Technical Notes - Sony PMWF3L/RGB Brochure

Technical Notes

Size matters
The Sony PMW-F3 stands at the convergence of traditional
film production and digital acquisition. Depending on your
point of view, the F3 sensor is either slightly smaller than
the Super 35mm 3-perf frame or a whopping six times the
area of the 2/3-inch sensors used in conventional 3-chip
broadcast cameras. The added size benefits you in both
picture quality and optics. In terms of picture quality, you
get superior highlight handling, superior low-light sensitivity
and superior low-noise performance. Optically, it's far easier
to control depth of field at apertures other than full wide
open. And it's easier to find lenses with a wide angle of
coverage.
8-bit on-board and uncompressed
10-bit outboard recording
Like most digital camcorders, the F3 records images with
8 bits of precision, courtesy of the built-in XDCAM EX
recorder. This provides roughly 250 tonal gradations for each
channel, for 16 million total colors. XDCAM EX recording
has been hailed for quality and practicality in reality TV,
network news and electronic field production. For the most
demanding cinema projects, the F3 goes even further with
available 10-bit output per color component. You get four
times as many gradations per channel and over 1 billion
total colors for incredibly supple rendition of gently shaded
areas on the screen, especially skin tones and sky.
Color sampling at 4:2:0, 4:2:2
and 4:4:4
The on-board XDCAM EX recorder of the PMW-F3 captures
color with 4:2:0 sampling. In the HQ recording mode, this
means that the Y ( black-and-white or luminance channel )
records a sample for every pixel in the 1920 x 1080 array,
while the Blue color difference ( Cb ) and Red color
difference ( Cb ) channels capture every second pixel on
every second scanning line. Because the human eye is
far less sensitive to color detail than it is to black-and-
white, the 4:2:0 color encoding scheme delivers superb
pictures while enabling digital compression at very efficient
data rates.
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Super 35mm 3-perf
Sony PMW-F3
Micro Four Thirds™ 16:9
2/3-inch 16:9
1/2-inch 16:9
1/3-inch 16:9
Compared to 8-bit recording ( left ) , 10-bit recording provides four times the
tonal values per channel, for smoother, more natural gradations. ( 8-bit color
banding is exaggerated for illustration purposes. )
Cb: 960 x 540
Y: 1920 x 1080
Cr: 960 x 540
4:2:0 sampling. The three rectangles are in proportion to the number
of samples recorded in each channel.
The supplied HD-SDI outputs provide an
uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 signal to outboard
monitors and recorders. 4:2:2 means that Cb
and Cr samples are provided for every second
pixel on every scanning line. Compared to 4:2:0,
this sampling is more robust and better suited to
bluescreen/greenscreen compositing.
For the ultimate in outboard recording, the F3
provides an uncompressed 10-bit 4:4:4 RGB
signal to external recorders. This is complete color
information. In the place of Y/Cb/Cr channels, the
system uses Red, Green and Blue channels, each
of which carries the full 1920 x 1080 array.
Bit rates and budgets
With a wide-open choice of internal and external recording options, the PMW-F3 supports an incredible range of recording bit
rates. Be forewarned that the Gigabytes can really add up. Your choice of bit rate will dictate the recording media capacity you'll
need, the hard disk storage your production will occupy and the bandwidth required to move assets across a data network.
Gigabytes of storage for one hour of material
XDCAM EX
SP Mode
13.71
(25 Mbps CBR)
XDCAM EX
HQ Mode
19.2
(35 Mbps VBR)
SR Codec
SR-Lite
99
(220 Mbps)
SR Codec
SR-SQ
198
(440 Mbps)
SR Codec
SR-HQ
(880 Mbps)
Uncompressed
4:4:4
(1,491 Gbps)
0 200 300
100
Uncompressed 1920 x 1080 recording can require nearly 700 GB for a single hour of material. Compression codecs, such as the built-in
XDCAM EX recording, offer enormous cost efficiencies.
Y: 1920 x 1080 Cb: 960 x 1080 Cr: 960 x 1080
4:2:2 sampling doubles the color bandwidth.
R: 1920 x 1080 G: 1920 x 1080
4:4:4 RGB sampling delivers full color bandwidth for the most demanding applications
396
670.95
400 500 700 800
600
B: 1920 x 1080
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