Sony a7s for weddings

[Ger Griffin]

ML auto restart on the 5d3 is a life saver. Also setting the screen to go into standby (shut off) after 10 seconds if not recording. Thats the best trick of the lot IMO. With this setting youll never be assuming your recording when your not. This should be on EVERY camera. Im not sure I could risk leaving this feature behind for any other camera without it. Does the A7s have auto standby when not recording? After how long?

[Noa Put]

Did the canon ML hack also not have a thin red cross overlaying the lcd screen when you where in standby mode? That would be making things clear as well. :)
To be honest, I never would trust any autorestart function from a hacked firmware on a non repeatable event.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by James Palanza

I stand corrected, after testing the blue issue is def a bug.

Is it something that would be usable in post?

[Matt Thomas]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

To be honest, I never would trust any autorestart function from a hacked firmware on a non repeatable event.

Each to their own, but the auto-restart as never once not work for me for over 2 - 3 years, but I'd much prefer continuous recording in camera though.

[Noa Put]

I would use it though if I would have another camera to cover up for any malfunction and I would go and check up to see if it did restart but if it was my only 2nd unmanned camera then no, in that case I only use a camera that would continuously record and for that purpose I use a videocamera.

[Khoi Pham]

Auto restart in ML is 100% reliable for me

[Adrian Tan]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Did the canon ML hack also not have a thin red cross overlaying the lcd screen when you where in standby mode? That would be making things clear as well. :).

It does, and my second shooter still stuffed up regardless! Why? Because: (a) he used a steadicam outdoors, so LCD screen is hard to see in the first place; (b) he's so accustomed to steadicam he doesn't look at the screen most of the time, but at the action, particularly if he has to hold it up high pointing down. He did notice a stuff up, though, when he activated the LCD power save feature Ger mentions.

[Daniel Latimer]

If the below article is correct then Canon may not support Magic Lantern for much longer. Another reason to look elsewhere?

Canon blocking Magic Lantern on latest 5D Mark III bodies - EOSHD

[Noa Put]

IF this is true Canon maybe is preparing a few more "markII" improvements on their existing camera line and don't want a hack to prevent people from buying a more expensive version while the cheaper version with a hack offers more. I actually don't understand the fuzz about this, Canon is just protecting their own investments. With other brand camera's you also have to work with what the manufacturer gives you.

[James Palanza]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I would use it though if I would have another camera to cover up for any malfunction and I would go and check up to see if it did restart but if it was my only 2nd unmanned camera then no, in that case I only use a camera that would continuously record and for that purpose I use a videocamera.

My best solution as of now is to ask dj's not to use blue floods, and if they do, you have to shoot with the flood as backlight. Yeah, thats right, shoot on the dark side lol thankfully the A7S is so good you can get away with this. I gotta look into this more though because this is a pretty big problem.

[Michael Silverman]

Originally Posted by James Palanza

My best solution as of now is to ask dj's not to use blue floods, and if they do, you have to shoot with the flood as backlight. Yeah, thats right, shoot on the dark side lol thankfully the A7S is so good you can get away with this. I gotta look into this more though because this is a pretty big problem.

James, apparently this issue also occurred with the FS100 and FS700 according to this article:

What to do if your highlights look clipped. FS700 in particular, but applies to many cameras. | XDCAM-USER.COM

The person who wrote this article offers a couple of workarounds but it doesn't sound like a complete fix for the problem. I'm wondering if you could place some sort of filter over the lens to at least reduce this effect. Just kind of brainstorming but I would imagine there's a way to reduce it so that it's not as noticeable. Unfortunately, if this appeared on both the FS100 and FS700 and Sony did not provide a fix for it then it's possible that they won't provide a fix for the A7S (hopefully that's not the case though).

[Michael Silverman]

Actually after reading the whole article it looks like he is referring to highlight clipping in general and not specifically blue highlights. However, his idea of adjusting the gamma and knee may be helpful for reducing the blue highlight clipping on the A7S.

[James Palanza]

Oh man great link thank you I'll have to take a look at this.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

Pete Rush had the same issue with highlights on the EA-50 where the affected area actually posterized and it seems that it's important to keep the knee setting below 100% so highlights don't go over 235.

As the A7S is also a Sony it probably has the same issues but could quite easily be more noticeable due to it's amazing sensitivity. For interest I set my cameras knee below 100% and have no blow out issues but those blue DJ lights still have havoc with the footage!

[Peter Rush]

Philip Bloom uses one now - that's a recommendation in my book

Philip Bloom A7s

Pete