Doug Jensen's Guide to the Sony PMW-F55 Book

Douglas

Well-known member
I am happy to announce that “Doug Jensen's Guide to the Sony PMW-F55” has finally been approved by Apple and is now available for purchase on the iTunes bookstore. In addition to the full-length 300-page book, there is also a 30-page sample book that can be downloaded for free.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/doug-jensens-guide-to-sony/id892493476?ls=1&mt=11

(I'm not sure if this link will work outside the USA, but the book is available worldwide)


Requirements: To view this book, you must have an iPad with iBooks 3 or later and iOS 5.1 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later. Due to many factors, there are no plans at this time to publish a printed book or to make the digital version available on other platforms.

At this time, there is no F5 book planned. The reason that this book is written specifically for the F55 is because I don’t own an F5 and I can’t afford to rent one for the many weeks it would have taken to also research, test, and write about the F5. As any F5 owner knows, there is a tremendous amount of overlap between the cameras, but without actually having an F5 in my hands, I chose not to speculate about how the differences between the cameras would manifest themselves in real-world operation. I would say that 98% of the information in the book can also be applied directly to the F5, but when it comes to the topics of 4K internal recording, proxies, and paint menu settings, obviously there will be some differences. If you are an F5 operator, and you feel comfortable that you can recognize those differences and workaround them, then I think you will be pleased with the rest of the book.

Benefits of an iBook

You can purchase the iBook and download it immediately rather than waiting for a printed book to be delivered.
No shipping costs or customs fees.
A printed book would be outdated the minute after the camera’s next firmware update, but an iBook can be periodically updated as needed.
The iBook contains interactive features that cannot be found in a printed book or even an ordinary iBook.
No trees were harmed in the manufacture of the iBook.
The full content of this iBook is searchable by keywords and phrases.
Passages can be highlighted and annotated.
This iBook reproduces sample images more faithfully than a printed book can.



Chapter List:



INTRODUCTION
GETTING STARTED
USER MENU
RECORDING FORMATS
TWO CAMERAS IN ONE
CUSTOM SHOOTING MODE
PAINT MENUS
SCENE FILES
CINE EI SHOOTING MODE
LUTS & LOOK PROFILES
EXPOSURE
WHITE BALANCE
MARKERS
USER DATA FILES
MEMORY CARDS
VIDEO MONITORING
2K CENTER SCAN
SHOOTING RAW
S&Q MOTION
CLIP NAMING
ASSIGN BUTTONS
AUDIO
TIMECODE & GENLOCK
PICTURE CACHE
INTERVAL RECORDING
WI-FI CONTROL
BATTERY MENUS
OTHER SYSTEM MENUS
PLAYBACK OPERATION
UPDATING FIRMWARE
INGESTING & A
 

Flaca Productions

Well-known member
Thanks Doug - downloaded it earlier and it looks great. Interested as to why it's only Mac or iPad compatible but not iPhone....
 

Douglas

Well-known member
Thanks for the comments everyone. Very much appreciated.

Brian, the book is produced in Apple's iBook format and it is Apple who has decided to make that format incompatible with iPhones. But to be honest, it wouldn't work very well anyway since the layout is fixed and the text would be too small to read. You can't change the font size and make other changes to an iBook like you can with other digital books. That's one thing that has to be given up in order to take advantage of all the other features that the iBook platform offers.
 

Tv Shooter

Well-known member
I have spent the last couple days going through "Guide to the F55". As an F5 owner, I know there's a few things that don't translate over to my camera, however, it's very few, and this Ebook is a must have for either the F55 or F5.

The advantage to the Ebook is not only can Doug update information as new firmware is released, but there are sections in the book that link to video examples of what Doug is explaining. So you're not just reading it, and seeing a still....you're actually seeing an example of what he talking about.

An Ipad mini or iPad is cheap, even cheaper on Craigslist. I have most all my manuals for my gear on mine. Now I have this well written guide for my camera.

Doug explains in real world terms not just what a function is, but why. And gives examples of situations that apply to that function.

This is a must have for any F55 or F5 owner. Even if you don't own one, if you are expecting to use one, you should have this at your fingertips. With the quick links and index, you can find the answer to any question very quickly.

Doug-you did a fantastic job on this!
 

Douglas

Well-known member
Thanks Richard, it is great to hear your feedback and find out that you liked it. You've made my day.
 

Run&Gun

Well-known member
Hey Richard, does Doug pay as quickly as you?

But seriously, it's really well done. I downloaded the sample the day Doug posted this and it looks like he put a lot of hard work into it. If I had a 55, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I've almost considered buying the whole iBook just to learn more about the camera, period.

Doug, have you thought about talking to a dealer like Abel about a bulk purchase deal to include a download of it when they buy an F55 through them? They used to do that with the Goodman's Guides with the VariCam's, HDX-900's(I believe) and some P2 equipment. It may be too complicated or may not make financial sense, but just an idea...
 

Douglas

Well-known member
R&G,

I appreciate the suggestion about working with dealers such as Abel (who I do have a good relationship with) but the logistics of such a thing are ultimately not worth the hassle for any of the parties involved. If I ever decided to do a hard-copy version, then that would be a different story, but no hard-copy version as even on the drawing board at this point.

What would make even more sense is if Sony was to buy the rights to the book and just release it for free to anyone who wants it.
 

Douglas

Well-known member
Nothing in the works. The PMW-400 won't sell in big enough numbers to make it worth investing 6-8 weeks of my time producing a training video or book, and the PMW-300 is basically 95% the same as the PMW-200 so there's no need to produce a special video just for it. The three-hour PMW-200 video should suffice for anyone wanting to master the 300. Thanks for asking.

http://www.vortexmedia.com/DVD_PMW200.html
 

Tv Shooter

Well-known member
My local dealer thought it is a good idea that when they sell an F5 or55, since the dealer price is the same everywhere, to throw in Doug's book as an added value. I think they are getting one just so they can demo and explain the camera in a much more detailed way.
 
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