bjohn

Oops, looks like I was wrong about that: I can indeed use ProColor 5 on the A7s so I'll set that up.

I've been asked to take photos and do a short video of a traditional dance weekend at the end of August. They asked me based on the photos I've shot at similar dances, and I'm all sorted on the photography front. But the only video cameras I have experience with are my Blackmagic Micro and original Pocket cinema cameras, which I love but they are not made for shooting in low light. And the dances happen in dimly lit rooms. When I shoot photos for these dances I'm often at ISO 12,800. The native ISO on my Blackmagic cameras is 800, and anything above that starts getting very noisy very fast. I do have an original Sony A7s that I have only ever used for photography, but obviously this could be the right tool for this job. But I am a complete neophyte on shooting video with a hybrid camera; everything is different to what I'm used to. Also, I'm in North America but I bought this A7s from a seller in the UK so it's set up for PAL; I assume that won't be an issue since this video will only be viewed on youtube not broadcast, but if I'm wrong about that please let me know. Google searches for shooting video on the A7s largely turn up tutorials for the newer A7siii, which is a very different beast with features that aren't available in the original A7s. Can anyone point me to a good crash course on what settings I should use and anything to watch out for? I also have very little experience in grading Sony footage in post, but most of what I read indicates that it's not worth shooting log and trying to grade since the files are so heavily compressed, and I should just use a profile that gets me close to what I want straight out of camera. I have Andrew Reid's Pro Color, but only the latest version and that doesn't apply to the original A7s; I'd have to buy an older version. Any advice would be appreciated, I'm all ears!

Try using this tool: http://aggregate.org/DIT/IBIS/ It's quite clever, and the developer explains its limitations and goes into the mechanics of IBIS in some detail.

There are a couple of threads on the BMD cinematography forum with details on which cards work for which formats, and I saw a link to a youtube video as well. Here is the youtube:

I haven't shot uncompressed raw except to experiment, but I've shot a lot of 3:1 compressed raw on the BMMCC, which results in actually slightly smaller file sizes than Prores HQ. The main reason I do it is to avoid having to set white balance in camera (which is a pain on the BMMCC unless you have a remote), but I've made significant changes in white balance in Prores with no ill effects.

The most reliable ones I've found so far are the Angelbird cards, which they have only tested for the original Pocket but I can vouch that they work on the BMMCC although I haven't tested 60fps since I almost never use slow motion. I got two of the 128 gig cards from them a couple of years ago and they've been rock solid. If I remember correctly 60fps is not available in uncompressed raw anyway, I think you can shoot it in CDNG raw 3:1 and ProRes, but I haven't checked the manual to confirm. You may have to check with Angelbird directly to see if they still have these cards available; for a while they had removed them from their website but when I wrote to them they said they still had a good number of them and sold two to me. As far as I know, no new cards support 60fps on the BMMCC; only the old SanDisk ones that were approved by BMD. I have a stash of those that I use along with the Angelbirds. The cheapest cards I found that worked were the Kingston Canvas Select, but mine only lasted a year before giving up the ghost. Those were reliable for ProRes and CDNG up to 30fps but I did occasionally get frame drops in raw at 30fps and even once or twice with ProRes. If you don't mind ProRes, the way to extend the lifetime of this camera is to get one of BMD's newer video assists or another external monitor/recorder that records ProRes; those can accept modern SD cards.

Last time I checked there were two pretty active discussion threads devoted to the FX30 on this forum.

I can see this point for a commercial operator, but resale value has never played a role in my camera purchase decisions, nor do I consider a camera an "investment" when making a purchase. I tend to use my cameras for 10 years or longer if I can, at which point I'm more likely to give them away to a student than to try to sell them anyway. When I owned cars I did the same thing: I ran them for 10 years or 250,000 miles, whichever came first.

Doesn't the Pocket 6K also have gyro stabilization? Maybe that in combination with some of the other options here would work...from what I've seen, handheld footage with gyro stabilization still looks handheld, but without all the micro-jitters.

Those comparisons especially show how the new ProRes optimization helps with M2, but to me they suggest it's worth waiting to see if there will be M2 Studio models at some point, for those of us who don't need/want laptops. The Mini Pro is probably more than enough computer for my purposes but an M2 or M3 Studio might be worth waiting for.

The Apple refurbished units, sold by Apple from the Apple Store, have the same warranty as new ones and in many cases are actually new (returned unopened). The only reason to buy a new computer or iPad from Apple is if you can't find what you're looking for (model or specs) in the online Apple refurbished store.

You can already get a good deal by buying refurbished, which is what always do; both of my current Macs are refurbished and have been running for 9 and 10 years respectively with zero problems; I've had refurbished iPods, iPads, and several refurbished Macs, all of which were excellent. The only challenge is finding one that meets your desired specs, but if you're patient one will eventually come up.

I'm going to wait six months or so to see real-world reviews and experiences from users before making a decision. My computer for video editing is a 2013 Mac Pro (trashcan model) with 32 gigs of RAM and dual GPUs. It handles all my needs in Resolve, but it can't be updated beyond Monterey so once Apple stops supporting that version I'll either need to finally make the leap to Apple Silicon or cut off this computer completely from the internet and keep using it until it dies. I could also entertain the idea of switching to Windows or Linux, which I've done before, but encountered so many issues and time-sinks that I think sticking with Mac is the most efficient solution for me. I also have an old 2014 i5 Mini with 8 gigs of ram that I use for non-video tasks and it's still running strong; I like the Mini form factor so would likely replace both computers with one M2 Mini Pro unless I decide to wait a couple of years for M3.

Unless he works for Panasonic (and he doesn't) it's all speculation anyway. People make confident predictions all the time that turn out to be wrong...ask any stockbroker. 😉

What he actually predicted was that there won't be any more S1H cameras period; here's a direct quote from his review of the S5ii: "You don’t have to read between the lines to work out that the S5 II and S5 II x are essentially the S1H replacement. The original S5 is not being discontinued, and despite the new cameras wearing the S5 name, it is safe to assume that they are the new flagship cameras and there won’t be an S1H II. The S1H was a very underrated camera and in a lot of ways, it was ahead of its time. If it hadn’t been for the average at best AF performance, it may well have become a bigger success. The lack of native lens options at the time of its release also didn’t help its cause."

Nice! I wonder if the mini would be a good solution for the original BMPCC. I have a glidecam, which I prefer to gimbals for several reasons (more natural-looking motion footage, no motor noise, no batteries to charge or worry about on airplanes, etc.), but a small gimbal would be more portable and practical in some cases. I also have two Blackmagic Micro Cinema Cameras that might work on the mini, depending on its payload specs.

A google search of "Sony Aiv overheating" will give you more information and there's even a thread here on this forum:

I thought the A7iv had worse rolling shutter than the FX-30 but I could be mistaken on that. I grew up in NY, heat would definitely be an issue; reports I've read show that the A7iv can overheat even in moderately warm conditions. If you live in Antarctica or near the summit of Mt. Everest you might not have to worry but otherwise it's a potential issue of concern.

I think your biggest challenge with the Micro would be finding SD cards that work. There are a few; the cheap Kingston ones have worked for many people but mine only lasted a year; I then spent the big bucks on two Angelbird 128 gig cards and those have been rock-solid reliable so far. I also have a stash of the original Sandisk cards that were approved for this camera but there's always the worry of what to do when cards start to fail. At that point I'd switch to an external monitor/recorder and just shoot ProRes.

Those are great specs. I've seen a few bits of footage online but would love to see it with some native Super 16 lenses. Once BMD knocked cut the price in half it became more interesting to me but it's still big and expensive compared with other options. I'd like to wait and see if they come out with a smaller new camera in 2023 or 2024 that uses their own sensor, not necessarily 12K.

I have two of these cameras and love them but the downside is fixed-pattern noise. Not an issue if you give the camera enough light but FPN can quickly rear its ugly head and it's very difficult to eliminate. There was a detailed thread about it on the BMD forum here: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=115570 Interesting about the BMPCC 4K in S16 mode. I've also heard very high praise for the Ursa Mini 12K in Super 16 crop but have yet to see examples.

I actually got a used A7s in near-mint condition a couple of weeks ago, but not for video; I am using it for stills only. I currently use an A7iii (also only for stills, I don't shoot video with Sony) and the A7s feels like a step backward in many ways but it's smaller and lighter, which I like. I heard from multiple photographers that there's something special about the combination of the A7s and vintage lenses (which is almost all I shoot with), but I'm not seeing it; I've used all my lenses on the A7s now and honestly can't see any differences between it and what I'm getting from my A7iii. The files are lower resolution and smaller, of course, but in terms of image quality, rendering, etc., they seem identical to the A7iii. To do a controlled test would require setting up a tripod and changing out the cameras using the same lens shooting the same subject in the same light, but if there are differences they must be pretty subtle. The A7s is less customizable, has an even more primitive menu system than the A7iii, has no IBIS (which isn't an issue for me but would be for some people), and the battery life is about half that of the A7iii even with higher-capacity third-party batteries from Wasabi or Neewer. The EVF is worse than that in the A7iii and the refresh rate is noticeably slower. I see jello if I move the camera while looking through the EVF. It's a good camera and I'll keep it, but I probably would have been happier with an A7c or another A7iii as my second camera.

Nice! I may get another one myself...my original BMPCC is starting to show signs of age and it shuts down whenever I try using it with my Panasonic 12-35 lens; works fine with all-manual lenses, which is mainly what I use, but the 12-35 is versatile and has image stabilization; I miss being able to use it.

I got rid of all but one of my native e-mount lenses long ago; I use adapted lenses which gives me literally thousands of lenses to choose from. That was originally the big selling point for e-mount: almost anything can be adapted to it. Not having any e-mount glass gives me the flexibility to use my lenses on whatever cameras I want to, now and in the future. My only e-mount lens is the Mitakon 50/0.95, a special-purpose lens that offers great low-light performance, amazing bokeh, but mostly boring rendering. Otherwise I'm using rangefinder lenses (M mount and LTM mount), some old and some new; I have two MS Optics lenses that are amazing and I'd like to use them for video but not sure how I'd ever fit ND filters to them (or put them in a matte box). My other rangefinder lenses are old, from the 1940s to 1960s; I love them for their rendering and tiny size. I also use my Minolta Rokkors on Sony, a great combination and the most practical for video since you can easily get step-up rings to fit ND filters and/or matte boxes. Some have rotating front elements, so a matte box needs to be fixed to rails. All that said, I never shoot video with Sony...yet. The FX-30 has me pondering it as a practical low-light alternative to my existing cine cams (Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera and original Pocket).

When I watch tests like this, it reminds me how much I dislike gratuitous slow motion. I think every filmmaker should be given a lifetime allocation of 10 minutes of slow motion that they can use judiciously throughout their career. It's like exclamation points: I remember reading a diatribe against them in which the author said that every writer should be given a lifetime supply of exactly one exclamation point.