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I put a pre-order in for the 7IV to pair with my Siii. I own a couple other Sony's and have a lot invested in the glass. I also have a set of FD's that I can throw on for manual lens. Like another user said, the AF is incredible on these. I am a one man band and it helps in so many ways. I like the S5 IQ but the modern Sony cameras are damn close. Few rolling shutter sucks, NR built in blows and no waveforms is a bummer. Oh and no 1/48th... I love the Sony cameras but I would 100% skip the A7iii if money is the issue. Save for the IV or pick up the S5.

A7IV? I wish. I have one on order LOL, but I'm in the US and we won't see them for another month. Right now its the a7III/a7sIII combo for me. All of your S5 points are great and honestly features I would like to see on Sony, though I get monitoring and false color with the Ninja which I don't mind rigging. The latest Sony AF has been a game changer for me, I need glasses for anything within a few feet and its just made me so much faster, I almost never focus manually because I can't see further away with my glasses on. So I'm looking forward to the a7IV to better compliment the a7sIII - Sony's real time tracking never ceases to impress, its really, really good. The other upgrades are welcome too, and I really don't mind the 60p crop, even if I didn't have the a7sIII. Cheers Chris

At the cheaper end of the scale, a little-known option is the Wooden Camera VX mic, for about $300 US: https://woodencamera.com/pages/vxmic Might be worth checking out. I haven't tried it myself but have been tempted a few times since it's quite affordable.

What I like about the Sanken is that it's an entire M/S rig inside a reasonably small shotgun mic. I built a similar rig for myself some years back using a Sennheiser 8050 supercardioid as the mid mic with an Ambient Emesser (figure 8 mic) clipped on top. That works really well and is very portable (and fits into one of Rycote's smallest windjammers) but there's something to be said for an all-in-one solution. The big selling point for M/S is its versatility: you can use just the mid channel for interviews or if you want some ambience you can bring it in with the sides. And you can use it to record ambient sounds for B-roll etc. I can't actually use camera-mounted mics as my camera has a cooling fan that's loud enough to be heard on most recordings with a camera-mounted mic; instead i carry a separate tripod and mount my rig and recorder on that.

Whatever you do, don't buy the Zoom F1. I made that mistake; I started using it with a binaural mic and then switched to Zoom's M/S module (since I like using M/S stereo), but the sound quality is just not up to snuff; certainly it pales in comparison to my Sound Devices MixPre with good mics. I know you said the Rode Stereo Videomix is too expensive for you, but one of the most interesting new camera-mountable stereo mics is the Sanken CMS-50. It's pricey but this looks like the most promising single stereo mic solution I've seen.

Good question, the right one for our friend and sound master @IronFilm

Kye, I'm sure you've figured it out, but just-in-case you haven't, those gf3 batteries will work in the gx85. Quite a revelation for me, as I had three genuine batteries going to waste. I love this camera and have recently thought about buying another one just to mount to another lens. I use primes and these cameras are too inexpensive not to consider that a reasonable move. I often refer to this thread: when in need of some inspiration to shoot with my gx85/ g85. The WB notes from Andy Lee are particularly of use. I played with those suggestions and have been much happier with the colors I get out of these cameras since.

Both the R5 and R6 lack in the DR department but it’s worst on the R6. The 8K oversampling on the R5 helps in the 4K HQ clog3 mode. Will be interesting to see what the heck the R5C is, if it is even a product anymore. Worst thing about the $5500 C70 is the build quality and the mediocre flip screen. Everything else is pretty solid. I don’t care much for RAW really, unless from a RED camera. Come to think of it the Komodo AF isn’t terrible…

Damn - those are great looking shots! Thanks for the feedback on the 12-60/2.8-4. The reviews and sample footage were all quite positive too. One of the main drivers for buying my 12-35/2.8 was as a walk-around lens for the P2K (OG BMPCC), but I've since worked out that the screen is polarised the wrong way for my sunglasses, making it completely black, so the idea of that as a tiny setup has fallen flat. Now I have the GX85 for the tiny setup I'll likely sell the P2K but might keep the Micro, I'll see. I think those kind of shots, walking from one place to another, is really the challenge for AWB. If that shot was critical then it's likely to be salvageable, but it would probably take real work. It might be worth saying explicitly just for the record, I'm not a fan of AWB or manual WB, they're just settings that each have an application, and each definitely have their pros and cons which should be understood to get the best results. I can only speak from my experience, but everyones is likely to be different. I'm also definitely an amateur and remembering everything while out shooting is a real challenge - there are so many things to think about simultaneously. Part of the reason that on commercial sets there are so many crew! Nice. That lens actually has quite a nice balance between modern and vintage characteristics. Plus it's so darn small!

To me between the S5 and the A7III I would take the S5 any day of the week, especially for video. The image quality is so much better in my opinion. The A7IV could be a bit tempting but apart from the AF which I personally almost never use, I can't think of anything that would make me want it especially in the projected price. Not to mention the aggressive noise reduction that can't be turned off even on the more expensive A7SIII. Thanks but no thanks! 😁

FYI- I'm repurchasing the Panasonic 14mm F2.5 II. That lens with its size was too hard to resist. It wasn't a need, but I took so many good photos with it and I will probably never let it go again. Definitely unique in M43.

Glad to hear the Sony's are working out for you. Hopefully you are staying safe and still having a good time.

For a reactionary pessimist such as myself though, the other way of looking at that is as a 100% failure rate 🙂

In fact, I always used AWB until a shot that I've taken on a trip - with a GX85, by the way. It was climbing the stairs in the center atrium of the British Museum in London with a gimbal. Even more strange, the atrium is completely flooded with sun light from the ceiling, which in theory should have caused no troubles with AWB. Don't know if the camera picked the warmer tones of the surrounding walls, but from the bottom to the top of the stairs the white balance shifted back and forth around 5 times, ruining the shot. Still forget almost all the times to lock the white balance while filming (I'm an amateur, after all), but this case changed my mind about AWB - now I almost only film my daughter inside home, and with my X-S10 sometime I noticed some AWB shifting too.

By the way, I don't have any with it from the GX85 but I do have these from the OG Pocket. The extra reach and, particularly, the IS won't do you any harm with it on your BM cameras as a single lens solution for travelling. Although the extra crop of the BM cameras means that the wide end can make it a bit more challenging at times.

Latest random internet purchase arrived today... Everyone, meet Miranda: Miranda is an M42 28mm F2.8 lens made in Japan, pictured on the M42 speed booster, with the GX85. No clue about anything else about her. Here are some test images, all taken wide open, with 4K CineD profile and SOOC on a 1080p timeline. It looks like the corners are crazily soft. They are soft, but the focal plane is actually very curved, so an object to the side of the frame has to be quite a lot further back to be in focus than something in the middle of the frame in focus. Maybe I can take nice footage of curved buildings, or beachballs. Flares are nicely controlled but aren't too modern... shaded vs unshaded from direct sun: I'm really happy that she's sharp wide open in the centre, which my only other m42 28mm F2.8 lens, a Yashica Yashinon, was most definitely not. This matters as I often use the 2X digital zoom in-camera to punch in for close-ups. I am, however, a little nervous about how 'vintage' she is. I do have a number of other more modern options for similar focal lengths though, so I'm not locked into the look and so it'll be a fun process. I'm also not that familiar with shooting on the 44mm equivalent focal length.

Damn.. I had just talked myself out of wanting one, but now your glowing review has me searching for them again! I don't know what it is about vintage lenses, but it's definitely something... 😆😆😆

I don't think that'll be an issue. I've read (likely on the phillipreeve site) that the Minolta Rokkors perform well even on the A7riii and A7riv, both of which have higher-resolution sensors than the A7iv. I use my A7iii for stills only, no video, and would likely do the same if I get an A7iv, but the A7iv is attractive to me for the weather resistance plus the better sensor protection (dust on the sensor is my main complaint with the A7iii; I have to wet-clean it every month and blow it out with a rocket blower with every lens change, but even so I spend a lot of time in post eliminating dust spots. It's frustrating. The A7iv has a feature where you can close the shutter when changing lenses.

Opinion? Depends where I was already invested... If I was with Sony and had an A7iii, nah, not worth updating to a IV IMO. If I had an A7ii or something, then probably yes, the iv is where I'd go next. If I was with Panny and had an S5, nah, the S5 is a bit of a beast and especially for the price. What's the difference between the two? Basically the same size and weight as makes no difference. SOOC the Panny is 'probably' better video and the Sony 'arguably' better stills...but we're talking tiny, tiny amounts. IBIS, allegedly anything Panny is better than anything Sony. I think in the real world, there's nothing really significant between either of these two or several other peers. I think it comes down to which system has more appeal with these two? For me, it's Pannyboy and their Pony of Hope. Yes, their tracking AF could be a smidge better, but otherwise, far more appeal going...for me...for Panasonic.

Being able to import view LUTs and bake one in would be spectacular, on any camera. I really see the C70 as a Get It Done camera for people who are quietly pumping out projects one after another.

I thought I would try the convenience of AWB in video the summer of 2018 if I remember correctly. It was such a nightmare to correct the footage in post so I swore I'd never do it again. 😁

Looks great, but looks just like Magic Lantern on the 5D, only with a higher resolution / less cinematic image. You could downscale, but it's a small bump for a large price increase. IIRC my new GX85 gives you zebras, focus peaking and waveform at the same time. For $600, which includes two lenses. and it's not a dedicated video camera either. LOL. Canon.