PXW-FS7 II shoots 4K HDR inside worlds largest cave posted: 05/08/2020
Our objective was to faithfully reproduce what we experienced the wide dynamic range and S-log of the FS7 II were exactly what we needed
Vietnam's S n o ng Cave is the world's largest at over 5km long, 150m wide and, at its tallest, over 200m high - able to accommodate the Statue of Liberty twice over. Estimated to be 2-5 million years old with a fast flowing subterranean river, it only became internationally known in 2009. It's the perfect subject for WOWOW Inc's 4K documentary series with an experimental 8K broadcast. For the documentary, Sony's FS7 II Super 35 camcorder was the production's first choice. Able to shoot high quality 4K at a cinematic 23.98P, the FS7 II is also robust enough to withstand the harshest conditions and has an ergonomic design ideal for shooting on uneven terrain. Alongside the FS7 II, an 7S II was used for shooting in ultra-low light conditions. We talked to production director Sota Koshino and camera operator Masahiro Hariu about their impressions of the FS7 II.
An opportunity realized after 7 long years
Koshino: The locations selected for this collaboration with WOWOW are mainly those never before captured on film. Our aim is to portray these places using state-of-the-art equipment and each episode actually features the filming crew as protagonists. Our first documentary was to reproduce the famous Earth is blue quote. To do this we visited NASA in Florida and flew jet fighters into the stratosphere. And since we went up last time, it made sense to go down and shoot a cave. I first found out about S n o ng Cave in 2010. I was amazed and began talking with our writer about shooting there. It took 7 years, but we were finally able to realize this dream with a crew of 70 in March 2017.
I felt that a camera like the FS7 II, that is capable of filming both cinema and documentaries due to its exceptional flexibility, is the best choice.
Harsh shooting conditions
Koshino: The entrance of the S n o ng Cave is a large vertical cavity that resembles a giant chimney approximately 70m deep and a large amount of vapour is spewed from the cave along with cold wind. The crew had to descend this chimney in pitch black and then faced a hike of about 10km - to reach the end of the cave system and return. Filming took a total of 10 days including preparations and we camped within the cave for four days to film enough material for the documentary.
Koshino: We also had to be very careful where we stood - due to wildlife conservation there were many restricted areas. Fortunately, the local Vietnamese staff we hired were familiar with this and carrying equipment in these kinds of environments. Transportation of the equipment was split across four people; one person each for equipment including tripods, lens, cameras, and batteries.
Choosing a camera for challenging conditions
Koshino: Humidity and temperature difference was a major issue inside the cave. Humidity within the cave was 90 to 100% at all times.
Hariu: We had prepared various methods to keep the equipment dry before departing, but after being in the cave for 4 days, everything became damp. We even took handmade battery powered fans that we thought would keep our lenses and cameras dry, but that didn't work as we expected. In the end, we just decided to keep everything open and allow the lenses to become accustomed to the environment. If the air outside and pressure are changed abruptly, each lens would become subject to condensation. If this happens, we would need to heat the lenses up for about 20 minutes, so we decided to allow them to be exposed to the outside air.
Koshino: Our choice of equipment was based on whether they could withstand this kind of harsh environment. The location had horrible footing and there was barely any spot that was level, so the ergonomics and robustness of the camera was as important as the image quality. In the end, the FS7 II was the ideal choice.
Toughness and reliability
Koshino: When filming projects like this that require 4K or 8K, cinematography cameras are usually the ideal choice, but when filming documentaries, lightweight cameras with high manoeuvrability are what we need. With this in mind, our immediate choice was the FS7 II. The reason is that we had taken the PXW-FS7 with us as our handheld camera when we went to the stratosphere for our previous project. When entering the stratosphere on a fighter jet, you receive a G-force of about 5 to 6G. Under these circumstances, sensors on consumer cameras malfunctioned, but there were no problems with the FS7. Its toughness and stability in harsh conditions made it extremely reliable. I was actually on the jet filming from my point of view with the FS7 and filmed in RAW format using a wide lens by fixing the PMW-F55 to the dashboard. As the actual time available for filming was limited to 5 to 10 minutes in the stratosphere, we selected a camera with flawless performance that fulfils the quality filming requirement within the limited time. That camera was the FS7. So when we faced another challenging shoot, FS7 II was the obvious choice.
A mix of high mobility and cinematic feel
Koshino: Compared to other cameras, FS7 II is well balanced and easy to handle when used handheld or with its telescoping arm. I believe the camera was really well designed to fit different applications, different users. This was really obvious to me on this shoot when the footing was so often bad, when we needed to react so swiftly to get a fleeting shot. If we'd used a cinematography camera, we may have missed some great moments since most of our time would have been spent in preparation. Using the FS7 II, we were able to film a large quantity of excellent material that gave us lots of good choices in editing. I can honestly sa
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
10 Jun 2026
VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...
10/06/2026
Wuppertal June 10, 2026
Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
PXW-FS7 II shoots 4K HDR inside worlds largest cave posted: 05/08/2020 
