Picked up a D810

[Ryan Douthit]

I've been posting here for a while, most recently about my Sony A7S that I use daily in production work.

Recently I acquired a Nikon D810 for photography and as a B-Cam to the A7S for video. So far, impressed.

That is all, for now.

R

[Tim Paynter]

A Nikon 810 as B cam to the a7S?

You guys who have this cam, maybe could answer me this: How hard can you run an a7S and will it hold up to run and gun shooting like the Canon 5d Mark III? It is time for my THIRD SLR in part because I just hammer my equipment as I follow demonstrations and tumult.

By the time I acquired all of the tools necessary to make an A7 handle (different than perform) like a traditional video cam I could buy quite a nice video cam. But just wondering.

Tim

[Ryan Douthit]

The main reason for choosing the D810 was that it is an amazing photo camera (which I needed for a client that requested some specific photo work) but it also has a very good video setup, making it suitable to operate as a B cam, or as an A cam when I need to pack ultra light.

My A7S is permanently rigged with a cage, L-battery adaptor and XLR hookups. I shot this show with it most recently:

Detailing FREEDOM ONE - /DRIVE CLEAN - YouTube

It was completely run-and-gun in 90-degree weather. For the money, imho, there is nothing better right now. The FS7 is cool, but I don't need quite that much camera for what I do. That said, I would expect a new FS100 or FS700 replacement from NAB next month... one possibly with the same sensor as the A7S which would be awesome. One thing to keep in mind, however, the rolling shutter on the A7S is pretty bad. It's something you'll have to shoot around. But if you can deal with that, the results are worth it.

Nice thing about the D810 is that it does a good job with 60p and the rolling shutter is well controlled, so it gives me a different tool for when the A7S isn't the best choice. Like all small cameras, you will need something like a SmallHD DP4 at the very least if you're shooting video a lot (which also gets around the D810's lack of focus peaking). It's critical for nailing focus. (Even on the A7S, I switch between the DP4 and an Odyssey 7Q+ based on the shoot.)

I have photos of my various A7S setups on my instagram account: rdouthit

[Tim Paynter]

You do beautiful work, brother. Interesting you can lay footage from these two cameras side by side so easily.

A whole new generation of film makers are venturing forth with nothing more than 35 mm cams in cages with XLR inputs. It is cool to see this work being displayed as it makes a believer out of me. I am still pretty stuck on form factor but considering all of my options.

[Ryan Douthit]

Thanks Tim!

In my work having absolutely-matching cameras isn't essential. It's not like I'm doing multi-camera dramatic projects. It's close enough. I will likely be using the D810 for timelapses, while I'm run-and-gunning elsewhere.

I chose a small FF mirrorless camera out of necessity. Last year, nobody had anything that could touch the A7S. That's still the case today. (Especially in terms of low-light.) And, now that I added an Odyssey 7Q+, I even have 4K...granted with a bit of weight, but even cameras like the FS7 sometimes need external monitors, so that's not an exclusive issue with the really small cameras.

If I wasn't needing real high-speed slow-mo, like the FS700 provides, I wouldn't even be considering adding another video body to the business. But I'm hoping NAB will provide something like that with a modern codec and 4k internal this year. (But without the costly batteries and media of the FS7.)