The PMW-F3L is a compact, lightweight camcorder with a Super 35mm CMOS sensor and PL mount for compatibility with cinema lenses. It records HD video using MPEG-2 compression to SxS memory cards, with options for 1080p, 1080i, and 720p resolutions and 23.98p native recording. Key features include slow motion recording, dual SxS card slots for long recording times, and HD-SDI output for external recording. It is part of Sony's XDCAM EX system for efficient, file-based workflows.

1. PMW-F3L
Super 35mm Full-HD Compact Camcorder with
PL Mount Adapter
PRELIMINARY PRODUCT INFORMATION
Features
PRELIMINARY PRODUCT INFORMATION
Please find preliminary information on PMW-F3L fea-
tures below. This information is subject to change.
More information will be made available soon.
Exmor™ Super35 CMOS image sensor
The PMW-F3L is equipped with a Super 35mm sensor
which is the same size as Super 35mm film and has
been specifically developed for digital cinemato-
The PMW-F3L is part of the CineAlta 24P family of di- graphy. Its positioning within the chassis is exactly
gital cinematography products and its support for the same as it would be within a 35mm film camera –
multiple frame rates includes a filmic 23.98P as well ensuring exactly the same optical performance with
as S-Log workflows. the unrivalled range of 35mm Cine lenses.
Sony’s Exmor™ Super35 CMOS sensor was designed In addition, Sony’s advanced accumulated sensor
with the benefit of two decades experience in Digital technologies provide an excellent sensitivity of F11
Cinematography, pioneering digital HD acquisition for (ISO 800)* and a remarkable signal-to-noise ratio of
feature films and broadcast TV through the legendary just 63 dB*. Unique Exmor™ sensor offers exceptional
CineAlta product range. It brings a true ‘film look’ and noise reduction and greatly reduces power consump-
superior image quality into reach for independent tion.
movies, pop promos, commercials and other applica-
tions, as well as making the PMW-F3L an ideal B-cam- *All measured at 1080/59.94i and typical value.
era for high-end feature film production.
PL Mount Adapter for compatibility with 35mm Cine
The PMW-F3L is supplied with an industry standard PL Lenses
Mount adaptor, providing compatibility with industry The PMW-F3L is supplied with a PL Mount Adapter to
standard 35mm lenses. (Also available is the PMW- provide immediate compatibility with the huge range
F3K with three 35mm lenses.) of filmic 35mm lenses, including prime, digital cine-
matography and even still lenses. There are also hot
Exceptional flexibility is a key feature of the PMW-F3L shoe electric interfaces for Cooke/i and ARRI LDS.
along with multiple workflow options. XDCAM EX’s
proven high-speed, intuitive workflow offers seamless Sony F3 Original Mount for Zoom Lens
integration with leading nonlinear editing software - Sony plans to introduce a range of zoom lenses dir-
as standard. In addition, a 10bit 4:2:2 HD-SDI output ectly compatible with the F3 mount. More details will
opens up hybrid recording possibilities with a variety be revealed shortly. Zoom lens compatibility expands
of external recording devices. And from April 2011, a the operational flexibility of the F3 so it can be used
Dual Link HD-SDI option will enable 10bit RGB un- for almost any application.
compressed signal output - ideal for the high-end film
production. 23.98P Native Recording
The PMW-F3L camcorder is the first compact cam-
PrimeSupport
corder to be a member of the legendary Sony
CineAlta™ family. It offers native 23.98P* recording
This product comes with PrimeSupport – fast, hassle-
which, in combination with advanced creative features
free repairs and a helpline offering expert technical
such as selectable gamma curves, makes this cam-
advice. Which gives you the peace of mind that Sony
corder ideal for cinema production.
is looking after your equipment, and your business.
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2. PMW-F3L
*In 1440 x 1080/23.98P (SP) mode, images are recording formats, allowing for flexible use of the
handled as 23.98P and recorded as 59.94i signals memory card.
through means of 2-3 pull-down.
*In 1440 x 1080/23.98P (SP) mode, images are
Slow & Quick Motion Function handled as 23.98P and recorded as 59.94i signals
The PMW-F3L offers a powerful ’Slow & Quick Motion’ through means of 2-3 pull-down.
function - commonly known as over-cranking and
under-cranking in film shooting. This enables users to Slow Shutter Function
create unique ’looks’ or special effects with slow- and The PMW-F3L camcorder offers a ’Slow Shutter func-
fast-motion images, and can be selected on the con- tion’ for capturing clear images in low-light environ-
trol dial on the side of the camcorder. ments. This allows the shutter speed to be extended
to a maximum of 8 frames. The ’Slow Shutter func-
The PMW-F3L can capture images at frame rates se- tion’ not only increases camera sensitivity but also
lectable from 1 fps (frame per second) to 60 fps in produces a special blurring effect when shooting a
720P mode and from 1 fps to 30 fps in 1080P mode, moving object, for enhanced shooting creativity. The
in increments of 1 fps, onto a single card. For ex- shutter speed is selectable from 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-
ample, when viewed at 23.98P, images captured at and 8-frame periods.
60 fps will appear 2.5 times slower than normal. Con-
versely, images captured at 4 fps will appear 6 times High-quality uncompressed audio recording
faster than normal. In addition to HD recording, high-quality audio is an
equally significant feature in the XDCAM EX system.
With the ’Slow & Quick Motion’ function of this cam- The PMW-F3L camcorder records and plays back high-
corder, images are recorded natively without interpol- quality, two-channel 16-bit, 48-kHz linear PCM un-
ating the frames. This means the quality of the slow - compressed audio.
and fast- motion images is extremely high and incom-
parable to those created in the editing process. In ad- Exceptional workflow flexibility
dition, these slow -and fast- motion images can be The PMW-F3L uses XDCAM EX’s proven high-speed,
played back immediately after shooting, without using intuitive workflow and offers seamless integration
any converters or processing on nonlinear editing with leading nonlinear editing software. In addition,
systems. 10bit 4:2:2 HD-SDI output opens up hybrid recording
possibilities with content simultaneously recorded on
1920 x 1080 HD recording using the "MPEG-2 Long internal memory and, in uncompressed form, on a
GOP" Codec variety of external recording devices.
The PMW-F3L camcorder records 1920 x 1080 HD im-
ages using the ’MPEG-2 Long GOP’ codec, which con- From April 2011, a Dual Link HD-SDI option will en-
forms to the MPEG-2 MP@HL compression standard. able 10bit RGB 23.98/25/29.97PsF or 10 bit 4:2:2
’MPEG-2 Long GOP’ is a mature codec - also adopted 108050P/59.94P uncompressed external recording –
by the XDCAM HD and HDV 1080i series of products - ideal for integration with highest quality production
which enables users to record stunning quality HD workflows such as HDCAM SR. The PMW-F3L also sup-
footage with highly efficient, reliable data ports selectable Gamma, four levels of HyperGamma
compression. and S-Log for a wide range of shooting conditions
from standard to wide latitude. The PMW-F3L can
Selectable Bit Rates simultaneously record LUT (Look Up Table) informa-
The PMW-F3L camcorder offers a choice of bit rates - tion onto the internal media for additional workflow
either 35 Mb/s (HQ mode) or 25 Mb/s (SP mode) - flexibility.
depending on the desired picture quality and record-
ing time. The HQ mode supports both 1920 x 1080 3G-SDI is available for 10bit RGB 1080 23.98/25/
and 1280 x 720 resolutions. The SP mode supports 29.97PsF or 10bit 4:2:2 1080 50/59.94P output.
1440 x 1080 resolution at 25 Mb/s, which provides
compatibility with HDV 1080i products. SxS Memory Cards combine high transfer speeds
and high reliability
Multiple-format recording - 1080/720 and Interlace/ Both SxS PRO™ and SxS-1A™* memory cards use
Progressive switchable operation the PCI Express interface to achieve an extremely
The PMW-F3L camcorder offers a wide array of re- high data-transfer speed of 800 Mbps - 1.2Gbps, and
cording formats for multiple content creation applica- can resist considerable shock (1500 G) and vibration
tions. Scanning mode is switchable between 1920 x (15 G). Also, a unique ’Salvage function’ serves to re-
1080, 1280 x 720, and 1440 x 1080 resolutions. store content damaged by power loss or memory dis-
Frame rate is also selectable from interlace and pro- connection during recording**.
gressive - 59.94i, 50i, 29.97P, 25P, and native
23.98P*. In addition, with an optional MEAD-MS01 or MEAD-
SD01 Media Adaptor***, a high-speed Memory Stick-
In addition, 59.94P and 50P progressive recording is ™ or SD memory card**** can be used as emer-
available in 1280 x 720 mode. The SxS memory card gency or alternative recording media.
can simultaneously hold multiple files of any of these
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3. PMW-F3L
* SxS-1A memory cards support fewer re-writes than This is extremely convenient, as camera operators do
SxS PRO™ memory cards. Notification is given when not have to worry about accidentally recording over
an SxS-1 memory card approaches its end of life. good takes, and they don’t have to search through
footage for the correct position to start the next re-
** In some cases, images recorded just before an ac- cording. In short, it means the camera is always
cident may not be restored (several seconds). No ready for the next shot!
warranty is given on always achieving content restor-
ation. Instant-access thumbnail search with ’Expand’
function
*** Slow Motion and the Salvage function are not Each time a recording is started and stopped on the
supported. PMW-F3L camcorder, the content is recorded as a
single clip. During playback, users can cue-up to the
**** For information about memory devices, please next or previous clip simply by pressing the ’Next’ or
contact your nearest Sony Specialist Dealer. ’Previous’ button, as you would do on a CD or DVD
player.
Long Recording Time
Utilising a mature and highly efficient compression Furthermore, thumbnails are automatically generated
format together with high performance SxS memory for each clip as a visual reference, allowing operators
cards, the PMW-F3L can record superb quality HD im- to cue-up to a desired scene simply by guiding the
ages for an exceptional 140 minutes* on a single cursor to a thumbnail and pressing the ’Play’ button.
32Gb update SxS card. As the PMW-F3L features two
memory card slots, this recording time is easily The ’Expand’ function allows one selected clip in the
doubled to 280 minutes (with two 32Gb cards) and thumbnail display to be divided into 12 even-time in-
when recording across two cards, the transition is tervals, each with their own thumbnail identifier. This
seamless without any frame loss. is useful if you want to quickly search for a particular
scene within a lengthy clip.
*When recording in HQ (35 Mb/s) mode, recording
time may be more than the above specified figure de- 3.5-inch* Hybrid Colour LCD Screen / Viewfinder as
pending on the actual bit rate that is adopted during per EX1R
VBR encoding. The PMW-F3L is equipped with a newly developed,
easy-to-view, colour LCD screen with a high resolu-
IT Friendly tion of 1920 x 480 pixels. The LCD screen is located in
The PMW-F3L is part of Sony’s highly successful an easy viewing position on the side of the camera.
XDCAM EX product family which supports a high
speed nonlinear workflow. With XDCAM EX, recordings The LCD Screen can also be used to instantly review
are made as data files in the ’MP4’ format, which is recorded footage, as well as to access the camera’s
widely used in a number of recent electronic portable set-up menus and view thumbnail display status in-
devices and has been standardised by ISO. dications such as audio meters, depth-of-field indicat-
ors, and the remaining memory and battery time.
File-based recording allows material to be handled What’s more, the Hybrid LCD screen - which com-
with great flexibility in an IT-based environment - prises transmissive and reflective panels - offers clear
easily available for copying, transferring, sharing, and viewing even in bright sunlight.
archiving. All these operations are accomplished
without any ’digitising’ process required. *Viewable area measured diagonally.
File-based data copying allows for degradation-free Genlock and Timecode Interfaces
dubbing of footage, which can be performed easily on The PMW-F3L includes genlock and timecode inter-
a PC. The file-based recording system also allows for faces, making it ideal for multi-camera operation and
material to be viewed directly on a PC - simply by in- entry level HD studio use.
serting the SxS memory card into the ExpressCard
slot on a PC or Mac, or by linking a PC/Mac to the 3D System Link Option*
XDCAM EX unit via a USB2 connection. This works in
just the same way as a PC reading files on an external Using this option you can easily synchronise time-
drive. The file-based operation can dramatically im- code, genlock and control functionality with a single
prove the efficiency and quality of your workflow. cable, locking together left and right cameras to sim-
plify 3D acquisition. *Available from April 2011.
Immediate recording start and no overwriting
Remote Control Capability
footage
The PMW-F3L offers professional remote control of
By virtue of recording on flash memory card, the
various camera features via standard Sony 8-pin con-
PMW-F3L can start recording virtually the instant the
trol interface. This allows use of Sony optional RM-
camcorder is turned on. Moreover, the PMW-F3L auto-
B150 and RM-B750 remote control units offering in-
matically records on an empty area of the card -
creased flexibility for studio/location use.
there’s no danger of overwriting existing content.
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4. PMW-F3L
Compact Design continuously for just under three hours (with dual-link
The PMW-F3L has a chassis built around its Super option off).
35mm CMOS sensor. Its lightweight, compact design
provides exceptional flexibility when shooting, partic- Wide array of interfaces
ularly as a B-camera. It also offers a ’best of both The PMW-F3L camcorder comes equipped with a wide
worlds’ combination of compatibility with 35mm range of interfaces optimised for a variety of opera-
lenses via a PL Mount adaptor, plus support for a tional needs. These include dual HD-SDI output,
huge range of other Sony and third-party digital cine- down-converted SD-SDI output, i.LINK (HDV) input/
matography accessories. output, USB2 and analogue composite output.
Low power consumption Additional Information
Sony’s chip design expertise means the PMW-F3L op- Only SxS memory cards are guaranteed for use with
erates with exceptional efficiency with an average the PMW-F3L XDCAM EX cmcorder. USB based
power consumption of 24W. This makes the camera memory cards cannot be used with the XDCAM EX
more reliable, extends its battery operating time and range. USB based memory cards might work with the
is also environmentally conscious. With the optional XDCAM EX range in some cases, but Sony does not
BP-U60 battery attached, the PMW-F3L can record guarantee that all the functions will operate. The per-
formance of USB based memory cards can vary.
Technical Specifications
General Recording frame rate PAL area:
HD HQ mode: 1920 x 1080/
Mass Approx.2.4kg (Camera only) 50i, 25p,
Dimension (W x H x D) Approx.151x189x210mm 1440 x 1080/50i, 25p,
(PMW-F3L, protrusion not 1280 x 720/50p, 25p
included) HD SP mode: 1440 x 1080/
50i
Power requirements DC 12V
SD mode: 720 x 576/50i,
Power consumption Approx. 24.0 W (Typical) 25p NTSC area:
(REC mode, HD-SDI Dual HD HQ mode: 1920 x 1080/
Link On, EVF On, LCD Monit- 59.94i, 29.97p, 23.98p,
or Off) 1440 x 1080/59.94i, 29.97p,
Operating temperature 0C to +40C 23.98p,
Storage temperature -20C to +60C 1280 x 720/59.94p, 29.97p,
23.98p
Battery operating time Approx.130 Min (HD-SDI
HD SP mode: 1440 x 1080/
Dual Link On) (w/BP-U60)
59.94i, 23.98p
Approx.170 Min (HD-SDI
SD mode: 720 x 480/59.94i,
Dual Link Off) (w/BP-U60)
29.97p
Recording format MPEG-2 Long GOP
Recording/Playback time HQ Mode:
HD HQ mode: VBR, maxim-
Approx. 100 min with
um bit rate: 35 Mb/s,
SBP-32 (32 GB) memory
MPEG-2 MP@HL
card
HD SP mode: CBR, 25 Mb/s,
Approx. 50 min with SBP-16
MPEG-2 MP@H-14
(16 GB) memory card
SD mode: DVCAM
SP/SD Mode:
Audio:
Approx. 140 min with
Linear PCM (2ch, 16-bit,
SBP-32 (32 GB) memory
48-kHz)
card
Approx. 70 min with SBP-16
(16 GB) memory card
Lens
Lens mount PL mount (with supplied lens
mount adapter)
Camera Section
Imaging device Super 35mm Equivalent
Single Chip Exmor CMOS
Image Sensor
Built-in optical filters OFF: Clear, 1: 1/8ND, 2:
1/64ND
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5. PMW-F3L
Sensitivity (2000 lx, F11 (Typical) Speaker output Monaural
89.9% reflectance) DC input XLR type 4pin (male)x1
S/N ratio 63 dB (Typical) Remote 8-pin
Shutter speed 1/32 - 1/2000 sec Lens remote n/a
Slow Shutter (SLS) 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 frame MIC n/a
accumulation
HDMI output HDMI connector (Type A)x1
Slow and Quick Motion 720P: 1 - 60fps selectable
function (17-60 fps when HD-SDI
Dual Link is active) 1080P: 1 Monitoring
- 30fps selectable(17-30 fps
when HD-SDI Dual Link is Viewfinder 0.45", Aspect Ratio 16: 9
active) Built-in LCD monitor 3.5", Aspect ratio 16: 9,
White balance Preset, Memory A, Memory Hybrid (semi-transmissive)
B/ATW type
Gain -3, 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18dB, AGC
Media
Inputs/Output Type ExpressCard/34 slot (x2)
Audio input XLR Type 3pin (female)x2, Interface ExpressCard Compliant
LINE/MIC/MIC?48V
selectable
Composite output BNC (x1), NTSC or PAL Notes
S-Video output n/a
Audio output RCAx2
Supplied Accessories
Component output n/a
SDI output BNC (x1), HD-SDI/SD-SDI PL lens mount adapter
selectable Stereo Microphone
HD-SDI Dual Link Out BNCx2 4: 2: 2 1080 50/ Windscreen
59.94P 10bit output IR Remote
i.LINK IEEE1394 S400 4on Con- Shoulder Strap
nector x1
CD-ROM (XDCAM Browser,
Timecode input BNC (x1) SxS Driver software, PDF
Timecode output BNC (x1) Operations Manual)
Genlock input BNC (x1) Operations Manual
USB Mini Type-B connector (x1) Warranty Card
Headphone output Stereo mini-jack (x1)
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