Laurier

I would not be surprised if those are true , that would make a lot of sense so they can both bring a high spec product and protect/replace their FS range. But the setup is going to end up between 5-10k and have a very different form factor, I imagine something a bit like a kinefinity terra system. I planned to wait for the a7siii, but I just ordered a A7iii + ninja V and will sell my a7rii. To be honest I did DP/post produced some projects on both red and blackmagic 4.6k and unless you really need the slow mo it s hard to justify the cost/size factor compared to the recent sony cameras.

If this specs are true that will be a killer camera, even better than a Venice somehow.

Well the image ratio is different, usually the sensor are 4:3, that the main difference. You get shallow DOF, but you can usually get it shallower on full frame with super fast glass. ( 85mm 2.8 on 645 = 53mm 1.8 on full frame ) You tend to get a bit less distortion on lenses ( I guess longer focal are a bit more easy to manufacture), but I m not even sure it s true nowadays. I had a full 645 digital medium format ( mamiya ZD) and honestly the look is mostly in your head, the ratio is different and your distance to the subject is a bit different as well, so the look of the dof is marginally different. For me medium format is more about resolution than look since you can get very shallow with fast glass on other formats. Medium format digital use to have so advantages over full frame ( like 14 bits raw/superior resolution ) but that not really the case anymore, a a7rii vs a X1D create marginally different pictures.

It s because they reused the same sensor on the a7s/a7sII, DPAF is partially built in the sensor, they did that to save cost. but we will get a new sensor for sure on the a7sIII, so we will also get DPAF.

That one , the Hex raven, very happy with it. https://www.amazon.com/HEX-Raven-Backpack-Laptop-Matte/dp/B01NCNM5MS

Full frame sensors are more expensive to manufacture and need more heat dissipation, to get 10 bit internal they would need to make the body bigger I believe. I m fine with external recording, you can shoulder mount the camera at the shoulder level, shoot with autofocus and have a the recorder at eye level. That still lighter and more compact than a fs5/fs7, plus you get Ibis and autofocus and the large sensor look. I would rather use my current a7rii over a fs5 any day, so I will be happy with the a7siii for sure. For 4000/4200$ (a7siii+ atomos V) we will probably get a full frame 4k 60fps 10 bit pro-res full frame camera, the closest thing that does that is the new mavo LF and it s 11k. Honestly I hardly see any other camera system more indi-user friendly/high quality for the money.

I sold my ursa mini 4.6k after a got a a7rii ( I initially got it for photos only), I realized that the dynamic range is similar ( actually a tiny bit better on the a7rii) and autofocus was a revelation. If you do narrative work and need to ping pong a lot between subjects, manual focusing on proper manual primes is still the best. For the rest, autofocus is doing a better job that I will ever do by manually pulling in decent lighting conditions ( I suspect the a7iii and the future a7siii to work well in low light as well) I shoot a lot of music videos and autofocus is great since you don t always know what the performer is going to do. I mean, I can shoot full frame on a 85mm 1.8 wide open on a shoulder rig without issues with face tracking. But IF YOU GO FOR AUTOFOCUS GET LENSES WITH LINEAR ELECTROMAGNETIC MOTORS, I CAN T STRESS THAT ENOUGH. I have a set of batis, they are plain fantastic. At the end of the day, I get more usable shoots and can concentrate more on framing while shooting. About codec, its quite thin internally ( avoid Slog, you get banding on white walls) ,you can always record externally when needed, and then it s quite solid honestly .

You should get a a7rii or wait a bit a a7sii price will drop as well. To give you an idea I sold my ursa mini 4.6k after getting a a7rii ( I initially got it for photo) because the it was excellent in video and could not justify keeping the URSA over it ( yes the URSA have better codec, but they both have fairly similar DR and the A7rii have better iso/autofocus /stabilisation and form factor) A7ii is definitely great for photos, but as other said it s not great for video.

Make some very short pieces, like 30s , maybe adapt a poem or something. Personally, I always go shoot a bit when I get a new piece of equipment or a new lens, I usually go to a park with my girlfriend . Do not test new things in proper productions ! that where you fail and loose a client .

I made the same kind of conclusion, Anything bigger than a dslr is too complex for a solo shooter, I had a ursa mini 4.6k and it was too much to carry most of the time. ( with maybe the exception of c100/fs5 type of bodies) The camera itself is fine but the large batteries + a larger tripod/slider means that I can t carry lights with me, and make everything slower to operate. I believe the new pocket 4k will be the perfect camera for solo shooter in term of form factor/features.

The samyang 16mm is really good , T2.2 is really helpful.

The color science is great, a lot of blackmagic footage online is poorly graded or with a bad color balance. It s good out of the box, with only two main options rec 709 or film if you plan to post produce the shoots, its not like sony where you have a lot of profiles but none are great.

4k 60fps was the instant preorder spec for me, If you shoot fashion or MV it s almost mandatory, for ND since It s M4/3 there are adapters with NDs you can slide on.

About shipment, the CEO said during the presentation that September is not over promising , a staff member also said in one of the video that the camera will hopefully come a bit earlier . I guess they will have a large stock in September but might start shipping a low amount of copies earlier. I personally did a preorder in the uk, if the camera was 3k usd I think I would still have ordered one, on the paper that almost the perfect camera for my type of work, and that stupidly cheap. Now I need to get some M4/3 glass ....

I m actually seriously considering getting a Blackmagic 4k, you can get some for 750£, that stupidly cheap, I shoot a feature with one, motion and colors are fantastic compared to a GH5, its also way smaller than a Ursa mini and media is a lot cheaper. The dynamic range is really not that bad, you can recover a lot of the highlight in post, not something you can really do with the gh5. But yes you need fast glass, but you also need fast glass with a GH5 IMO. Otherwise, yes it s a bit bigger and heavier.

The Voigtlanders are not the sharpest around but they are the most interesting IMO if you are shooting narrative/creative work or fashion/music videos. If you mostly do corporate videos/coverage/docu I would rather go with panasonic/olympus that are more sterile and pixel perfect.

If you go for M4/3 native lenses, get the voigtlander 0.95 lenses if you want a nice organic/cinematic image, or get the panasonic/olympus 2.8 zooms if you want the convenience. Personally, I go for convenience over look, I m a solo shooter and anything too heavy/big tend to slow me down.

10 bits can contain more data, but if you output a crappy signal it won t be any better than 8bits. Slog profiles are unusable IMO in 8 bits, you get banding on white walls even recorded externally, so I prefer cine1/pro I m personally quite excited about the a7siii, I might pre-order one if they deliver what I need. I hope that they can bump to 4.2.2 and the rate to 200Mbbps for 24/25/30 and 400Mbbps for 60fps, even if it s stay 8 bits I will be more than happy, it s what I got for my current a7rii + blackmagic video assist and the image is solid. I m a bit concerned about the rolling shutter tho, the a7iii have a new sensor but the rolling shutter is a lot more present than the a9 so I hope we will get something nicer on the a7siii. Video autofocus will be a big deal for me as well, its already usable on the a7rii, it should be fantastic on the a7siii. I really wonder if they will use the a9 sensor for it like in the Venice or do a new 12mpx sensor.

Yes, but here we are talking about Foxconn, they have massive facilities and massive R&D capacities, they are more like sony or panasonic than red, arri or blackmagic . And technologies wise I don t think Arri is leading in any ways, sony are by far the leader, but Arri have better branding/heritage and a more artist friendly approach. Look at Red waiting list for products, they simply can t produce very large volumes of products, And foxconn is manufacturing Iphone in large volume so they are able to manufacture complex products and have high quality control. Red have such a good branding that is something even beginner dream about, now they are apparently aiming to satisfy a larger audience, do beginners need a red camera, probably not, will they buy one if they can ? I guess they will over Sony and Panasonic.

I was wondering why Red or Arri haven t done a prosumer device for a while, Most of their qualities come from software development (color science,compression ect) and sensors can be mass produced at a affordable cost. That can easily be implemented in a prosumer device. They have very good brand images and are niche products, manufactured at high cost in western countries but in relatively small workshops compared to Chinese manufacturers. If tomorrow Red or Arri make a pro dslr with good specs ( let say no raw but a prores 4.2.2 or LT compression) for 3 or 4000 usd, I believe they will take a massive part of the market overnight. High end production will still buy 50k+ equipement because they have specific needs for them, but I don t think that killing something like the Red raven line in exchange for a much larger consumer base is an issue. Lets not forget that Davinci resolve use to cost a fortune and is now free, at this business scale, It s more about business strategy than manufacturing/development cost

Note that the alexa classic usually have a 16x9 smaller sensor, they don thave the full 4:3 sensors for anamorphic.

Well the Eva is more production friendly and super 35 so that not really for the same audience . But for my personal use, a camera with 4k 60fps , a good 4.2.2 codec, face detection continuous autofocus and low rolling shutter is everything I will ever need, So I think the next generation camera I will buy will last me much longer since I won t have to make much compromise anymore. Hopefully it will be a a7s3 .

Sorry I meant first AC/focus puller yes. About the muted colors, I agree with Slog-2 ( you can always saturate but you get compression artifacts quickly) , but I recently switched to Cine1-pro and it s better, On the original A7s there was a big gap in DR between slog and the other modes, but IMO on the a7r2 the gap is not so big, so I d rather have cleaner colors than a bit more DR. But to be honest cinematic images are not usually super saturated overall, and that what I m after .

That A7R2 + batis 85 + 35mm 2.8, Slog-2 iso 800-1600, and literally hand held , I did not had all my equipment with me that day, but I usually have a zacuto marauder and it s not as shaky.

Yeah but the A7R2 have excellent auto-focus in video , I shoot a lot of fashion video/Mv and that a fantastic feature, It save me the cost of a 1st AD, beside I can shoot moving subject hand held with a 85mm 1.8 wide open in full frame, and I love the look. I had a GH4 as well, that was versatile but image quality was always disappointing for me. Honestly I would rather go for a blackmagic micro + monitor if I was going for a smaller sensor /better codecs. But I m not saying the GH5 is a bad camera, it s just that price wise ... I would choose a a7r2