New Sony A7s to shoot 4K video

[Cliff Totten]

Someone is saying that the HDMI cable itself is changing the 0's and 1's that are passing through it?

That doesn't make any sense to me. The signal is either there or not there.


CT

[Cees van Kempen]

Does this also have influence on the low light abilities?

I am considering to use the an a7s for extreme low light shoots for a wildlife documentary, with a Shogun.

[Emmanuel Plakiotis]

I think the new 24-135 F4 zoom that kits FS7, should be bundled with this camera instead. I can't understand why Sony doesn't promote it. Maybe there is a FF video camera on the wing...

[Dmitri Zigany]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Plakiotis

I think the new 24-135 F4 zoom that kits FS7, should be bundled with this camera instead. I can't understand why Sony doesn't promote it. Maybe there is a FF video camera on the wing...

The 28-135 won't be shipping until December, and the FS7 is still a month away I guess. They were announced at the same date so bundling them makes more sense. Bundling a lens with a camera that costs less than the lens itself also makes less sense.

[Michael Stevenson]

Lovely evening at the Alderwood Mall. Sony A7s Full 35MM sensor, hand held, tack sharp RAW, in very low light.

[Michael Stevenson]

Originally Posted by Dmitri Zigany

The 28-135 won't be shipping until December, and the FS7 is still a month away I guess. They were announced at the same date so bundling them makes more sense. Bundling a lens with a camera that costs less than the lens itself also makes less sense.

I have purchased the FE 24-70mm and the 70-200mm Zeiss/Sony lenses and they are fantastic. Soon I will get the 16-35mm lens. Bottom line is they auto focus stunning video and great Photos.

[Evan Donn]

Originally Posted by Michael Stevenson

Bottom line is they auto focus stunning video

I guess it depends on your shooting style - I personally still prefer manual focus for video. Rented the 24-70 for a week and the manual focus is terrible, borderline unusable in my opinion. The weird mapping of rotation speed to focus speed results in a lot of hunting for the right focus, which is what you're trying to avoid by focusing manually in the first place. If they can provide an option for linear mapping of the rotation to focus it might be better, but even then slow focus changes exhibit visible stepping of the focus point rather than smooth transitions. For the price (and specifically for video use) I'd rather have the rokinon 24/35/85 t/1.5 cine prime set - certainly not as convenient as a single zoom, but far better manual focus plus much faster apertures and useable with a follow focus.

[Graham King]

Originally Posted by Evan Donn

If they can provide an option for linear mapping of the rotation to focus it might be better

Don't all lenses change focus distance on a logarithmic scale?

[Evan Donn]

Hmm, hadn't thought about that, but I guess that's true. That would be fine though - my point is that it would be better if sony provided a way for the focus ring rotation to map to the focus change in a manner which matched what you'd expect from a true manual lens.

The way the sony manual focus works is that if you turn the ring quickly - even a very short distance - the focus point jumps dramatically. If you turn it slowly it changes extremely slowly. This is frustrating because what typically happens (at least for me) is you start to turn the lens and the focus jumps farther than you expected, overshooting the target. Then you react to this jump by slowing down as you try to pull the focus back, but the speed drops so slow that it takes too long to pull it back. Finding just the right speed to turn it at is extremely difficult, and it feels fidgety. You can't really practice pulls, because if you don't maintain the same speed it'll be different each time - it's fairly easy to repeat turn angles, but difficult to match an exact rotation speed. To make it worse, when it drops down to the very slow speeds you can see it visibly changing focus in steps - it's subtle, but noticeable.

I get what they were trying to do from a technical standpoint - they idea is clearly to let you jump quickly to an approximate distance and then provide much finer control as you refine the focus point. That's probably a great way to work if you're using manual focus for stills where all that matters is the final focus point. It's just not good at all for video work where the focus moves are part of the shot and you need to be able to predictably and repeatedly execute smooth, controlled focus moves.

[Graham King]

I see what you're saying. The ring itself isn't locked to the internals but rather controls them electronically. Sounds like that'd make pulling focus very frustrating.

I've got my eye on those new Zeiss Loxia lenses. Just ordered an a7S which is why I'm here. Very excited to have this as my new b-camera to my C300 and finally putting the HDSLR revolution behind me with the sale of my 5DIII. Long live the 5D.

[Alister Chapman]

Now you're talking. Loxia's on an A7s, that's a great combo. I got to shoot with some on the FS7 and they produced some really amazing images.

[Michael Stevenson]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

So what is it now, is there or is there not? :)

The camera has rolling shutter and it can be bad depending in which situation you use it, it doesn't even have to be a fast pan like this example shows:
Sony A7S - rolling shutter - S-LOG 2 - internal 1080p recording on Vimeo
Shooting in APS-C reduces the RS though but it will never be completely gone. RS should not be a problem for most of us depending on your shooting style but it can make the camera useless if you for instance shoot a soccer match with a telelens and follow the players while panning, but then again, you should use a videocamera for this purpose and not a full frame photocamera.

Ouchy! :-)

[Richard D. George]

Rolling shutter is supposed be be less using the APC mode on the A7s.