Back when Sony thought it was safe to bring the future ahead of plan they dropped the FS700 HXR-IFR5 4K recorder to come out sometime in 2013 on us. Only one yukky pic slipped through of that HXR-IFR5 4K recorder though…. Sad face… Well turn that frowny face upside down because a new picture has turned up from InterBEE and ProNews have it. Sorry I keep calling it a recorder; it is of course an interface unit that connects to the AXS-R5 Recorder. It’s very cumbersome, very large and let’s call it now: Sony make a FS900 camera all in one unit already.
With an optional firmware upgrade, the NEX-FS700 will output 4K bit-stream data over 3G HD-SDI. The HXR-IFR5 interface unit has a 3GHD-SDI input and will transfer the 4K RAW data for recording onto Sony’s new Access Memory Card technology, using the soon-to-be available AXS-R5 Recorder. The 4K RAW format output by the NEX-FS700 camcorder is 4096 x 2160 pixel resolution and the available frame rates are 23.98p, 25p, 29.97p, 50p and 59.94p.After recording the 4K RAW data onto the Access Memory Card, the workflow will be the same as Sony’s newly announced PMW-F5, and the PMW-F55 when using the R5 for RAW recording. This gives users the unique opportunity to combine camera solutions in production for multi-camera scenarios with the advantage of a unified 4K RAW workflow. The HXR-IFR5 and the NEX-FS700’s optional firmware upgrade are planned to be available between April and June in 2013 and in combination with the AXS-R5, will bring the possibility of 4K RAW acquisition to a wider range of users than ever before. The estimated retail price of the HXR-IFR5 will be around $2,000 USD.
Stay tuned to Sony. Thanks to ProNews for the pics.