scotchtape

When you are in auto ISO the +-0 only shows the exposure compensation and not the meter reading. You can test by changing the EV dial. When you switch back to manual ISO then it shows the reading.

Check the pins. One of mine was bent, and now stuck completely down. I emailed them on the weekend but they still haven't got back to me. I'm getting the viltrox since the optical quality is apparently the same as metabones, not sure if the focusing will be as "good".

A7iii slog2 min iso is already 800... Where have you been.

I want 4k60p too or no go for me too. Even if codec is a bit better it's not worth 3k... I have gh5 and a7iii and I use 4k60 frequently and it sucks not having it on Sony. Not to mention the crap ibis for video.

Obviously lots of people are waiting for 4k60p... Then a7iii will be my backup camera. I do wish the codec was a bit beefier. I prefer colors from gh5.

If you watch some of the first videos out, the af-c isn't that impressive so far. I was thinking of picking some up but clearly slapping an e-mount on the back of DSLR lenses isn't the way to go. No size advantage and the af can't keep up. Whatever they did, if anything, to the AF motors doesn't seem to do much for performance.

B&H Flash Sale on Westcott XXL Rapid Octa - $189 reg $300. Cheapest I've ever seen it. I'm currently using $60 Godox ones with Aputure 300D for interviews. Jumped on this to see if it's worth the extra $$$.

Just put arca quick release on the plates that's what I do.

Upon further inspection, I won't be using af-c for much b-roll except a few pull and pushes. The background pulses at 1/1 occasionally and is pretty unreliable as it likes to focus on the background. Might still use it for interviews at locked on / slow though.

I just ordered the crane 2. I was trying to find a used one for the eBay coupon but unfortunately there was nothing available during the 12 hours. Ended up only getting $130 off the Crane 2 with servo follow focus. They are surely working on the crane 3 with angled motor now... But I needed more payload.

I think this is going to sell really well, but I also feel like there's going to be a ton on the used market as people don't realize how heavy it's going feel. If you need the payload and balancing capabilities then you probably know what you're getting into, but I'm betting lots of people using smaller setups are going to buy in to it, only to realize that they don't actually need a 4lb unit to balance their 2.5lb setups. I hope this thing actually gets smooth motion, because there are so many bad ronin clips out there. I'm astounded that people still rave about DJI.

More tests: turned off lens compensation (shading, loca, distortion) - makes a huge difference. Before turning it off, the Tamron 28-75mm overheated at 45mins, turning it off and it lasted until battery exhaustion, but the warning light did flick on and off towards the end. From what I've read online, the distortion correction does work in video mode but I guess it takes too much processing power. Tested another one of the DSTE batteries I had because one was really bad at shutdown around 10% and corrupted the last file. The other DSTE ran down to 0%, but when it shut down also corrupted the last file. 80% - 0:30 | 67% - 1h | 49% - 1:30 | 31% - 2h | 0%: 2:20 I would suggest being careful with current gen aftermarket batts - basically change them early and expect about 2h recording life. If you don't change them early you risk corrupting the current recording. With my GH5 I usually change them early so I've never really tested the run down on those. For $22... I can live with the shortcomings, and I'm converting the really bad one to a dummy battery (the one that shuts down at 10%).

More testing. Af-c and tracking a subject for b roll not bad at 1/1 and you must keep your focus box over the target. Once the afternoon system focuses on the background you are done if you are trying to use a larger box than your target (like zone focus for a7). The camera will stay locked on to background unless you almost fill the target again, so "zone" type focus is only good if you maintain the tracking. But if you do you can pull of some nice push and pulls and have subject focus distance change, so very good improvement. If panny can tweak it to prefer foreground objects (like everyone else) then it will be another step in the right direction.

17-55mm f2.8?

Just want to comment on the 2.3 GH5 fw - preliminary experience. AF-C is waaay better for faces now. For interview / locked on, set AF-C to face detect, AF Speed -4/-5 (slow), AF sensitivity -3 (max locked on). This reduces pulsing considerably and the face detect is ok. Should be useable for vlogs and casual use, need more testing before using it professionally but it could work. I tried at 24p and it wasn't bad! When it was left at default 0/0 there was pulsing and basically unusable professionally, but set to slow and locked on it was much better. Tested by filming myself in a static interview position, I sometimes moved back and forth like a real interview. Focus racking isn't the smoothest, might not be acceptable if you want silky smooth transitions, but most people probably won't care. I tried this with both the Panasonic 12-35mm and the Sigma 18-35mm with Metabones SB mark IV @ "F1.2". Face tracking is hilarious though, nowhere near Sony. If you tilt your face (still looking at camera, just your head over 30degrees) the box disappears. From the YT videos it's clear that different settings get your drastically different results, so take note. The second thing I want to use it for is B-roll. I tried single area AF-C, set to 0/0 and it works decently in 60P. Most B-roll I just use 60P and not 24p. If left on -5/-3 it's not responsive enough for tracking objects and will easily lose focus if you are changing focus distance. Very positive on it so far, especially for interview use and shallow DOF. I'm not super confident in the AF-C for B-roll but time will tell.

The robotic movement I think can be squarely blamed on the gimbal. From what I can see, the 90% of basecam gimbals suck at smooth movement. Maybe it's from it's origins as a stabilizer system on drones, but the motion part is very artificial, but the stabilization works. By smooth movement, I mean watch the beginning and end of pans, tilts, or other movement. That's where it looks robotic when it "snaps" into place, or had weird ramping. But you can try zhiyun stuff. I started using zhiyun crane, still using crane v2. I think their custom solution does smooth motion a lot better, so for the average person it's easier to use. But zhiyun lacks the other featueres for useage on vehicles or fast movement, you will notice it reacts to gforces by tilting. You can test by using even 50mm and running forward, you will see the frame tilt down. Even though I'm leaning towards preordering (I just cancelled but thinking of ordering again), I'm dreading the poor robotic movements I'm assuming they haven't tweaked out. In regards to the heavy lenses... It really depends on what camera and why you are using it. I don't think there's much of a point in using the sigma's unless you camera supports AFC with them, otherwise you cant keep anything in focus with shallow dof. If you aren't using it for shallow dof, then there's no point in using a heavy f1.8 lens! You can YouTube videos of moza air and crane 2 showing them working with sigma 18-35mm. I don't think the 50-100 will balance though. I had a faulty tilta g2x and it did balance a7iii and Sony GM 70-200, but because the teles are so heavy you have to rebalance if you switch lenses which I won't do during run and gun. I'm used to gh5 and the Trinity of 7-14, 12-35 and 35-100. You just need to slide the plate back and forth and you're good to go (not perfectly rebalanced but good enough). Unfortunately there's nothing like that for full frame (in terms of similar lens size and easy lens change on gimbal), but hopefully Tamron will make something magical happen with a lightweight 2.8 zoom tele. My suggestion is get a used crane or crane v2 and see if it's your thing, they are so cheap now... Like I'm sure you can find one for like 200. If you find it useful then you can go from there.

That looks heavy.

Canon 24-70mm f2.8 ii is a very good lens, probably the best of the bunch. I wish they made it for other mounts!

I just returned some prograde cards (128gb 200mbs). I tested using Crystal disk or wherever. The write speed was much slower than the old lexar and even older much cheaper SanDisk 95mbs cards. The reviews on by also complained about them not working well with Panasonic cameras which is a common problem with lexar cards. How have you not noticed that sometimes when you press record, the camera takes like 10 second to start recording? You can Google the issue, lots of problems with lexar and Panasonic. I tried it again after the Panasonic firmware fix and still got the delays so I never use lexar and Panasonic.

I suggest you change your expectations about speed, shallow dof, and m43, unless you like using manual focus. M43 cams currently have unreliable af-c in video, so any shallow DOF shot while you are running around needs to have the subject camera distance locked in. M43 is also 2 stops over FF, so take your aperture and x2. The "fast" 2.8 zooms are F5.6 equiv for DOF, which is pretty trash for shallow DOF. I've used the GH5 since release with the 12-35 and 35-100 (and prior to that the G6 and G7). Without af-c, getting useable shallow DOF shots during run and gun is too frustrating for me, you are limited to certain types of shots where you either maintain your distance, or lock your focus and move into or away from your subject to get them in focus. I've owned many primes and hardly ever use them because zooms are so much more convenient, but to each their own. A cheap option is the Panasonic 25mm F1.7, which is like a 50mm F3.5. I ended up hardly using it because of no af-c, and using zooms was just way faster. If you are a whiz at manually focusing your lenses while running around then no problem there, but it's something I found impossible to do. That is probably an unpopular opinion around here but in my experience the tech isn't there if you need the speed. If you have a very relaxed pace then sure you can setup your shots, but it's nowhere close to have the flexibility of F2.8 full frame. Not saying you can't get great footage, it's just the shallow DOF takes more effort to achieve for run and gun on m43. Best of luck and safe travels!

It's hit and miss. A lot of Vimeo embeds on people's portfolios will not play or load super slow. But if I'm on the site or watch my own videos it's fine

DSTE Battery lasted 2:15 hours BUT it shut down and corrupted the last file. Not sure what the battery meter said when it shut down.

Update: It might be the 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens + A7 III overheating. Which might mean certain lenses could lead to an overheat situation, which is really weird. I redid the test with Sony OEM battery and Sony 70-200mm F2.8 GM with no overheating, completely using the battery up recording for around 2:50. At 1:30 the battery was around 48%. At 2h, 28%, at 2:30 - 8%. I thought it might be because the 70-200mm is huge so a bigger heat sink, but the 18-105mm with the SmilePowo didn't OH either so... who knows. I will repeat with DSTE later. @newfoundmass The SmilePowo was done with the Sony 18-105mm F4 lens, so it probably would have caused an overheat with the 16-35mm.

You can search YT for yourself and see the tests and videos...