As we are looking at changing our camera inventory, we decided to do a quick review to see how relevant is the Sony PXW-FS5 in today's context. Is the FS5 still worth keeping in our inventory? We did a ISO to ISO compare to look at the highlight response, details, sharpness, and noise levels between the two cameras. Trying to maintain the same codec to codec match, 4:2:0 8bit settings at XAVC 4K25P 100mbps. Matching 18-105mm F4.0 PZ lens, matching ISO, locked colour temperature at 3000K, and 1/50 shutter speeds in REC709 mode, no Picture Profile and no CineEI activated. The H.264 compression in youtube upload might have levelled out some of the noise in our observations, but we think that FS5 footage looks cleaner in noise response, sharpness detail levels perhaps just a tad lower than the FX30, but we believe that can be post-sharpened without introducing more noise. Results of our test is not too shabby in our expectations of the FS5. Perhaps the PXW-FS5 can still be relevant and remain in our inventory for another few years.
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