Sony Fs7 Owners Manual

							Quick Reference Guide
PXW-FS7 
PXW-FS7M2
sony.net/pro/PXW-FS7
sony.net/pro/PXW-FS7M2 
						

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Contents
A.  Introduction to this guide 
03
B .   Saving the camera setup 
04
C.   Choosing the right operating mode 
06
D.   Preparing the camera and shooting 
11
E.    Advanced picture settings for Custom Mode 
38
F.   Detailed guide to the Cine EI Mode 
51
G.   Slow motion, time-lapse and picture cache 
65
H.   Audio recording 
75
I.   Recording, media and troubleshooting 
78
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A. Introduction to this guide
A1. Introduction
This guide does not replace the user manual. It is intended 
to be used in conjunction with the user manual and it is 
recommended that you read both this guide and the user 
manual to get the very best from the camera.
Where you see text in bold it indicates a menu setting, 
button or switch setting. For example:
(MENU: System – Base Setting – Shooting Mode)
Indicates: refer to the camera menu, System page,  Base 
Setting page, Shooting mode sub page. 
Where there are multiple menu choices a suggested or 
recommended setting will be given as an initial starting 
point to get you going. These settings should give good 
results in the majority of cases.
Status Button: The STATUS button on the camera body 
allows you to view several pages of information about 
the way the camera is set up. This can be very useful 
for checking settings, audio levels and setup, media 
remaining and camera configuration. Press STATUS to 
enable the status display pages and then use the scroll 
wheel to step through the information screens. Pressing 
STATUS again will turn the status pages off. 
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B.  Saving the camera setup
B1. All files  All files are a great way of quickly changing 
shooting modes and saving your favorite settings. Once 
you have the camera setup in a way you are happy 
with I recommend saving those settings as an All File. 
See the section on all files for more information.
All Files: All Files can be used to save a snapshot of 
the way the camera is set up or to load a specific set of 
camera settings. 
An all file saves almost every available user setting, 
including things like frame rate, shooting mode, paint 
settings, viewfinder and MLUT settings. All files are very 
useful for quickly switching between modes of operation 
or for sharing settings across multiple cameras. Each all fie 
can be given a unique alpha-numeric name that describes 
the settings being saved. You can save up to 99 all files on 
an SD card.
To save an all file you will need to insert an SD card (SD 
card or SDHC card) into the SD card slot. You do not need 
a large capacity SD card. The files are very small. An 8GB 
card would be large enough for most peoples needs.
To save an All File first you must set the name for the  
All File you wish to save. 
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B.  Saving the camera setup
(MENU: File – All File – File ID)
Set the file name and select Done when finished. 
Then save the file:
(MENU: File – All File – Save SD Card)
Choose an empty “No File” location to save the file in an 
unused location or overwrite a previously saved all file 
with the new file.
To recall an All File: 
(MENU: File – All File – Load SD Card)
Choose the desired All File from the list and press  
SEL/SET to load. The camera may reboot during the 
loading process. 
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C. Choosing the right operating mode
C1. Understanding the different operating modes  
Custom Mode and Cine El Mode: The PXW-FS7 has two 
distinctly different operating modes which are called 
“Custom” and “Cine EI”. The camera will create high quality 
images at all available frame rates and resolutions in both 
modes.
In Custom Mode the PXW-FS7 behaves much like any 
other conventional video camera where the picture you 
see in the viewfinder is the picture recorded to the XQD 
cards and this is the image the end viewer will see.
This is the image as seen in the viewfinder and this is the image 
recorded when shooting in custom mode. 
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C. Choosing the right operating mode
This is the picture that is   
recorded in the Cine EI mode. And this is how the 
 
image may look after post   
production grading.
In the Cine EI mode the camera operates using optimized 
settings that allow it to capture the widest possible 
dynamic range and color range. This wide range image 
will look flat and washed out if viewed directly. But it 
contains a huge amount of picture information that can 
be manipulated and adjusted on a computer in post 
production to achieve the desired final look. To make 
shooting this way easier the camera incorporates a system 
of MLUT’s (Monitor Look Up Tables) that allow the operator 
to see in the viewfinder or on a monitor an approximation 
of how the footage being shot will look after it has been 
adjusted in post production. 
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C. Choosing the right operating mode
C 1.1  More information on custom mode
In this mode you have the ability to change many of the 
cameras image quality settings including gamma (contrast 
and brightness range), the matrix (color) and sharpness if 
you wish to alter the look of the recorded images. In most 
cases in this mode the dynamic range (scene brightness 
range) that can be captured is limited by the need to 
create an on screen image with natural looking contrast 
and colors that will not need any further adjustment. To 
achieve this the camera must produce a signal range 
that is directly compatible with the display device that 
the pictures will be viewed on. For HD TV this standard is 
called “Rec-709”.  
Having to stay within the limitations of conventional TV 
and monitor displays does impose some limitations on 
the amount of adjustment available within the camera 
and on the dynamic range that can be captured while still 
producing a realistic looking image. But by staying within 
this range very often it is not necessary to adjust the 
images in post production. 
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C. Choosing the right operating mode
Custom mode would normally be used for projects that 
have little or no time for post production grading or 
adjustment. Where a fast turn-around is important or a 
simple, straight forward workflow is desired. Although 
the image quality in custom mode can be very high, it 
is normally possible for experienced users to get better 
quality images and greater post production flexibility by 
using the Cine EI mode.
C1.2  More information on Cine El Mode
The Cine EI mode is quite different to custom mode and 
the way a conventional video camera works. In the Cine EI 
mode the camera is setup to capture the greatest possible 
brightness and color range. A range that will often exceed 
what can be shown correctly on a conventional TV or 
monitor. These extended range images are then taken in 
to post production where they will be adjusted or “graded” 
to create the desired look for the finished production.
As a result of the greatly extended capture range the 
images captured will typically look very flat and lack 
contrast and color if viewed on a conventional monitor. 
This can sometimes make exposure assessment difficult. 
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C. Choosing the right operating mode
To help with exposure and to help gauge what the 
material will look like after grading the camera can apply 
a Monitor Look Up Table (MLUT or LUT) to the viewfinder 
or monitor outputs. The MLUT converts the image from 
the flat looking S-Log2/3 range to a conventional viewing 
range. Different MLUT’s can be used to give different 
monitoring ranges and different looks. You can even load 
user created MLUT’s in to the camera. The MLUT isn’t 
normally recorded. It is just added to the viewfinder or 
monitor output as a tool to help estimate what the final 
pictures will look like.
In order to maximize the cameras dynamic range in Cine 
EI the recording ISO of the camera is locked to it’s native 
ISO of 2000. To help cope with difficult or challenging 
lighting situations the camera can be “rated” at a higher or 
lower equivalent ISO by changing the cameras Exposure 
Index or EI. This changes the brightness of the MLUT or 
LUT rather than the actual recording ISO. For a detailed 
explanation of this please see the Using Cine EI chapter.
In the Cine EI mode the auto exposure functions such as 
auto iris, auto shutter speed and automatic gain (AGC) are 
disabled, so exposure must be set and adjusted manually. 
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