Freefly Ember S5K Super Slow Motion Camera (35mm Super High Speed)

A compact super-high speed camera from Freefly with a conventional workflow more like a conventional camera.  Ember is a 100mm cube which weights just 800grams and can shoot 4K @ 800fps, 5K @ 600fps.  A brand new Sensor, Chassis, and App, which is designed to go from capture to share as quickly as possible. Uniquely in the high speed world, the Ember can record continuously with no ram based clip limit directly to a 4TB internal SSD and external 4TB external drive options available. With max recording times of 36 mins in 5K and 45 mins in 4K which equates to 14.4 hrs and 24 hrs of footage respectively!

*PLEASE NOTE THAT VMI SUPPLES THE EMBER DEFAULTED TO PL MOUNT*** (intelligent emount must be requested at time of booking).

Freefly Ember Improved with new Media Expansion Pack and External 4TB Drive Options

The introduction of the media expansion pack in late 2024, improved the Freefly Ember’s limitations to make it into a much more comprehensive and useful acquisition tool.

• The default Ember stores media on its internal 4TB store, meaning that when the storage is full, you have to stop recording and can’t continue until you have offloaded the material.
• However this was rectified with the introduction of the new media expansion packs which VMI include as standard and make media swapping of external SSDs possible and importantly, also includes an HD-SDI output, which was sorely lacking in the basic camera.
  • Clients have reported that it can take 40 minutes to fully offload the media prior to being able to reshoot with fresh storage.
• Before this option, one client who wasn’t aware of this, entirely filled up the camera cache and then had to wait 40 minutes to offload the entire data store. They later told us that they would have preferred to hire a second camera had they been previously aware of this limitation.
• VMI supplies the Media Expansion Pack as standard but external 4TB media SSDs are available at additional cost.  These feature a built-in USB 4/Thunderbolt reader are supplied with a USB C to C cable for hassle free transfers.
• Media Expansion Pack includes HD-SDI output and also timecode in/out, both of which are lacking on the basic camera.
• Capture time depends on resolution/FPS. Some samples:
  • S5K – 5K, 616fps – 35 minute
  • S5K – 4K, 809fps – 45 minute
  • S2.5K – 2.5K, 2,277fps – 38 minute
• External 4TB drives offer 40Gbps USB 4/Thunderbolt connectivity
  • • Typical real-world offload speed of 2GB/s for ~1:1 download time with real time capture time, at max frame rate*

   
• 1s-2hr pre-record is possible when using the Freefly Ember with the media expansion pack and a 4TB external SSD.

Conventional Workflow

With Ember you simply press the record button, roll as long as you like, then share your best shots right from the app, unlike cameras like the Phantom, which have a different workflow, though it only captures ProRes and won’t capture 4K RAW.  This is the tradeoff that makes Ember work for storage rates, image quality, and editing performance.

Ember was designed to be an efficient high speed camera, being small, lightweight and easy to use.

Ember is unique in that it can record continuous high speed footage with no ram based clip limit since it records directly to a 4TB internal SSD.  (Note that external SSD options are coming in February/March 2025)

Shooting high speed is now just like shooting anything else, push record to start and stop, and Ember captures everything to solid state memory – as simple… as that.

HD-SDI output and timecode in/out is now offered with the addition of the Media Expansion Module (included as standard with VMI Embers).

Multiple Lens Mount Options

• VMI supplies the Ember with a PL mount, as it is usually used with film lenses.
• Embers now available with active electronic E mounts and EF mounts, so please stipulate that this is required when you book, else like with Phantoms, you will need to use non-electronic lenses, as there is no facility to operate the lens iris otherwise. EF lens compatibility here

iOS App for Camera Control, Media Export and Media Share

The Ember app for iOS means you can go from capture to sharing in seconds but you have to operate using the App, which works very well. The App even includes a stabilisation feature, which utilises data from the internal IMU to correct or maintain a stable orientation of the image, compensating for movements and vibrations.

Freefly Ember Lattitude

Ember has just 11 stops of dynamic range, which Freefly claim is less than a typical 24fps cinema camera and they claim is an inherent tradeoff of high-speed imaging. (Freefly volunteer, “Imagine trying to count a few hundred coins on a table: your answer would be a lot more precise after five minutes than it would be after five seconds!”)

There is no LOG capture, just REC709.

Freefly claim: Rec. 709 and HLG Beta tone curves are available. See OETF for more details. There is no LOG profile for Ember because LOG recording typically requires at least 13 stops of dynamic range. Ember’s 11 stops of dynamic range forced onto a LOG curve would either clip highlights at very low values or amplify shadow noise unacceptably. Rec. 709 and HLG Beta are a better fit for this sensor.

There is no Apple ProRes 422 LT in all resolutions and frame rates. Freefly claim that ProRes 422 LT maintains excellent image quality with only intraframe compression (approximately 6:1 compared to uncompressed RAW) and keeps the file size and data rate reasonable for high-speed imaging. Freefly volunteer that ProRes 422 and ProRes 422 HQ may be added (at lower frame rates) in a future update.

Ember Used by Marketing Agency Linney for McDonalds

The fast production process was very attractive to Matt Dean, Director of Photography for creative marketing agency Linney.

Despite Ember’s limitions, the camera has several fans who love it. For its most recent project with established client McDonald’s, Linney took the technical specifications of the shoot in a different direction and needed a high-speed solution that used less light but still gave us great quality footage, so used the Ember, which they say, worked very well for them and they were sufficiently impressed that they have used the camera on several food productions since.

Click here to read the recent Linney Case Study of the McDonalds production.

If a lettuce wilts or a product gets too warm then we have to start again and you’ve wasted an hour styling a burger because of how hot the studio lights were

Matt Dean, Director of Photography