Oliver Daniel

It's really hard to find professional footage for these cameras. Most stuff I've seen is vastly overexposed/underexposed, graded badly, lit badly, shot badly or a combination of these. I remember seeing a short film shot on the Kinemini 4k, and the the image quality was outstanding - like you'd expect from a theatrical feature release. But I can't find it ANYWHERE. Found this on the Kinemini 4k though:

From the decent footage I've seen from the Kinefinity cameras, I think it has one of the best images on the market. These new Terra cameras almost sound perfect, so what's the catch? (yes, they come from China and only have HD Videoshop in Berlin for distribution in Europe). The features look great, but i'm mostly impressed with the weight/size. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

I didn't know this camera shoots 10 bit 422. Is that with an external recorder?

I would love to see: Improved Canon XC10 body (like an XC1 or something). EF mount. Super 35mm sensor. 1080p 10 bit 422. 120FPS HD. SOLD!!

I had a little play with those raw files BM released. Nice and chunky . Colour is outstanding. Going to keep a keen eye on 4.6k and give it a whirl at somepoint.

I was slightly considering this as a C-camera but I think it will just collect dust. I do love the monster specs from Sony, however there are many annoying issues to go with that as well. It would be ace to get a mirrorless or DSLR camera that shoots 2.5k, 10 bit, has high quality slow motion, decent DR. Lovely colour and a flexible mount. (Almost a Blackmagic!). I feel that top quality, affordable 1080p has been skipped for brittle, low bit-rate, marketing grabbing 4K. Little gripes aside, I think some people will get some great use out of the A6300.

Slog3 is awful on the A7SII. Slog2 works better. Thanks for your hard work - I'm not really sure how much (if at all) the colour between the A7RII and A7SII in Slog2 differs. I'm working round the white balance issues, but i hope Sony get it right on their next releases. It should work properly and it doesn't.

The FS700 has very solid features with the Odyssey 7Q that will be relevant for more years to come. It would be disappointing if the FS5 can't at least match it - nothing has been said yet other than confirmation.

I wish they split the line and released a 5DC - a camera like that would sell immensely well for video. But then we have a C100 III due within the year, which will most likely have a slightly better body and 4k video upgrade at a low bit rate. The only upgrade I imagine there'll be for video on a 5D mk. IV is 4k video and 1080p 60fps. Canon will throw everything into the next C500. There is a reason the C300 doesn't have 4k 60p and full image on 120fps. Hopefully there will be a 1DCII which is the 1DX II but with Canon Log2 and 10bit recording. I'd get that. But it will cost £799,999,999,99.99.

I like high DR. I light EVERY scene I shoot, and high DR gives the picture a massive boost in quality, as the shadows to midtones to highlights smoothly roll into one another. When I switch back to a normal REC709 profile - it's actually much more time consuming to light within that range, get a smooth roll off and make it look "filmic" than shooting in a high DR log mode. Post is an incredibly powerful tool, too time consuming or not. If you light and expose correctly, then High DR footage is absolutely delightful to work with.

I'm curious to try these out, but I have the A7SII. Do you think the results will be similar enough? Also I'm finding that the A7 series does not accurately read white balance correctly - you have to set it to a different Kelvin then the actual scene and take away the green/yellow colour cast. This massively affects the colour if not done correctly. How are you going about it? Thanks

The Ursa Mini 4.6k has increased in price, well at least in the UK by £400-£500. Still, it's an incredible image for the asking price and will likely drop in a year when the camera has matured. It's hard to predict what they'll announce at NAB this time, maybe a Pocket Ursa with new sensor. What ever market gap there is, then Blackmagic will be on it!

I use the 5-axis IBIS with the A7SII on the Ronin-M, and it works absolutely brilliantly if your movements are smooth. It completely erases vertical bounce. If your movements are aggressive though, then I'd turn IS off completely. It does jump otherwise.

I remember pre-ordering both these cameras as a "get in line incase it's good" kind of thing. Didn't last long as I used my funds elsewhere on stuff I needed immediately. No global shutter is no big deal. It will come in later models - shipping in July. I love Blackmagic cameras as the aesthetic is awesome, especially for the money. It's a pity the 120fps is limited on the Ursa Mini though. The great thing is there are a lot of options for all types of shooters. I personally don't buy many cameras at all - I just get one when I need one and spent most of my surplus funds on gear that is current for a long time. No need to get angry over cameras and gear though. There's a world out there.

Awesome. I think it would be great for Convergent to release a 5Q. I put a 5" on the A7SII and I love having the big screen in front of my eyes. Just shot a piece on the FS7 recently. 10bit is absolutely awesome. Slog3 is fantastic with more data, awful on 8-bit. I wouldn't get the FS5 to use the rather poor XAVC-L... those high frame rates really need a great codec for professional work. As does the 4k. I'd only buy a major A-cam right now if it was future proof. Brilliant the FS700 will be for another 5 years at least!

Awesome, glad to hear it. Do you have it on sticks or handheld? I'e always found handholding the FS700 (with no rig) a massive pain. The C500 has had a price drop in the UK... just under £7k +VAT. With a 7Q, seems like it would be an attractive purchase for Canon lovers. I'm keeping an eye on the FS5 and 7Q+ options. I love that body.

Sony FS7.... best thing about it is XAVC-I. Brilliant codec - wish the A7SII could get that! (dreaming). C500 will still appeal as it's a "Canon" and has (subjectively) more pleasing colour. I hope the FS5 will really sing with the 7Q update as XAVC-L is bloody awful. The glaring omission from the C300 II is 4k 60p. Ridiculous really - they may want shooters to buy the 1DX II (or 1DC II) as B-cam for 4k 60p.

How's that going for you Aaron? I'm wondering whether the FS5 will get the same deal. That FS700 combo is pretty special. 120fps on most cameras is heavily compromised. Apparently the C500 is going to have a massive price drop ($9999), and with the 7Q you can get 4k 60p and 120fps. That might be a tasty proposition for some people.

The issues I have with the other Cine profiles is the highlight rolloff. It's much better in Slog2. I guess it depends what situation you are shooting in. Other than that, I experimented with the dodgy white balance and Cine, Slog2 profiles on a shoot. I've found that the white balance reading is at least 600k off each Kelvin. Also, there seems to be this green look floating around each setting. So you have to go into the manual grid to correct it, however the highlights get an ever so slight magenta tint. You can't win and must correct it in post.

Thanks for all the kind comments!

My Ronin-M works great with full IBIS on the Sony. I think the products need time to mature before the pistol grip becomes good enough. Even though they have the Osmo, DJI will surely move to the market for an "any small camera" pistol grip soon.

The seagull is the favourite with everyone who has seen it. The acting by the little dude was superb!

Thanks for all the comments and feedback, appreciated. We were pretty lucky. The original treatment depicted a "troubled and lost fisherman", yet a casting agent sent us this guys details, as he actually lived in the town where the video is shot. The idea developed into a more darkly comic take as this guys face inspired it to be that way. Plus we had a free tour guide which saved loads of time! Lenses were Sigma 18-35mm (at 35mm), Samyang 14mm, Helios 44-2 85mm and Sony Vario-Tessar 24-70mm (gimbal). We spent a lot of time on the grubbiness, but couldn't damage the tapes/recorder as they were on special hire. Pre-production was only 2 days due to a very tight turnaround, so we did the absolute best we could. If we had more money and time, some parts would be a bit different and elaborate. Considering, everyone was really pleased with the results. This shoot restored my faith in the A7SII and Sony cameras. I wasn't let down and loved how Slog2 soaked up that seaside. I still want better colour but the most important thing is that the camera didn't get in the way and allowed us to shoot effectively, be creative and tell the story the best we could in such short time. That's priceless, and something we should all think about when shooting anything, beyond the technical nitty gritty. P.s I have many more videos that are unreleased shot on A7SII, they seem to be very slowly trickling out from the artists this year!

So yep... I've been shooting with the A7SII pretty extensively on a bunch of music videos. This particular video is narrative-only, shot in Whitby UK within 6 hours with a crew of 5 people including make up artist. My duties? I wrote the idea, shot, lit, graded and edited the video in FCPX. Most of the video was shot in natural light. One night scene was lit with Lupolux Dual LEDs and Scorpion Lights, powered by batteries (lifesaver!). The sun was going down quick and we used the A7SII up until ISO 12,800. Picture profiles were custom Slog2 profile and also custom Cine2, shot in 4k 25fps. We used the Sony CLM-FHD monitor on the camera (very useful). Would never used the camera without a monitor again unless desperate. Camera remains light and easy to use. Gimbal shots were on the Ronin-M, with the full IBIS activated with the Sony Vario-Tessar 24-70mm - operated in upright mode. Fantastic combination. Handheld lenses were Sigma 18-35mm (used at 35mm), Samyang 14mm and Helios 44-2 85mm (bloody well hard lens to focus!). This video wouldn't of been possible to shoot in 6 hours without the A7SII. The aesthetic helped the video with it's murky look, and the portability with IBIS was awesome. Helped keep us on our toes and be creative with the shots. Issues? I went through 9 batteries and er, the zip on my coat broke and er... I got a wet ass?... that's about it. I'll let you guys decide what you think the story is about and all that jazz. Hope you enjoy it!!