Canon 5D mark iv vs Sony A7r II for Event Photography - Advice?

[Samuel H]

I hardly ever take stills, so I'm talking mainly video. I still hate it when I have to take stills with the 5D2 because it's not showing me how the image will look like. I don't shoot sports or wildlife, in any case.

[dustylense]

I hardly ever take stills, so I'm talking mainly video. I still hate it when I have to take stills with the 5D2 because it's not showing me how the image will look like. I don't shoot sports or wildlife, in any case.

What? Take a picture and look at the result. That is what your image looks like. And if you're working with stones, how would a EVF help anyway?

Optical viewfinder for me please. I've had the 5dMK4 for about a month now and it's easily the best 5d they've made from a stills shooters perspective. As for video. Sure, I would pick a video centric camera before the 5dMK4. But the files from the MK4 are lovely. And honestly, I don't mind the codec. I'd rather work with it than the super compressed codecs found in other Dslr's.

[Bassman2003]

I think Samuel is speaking of the WYSIWTG EVF for taking stills and seeing the actual exposure before taking the shot.

[dustylense]

I think Samuel is speaking of the WYSIWTG EVF for taking stills and seeing the actual exposure before taking the shot.

I know what he his talking about. Like I said, doesn't work with strobes. And I know of no professional shooters who don't work with strobes. Plus, every camera has a live view mode. Wanna set WYSIWYG, go to live view, set exposure, then shoot away. EVF's have gotten better. But Optical lets you concentrate on the fraction of a second you are trying to capture. We all have opinions, right?

For video, yes, an EVF is better.

[Bassman2003]

No worries from me. I think strobes are part of the professional toolkit but many people prefer available light photography. Many people act is if they are scared of using flashes or strobes or even like they are "so uncool"...

[ggrantly]

I would venture that 95% of all the commercial-corporate photography I do uses some combination of speedlights. On a rare occasion, I use continuous lighting. Don't own any studio strobes with modeling lights. My issue with OVF for stills is the latency of the vf. Just me.

Grant

[Samuel H]

Of course I'm talking about what *I* like and that depends a lot on what I shoot and what I don't shoot. I don't shoot sports, I don't shoot wildlife, and I don't own a flash and wouldn't know how to use it. I light my stills just like I light my videos: with continuous LED and tungsten lights, which is what I own because most of what I shoot is video. YMMV.

Still, I think most users shoot stuff where an EVF is better than an OVF: family reunions, kids, travel photography, that's the kind of stuff for which I'd really take an EVF over an OVF, every time.