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“cinematic mode” (built in black bars feature) 2699€

Over-priced trash. OK, it has some individual elements, but as a whole? Nah. FX30 easily. Or if you want a mechanical shutter (and other than Z9, I would), then S5ii, R6ii, R8, XH2/s and maybe even Nikon Z6ii… Or Sony’s own A7iv. This new Sony however seems to be one of those ‘paper spec cameras’ but in any real world use, is a bit shite. I don’t like it. I had a ZV1 and I did like that. This doesn’t fix any of the (few) issues I had with the ZV1. Neither did the other ‘in between’ one whose name I forget… ZVsomething else. I’d rather they just have them girls names or something as it would be easier to remember…

How is a ZE1 priced at 2699€ a better deal than an R8 at 1799€ ? R8 may not have all those gimmicky AI functions but at least it doesn't overheat. Plus it has a EVF and front curtain shutter. Seems like much better value to me..

Interesting is if you use it for external HDMI it can still overheat I guess it is really for vlogging camera.

And micro hdmi .. suddenly on Sony that is not a flaw.

I’m talking about low budget filmmakers ? You should be chasing story first not image. Higher budget in front of the lens and the crew behind will always look better then a hobbyist using 14bit raw. Anyone can buy a cheap black magic or 5d iii but still won’t look as good compare to Hollywood or streaming services. Why not just rent another Alexa when you have the budget. Obviously high budget has to do with it but look at Hollywood and streaming movies that fail, maybe the obsessiveness should be on story. Like someone here says no one walks out of a theater saying “it was shot in Alexa 65, beautiful high dynamic range, omg the 14bit raw colors” shows that lasting impression is not the image. I find some animation more entertaining tbh. “1080p raw video with 12ish stops of DR is hardly an obsession in IQ.“ It is an camera obsession if you keep switching cameras, try to find the best image to cheap mirrorless when you can work on your lighting skills, DOP is lighting also not just the image of the camera. Why waste so much time on so many cameras when you should spend more on the scene like changing mood, diffuse/bounce and shaping light. That’s more superior to me imo. “If it doesn't matter to you... cool! It doesn't mean it isn't important to someone else” Like I said before, use whatever you want, I’m just saying it shouldn’t be the only focus…let alone whining about it because a cheaper mirrorless can’t provide your missing needs. Again why complain, if it’s important just rent another arri.

Puh, this is another strange camera. Love the size and that it's a proper video camera for semi pros. Of course if you want to shoot a proper job you would prefer another camera but it has the right sizw to just put it in a pocket... Need to take a closer look at the photo features...

honestly the low light of A7S3 is a little over rated imo. its actually a 48MP quad bayer sensor so not actually bigger photo sites. marketing aside if you just compare this cameras price point and its specs to the competition (S5ii, R6ii) that's when you realise how stingy Sony went on specs. Actually the test I saw was the camera overheating in 30mn in XAVC-I in 24p in normal indoor conditions !!! Going LongGop extends the time and 8-bit as well obviously. Gerald Undones video is up now and the overheating jumps down from 2 hours to 1 hour when ambient temperature rises from 22 to 24 degrees Celsius. The camera will probably be completely unusable in summer / hot locations. I'm not even speaking of 4K60p & 4K120p. This is really my main gripe about the camera. No matter the target.

I think the price is very steep for the target demo. Especially in Europe. I just can't imagine your average vlogger dropping that kinda coin on a camera targeted at amateurs/beginners. That being said the camera has some pretty solid specs/features. They didn't gimp it as much as I thought they would. In fact, in quite a few ways it actually surpasses the A7S3 with next-gen AF, focus compensation and even LUT support. And it retains ALL-I 10-bit Slog3. I assume an A7S4 is just around the corner. The body of course is of the cheaper kind. And no EVF, no mechanical shutter. Micro HDMI etc. The IBIS is also the more basic A7C one, not the same as in A7 series. And the biggest con, no active/passive cooling. I've just seen some tests and the camera overheated in 30mn using XAVC-I. This totally kills it imo for most types of shooting.

Link to the Sony official product launch stream here : Obviously, the floodgates will also be opened at 15:00 BST for the deluge of shock face thumbnail "independent reviews" too.

Yeah music videos have bad budgets, but at least they're only half a day long to perhaps maaaybe as long as a four day shoot. But a feature film will be 10x as long!

I analyzed the raw data in the DNG converted from ProRes RAW and now I know exactly how it's messed up. I adjusted my tool and I think I have a working fix now. It fixes the raw data itself, so the result will be perfect in every software that reads DNG. Before (see the broken line in the middle): After: I'm still testing my tool, it can read 12/16bit DNG, uncompressed, or lossless compressed, the lossy formats are not supported. It uses multiple threads, on my recent i7 laptop it converts with 25-35fps. It's a pain to convert twice but at least I got it working, and learned a bit of C++ on the way. If only I could fix the framerate issue as well, but no chance for that.

Totally depends on your workflow. If you are shooting log and want the heavy grading workflow, in most cases 10bit is a must. If you are using a rec709 profile in camera and don't care a whole lot, then in most cases 8bit is fine. To me 10bit is simply an intermediate codec that gets us to an eventual 8bit final output, like log to rec709.

The obsession with IQ is getting out of hand here, 10bit, 12 bit, 14 bit seems to be negligible from the tests. Story, set design, lighting, sound, music, framing, lenses, etc. are more important then bit depth imo. Possession of Hannah grace 8bit 422(a7sii), 8bit 422 knock knock (1dc) and others released in festivals, streaming platforms proves that. Obviously people are biased and want the best possible and that’s great but 14 bit image isn’t everything to the overall average audience (same with 8k). All things subjective, filmmakers can shoot with whatever they want.

It's not a practical suggestion to actually do the thing. Anyone with the means would choose Arri over a 12 year old hacked camera all day long. This absurdist theory is just to illustrate that the separating degrees of IQ isn't the thing that makes or breaks a film.

Hacked cameras are fine if you’re a hobbyist YouTube filmmaker and you like experimenting but on paid sets, things like Sdi, shutter angle, video assist tools, timecode, full hdmi, long battery life, reliability and a big screen definitely helps, especially on long 12hr days.

^^ Anyone responsible for paying the crew's wages probably wouldn't choose to shoot a feature on a...

Hmmm. My understanding is that a major reason for the almost exclusive use of Arri for serious movie making is the fact that if the camera goes down the Arri network is so good that another will be delivered within hours. I should have thought that kind of protection against downtime would be just as important (if not more) on a low-budget production.

Sounds like it'll sit between the A7C and FX3. Probably the A7C form factor but no EVF? Not expecting a mechanical shutter. I reckon they will go all electronic like Sigma Fp and FX30. Would prefer if they give it a similar body and ergonomics to FX3 and FX30, but it being more a ZV range vlogging camera I expect it to be more of a rebadged A7C with the A7S III sensor.

I work on mostly low budget feature films in the 30k realm. They can actually be incredibly profitable if you know what you are doing.