Trek of Joy

What's your budget? What about some of the variable aperture M43 long zooms? Surely they're on par with your FD lens sharpness wise. Old long zooms are a tough proposition for modern levels of sharpness haha. Parfocal is a long shot. Another thought, what about adapting old ENG lenses? They're fast aperture, parfocal, long focus throws, many have a built in doubler and so on. B4's are cheap. Chris

All good. A lot of his concerns could be addressed with a FW update. I do hope more of the touchscreen functionality with an external monitor and eye-animal video AF becomes a reality. Very glad to see there's no AF limitations with a monitor or recorder though as I plan to use the Ninja V a lot. They could take care of the NR as well and just give us the option to turn it off. But it looks like the workaround is just to record high ISO externally for now. I have far less overheating concerns with the a7s3 compared to the R5, and his test makes me feel even better. It does overheat, but it really need to be pushed and it still can recover very quickly unlike the Canon. For the way I shoot I don't have any concerns - especially since its use for me as a stills camera will be very limited. But that face/eye tracking when people walk behind trees and such is awesome. It really sticks to your subject well. Chris

First I have the camera on order. Don't get so defensive, its a joke - hence the "LOL!" No hate or jealousy, every damn review gets shill comments. Its become the thing if you don't agree with their conclusions - like the silly banging about color science or filmic, or cinematic - you know things that can't actually be quantified. Its a great review and I like Bloom because he's so through in his testing. There's nothing in there that makes me want to cancel my order and it mostly just gets me more excited to start shooting with it. Chris Never said anything about his talent, I said grab a coffee because its 75 minutes long. And the shill comment was a joke, guess the LOL part wasn't clear. Where do people come up with this stuff?

Bloom's 75 minute review. Grab some coffee, or a beer depending on what time it is where you live. Cue the shill comments LOL!

Hey man, if it works for you, fine, enjoy your camera. I really don't want to continue to debate the merits of Nikon in a Sony thread. Its a fine system and if it works for you that's great, it doesn't work for me and that's not changing soon. Apologies for derailing this discussion and bringing Nikon talk into a Sony thread. Here's another BTS video from one of the launch videos, its in French but the subtitles will auto translate.

BTS for the night desert launch film. We have an Easyrig sighting...

Will they function as well as E-mount adapters that already exist? Will speedboosters for all those lens mounts be made? Who knows since everything has to be reverse engineered? Plus there will be no Zeiss, Tamron or Sigma lenses for the Zed mount anytime soon. I'll stick with the known quantity for now and reassess in a couple years when their next gen cameras are out and the lens lineup is more comprehensive with (hopefully) 3rd party support. I'm not buying into a system for what it may become at some undetermined point down the road - especially when I like the E-mount lens options available right now and most of the best have been around long enough to fall into really great prices on the used market. Chris

I shoot with Canon, Fuji and Sony - I really don't care about the brand, just what gets the job done and what I enjoy shooting with. Colors are fine on all of them and they all need small tweaks to get the look I want. IQ is great with everything I shoot, it literally won't be any better by shooting with a Nikon, I'll just have fewer lenses to choose from. Colors are fine with the a7s3 as well. Your passive aggressive tone made me laugh. Cheers Chris In the Z6? Not if they're reusing the current sensor. Not even close.

LOL! That made me laugh. Chris

I have used the Z6, before the big update, it was ok but nothing that would make me want to drop the a73 or a7r3 and buy into the Z-mount. And that's Nikon's problem, they're solid cameras, but solid isn't going to move the needle and get many people to buy into the system. They're losing market share fast and it doesn't look like they can slow the slide. Like Canon their initial offerings were underwhelming, and got significantly better with updates. But Canon pulled out all the stops with the R5/6 and generated a lot of excitement, Nikon not so much. Seems like they're still trying to not step on their DSLR's with their mirrorless lineup and they're not accelerating new model cycles when everyone else is. They're getting left behind. The raw video update was a complete blunder and didn't help their cause at all. If it was going to be a couple hundred dollars and require you to ship them the camera, they should have been up front about it instead of teasing it for a year and a half then dropping the bomb. The mount also is closed so 3rd party support will be extremely limited, if the lens options work for you then fine, but compared to the E-mount its never going to be as comprehensive. They're also using Sony's sensors, there's really no reason for me to move to the Z-mount and give up a vastly superior selection of lenses with the E-mount for identical IQ. I do think its a great body in hand, Nikon absolutely nailed the ergos. The drunk comment was because of their lukewarm updates to the Z6/7, again if it works for you fine. There really aren't any bad cameras today, all the current FF cameras produce a great image. That's why I laugh when people call one "more cinematic" than another when anything looking cinematic is all down to lighting, exposure and the grade. Everything looks like shit when you shoot under the mid-day sun and burn the skin highlights, its not the camera's fault. But I digress. Nikon is in the same boat as the L-mount, there's just not a compelling reason for a large part of the community to make the switch and buy into the system when you look at the competition. They were too late to the game. If one of those cameras offers something specific that suits your needs better, by all means get it and make magic. I'm not giving Sony a free pass, but I'm still buying the camera and will work around its flaws, just like every other camera I've owned. Cheers Chris

The Contax Zeiss 100-300mm is known to be very sharp. Its a one touch zoom though, something I can never get used to when shooting video. Landscape shooters use it as a cheap long lens that's also reasonably sized for its reach. Here's a thread about it with comparisons to Sony's 100-400 GM, its better than the Sony until 300 where it really only slightly dips on the edges and corners. With moving subjects this won't be noticeable at all. https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1501962 Chris

Its definitely not a continuous recording camera, but the recovery times after overheating shutdowns that were part of the dealbreaker aspect for me. If you have to wait two hours to get the HFR or HQ modes, that flat out sucks.

The rolling shutter is super impressive too, blows me away how much better it is compared to Sony's high MP sensors when for years people said Canon would always be behind and Sony would always have the class leading sensors. Someone posted some E-shutter shots of a hummingbird and the wings look really good. Its a great achievement by Canon. Chris

I'm with you. Still waiting for that unicorn to appear, for a brief second the R5 was it and I had one that would have been delivered Thursday. Then it literally went down in flames. Given that we really won't see anything significant for another couple of years now that Canon has gone all-in with the R5/6, Nikon is drunk and passed out with the rumored Z6s/7s, all Sony has left is the a7IV which will be hit with the cripple hammer compared to the a7s3, and nobody else is making significant headway - I've accepted the fact that the one camera hybrid solution isn't happening anytime soon. One body will shoot mostly stills, one mostly video, lots of lens changes, and lots of damn sensor swabs since Sony's 3rd/4th gen cams attract dust like no other camera I've used. Holy shit the a73/a7r3's are a dust magnet compared to the a7r2/s2 I carried across six continents! Anyway, needing to go two cameras means I've ordered the a7s3 and I'm now looking to shift my a7r3 to a a7r4 so AF and accessories are mirrored (pun intended) between the two with grips, underwater housings and so on. This will cover me for the next 2-3 years until someone gets it right in the next round of updates. Cheers Chris

Damn, on the DR side - much like the 1dx3 - Canon has clearly caught Sony with the R5. Its now at the head of the class with Sony's best. That extra stop advantage Sony had is no more... Chris

I've repeatedly said the same thing. Find the tool that fits your needs and put it to work. Cheers Chris

If you're a FF hybrid shooter, then one of your other bodies will probably be a 24, 42 or 61 mp a7/a9 that you shoot alongside the a7s3, or even one of the aps-c cameras. Most a7s3 buyers that shoot lots of stills aren't getting it as their only camera to cover all photo/video needs, most already have a camera or two - likely other E-mount bodies. And if your final delivery is all social - which is increasingly common these days, 12mp isn't really any sort of an issue. But focusing on the 12mp thing without considering the fact you can get a 42mp a7r2 for about $800 used would just be ignoring reality, that's a $4300 kit that shoots much better stills than the S1h at a minimal extra cash outlay compared to a S1h body. And that's not factoring the bloated costs of Panasonic's L-mount lenses or the limited total options in L-mount, which will drive the costs up fast. Adapting kills AF, and again one of the big selling points of the a7s3 - and others like the R5 is the stellar AF. I'd like waveforms, shutter angle and a few other S1h goodies, but not at the expense of Panasonic's AF and buying into the L-mount. I picked up a mint 36mp a7r not too long ago for $500. An a6300 runs about $350 used, that's peanuts to have one in the bag as a knockaround body if you want a cheap 24mp cam, an a6000 is even less. Everyone's needs are different, YMMV. Cheers Chris

I had better eyesight 7 years ago, and since I first bought the 5d2 back in 2008 I've been able to use AF to at least set initial focus. Its the way I've always worked, going back to my first job using a Sony 1080i HDV Z1u 'Push Auto' focus function. So I got by, but life is a lot easier now and I'm able to create content in a very efficient manner with spot on focus. Its the best of both worlds for a solo run-and-gun shooter. Canon, Sony and now Red are putting real AF in cine cams and plenty use hybrids to shoot video - so there's obviously a demand beyond my poor vision. Your condescending gerneric/boring images and cinematography/art comments are absolute BS, just like the holier-than-thou "pros only use MF" comments that always pop up. Its your opinion so you're free to express it. But its bullshit. Cheers Chris

Not sure if this video was posted, scrolling through the last few pages its mostly S1h/Netflix arguments that don't seem to relate to the Sony at all. As to the a7s3, if you need reliable AF, cameras like the Zcams, the Blackmagic's and likely the S1h are not something people are considering, its a completely different type of camera and shooting experience. Nothing is ever going to change that until they have reliable AF. I need AF for my work, none of those will ever be a part of my kit, and I'm obviously not alone. The excitement over this and the R5/6 is because you're combining great IQ with great AF with bitrates that many Sony shooters have wanted for years. Continually injecting cameras like Blackmagic's or Netflix approval into the discussion is just noise. Nobody is buying the a7s3 or a Pocket 4k for that matter to shoot the next season of Ozark. You're buying this over other options if you're already invested in the E-mount ecosystem and want the best video option without having to lug around one of the larger FS/FX cameras - or if you want reliable AF for your work. Bonus the E-mount has the widest selection of native AF lenses that's more comprehensive than all other FF options combined. And with all the 3rd party support combining MF and AF lenses from Zeiss/Tamron/Sigma/Voigtlander/Samyang and others, that gap will keep getting wider. Second bonus if you shoot stills, the E-mount has you covered with a some of the best photo options money can buy. I put this on my 65" TV, this guy put it through its paces and shot tons of 120p, no surprise since its one of the standout features. Just wish the poster had enabled captions - even YT's sometimes weird autocaption - so we can get a partial translation. But this looks like a proper review. Chris

Call it the R5v, R5s or whatever, I'm not talking about any changes beyond slight body redesign to allow for a more efficient cooling system. I bet with 3d printing they could have a viable prototype in a matter of days. It wouldn't encroach on the Cinema line any more than the current camera does, it would just silence the noise and bring people like me that are sitting in the sidelines until this gets sorted back into the fold. But I agree, doubt anything other than more thermal paste or something is all they do. Chris

What about smaller file sizes? Adding something like Braw would reduce file sizes, but would likely require a massive coding effort to get it working. Some say the CFexpress card gets really hot in the video modes that cause overheating. That's really all I can think of that would help with just a FW update. Not sure if they can cram any more heat mitigation into the current body, but I'm sure they're trying to figure out what can be done. Otherwise a small re-engineering of the body to improve heat dissipation seems like the only other solution. If I were in charge, the R5c with a slightly larger body would be part of the November second wave of cameras. Create a solution for video centric shooters that doesn't overheat, and let the "these are photo bodies, get a real video camera" luddites continue to have the current R5. Chris

Overheating killed the R5 for me, though I saw someone on FB asking $5000 USD for his, maybe I should have kept my preorder. Keeping an eye on this... Chris

In that case a viable alternative is to shoot at 16,000, which is much cleaner and just raise exposure in post the same way he did with the FX9. I'd be interested to see that one since we've seen how clean the a7s3 is at 16k. Its really amazing watching all the reviews how incomplete the tests are in the rush to be first. Even the Undone video leaves questions... Chris

Only canceled my pre-order, but still going to see if it works for me. I did get a pre-order in for the a7s3 right when it went live just to be in the front of the queue. I want to see what happens with full production models of the R5 in the hands of people that aren't trying for youtube clickbait stuff, so I'll be watching what people are saying over on Fred Miranda and such. Still holding out hope it'll work for me as it ticks so many boxes. I placed an order to rent one from Lens Rentals here in the US, but it'll be a month before there's one available. Waiting to hear back from a rental house nearby to see if they're getting the R5. I know a Sony ambassador that does similar stuff to what I do and she's loving the a7s3 now that she can talk about it, and she's not much of a video shooter. I could go either way at this point and be happy. I just need to figure out the most reliable solution for shooting in warm climates. Cheers Chris

I have been to Italy, rented a car and drove around for two weeks when I was touring Europe a couple years ago. Some of the most amazing sunsets I'ver ever seen were in Tuscany and along the Amalfi Coast. Would love to go back with the a7s3. I tried to watch the video with auto translate but a lot didn't make sense. Still fun to see everyone's reaction to the camera, even if they were acting for the video. Priceless. Cheers Chris