate Dan oversized handheld camcorder.
Two things became apparent while looking over the camera today and by chance I had an expert on hand, Mike Lippmann from Miller Camera Support, I took the camera plate of the AF101 which has 2 tripod holes a 1/4″ and a 3/8″ which is industry standard in bigger professional shoulder mount camcorders.
We were very surprised to find the F3 a substantially bigger heavier camera did not have the statutory two different size tripod holes but the less sturdy 1/4″ screw holes ? Personally I am not a fan of mounting anything that can’t be held in place without two tripod screws.
Also it became apparent that Sony had left off a focus hook which is standard in their 700 series of camcorders, once again a second omission although won’t cause you to lose sleep over is surprising considering the camera is marketed as a film camera.
Apart from a review I am hoping to have a head to head with the Panasonic AF101 especially in the low light department and it will be interesting to see if the camera suffers the same 8bit banding problems that the Panasonic suffers from.
Looking forward to seeing the review of the AF101 vs the F3