Good cinematic examples using Sony A7S/A7R

[Vladimir]

Just now, Lorian said:

Im between the A7S + Atomos Shogun (and then upgrade to the A7S III when it comes out. Or the A7S II without shogun. Im more tempted to go first with the first version (shogun + camera body its cheaper) and then upgrade, since I think the mark III it's coming out soon.

if u're not in for 120fps slo-mo then totally get a7s/shogun combo. shogun have many usefull feature that helps with a7s colors

[Lorian]

40 minutes ago, Laurier said:

A cinematic image is the combination of a lot of things, 

But between a a7s2 and a a7r2 , I would get the a7r2 ( I had both, I kept the a7r2) Full frame mode is good on the a7r2 and have less rolling shutter than the a7s2, colors are great if you know what you are doing with Slog2 .... and autofocus is super useful, much better than the a7s2, now I shoot my video with it all the time, it save you a 1st AC in most case.

I would consider autofocus glass over manual glass if you invest in sony. 
If you are not in a hurry I would wait a bit, a A7III might also be very good in video if it get the A9 sensor and autofocus system.

That some location scouting I shot with a7r2 + 35mm 2.8 in slog2 + grading.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jgmgxhkood9tytl/newturn_test.mov?dl=0

Thanks Laurier. I liked the A7RII, I had a shooting a few months ago with some Milvus glass and it was really great. Im buying used gear now and don't have access to a A7RII, but if something appears it will be my first option.

Talking about glass I'm not really into autofocus. I really like manual lenses with a good follow focus. Now I have access to 3 Leica R lenses, and soon I want to buy 3 Zeiss Milvus. My options now are A7S + Shogun or A7SII alone. I think I'm going with the A7S + Shogun this time, and the when the A7S/R III comes out I'm thinking to sell the A7S body and buy the new one.

[mercer]

20 minutes ago, Lorian said:

Thanks Laurier. I liked the A7RII, I had a shooting a few months ago with some Milvus glass and it was really great. Im buying used gear now and don't have access to a A7RII, but if something appears it will be my first option.

Talking about glass I'm not really into autofocus. I really like manual lenses with a good follow focus. Now I have access to 3 Leica R lenses, and soon I want to buy 3 Zeiss Milvus. My options now are A7S + Shogun or A7SII alone. I think I'm going with the A7S + Shogun this time, and the when the A7S/R III comes out I'm thinking to sell the A7S body and buy the new one.

I've been having an ongoing discussion with another forum member regarding the a7s vs. the a7s2 and although I understand why many people would choose the Mark ii over the original, I find the original has a more unique color science. Some would say it was improved with the Mark ii, but the original has a very grungy indie film look to it. And if you want 4K, use an external recorder and get higher bitrate ProRes 4K. But in most instances, the 1080p is plenty good enough and is gorgeous.

With my interest in horror and thriller narratives, it almost seems like a no brainer... especially if I can ever find one for less than a $1000 US.

[Nrubloc]

1 hour ago, Laurier said:

A cinematic image is the combination of a lot of things, 

But between a a7s2 and a a7r2 , I would get the a7r2 ( I had both, I kept the a7r2) Full frame mode is good on the a7r2 and have less rolling shutter than the a7s2, colors are great if you know what you are doing with Slog2 .... and autofocus is super useful, much better than the a7s2, now I shoot my video with it all the time, it save you a 1st AC in most case.

I would consider autofocus glass over manual glass if you invest in sony. 
If you are not in a hurry I would wait a bit, a A7III might also be very good in video if it get the A9 sensor and autofocus system.

That some location scouting I shot with a7r2 + 35mm 2.8 in slog2 + grading.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jgmgxhkood9tytl/newturn_test.mov?dl=0

Thanks for the test footage share. Looks nice. I would assume you have the slog2 sharpness dialed down by a large amount as I was thinking it would be clinically sharp with modern Sony glass. I usually use older glass, but I felt the sharpness was not overdone in this case.

Was this shot in 4K (full frame or apsc) and just down sampled or just shot in 1080p. Curious if you used a custom setting for slog2 or the default. The mixed fluorescent light with patches of what appear to maybe be daylight at times from the side or background windows came out as good rendition of color as well. Not sure how much of that was corrected in post grading verses the taking of different white balances or color temp settings during shooting to test what would be best for that particular location, but it seemed to work.

 

[jonpais]

@Lorian @Andrew Reid This 'grumpy old man' apologizes to Lorian and all forum members for my ill-considered response to the OP's post. This is a great community, I'm sincerely sorry to have let anyone down. A moderator should lead by example - from today on I hope I can earn your trust to do just that. 

[Andrew Reid]

No harm done, the thread was quite an interesting one in the end, enjoyed the footage!

[Trek of Joy]

Love Casey Wilson's stuff posted earlier, he did a Christmas spot with the A7s on a gimbal that's just fantastic.

To the OP, as far as the S+Shogun vs SII, I'd go with the SII - full frame 4k recorded to cards, better slow-mo, better EVF, better body and IBIS. Native proves file are nice, but you're still getting a 8-bit signal out of the HDMI, so no real gain in IQ. Stabilization and 4k FF internal with a small footprint FTW. The 1500 nits of the Shogun Flame makes for a sweet monitor though, saw them at B&H last week and they are awesome. But I still prefer a light/fast kit of 2 bodies and 4-5 lenses in a smallish shoulder bag or or backpack. As always, YMMV.

Cheers

Chris

[Laurier]

19 hours ago, Nrubloc said:

Thanks for the test footage share. Looks nice. I would assume you have the slog2 sharpness dialed down by a large amount as I was thinking it would be clinically sharp with modern Sony glass. I usually use older glass, but I felt the sharpness was not overdone in this case.

Was this shot in 4K (full frame or apsc) and just down sampled or just shot in 1080p. Curious if you used a custom setting for slog2 or the default. The mixed fluorescent light with patches of what appear to maybe be daylight at times from the side or background windows came out as good rendition of color as well. Not sure how much of that was corrected in post grading verses the taking of different white balances or color temp settings during shooting to test what would be best for that particular location, but it seemed to work.

 

It was slog2 with minimum sharpness in full frame, and the 35mm zeiss 2.8 wide open, it was downsampled just because it was a sample to send to the client, but it was shoot in 4k and the music video will be released in 4k, for me in term of sharpness it s quite similar with 65mm film.

I think color balance was shade, and color correction was mostly done with film convert tools.

I paid my a7r2 1900 euro new on ebay, I had a a7s + shogun before and it was a pain to use, now with the autofocus of the a7r2 I can put everything on a pistol gimbal and have very high usability in a small footprint, and image quality is quite amazing honestly, and sensor stabilization help a lot with rolling shutter, on the a7s1 it was really ugly honestly.