We switched between the three settings and used the portable field monitor to select the appropriate one. A single Hytron 100 battery powered the camera for about seven hours of intermittent use. The portable monitor, however, drained a battery in less than 45 minutes. In most circumstances, we used the camera's neutral-density selection of filters to shoot at f 5.6 and under. Depth of field covered most of our focusing errors.
Back focus is extremely critical.
The best way to describe the image quality the camera produces is to say that it's like looking at perfectly grainless 35mm motion picture film. We didn't have enough time to fully explore everything this camera is capable of producing nor to test it under every condition. HDW-F900 compares very favorably with 35mm film. Nevertheless, there will undoubtedly be more and more prime-time programming produced with this format, and it will be impossible to tell that it's not 35mm. And if this technology eventually becomes smaller, lighter, and less expensive, TV news is going to look really beautiful.