
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 ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
As sports media organization continue to seek out new ways to streamline their p...
01/04/2026
The SVG GFX Forum hit New York City earlier this month for a day packed with sessions focused on the creative strategy and technology behind today's cutting...
01/04/2026
This year, Spotify celebrates the five-year anniversary of EQUAL, our global pro...
01/04/2026
Analogue-style tape splicing in the digital domain
In this era of digital recording and multiple layers of Undo, it seems that the fading art of tape splici...
01/04/2026
Latest release introduces new Orbita Engine
Zero G's latest release marks the start of a new series of libraries, as well as introducing an all-new engi...
01/04/2026
Until now, one format has largely been left behind
Warm Audio's extensive product range includes modern-day recreations of all manner of sought-after s...
01/04/2026
A piano with glass vessels for strings!
The Crow Hill Company's recently released Gong Piano offered a refreshing new take on piano libraries, harnessin...
01/04/2026
Remote Streaming Studio Condenser
Aim Audio have just revealed their latest creation, the ESSENCE RS Remote Streaming Studio Condenser, which becomes the wo...
01/04/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/04/2026
Bilbao, April 1st, 2026 - AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV technolog...
01/04/2026
Green Hippo is excited to announce the launch of its new Hippotizer Media Server training courses at Pixel Academy, a purpose built AV learning hub combining ha...
01/04/2026
TAG Video Systems, a global leader in IP-native broadcast monitoring, multiviewing, and quality control, today announced a collaboration with Oracle Cloud Infra...
01/04/2026
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a leading provider of wireless audio solutions and RF management, was on site at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, wher...
01/04/2026
AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV technology solutions, has deployed next , the new IPTV platform of the Austrian telco LIWEST, marking the first st...
01/04/2026
LTN, a leader in fully managed IP video transport, and Ateme, a global leader in video compression and delivery solutions, today announced a collaboration integ...
01/04/2026
Adobe Unveils Powerful New Innovations for Creative Pros in Adobe Illustrator
Deepa Subramaniam April 1, 2026
0 Comments
I'm excited to share that...
01/04/2026
Boland Communications Introduces QD4K315HDR10 QD-OLED Series Monitors for Live P...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Mediagenix Showcases Semantic Intelligence-Powered Title Management, Schedule Op...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Victoria Mon t Brings the Multi-Hyphenate Mindset to Career Jam 2026 The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer shared how versatility and self-inves...
01/04/2026
UKTV today announces that Jonathan Newman has formally stepped into the role of ...
01/04/2026
A New Season of Expression: Save 30% On Ivory 3There are moments in music when everything changes-when new ideas break through and redefine what's possible....
01/04/2026
Wuppertal April 1, 2026
Binghamton University Strengthens Student Run Producti...
01/04/2026
Back to All News
A Demon Falls for a Human in Long Vacation: Netflix Greenlight...
01/04/2026
Back to All News
All WWE Is Now Live Only on Netflix in Italy
Entertainment
01 April 2026
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
ALL WWE IS NOW LIVE
ON NET...
01/04/2026
Harmonic's Media Processing Solutions Maximize Bandwidth Efficiency for Terrestrial Broadcast Delivery SAN JOSE, Calif. - April 1, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
01/04/2026
Rugby fans won't miss a moment of the action this spring, with full Women...
01/04/2026
T Bluey ag teacht go RT ! Beginning on Monday 6 April 2026, Bluey will be available as Gaeilge on RT KIDSjr and RT Player. Children will be able to connect w...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
31/03/2026
MeyerPro delivered the LED production for the Microsoft Ignite 2025 keynote at Chase Center in San Francisco, using more than 2,700 ROE Visual panels across mul...
31/03/2026
The Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) is expanding membership outreach in 2026...
31/03/2026
ViewLift and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) have announced the launch of ViewLift Conversational AI Search on the MyOutdoorTV platform. The feature enables natural language...
31/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves and Gray Media have announced a multi-year agreement to simul...
31/03/2026
Gravity Media has delivered broadcast services for TAB Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens on March 21 and will now cover The Star Championships at Royal Ran...
31/03/2026
Synamedia has announced that Mileto Tecnologia, a Brazilian pay-TV operator, has selected the Synamedia Go platform for its OTT expansion. Mileto is also deploy...
31/03/2026
KMH Integration will attend NAB Show in Las Vegas with a focus on what the company calls AV Casting - an approach built on the idea that professional AV and bro...
31/03/2026
Prime Video will carry live coverage of the first and second rounds of the 2026 Masters Tournament, beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 9 and Friday, A...
31/03/2026
The NHL and its U.S. and Canadian broadcast partners have announced a collaborat...
31/03/2026
Daktronics has partnered with Wake Forest to manufacture and install a new end z...
31/03/2026
The National Football League has announced that Las Vegas will host Super Bowl LXIII in 2029 at Allegiant Stadium. The announcement was made at the NFL Annual M...
31/03/2026
The NFL has announced a partnership with TMRW Sports to develop and operate a professional flag football league for women and men. The league will launch with i...