Changing from C100 to A7s?

[Kenny Shem]

Hi Malcolm whats the max time you are able to get with 1 battery? When using the 17-55 do you have to switch the mode to apsc? You will get a 1.6x crop?

Looking forward to your c100 and a7s footage to see if they easily match. Thank you!

[Kenny Shem]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Not needing it doesn't mean it should be something to not consider, my gh4 also has that limit and I normally also don't use it to shoot a ceremony because that's what is my ax100 and cx730's are for but there has been a occasion I needed the camera for a longer continuous shot and the recording limit was a big pain. One of the biggest issues with the a7s would be in terms of use in a fast changing environment like weddings, there a c100 might serve you better as it's ergonomically more made to be used like a real videocamera. You also have to consider the shallower dof as that will make focussing even more tricky compared to the c100.
As much as I like my gh4 for any run and gun situation I shoot with my ax100 without much thought, I can nail each shot with that camera, my gh4 only gets used if I have more time to set up. Like Edward pointed out, choosing the a7s over the c100 could be a bad choice, especially if you shoot solo, not sure how many benefits the a7s has over the c100, except for weight and size? If that last is what you absolutely need then it's a more obvious choice but you have to consider that shooting with the a7s can be more challenging then with the c100.

Coming from years of experience of using 5d2 before changing to c100 in wedding, I don't think using a7s will be a big challenge. Shallow dof definitely not a problem too. When I use 5d2 years ago, I frequently handheld it with zacuto z finder with no monopod and that makes me very mobile. I have pretty steady hands and with IS lens, monopod is redundant sometimes!

Given that a7s has 3 dials for aperture, shutter and iso, it should be much faster to adjust than c100 which is so dependent on the dial and this is one of the thing I hate about c100. There should be separate dials for aperture, shutter, iso and preferably white balance too! I guess the only thing I will miss about c100 is the built in ND filter.

[Edward Calabig]

By the way the metabones is not reliable at all (I've had two now, 1 mark 3 which I returned for the mark 4 and they both have the same problem) and the battery life on the a7s is about 1-1.5 hour running continuously per battery. Battery takes about 2.5-3 hours to charge.

[Malcolm Debono]

Originally Posted by Kenny Shem

Hi Malcolm whats the max time you are able to get with 1 battery? When using the 17-55 do you have to switch the mode to apsc? You will get a 1.6x crop?

Looking forward to your c100 and a7s footage to see if they easily match. Thank you!

Anywhere between 1hr and 1.5hrs. I've just realised I had display quality set to high though and according to the manual that tends to consume more battery. Haven't noticed any noticeable difference in terms of quality after setting that to standard.

APS-C mode can be left to auto so everytime you mount an EF-S lens (like the 17-55) it switches automatically (apparently this was only introduced with the metabones mk4). The APS-C mode gives 1.5x crop factor, so the 17-55 would be similar to a 24-70mm on a full-frame sensor.

As Edward mentioned, the metabones adapter may be unreliable at times. Once or twice I experienced an issue were turning on the camera leaves a black image. Switching off, re-mounting lens and switching back on seems to solve the problem. If I continue experiencing this problem I will consider asking for a replacement.

[Malcolm Debono]

BTW here's the trailer of my latest wedding mostly shot with the A7s. This was all shot in XAVC 50p and with PP5.

1:29 - 1:43 is shot in 100p (so that's upscaled from 720 since timeline is in 1080p)
Shot at 00:30 is scaled to around 115%
Shots from C100 are at 00:21, 00:33, 01:27
Shot at 01:05 is from 6D (for vows I had C100 for safe shot, 6D on groom and A7s on bride)

Wedding Trailer: Claire & Lukas on Vimeo

[Kenny Shem]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Debono

BTW here's the trailer of my latest wedding mostly shot with the A7s. This was all shot in XAVC 50p and with PP5.

1:29 - 1:43 is shot in 100p (so that's upscaled from 720 since timeline is in 1080p)
Shot at 00:30 is scaled to around 115%
Shots from C100 are at 00:21, 00:33, 01:27
Shot at 01:05 is from 6D (for vows I had C100 for safe shot, 6D on groom and A7s on bride)

Wedding Trailer: Claire & Lukas on Vimeo

Thanks for the video. It looks good! To be able to shoot at 50p and have a choice on when to slow down 50% is really useful. Can see that the 6D image does not fits in well and it simply looks muddier compared to the rest. The c100 still looks more detailed to a7s. But given the size of the a7s, it is doing a good job too.

How's the physically handling of the cam compared to 6d and c100? You like it?

[Malcolm Debono]

Originally Posted by Kenny Shem

Thanks for the video. It looks good! To be able to shoot at 50p and have a choice on when to slow down 50% is really useful. Can see that the 6D image does not fits in well and it simply looks muddier compared to the rest. The c100 still looks more detailed to a7s. But given the size of the a7s, it is doing a good job too.

How's the physically handling of the cam compared to 6d and c100? You like it?

Thanks! I will probably end up replacing the 6D as well in fact if I'll manage to get a decent price for it :)

I love the feel of the A7s although the record button is in a rather odd location (albeit typical for Sony cameras since NEX were also similar). Having a good viewfinder really helps since it adds a third point of contact, considering that the C100's viewfinder is barely useable and that for the 6D we had to use the z-finder which although works really well adds another piece of gear.

[Kenny Shem]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Debono

Thanks! I will probably end up replacing the 6D as well in fact if I'll manage to get a decent price for it :)

I love the feel of the A7s although the record button is in a rather odd location (albeit typical for Sony cameras since NEX were also similar). Having a good viewfinder really helps since it adds a third point of contact, considering that the C100's viewfinder is barely useable and that for the 6D we had to use the z-finder which although works really well adds another piece of gear.

so the evf of a7s is good enough? c100 evf is really crap and can't really see the focus plus it look so small.
yeh, 6D should go as it is not in the league at all.

[Malcolm Debono]

I love it and so do the people who I've lent the camera to so far. It's so crisp that I'm finding it easy to focus even with peaking turned off, and using magnification mapped to one of the back buttons to check focus when necessary.