Administrators Andrew Reid Posted October 28, 2014 Administrators Share Posted October 28, 2014 To read part 1 of my Sony A7S review click here A long time has passed since part 1 of this review but I've been spending a lot of time with the A7S. I am really under the skin of this camera. That's a good sign because somewhere along the way, the A7S became my main filmmaking tool. Perhaps surprisingly for me, a huge Panasonic GH series advocate on EOSHD over the years, I have been using the Sony A7S more often. The GH4 still has many advantages the A7S doesn't have, like longer battery run-times, a better screen, quicker boot time and of course an internal 4K codec though.Read the full article here Mark Lewis, IronFilm and Julian 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzNimbus Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Great write up, Andrew! FWIW, I haven't touched my bmpcc since I got my a7s.... And the battery life is great compared to the 20 minute one on the pocket cam! Also, grading Slog in resolve is easy with Vision Color Impulz luts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wobba Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Given that you've sounded the death knell for Canon EOS, perhaps you should change the name of your site from EOSHD to AlphaHD :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 One little detail seemed to be missing, or at least discussed quite briefly, namely the shooting with the Shogun part. So will there be a part 3 at some point, or perhaps an epilogue for this one? IronFilm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inazuma Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Great review and video as always. It's funny you should mention the little quirks here and there; these Sony cameras always have the strangest ones. I think this camera with the native 24-70mm lens is my ideal travel and semi-pro camera combination. Just have to save up the coppers now :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted October 28, 2014 Author Administrators Share Posted October 28, 2014 One little detail seemed to be missing, or at least discussed quite briefly, namely the shooting with the Shogun part. So will there be a part 3 at some point, or perhaps an epilogue for this one? There will be coverage of the Shogun when it is out. It isn't released yet. IronFilm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 One major flaw: The A7s (and most likely also other A7 and possibly even FS700) suffer from horrible clipping treatment in the blue/purple areas. Sample Video: (password: blue) Thread: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?328486-A7S-Serious-quot-Colour-Burn-quot-Problem @Andrew: As we all know you have a much closer relationship to the big camera companies than most of us. Whenever you can, pls bring this to someones attention, since all my efforts only end up in Template-eMail-answers asking me to send my camera to a service partner, not acknowledging that this is in ALL cameras. This needs to be adressed with people who can do smth about this. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonmillard81 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Surprised to see the GH4 being referred to as video again...I thought there was a great discussion noting that it is simply not true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoclay Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Andrew, How much better is the rolling shutter in APS-C mode compared to FF? I agree that Sony should have provided a 4k solution off the bat. I also HATE that the only 2 current solutions for this camera in 4K will have 7" screens. How stupid is that? Why can't someone make a 5.6`' DP-4 style solution that functions as a recorder, a monitor and with the addtion of a hood as an EVF? Seems kind of obvious to me. Shows once again that the people making these things are not shooters. Clayton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkor Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 That video is fucking amazing, thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lewis Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Thanks for an excellent commentary. I also look forward to your further thoughts on the D750. I'm a D700 owner with a bucket full of Nikon lenses (mostly old AIS primes after two decades of Nikon ownership) looking for a hybrid stills/video camera. The D750 would be an easy body swap. But I'm interested in the A7S also as a stills camera for its light weight and compact size. By comparision, a full frame DSLR seems clunky and chunky. I'm not big on adapters, so another worry for me is the limited, expensive Sony native lenses. What ever happened to the $100 nifty fifty (Canon 50mm 1.8 Mk II plastic fastastic) that came with every film SLR? I handled the A7 at my local Best Buy alongside the D750 and really liked the Sony. And I will rent an A7S this weekend to see if I can fully make the leap. I believe Sony have shown us the future of full frame digital capture. The mirror is a vestigal tail of photography, a sixth toe. They just need to straighten out their ergos and menus. If they don't screw it up, they could dominate and pull the rug out from CanNikon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Gotta love reviews that have 'compromised' 80's porn music! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoclay Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I believe Sony have shown us the future of full frame digital capture. The mirror is a vestigal tail of photography, a sixth toe. They just need to straighten out their ergos and menus. If they don't screw it up, they could dominate and pull the rug out from CanNikon. I think Roger Deakins would strongly disagree with you about mirrors. Which is one of the reasons why he chose Alexa over RED for Skyfall. And he has a few other films under his belt. Almost all EVF's , even on the cameras themselves have lag and poor resolution. If you regulary do interviews you know what I am talking about. More than ever you are looking at a video monitor, not reality and all the details that are as a result. Personally, I think the greatest problem with digital cameras is that they are less and less often coming with mirrors. I work ten time faster with a mirrored camera when shooting photos for instance and I don't even have to turn on a camara if I just want to frame a shot. I would much prefer to have an digital overlay on a mirrored image, than a pixellated monitor any day. However, we are still a few years out on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjkotze Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Andrew, I am not sure what you mean by: "So I find myself using stills mode to shoot video, but when I do that the mechanical shutter has to be enabled if I am to use S-LOG" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattH Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Andrew, I am not sure what you mean by: "So I find myself using stills mode to shoot video, but when I do that the mechanical shutter has to be enabled if I am to use S-LOG" It means exactly that. The point of the sentence is that it doesn't make sense. You can shoot video in either video mode or stills mode. Video mode doesn't allow you to take stills at the same time but stills mode does. When shooting stills the mechanical shutter is used as with all stills cameras, but their is also an electronic shutter mode for taking silent stills (with the dissadvantage of rolling shutter). But for some unkown reason when silent shutter is activated the camera will not alow you to shoot video in S-log2. But when mechanical shutter is activated you can shoot slog2 even though there is seemingly no connection between them. This means you cannot take silent stills at the same time as shooting slog2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto_M Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Great review Andrew, very appreciated ! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captou Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 How many of the quibbles might be resolved with a firmware update? Things like the record button, assigning buttons in general, internal 4k (probably not I'm guessing)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Given that you've sounded the death knell for Canon EOS, perhaps you should change the name of your site from EOSHD to AlphaHD :) That was intended as a friendly pun for sure, but the comment does actually have a point, anyway. The EOSHD name may have felt cool back in the day, but it, along with any name linked to a single brand and model, becomes a branding ballast rather than a branding asset at some point. Here's a recent example from the photography blogging world. Surely you have heard of an Aussie bloke called Matt Granger? He was and still is a photographer and a YouTuber with a relatively large following. In YouTube and in social media he was known as That Nikon Guy. Surely that felt cool at the time, but before long his appearances online had more and more to do with all but Nikon gear. A personal brand tied to an industry brand is always a big risk, and it's bound to become a burden at some point. Like it did in his case. So even though Matt had branded himself as That Nikon Guy, he took the risk of changing his well known but increasingly obsolete online brand and changed it to something more generic yet unique, his own name. The risk paid off, as he did it soon enough and quickly enough, and apparently his online success didn't take any significant hit. Looks like he's doing even better these days, with a new and snappier Get Your Gear Out slogan, and being his own brand rather than being tied to any camera brand. The point of this (somewhat OT) story is not to promote Mr. Granger, I don't even subscribe to his YouTube channel, but just as a relevant example. Perhaps a similar move might be a good idea for EOSHD, too. After all, a new domain will only cost around $30 and then $10 per year, and your online community wouldn't disappear because of a new, more appropriate name. It would work even better in the long run, bringing you more new readers who now may be put off or distracted by the Canon (dSLR)-related brand name, at least in the initial search results. Just saying. -_- The world is changing, life is a stage and the players in the play keep changing through time. Even big names exit the stage at some point, giving room for new names. To be or not to be? That is the question. Would we be better off trying to block the door to the stage, or would we be better off seeing daylight through that open door? :P wobba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunyata Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 i think the net takeaway here is that the quality of the image is what matters and not the resolution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunyata Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Giants in 7 Mark Lewis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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