Sony just released the latest firmware update version 7.01 for their PMW-F5 and F55 cameras adding some highly anticipated features such as Quick Menu, improved Zebras, new simultaneous recording mode and BT.2020 colour space support on the PMW-F55. Note: There is no version 7.00, which had to be updated in the last minute, according to Sony, making the 7.01 the latest version and only one available for download.  Sony F5 F55 Firmware Version 7.01, is another major milestone for the CineAlta line of PMW-F5/F55 camcorders, and clearly demonstrates Sony’s commitment to the F5 and F55 cameras which are close to 4 years old now, but with every major firmware update, the feel more fresh and up-to-date than ever before. According to Sony, "the on-going development to the CineAlta platform continues - not only this latest update, but there is still more to come with exciting announcements for the F5 and F55 cameras in the near future". Here's a list of the New Improvements and Features in Firmware 7.01
  • Quick Menu in the high-resolution sub-display on the operator side. - The three silver keys above the display and three keys below are context sensitive and give users direct access to often used, powerful features without needing to navigate the menu system. Each key will call up a special sub-menu page – Project, Monitoring, MLUT, Media, Viewfinder and Others – for fast, efficient navigation.
F55 qUICK MENU VERSION 7
  • ITU-R BT. 2020 in Custom Mode - In addition to the existing colour spaces, version 7.01 adds ITU-R BT. 2020 (Rec. 2020) standard, which is future native colour space of new generation 3840 x 2160 4K Ultra HD broadcast content. The v7.01 firmware implementation of Rec. 2020 is applied via Custom Mode, and is intended for use with 3840 x 2160 and 4096 x 2160 XAVC. The recording will bake the Rec. 2020 color space into the XAVC file.
ITU-R BT.2020 is added to the “Preset Select” setting value in “Matrix” of the Paint menu on the PMW-F55. At this stage, BT.2020 is only available on the F55. Rec. 2020 is recommended for final output for best viewing results that require accurate colour reproduction. If you are shooting in Cine EI mode with 16-bit Linear RAW, Sony recommend S-Gamut3 for Rec. 2020. P3 BT2020 Colour Space S-Gamut3.Cine S-Gamut3 is a wider colour space and better aligned to Rec. 2020 in Spectral Color and will deliver more headroom, thus resulting in minimal time and effort by simply adding saturation and adjusting tone in grading. Converting from S-Gamut3.Cine to Rec. 2020 ideally requires a 3DLUT due to the off-axis alignment in Spectral Color. Saturation control is only an increase or decrease and cannot rotate within the triangle. Therefore the required 3DLUT adjusts the axis to align the color reproduction from S-Gamut3.Cine.
  • Expanded options for simultaneous recording - Due to increasing demand from documentary productions needing to shoot HD and 4K of 50i with 50p or 59.94i with 59.94p for a more flexible workflow, Sony is implementing simultaneous recording to the same SxS Pro+ card of MPEG2 50Mbps 4:2:2 and 10 bit 4:2:2 4K XAVC in either 3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160 in version 7.01.
The great thing here is that the proxy files will have matching T/C and file naming as the 4K/UHD files. This is a powerful workflow that will allow productions with high shooting ratios to significantly reduce the time and money to produce 4K content. F55 v7 simul recording XAVC
  • Extended range of zebra pattern
The range of “Zebra1 Level” in the VF menu is extended from “50% to 107%” to “0% to 107%” and that of “Zebra2 Level” is extended from “52% to 109%” to “0% to 109%.” F55 and F5 can show 18% Gray and 90% White output IRE level by zebra pattern on S-Log2 and S-Log3 operations.
  • S-Log3 18% Gray output IRE level: 41%, S-Log3 90% White output IRE level: 61%
  • S-Log2 18% Gray output IRE level: 32%, S-Log2 90% White output IRE level: 59%
  • Improved image quality when User Gamma is used
When users apply the User Gamma created for the HDC series to F55 and F5, picture quality has been improved by adjusting the pedestal level.
  • Response of the status screen has been improved
The toggling speed of the status screen displayed on the viewfinder and external video monitor has been improved.
  • Bug Fixes
When the remote controller was connected via the remote connector and Scene File was recalled from the controller, Gain setting was not applied. This has been fixed. Note: Please store scene file in dB mode. If you store scene file in ISO mode, gain setting is not applied from the controller. In AXS and SxS simultaneous recording mode, sometimes SxS recording kept even if AXS recording had stopped when the connection is not completely secured between F55/F5 and R5. This has been fixed. Download Firmware 7.01 for F55 here. Download Firmware 7.01 for PMW-F5 here.