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Sony A7s, FHD camera, with 12Mp sensor, big DR
  • 1100 Replies sorted by
  • jurandjurand

    EOSHD Shootout - SONY A7S + 5D Mark III raw + Panasonic GH4 + Blackmagic Pocket + FS100 + A7R + A6000

  • mattherematthere

    Things are getting interesting ;)

  • kupchenpokupchenpo

    @paglez All versions have the recording limit. I have the US version and it has the 30min limit.

  • paglezpaglez

    Ok, kupchenpo. With this limitation, an external recorder it's mandatory! Chungo!!!

  • theconformisttheconformist

    @kupchenpo @paglez I am confused by the recording limit claims - I am able to shoot continuously in 4K on GH4 until the card fills up, it simple creates a new file every 4GB or so. Works at all resolutions and frame rates, yesterday I shot nearly three hours in 1080p 50mbit.

  • 3Kids3Kids

    In Voldemort's comparison, I prefer the 5D III raw image in most cases. Colours are more robust and pleasing, moire and artefacts are less evident - notice the small wall above the two big cylindrical buildings @3:53 vs 3:59, A7S is just falling apart - , but the A7S has impressive DR and lower noise in the shadows along with insane ISO. Still, even though I'm sure the A7S is a joy to use (apart from the small batteries and weird ergonomics), can't see myself replacing the 5D III even though I was ready to. Still, kudos to Sony for a very cool camera.

  • kupchenpokupchenpo

    @theconformist We are not talking about the gh4 here, we are talking about the A7S. Yes, the gh4 can record until the card fills up without stopping. The A7S has a single recording limit of just under 30min on all models. Very irritating, but true. So yes, for long format recordings, an external recorder is a must @paglez. I do a lot of long format shoots, so I am particularly bummed about this, especially since the internal codec is so robust and compact.

  • fase56fase56

    Vodemort's comparison seems very biased to the A7s. The exposure has not been optimized for each camera. This undermines the significance of the conclusions. The colors are also very different. It is very obvious at 0:24 with the bluish green domes, which appear almost gray in the A7s footage. And as @3Kids says, the moire is very pronounced. This surprised me because I thought the A7s with full sensor reading would produce less moire. Still, the analysis of Andrew Reid is useful, but extract your own conclusions.

  • theconformisttheconformist

    @kupchenpo ah haha my apologies, had the GH4 thread open in another window and got confused!

  • balazerbalazer

    I quite like the ergonomics of the a7S. The grip has a nice shape that makes it easy to hold the camera even with one hand. I can't use the control wheel while holding the camera with one hand, but I can use the shutter button and C1, which I've assigned to focus magnification. Adjacent to the grip is a flat plate, which is much better than the rubberized grip of the GH2 because my fingernails won't dig into it. Customization of buttons is quite good, to the point where almost everything I need is within one or two button presses. About the only thing I need to go into the menus for while shooting is the APS-C crop mode. Silent mode is only in the menu, but I leave it on all the time. It's brilliant. Burst shooting is faster in silent mode too.

    Here's a shot that shows off the camera's dynamic range for raw stills. It's very challenging to capture the neon lights without a lot of clipping and losing saturation while also capturing the shadows without too much noise. Lots of tweaking in Lightroom on this one.

    DSC01423.jpg
    3590 x 2423 - 2M
  • duckparkduckpark

    ^ that shot is definitely not "average at best", it's more "as good as it gets"

  • tetakpataktetakpatak

    I can't belive this stupid 30-min rec time limit exists still on the world. Why don't they simply offer also a 5% more expensive model with no-video-rec-time-limit besides the limited ones?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @tetakpatak

    It's a Sony! (c)

  • tetakpataktetakpatak

    LOL :-)

    @balazer great photo. So finally great low light stills with 12MP? Or not so great without lightroom tweaks? That's what the photographers need now.

  • balazerbalazer

    Great low-light stills, no tweaking required.

    But that shot had bright neon lights, so to capture them without clipping to white I had to shoot at ISO 100, underexposing the midtones and shadows by about 4 stops. I used Lightroom to boost the exposure back up to where it should be for the midtones and shadows, and then brought the highlights down to reduce the clipping in the neon lights and let their saturation show. Lightroom is a great upgrade for any stills shooter. I highly recommend it.

  • jurandjurand

    The EU that has set that 30min limit to differentiate stills cameras from video cameras. So if that limit is still there on the NTSC camera than it's a fail on Sony's side.

  • chauncychauncy

    good lord. voldemort is out of control on that review. All the babbling about color grading, much of it wrong. Then all the talk about his special LUTs. Maybe he's soon going to try and get into the LUT business.

  • ntsanntsan

    http://eriknaso.com/2014/07/20/things-that-drive-me-crazy-about-the-sony-a7s/

  • manstokmanstok

    voldemort is on warpath, eliminating cameras...

  • last_SHIFTlast_SHIFT

    Lol - that guy is complaining about how his 'Canon lenses' didn't work well with the 'Metabones adapter' on the 'Sony FE mount'. Is there some magical universal adapter that lets you cross brands together seamlessly? Did he just start buying gear and did not know this? Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to post about the camera in the first place...oh I get it, these are all 'evolving' reviews aka let me change my mind and not take responsibility for it.

  • RatLabProductionsRatLabProductions

    @last_SHIFT Erik's point is very valid. The A7s was being advertised to lure people away from Canon some bundles even included an adapter. The criticism is very fair and good to get out there for people looking to make the switch from Canon especially as the metebones adapter is being advertised to have AF.

    Evolving reviews are the best kind as people discover new things as they use the camera. I really don't get your hostility towards Erik's review. He has some very valid points. The A7s is an ergonomics nightmare for video with so many stupid omissions by sony. In true sony fashion they will have a new model with the fixes out in 8 months and prices of A7s will drop.

  • last_SHIFTlast_SHIFT

    Hostility? If he is going to rant about all these issues then he leaves himself open for criticism. How many FE lenses are in production? He didn't know that the selection is severely limited? A self confessed gear head as he states in his blog didn't know this?

    think the whole evolving review thing started when Bloom redacted his initial comments about the 5D3. I'm not a Sony apologist either.

  • RatLabProductionsRatLabProductions

    I am of the mindset all reviews should be evolving. No one can know everything after a short time with the camera and if first impressions turn out wrong or workarounds are found as a reader I would like to know.

    Erik's exact criticisms are the same reasons I passed on the A7s for now. Rangefinder body was a terrible choice for the A7s and it handicapped it big time from a user experience.

  • endotoxicendotoxic

    Fuck gh4, lets hack this A7s shit

  • endotoxicendotoxic

    You knew A7s Dynamic range is damn close to the $40,000 Arri Amira?

    A7s 14.1 stops of dynamic range.... dammnit. Amirra 14.5 stops

    http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/new-sony-a7s-reviews-you-knew-a7s-dynamic-range-is-damn-close-to-the-40000-arri-amira/

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