The Chris

There are various comparisons floating around on Youtube that show the difference. Here's a test with the A7sII and A7rII in s35 and FF. FF is fine in good light, once you hit 3200 its get pretty noisy and you really start to lost detail, so its max for me is 1600. In s35 mode its really clean and a tad sharper, but RS is worse. Once you hit 3200 the differences are obvious and the gap widens pretty quick. Good light you can cut both and nobody will ever notice. If you need to go above 1600 s35 is the only way to fly. I have the cheap Fotodiox AF adapter and I get great AF with the Canon lenses I've used. I'm using the Canon 16-35 over the FE. Others say the Metabones IV is better, since its getting FW updates to improve performance I'm sure that's the case. Mine flares bad at times too. There's a really good adapted lens thread on Fred Miranda with lots of user input. AF with the A7rII and Canon lenses is nothing like it was with any of the other A7's, its really good. You can't use eye AF, but you can use basically everything else. Dpreview outlines it really well in their test videos. If you want to shoot FF or take advantage of Slog3 I'd go A7sII, but AF is bunk. If you want good/great AF with Canon lenses the A7rII is really your only option in E-mount until the a6300 drops.

I find it very convenient when shooting to be able to grab stills or video without juggling cameras. BMPCC uses Canon batteries, so you're charging/carrying two sets of batteries and lenses unless you're carrying a 5d3. File sizes are larger too and its not 4k. I see you've traveled with a little larger kit than I do, but not that much. You could do something like the Batis 25/85 combo and with crop mode you also have 42/127. I've owned the 35/1.4, its big and most are a little softer on one side, not a $1500 lens IMO. I have someone that's interested in trading my A7rII for a A7sII, I'm seriously considering the swap and replacing my A7s/a5100 with the a6300, so I'll have high quality FF and crop 4k along with 120fps, IBIS on one body, and the a6300 will have blazingly fast AF and higher rez stills as I find 12 mp a little limiting with landscapes. All my batteries, chargers and lenses will be compatible across my kit and I'll still be very nimble with all my gear in a small bag that I can always carry on a plane. Interested to see where you wind up.

How about a different direction, Speedboosters and an external recorder like the Ninja Assassin to get 4k out of the A7s?

Those were top of the line lenses not too long ago before the 24-70 and 70-200's hit, but they still have most of Nikon's current technology. Do you ever shoot wider than the 20-35?

Phil, how much gear do you want to lug? Travel kit means different things to everyone, for some its a RX100, for me everything fits in a messenger bag, so my gear will not slow me down. IBIS/OS is a must for me, I want everything to be stabilized to some degree. For me Sony's E-mount cameras are the best stills/video options at the moment, but there are great lenses at all my favorite FL's. For some Sony's lineup is really lacking, though speedsters and AF adapters open up hundreds of AF lenses if you get the A7rII and the upcoming a6300. That means 2 bodies, and 4 or 5 lenses tops, along with a Ride Videomic pro for audio and a small LED and reflector for more light or a fill. Right now I have the A7rII, the A7s and a5100 that will soon be replaced by the a6300. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the new 24-70 GM which will cover about 80% of what I shoot when you include the crop mode on the A7rII, and f/2.8 is a good mix of speed with a decent shallow DOF on the long end. The a5100 usually has the 10-18 as my UWA, so I'm changing lenses less often and they share batteries meaning I'm not carrying chargers for two different cameras. I have the 28/2, 24/1.8 and Batis 85 as fast/light lens options with the B85 being my shallow DOF king. I typically don't carry a tele because that's a lot of weight/space for a lens I'll only use about 5% of the time, but I have the 70-200/4 if needed. I carry a gorilla pod or a small carbon photo tripod for things like timelapses. The tripod (Benro Travel Angel) also has a removable leg to serve as a monopod. I just picked up the Beholder DS1 and I'm not sure if its something I'll travel with often since that's a couple extra pounds and more batteries/charger I need to lug, but when I'm shooting doc footage it'll be in my bag. If the a6300 is as good as advertised I'm considering going much smaller/lighter for extended travel with 2 bodies and all APS-c lenses. IBIS and a couple 2.8 GM zooms would be nice, but Sony is focused on FF so we probably won't see that for awhile. Anyway. If you're going 1080p for the web, the A7s is a great HD camera, used about $1400, and something like the a6300 will give you high IQ stills along with 4k and the A7s will be a low light beast that crushes everything once you go above 12800. Sony's photo apps are great, you have time-lapse, sky HDR (replaces gradual ND filters for proper long exposures without blowing out skies and such) and smooth reflection (which replaces standard ND filters for those silky waterfall shots). There are a few other's I've been wanting to try including the live view grading (kind of a LUT while shooting flat), the light painting, star trail and light trail - all can be done in post, but these apps are real time savers as you're not carrying filters, stacking and blending images, just tweaking the raw to get the final look you want. M43 will give you a smaller kit with some great fast lens options - and Olympus has the best IBIS around - but stills are really lacking behind Sony's FF sensor. You won't find a wider range of native lens options unless you go Canon or Nikon DSLR. Anything Blackmagic isn't an option for me since it doesn't shoot stills and also generates some large files. ML raw is out just for storage needs, but also because even with a small lens the 5d3 isn't very compact compared to something like the a5100/10-18 and a 50mm prime. Again I travel small. I'm going to be taking an extended trip starting later this year - my wife and I will be traveling around the world for a year and shooting a doc about the experience - so I'm trying to whittle everything down to a bare bones/covers as much as possible kit that's not too large/heavy/cumbersome. For me this means IBIS is so valuable since I really won't need anything other than a gorilla pod for support - and that's mostly to get low shots while keeping the camera off the ground. This got a little longer than intended, lots of options and I'm still working through them myself.

Are all of these crops with full readout instead of the usual aliasing and moire filled line skipping? Obviously we haven' seen footage yet, but I can live with the 1080p crops if the image is clean. Also, I thought there'd be more obvious rolling shutter with the spinning wheels, hopefully this is a good sign.

I've been eyeing the Nikon 28-70/2.8 myself, used versions on ebay sell for $600-700. I've seen a number of others that love this lens, looks good.

I never looked it to what it was shot on, but I DVR all the new episodes, lots of moire pops up throughout. Loved Saul on Breaking Bad, looking forward to the new season.

Agreed, but Sony doesn't seem to see it that way.

They completely lost what made them such a success by pricing themselves out of the market they essentially created. Every new top end camera got a $100 price hike while Chinese knockoffs flooded the market at $100 or so. The Black is now what, $500? To the average consumer the $100 models are more than enough. I hope they bounce back, but this doesn't look good with 4k cameras like the SJCam selling for $150, and they're late to the drone game.

The a6000 doesn't have a touchscreen, there's nothing missing, just Sony's usual segmenting. Touchscreen is for amateurs, EVF, more controls and hot shoe is for enthusiasts. It sucks they don't see the value of a touchscreen for something as simple as moving the focus point while shooting - especially with the awesome tracking abilities of the PADF. I would love one on my A7rII. I'm getting the a6300 to replace my a5100, I will miss the touchscreen.

With the a6300, add the 16-70 or 18-105 and you essentially get your big sensor RX100.

^^^ When recording 4k externally the LCD blacks out.

Most of Sony's aps-c lenses are stabilized. Only time will tell if Sony is going to move IBIS down the line or keep it on the A7's. I think given the size of FE lenses there's definitely space for a larger, top of the line crop body with IBIS that sells in the $1500 range. I'd buy one, FE lenses are getting too damn big and the new ones are the largest yet. I wonder if we're ever going to see any more lenses like the 28/2, 35/2.8 and 55/1.8 - all are small with good IQ and one is pretty cheap, the others can be had at good used prices. Sony's FE lens strategy is making me reconsider my decision to wrap my kit around the A7's. Crop lenses and a speedbooster covers pretty much everything.

B&H link is live http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1222773-REG/sony_soa6300bk_alpha_a6300_mirrorless_digital.html

Not a lot of real estate for a side hinge unless they made it bigger. I think the small increase in size would be worthwhile.

Wow! Sony pulled out all the stops, full readout 4k, new 4d AF, new high rez EVF and so on. I really hope they added UHS-II support, its the biggest drawback of the A7rII, bursts are slow to write to card. Better sell your NX1 now, at $1000 for this body it really puts that one out to pasture. Get the A6300, a speedbooster ultra and you have one powerhouse little package. Press release says 4k in s35 format. That should mean no crop. Sweet

Exactly, shoot the finish of the 100m finals at the Rio Olympics at 60fps for the perfect shot of the winner breaking the tape. Mjpeg makes a lot of sense for the people that will be buying his camera.

Well to be fair, the FS5 is a video camera targeted at video shooters, the 1dxII is Canon's top of the line stills camera targeted at sports/wildlife shooters and photojournalists that also shoots 4k video, while being weather sealed, having one of the best AF systems on the planet, and offering 14fps with a 170 frame raw burst and so on.... Apples and oranges. To the max. People on this forum are not Canon's target with this camera, despite its video capabilities. Look at the shutter count on used 1dx's, in many cases people are firing off 200,000+ frames a year. I've seen used models with over a 1,000,000 clicks on the shutter. The upcoming 5d4 will probably fill the 4k void at a lower price point. The 5d3 was dropped shortly after the 1dx started shipping, hopefully the pattern continues.

So far its been really good, but admittedly all I've done is a lot of walking test shots. Its much easier to balance/setup than the Defy G2 I previously used, much lighter too. The gimbal weighs a little over 2 lbs with batteries, and my camera brings to total weight to just over 4 pounds. Comes with a nice padded case and an extra set of batteries. All of my tinkering has yet to burn through my first set, so battery life is looking pretty good. What sold me on the DS1 was the 32-bit board, higher load capacity than other one handed gimbals and positive user reports. I'm sure we'll see more gimbals at NAB and such, but I don't know what can be done to improve on the DS1 without adding to its size or cost. The biggest con for me is the USB charging. I haven't bothered to look for other charging options for the batteries, but the manual says you'll get faster results with a dedicated charger, so there must be something available. Beholder claims 3-4 hours of shooting per charge, so two sets of batteries will easily carry me through any shoot with plenty of juice to spare - even if I only get a couple hours per set. My Mac Pro gives me a "USB Devices Disabled because its using too much power" message when I plug in the batteries which is odd, so I plug it into my wife's crappy old laptop. I use it with the A7rII and at some point I'll put my A7s on it too. The DS1 combined with the IBIS makes for some crazy smooth walking shots and when doing dolly shots it looks like a slider. You can just turn the handle upside down for low shots or to simulate a jib movement. I'm going to take it on a boat to see how it handles waves at some point. There's a seller on eBay that will take an offer of $650, I bought from them. No regrets so far. Apologies to anyone interested in the Nebula for going OT.

The first 4k/60p DSLR and people are still complaining. Looking forward to image samples and the soon to be announced 5d4 with 4k recording to Cfast cards.

Check out the thread of complaints on the Roxor with its pathetic 10fps 4k "video" on DVXuser, just like this thread, the Filmpower people just ignore complaints and keep posting bad sample videos. I passed on the Nebula because of this and went Beholder DS1.

I forgot to talk about the other reason I moved from my previous setup - low light performance. I was really disappointed in the amount of noise in the NX1, 1600 was my max ISO. I was hoping Samsung would improve that with a FW update as I think there's a lot of untapped potential with the incredibly powerful internal processing, but it never happened. I was also hoping for proper back button AF with the NX1, but that never happened either. I always remove AF from the shutter button and take advantage of the AF/AEL switch, the NX1 can't do it properly. Anyway. I shoot monthly outdoor events that a local spa hosts, they run till 9 or 10 pm, so a good portion of the party is in an area lit mostly by strings of christmas lights in trees and such, even with fast lenses I'm shooting at 6400 and sometimes 12800. The A7rII image is still really nice at 6400 and very useable for me at 12800 - and its much cleaner than the 5d3 or NX1 at the same ISO. The DR with stills is much better as well, but its well known Sony has better shadow and highlight recovery than any other sensor so that's no surprise. Its not until 25600 that the A7rII's IQ (in s35 mode) really starts to drop behind the A7s. If you go A7rII you can take advantage of some cheaper aps-c lenses if video is your main focus - and it takes 18mp stills in crop mode. I have the 16-35/4 and the 10-18/4 - which overlap but I shoot a lot of landscapes and the FF IQ of the 16-35 is much, much better. The 10-18 will one of my gimbal lenses as I just bought the Beholder DS1. For s35 4k, the crop lenses are fantastic - light, cheap and covers a wider range than the FE line. You also have the 18-105/4 power zoom which makes a great run and gun video lens covering an effective 27-158mm range in one small/light package that's constant aperture throughout the range. Its also about $400 used. The 16-50 pancake can be found for less than $100 and is great for tracking subjects while shooting, AF is crazy fast/accurate. The other option is what I considered as well, A7sII and something like the A6000/5100 for higher MP stills. The A7s takes really nice photos that seem to have more depth to them than other FF cameras, but at times 12mp is very limiting (for me) and for travel its just not enough as the fine detail is lacking. The AF is contrast only, compared to the PADF on the A7rII, as a stills camera is the A7rII is far superior and the AF is very good in video mode, and much better than the A7s in all but the lowest light situations. Lastly, the a5100 is so small/light and it shares the same battery, so its really easy to always have it with you on a shoot. I mostly bought it to shoot stills and to always have a small backup with me. Though mine may get replaced by a RX100IV since that shoots 4k and great slow-mo. Cheers.

One thing I'd consider when running two systems, depending on your budget, your lens range will be much more limited on both sides. I was shooting with a 5d3 (faster lenses and better AF in low light) and the NX1/16-50s (4k) before moving to Sony and combining both into the A7rII - which is a much better stills camera and still shoots really good 4k. It made life a lot easier, especially with Samsung's crappy lens selection and whispers the NX line is dead. Now I can shoot with any Canon, Sony A mount or Sony E mount lens for AF and adapt pretty much every lens ever made. I've added an A7s for a backup and B cam since most of my projects wind up being 1080p. I also have the a5100 as a backup stills camera and emergency video cam, the body cost $200, a no brainier for what you get.

Looks pretty good, will be interesting to see what the noise and DR is like across the ISO range. Fuji colors are amazing and the lens lineup is something every Sony owner can only dream about, but video has always been incredibly disappointing. I have no interest in the hybrid VF either after owning the Xpro1 and the X100, so the Xpro2 is a no go for me as I don't want to pay a significant premium for something I never use. I'm hoping that the little nugget Fuji dropped - stating that the new processor is 4k capable - might mean good things for the XT2. I fear Sony is going to mostly produce large/heavy/expensive lenses for the FE lineup like the 35/1.4, 90 macro and any rumored F/2.8 zooms since they seem to be driving profits along with the relentless FF body release schedule. In Sony-land the aps-c lens lineup seems to be at an endpoint as they've released nothing in the last couple years, which leaves me at a crossroad for my small body/lens travel kit. There are just so many attractive options in the X-mount. I'm not going smaller than aps-c, had high hopes for the NX1 but the lenses kept me from going all in there. Maybe Fuji can make it happen, maybe...