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Canon 5D3 + Iscorama pre-36 VD + Helios 44-2 at f/4 Canon 5D3 + Kowa B&H + Jupiter 9 at f/2

On my first shoot with the Sony FS7 - I was very impressed with the image out the camera and the ergonomics, but I was very disappointed with the performance of the firmware. It was slow, glitchy and hard to use. (The video is out Jan 29th - edit this week). I chose the FS7 again for another shoot as the client was adamant on 4k and slow motion. I agreed and received a brand new unit from my rental provider. Things were a bit different this time, as the body had the extension unit and battery bolted onto the back, plus a Vocas railing system underneath. I chose ProMist filters to diffuse the skin of our lady pop star with a matte box, locked off on a Satchler tripod. I shot the video in XAVC-I 4k 25fps and slow motion in 1080 150fps, SLog3. I had plenty of lighting such as Kino Flo, Arri and Dedolights so I could light the vast location which was a decadent seaside theatre room. I have to say, the dynamic range wowed me even more. Lighting the large interior was a smooth process. Detail is very impressive. The zebras and peaking are very good. Noise looks minimal. Motion cadence however does look a little 'video', although I can't judge this fully until the grade. Handling the camera was fine on the tripod, as expected. An annoying issue with the extension unit is that it gets in the way of the HDMI port. You have to really force it. We didn't get it to work in the end. May have been an issue elsewhere, so we used the very good LCD throughout. Firmware wise - the camera performed better than before. I'm not sure if the unit before was a bit faulty, as it was slow and crashed a lot. Still - it wasn't as responsive as I'd expect. The menus are dreadful and over complicated, it takes so much time just to change the most simple settings. As a user experience - the firmware performance and user experience is very poor. I've got used to it, but it really does need a complete overhaul. The button layout on the side of the camera is also slow and fiddly. They really need to come up with a modernised way of button layouts on these types of cameras. Finding where to play a clip was a nightmare, until I found a little button called 'Thumbnail.' Not the best name! Another issue was the Speedbooster. Changing aperture on an EF lens was terrible, as the aperture setting would go crazy and go from f2 to f16 with a slight dial. Metabones and Sony need to chat. With these issues aside, the camera is great to shoot with and delivers a lovely image. It makes the FS700 look like a toy. For the money, it is fantastic. I much prefer using this camera compared to a RED Epic and Blackmagic CC. I do miss the quicker setup times with a DSLR/DSLM camera, but you gain quality features for a better picture. I will definitely use it again and can't wait to edit the 2 music videos I've shot. When they are released, I will share! Here is me and the camera:

FM Lens + Cinelux ES + Olympus OM 85MM @ f.2

Great fotos and stills! Although I am the worst photographer on the forum (internet?) I dare to post some images Canon FDn 50mm (plus cheapbooster) and mighty-little-8mm Moeller Canon FDn 28mm and 1968 Exakta Iscorama Schneider Kreuznach Optivaron and late 70's Iscorama 54 (obvisously not MC)

Here are a bunch of randoms... First 2 are Lomo, the rest are all iscorama pre36.

Thanks for the review Oliver! Any original files to peek at? Motion cadence is a funny thing... I think IPB codecs (long-GOP) have a tendency to look more videoy. ALL-I codecs store every frame so you get a more 'true 24p' look. Examples of ALL-I codecs... Raw (5D 3 Magic Lantern, BMCC, etc.) MJPEG (1D C) GH4 ALL-I modes (but not 4K, which is IPB only) On the FS7, the 4K XAVC codec is H.264 IPB long-GOP, so for every 6th real frame there's likely 5 in-between that are synthesised by the codec, reconstructed. The codec gets a raw stream so the sensor reads every frame off, but then it throws them away after compressing. Usability it seems like a mix bag. How much do you have to dive into the menus, or can they be ignored most of the time? How long is the boot time? Getting a KineMINI 4K camera to play with tomorrow, just a demo unit, not keeping it but will put a review online. I think Sony have issued a firmware update for the Metabones adapter / aperture bug, you may want to check it out. I think News Shooter reported on it last week?

Shallow DOF and ENG haven't really gone together as accurate focus is much more challenging on large sensor cameras (either autofocus or manual focus). In live shots on the viewfinder of the FS700 and A7S, shots can look in focus (viewfinder + peaking), however in post they're not quite in focus. When autofocus works, it works really well (both cameras). So far autofocus hasn't worked nearly as well as with small sensor cameras. For ENG work for now it's best to stick with an ENG camera (so no FS700/FS100). I have found that I can make A7S and even 5D3 footage look like video straight from the camera. Trying to get a film look in camera tends to run into issues with various scene colors and lighting conditions. I have also found it's best to get accurate color from the camera, even if it looks like video (though it's important to prevent highlight clipping when possible). The best way to get the film look is in post. You can find or create a LUT that has the film look you want, which you can apply to all of your properly colored/exposed 'video look' footage which will then look filmic with one simple step in post. If you want the least work, Canon provides the best skin tones out of camera, though Sony is catching up (see FS7 compared to C300 footage online). Panasonic can also have a nice straight-from-camera look (for example GH4 with Natural profile). If you liked the look of the DVX100, check out their current cameras too.

The words SLR Magic Anamorphot and A7S (Full Frame Sensor) undermines the whole point of this topic. Get an iscorama 54, a 50mm f1.4 and fit that on your A7S and the drawbacks are worth it. this combowill resolve 4k onto a full frame sensor without any problems. The SLR magic wont even deliver 480p on full frame with any nice aesthetic. it's a pointless piece of glass that should be outlawed, along with any discussion about it. Throw it in the bin.

You can just shoot in SLOG and use a log LUT that you like. Doesn't have to take that long. Or, just shoot in rec 709 and avoid grading completely. You can do this just fine.

A forum user once posted an interesting link http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/cinema-temporal-aliasing

I see your dilemma. I have a similar problem. I shoot Behind the scenes/EPK's for TV drama and film here in UK and have been using the Canon XF300, with all the usual attributes of a camcorder, also BBC approved. It's a very easy camera and doesn't requite any special kind of working. However, the reason I'm looking at the A7s is because it seems to me that the shallow depth of field look is what folk now want. I really can't do this with the XF300. I've stayed awake at night pondering the possibilities and have considered the C100, X7,GH4 and A7s. Now I see JVC are bringing out a changeable lens type camcorder. My issue with the A7s or any similar camera is mostly the lack of XLR's. I'm a total one man outfit so the less I have to fiddle with the better. Cut to the chase......I have not yet bought but am almost buying the A7s with the Atomos shogun, which gives me pro res recording, a super screen for focus assist and exposure and XLR input. And now I'm worried by the configuration of such a set up (I will get the cage too). I'm also concerned about which profile I can shoot in without having to go through the grading process. I'm very impressed with the Sony X70 but it just looks so "video" and folk now seem to want that film look. I wish you well in your decision, it really is not easy when money is a consideration. If you are delivering to TV the X70 has all the requirements. 4:2:2 and 10 bit @ 50mbps. good luck !

​Th new Sony PXW-X70 is a very good camera with a 1" sensor ($2300) or a used Sony FS100 with a s35 sensor ($2000 or less)

​thats not a push pull lens its a regular fly by wire Panasonic lens this is a push pull zoom lens http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/3570.htm

The FS700 buttons+UI are also over complicated and inefficient to use. However, the UI itself is not slow. While I'm sure the FS7 is improved over the FS700 (IMO the A7S looks better than the FS700 in some ways), it would be helpful to see the FS7 compared to the FS700 shooting the same scene to understand exactly what has improved. I haven't used my FS700 in a while- have been waiting to see how the FS7 looks and if it's worth $4+k to sell the FS700 and upgrade. In one test comparing skintones, the FS7 did really well against the C300 and A7S (though IMO in a few shots the A7S had the nicest looking skintones). Here's a humorous test I found which also shows decent skintones with the FS7. Regarding your motion cadence comment: guessing you are referring to timing regularity between frames? For example, always 1/23.976 seconds between frames, with no variance or appearance of dropped frames / stutter? Toward the and of this test video (1:17), there's significant stutter, guessing they did this in post (24fps played back at around 12fps). Could you explain more by what you mean by 'video cadence'?

try

No camera in this price range is as cinematic as the Kinemini, not even the 1D C

​If you would've check their website... it says 'This is the new updated version which has been strengthened to assist operation when using with the Anamophot, anamorphic adapter'. Optics are probably unchanged, but the housing might allow for better mounting of a clamp adapter. I'd 2nd the mention of getting a 35mm as 2nd lens to shoot with.

If you have a 25mm already I would get a 28 or 35 as a second lens so you have a tighter angle for the second camera

Here are stills from my upcoming short film "Dueling Alphas". Shot with GH4 4K (firmware 1.0) with Iscorama 36.

Whilst I think that ignoring the loud and pedantic online critics is a feasible idea, can't help but wondering if you see any contradiction above? At least to an outside observer it would seem so. Or maybe it's just me, but in case those incandescent lights were just ordinary household/office fluorescent lights or LED lights, using "incandescent lights," "AWB" and "biased colour science" in the same sentence wouldn't sound too logical to me. Suffice to say photos/frame grabs taken under such circumstances may look nice and could be used to highlight, compare or even judge a number of things, but surely not reliable 'colour science?' Or even accuracy of skin tones, for that matter. Just sayin.' I'm sure you will, and the results will look nice, especially in better lights. Carry on posting your findings, despite the grumpy critics. Don't let your inner 'Canon bias' slow you down, either. :P