This is big news for anyone with an F55, as the older AXS-R5 recorder was limited to 4K at 60p. At 120p, you'll need one of two new AXS media cards. Available in 1 TB and 512 GB capacities, these cards can support sustained read and write speeds of 4.8 Gbps, delivering 44 minutes at 59.94p or 22 minutes at 120 fps (1 TB version). The dual-slot recorder also accepts current AXS media, but the new cards are designed to support the write speeds required for 4K RAW 120 fps.
In addition, the R7 now also enables Cache (Buffer) Recording in Raw at 23.98p for up to approximately 30 seconds. With the recorder, the F55 and F5 will both get this feature, which is great for wildlife and documentary production where you never know what you are going to miss.
Also announced today is firmware V8 for the F55 & F5 (with the optional CBKZ-55FX upgrade license). This new firmware will support the new R7 recorder and will also give you a higher quality XAVC recording mode -- you can enable XAVC 4K Class 480 recording at frame rates up to 30p. This new codec option gives you an overall cleaner and less compressed image.
The AXS-R7, new 1 TB & 512 GB media cards, and the version 8 firmware will all be available this summer. You can read the full press release on Sony's community site.
