Sony A6500 Question

[Mark Romero 2]

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

If a lack of 4K is not a deal breaker for you (maaaaaaaybe? You're shooting with a FS5 after all, not a FS7 which is what I'd go with if 4K was really important) then perhaps consider even the a6000 which is dirt cheap but shoots nice 1080 XAVC-S (better actually than the a6500/a6300!). Or even the a7Smk1 is cheap on eBay now (and if you've got a recorder already, you'll have your 4K as a bonus). 

I agree that the a6000 can be a fun camera to shoot on in Sony land (as can the a5100 for short bits of time since it has a flip up screen but is prone to overheating).

The a6000 has a less reflective screen than the a6300 / a6500 and as you mentioned has better looking 1080p than those other two cameras.

I usually set the creative style to portrait mode or autumn leaves and adjust it to -2 contrast, -2 saturation and (usually) -1 detail. Convenient, easy to grade, easy to see what you are shooting.

[IronFilm]

6 hours ago, Mark Romero 2 said:

I agree that the a6000 can be a fun camera to shoot on in Sony land (as can the a5100 for short bits of time since it has a flip up screen but is prone to overheating).

I really enjoyed my time with the a5100! (pity it died)
The a5100 even was better than the a6000 back then, because the a6000 at the time lacked XAVC-S

[Jimmy G]

On 9/14/2018 at 1:46 AM, franklin said:

Working on a shoot and I need to do some b-roll that will match up with Sony FS5's. This is going to be spread out over weeks and it's to much to rent another one.

Someone suggested an A6500 as a workaround mainly because we have extra lenses that would fit including a 18-105 4.

Checked some of the reviews and big concern is the viewfinder. This is all outside on sunny days but with a level of control. 100% on a tripod and I do have a 7 inch field monitor that I can drag along.

 2 questions - would it reasonably match? How bad is it working outside with the viewfinder? One video I looked at it seemed pretty bad especially in 4K mode.

Thanks in advance and open to other suggestions.

Hi Franklin,

Having never shot with the FS5 I can't speak directly to the color matching SOOC, but I've got to imagine that getting things to play well together in post shouldn't be a major problem. Regarding the EVF on the 6500, I find the eyeguard is too shallow and if one is shooting with the sun off to their right the intrusion of sunlight makes the screen impossible to see.

Also, I can only recommend 6300/6500 for tripod work as the bodies are too small for field work IMHO and in my usage (handheld) the pad of my palm invariably presses the rear wheel and/or rear buttons causing unintended (and extremely annoying) settings changes mid-shoot. YMMV. Hopefully the rumored "new high-end APS-C" from Sony will address the EVF and handling issues, these problems have me auditioning the Panasonic G9 which is an ergonomic dream to shoot with handheld and the Dual IS is the real deal.

Hope this is helpful, :)

Jimmy G

[Dustin]

@TurboRat Funny that 16mm is something I think would be fun! I’ve heard the 18-105 isn’t particularly sharp and the focus distance isn’t great for bokeh otherwise I’d pick it up. I really miss having a wide. With the clear image zoom I think I could get by with just a wide angle and 35mm. 

[Mark Romero 2]

2 hours ago, Jimmy G said:

Also, I can only recommend 6300/6500 for tripod work as the bodies are too small for field work IMHO and in my usage (handheld) the pad of my palm invariably presses the rear wheel and/or rear buttons causing unintended (and extremely annoying) settings changes mid-shoot. YMMV.

While certainly a lot of people find the ergonomics / handling of the a6300 / a6500 to be frustrating, they do balance quite well on inexpensive gimbals (I use mind on an original Zhiyun Crane) or they can be rigged out pretty easily with a cage and handles.

[jonpais]

Same as I do with the a7 III.

[TurboRat]

3 hours ago, Dustin said:

@TurboRat Funny that 16mm is something I think would be fun! I’ve heard the 18-105 isn’t particularly sharp and the focus distance isn’t great for bokeh otherwise I’d pick it up. I really miss having a wide. With the clear image zoom I think I could get by with just a wide angle and 35mm. 

Yeah a friend with an A6300 was looking for a 10-18mm Sony for his wide. I think having a wide angle lens is really essential to your kit to cover the focal lenghts and some interesting angles