red

Thanks. I'm tempted to invest in the 23 and 50 f2 if they don't hunt and have decent autofocus. It seems a great hybrid camera for casual video shoots and capturing moments with its jpeg engine.

Thanks for the recommendation @jonpais Any recommendations for a shorter focal length within the 24-35-50mm range to capture action a bit closer to the subject?

Can anyone recommend some native lenses for the X-T20 that have good auto-focus or even a decent manual focus ring? I got the 27mm 2.8 pancake lens for photos but it is awful for any video work. It forever hunts and the motor is noisy and gets picked up with the audio. I also have the 16-50 XC zoom but was looking for a prime or a better zoom.

Happy holidays! I recently got a RX100 V to capture video. Does anyone else have one? Any tips of setup? Picture profiles? I am running it 50p mode as the 25p mode seems a bit juddery compared to the D750. Is it safe to run 1/50 for 50p mode or should I be doing it 1/100? Playback seems a bit different compared to my other cameras hence was asking. I do usually shoot 25p 1/50 but was trying to see what works best for the RX100 V. The only negative seems to be the shorter battery life I am experiencing compared to older models and larger mirror-less cameras. The colours aren't as good as my Nikon D750 or Fuji X-T20 kit but the auto-focus is great and the main reason it was purchased to capture quick family moments and be easy to take. Is there anything else on the market with reliable auto-focus like the Sony RX100? I did contemplate the the Lumix range but from what I saw the auto-focus isn't as rapid and can hunt a fair bit?

HI, I mainly have the Nikon 24-70 2.8 attached to the D750 for shooting video but have not always been happy with manually focusing with it quickly. It does not offer much flexibility in terms of nailing focus quickly because the range of something being in focus and not being in sharp focus is so minimal. Are there any better zooms out there that I may not know about that offers a far better focus pulling range to get things locked in focus quicker? I have heard there are some classic lenses about but don't really know which ones are worth getting. I do have primes but do need a zoom as my workhorse. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Red

Thank you so much to everyone who has posted so far. Lots to read up on today and then evaluate and ask more questions Great community as always!

For the 2011 grab 16GB via Crucial and then replace the HDD with a SSD and also replace the optical drive with another SSD or even a larger HDD or the existing HDD. Put OSX on the SSD and all your data on the HDD. This should speed up your machine considerably. Check this guide to get dual HDD in your machine.

Afternoon all, I am looking into a new machine for my editing needs be it photos via Lightroom or video via Final Cut or maybe Premiere Pro. I saw an iMac via the Apple Refurb store with a spec of: 27-inch Retina 5K | 16GB memory| 2TB Fusion Drive | AMD Radeon R9 M395 Will that suffice for D750 1080p footage and a potential 4k GX80 and GH5 next summer? Or am I better of building an i7 6700k rig with carefully selected components? What is everyone editing on to keep me some sort of idea. Thanks, Red

Hi All, I am looking for a bit of advice. A few shooters I know who shoot documentaries have switched to shooting with the Sony A7S II and FS5 and I was looking to pick something up on a budget to cut with their footage. Any recommendations for something that will cut well with the A7S II? I was thinking maybe the Sony A6000 or A6300? Any lens recommendations? Native or use adaptors to use other brands. The end deliverable is 1080p via Blu-ray or USB stick. Thanks for any pointers in advance.

Another vote for the D750. Want to switch to Sony but then look at the footage which makes me keep it! As said above, it gets the job done and the colours are very good with minimal to no effort.

The corpse like comment on the skin tones makes me just want to skip this and keep my D750 and add a D5500/D7200 once funds allow rather than selling my Nikon gear and lenses. The skin tones out of the camera from the D750 are very good.

Thanks for an insight into your equipment. Matching in post may prove to be your biggest headache. Might be worthwhile downloading samples online and putting in post with your Sony footage. I am still sitting on the fence. I was recently editing my D750 footage and the colours were very good and required no colour correction. I am worried about jumping to the A6300 and losing out on the out of the box colours and also the DOF I can get with my 24-70 and 85.

What is your main cam? The eBay Panasonic store has the G7 at a good price when in stock @ £349 and warranty.

If I switch from Nikon the 18-105mm PZ G OSS and the 35mm f1.8 OSS seem an ideal combo with some vintage primes.

That is a cracker of a price! I will monitor the Outlet store. I have had my MBP over 7 years and time for an upgrade but worried may miss FCPX.

Dell Outlet UK have had some great prices on both the XPS13 and XPS15 in recent days. Tempted to replace my ageing MacBook Pro.

The 18-105mm f4 sounds interesting. Would be a new way of working as it has the zoom rocker over a zoom twist. The Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 would be too costly for me. Would it not also crop to 36 to 105? I do have a Nikon 24-70 that I could use via an adapter but thought it might be better to get native lenses to maximise the use of the body.

Glad to hear you mention 'Nice colour rendition (like A7rII - Not a7s original or a6000 I hate their look)' as I was looking at future projects where a couple of guys will be running the A7sII and FS5 and this might be a better option to have in the kit bag over the Nikon stuff they currently use. Does anyone have any recommendations for a run and gun style lens to use for events style shooting? The kit lens won't cut it. I could look at the 35/50 Sony 1.8 but also needed a workhorse zoom with decent enough low light capabilities.

How does the Sony A5100 compare to this? I ordered an A5100 via an Amazon lightening deal but wondering now whether I should have upped my budget and got the RX100 IV? I just wanted something quick and easy to capture the toddler.

I picked up the A5100 the other day on the Amazon lightening deal. Now wondering whether I should have gone for the G7. I just wanted something quick and easy to capture the toddler. I did notice in this test that the autofocus isn't that great and the Sony is better. The deal is on until today so would need to order ASAP to get it at a decent price.

I still haven't pulled the trigger on this. It sat in my Amazon basket for days. I wanted the portability of a RX100 IV but this is still crazy value and can get a couple of primes for the same as a RX100 IV but then the faff and form factor! Was hoping to use when with the family and then B-Cam it to my D750 but the colours will probably not even match.

If staying with Sony colours then Sony A6000?

The D7200 allows you to change the aperture in live view mode, has 2 dials for aperture and shutter, can dial in the kelvin value, has a motor for auto focus on older lenses if doings still or quick focus before record, more robust body to name but a few.... Have a read of this blog for more info about Nikon and Cinema.

Thanks again for the reply. EditReady seems like a handy app. I have never converted my footage into prores and normally just drop the mov files into FCPX. I shall explore prores to see if it can aid my final output. I do like the 15" MacBook Pro but the 13" form factor seems appealing for when not doing edits and away from the monitor and wanting to be more mobile. I really enjoy shooting with the D750. The footage it creates is very good and doesn't need much post. I shot previously with the D800 and then upgraded. The Nikon image I found is a lot better than anything a Canon DSLR can produce when comparing footage. It doesn't have all the features Sony or Panasonic tout for video but the image for shooting skin tones can't be matched. I am looking for a second body. I wanted the D5500 but likely to get the D7200 or anything new Nikon release in 2016. I use Nikon glass and also use it for stills so find it meets my needs.

Thanks mercer for your input. How come you convert 4K footage to 1080p prores? Do you simply downscale it and edit for 1080p output? Do you not lose the crop ability of 4k? Be interested to hear more about your workflow. Have you done any straight 4k into FCPX? As for the specification of the laptop I found it seems plausible to think it will edit the footage fine?