Looking for camera and lens recommendations for hybrid shooting pictures and video

[Imamacuser]

The Communications Specialist at my day job asked my opinion on a DSLR and lenses for hybrid shooting pictures and video for corporate interviews and headshots.

The company has 2 Sony HXR-NX5U camcorder, which are pretty long in the tooth, so she resorted to shooting the last interview on iPhones, due to better latitude and resolution.

She had a good experience working with a Canon 90D at another site, and wanted to get a 90D with an 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 and 55-250mm f/4-5.6.

Since the industry is moving to mirrorless cameras, I suggested looking into mirrorless options, and despite the numerous flaws, recommended a Sony A6600 and 18-105mm f/4, as it has a constant aperture, and the power zoom gives more of a camcorder quality.

I'm not very familiar with the video capabilities of recent Canon mirrorless cameras, and it can be difficult to cut through the specs and marketing hype to determine what features and capabilities they genuinely offer, so I'm hoping you all can enlighten me.

Unknowns:
Sensor size, I think she'd prefer an APS-C camera, due to size, weight, and cost, but go ahead and give me the rundown of full frame cameras as well.

Requirements:

• DSLR/DSLM style camera for hybrid shooting pictures and video, not camcorder or cinema camera
• Good face tracking AF is paramount, so I think that limits us to Canon and Sony
• Mic jack and headphone jack
• Log, HLG or wide DR mode
• Separate picture profiles for photo and video mode e.g. assigns the Standard profile for JPEGs and HLG for video, without digging through the menu and changing it back and forth constantly.
• Good battery life, maybe around 1,300 shots per charge
• H.264 type codec (I don't think her computer can handle H.265)
• Detailed 1080P (might not be an option without shooting in UHD and delivering in 1080P)
• Unlimited record time
• Camera and lens kit under $3,000

Updated Pros and Cons list:

Sony A6600 Pros:

• No record time limit
• Great face tracking auto focus
• Zebra stripes exposure aid
• Focus peaking
• Electronic viewfinder
• Hot-shoe XLR audio interface available
• 6K oversampling in 4K
• Clear Image Zoom
• Some servo power-zoom lenses available
• HLG and logarithmic wide dynamic range profiles
• Headphone and mic ports

Sony A6600 Cons:

• Soft 1080P that lacks detail
• Might overheat in direct sunlight
• 1.23 crop at 29.97 FPS in 4K for an effective 1.73 crop factor
• Short battery life (150 minutes video recording)
• Color needs tweaking
• 15 millisecond rolling shutter in HD, 39 millisecond in 4K
• 8-bit color
• Unintuitive menu system

Canon 90D Pros:

• Great face tracking auto focus
• Pleasing color out of the box
• Focus peaking
• Good battery life (210 minutes when recording video)
• Headphone and mic ports
• Minimal rolling shutter (couldn’t find a millisecond rating)

Canon 90D Cons:

• No native XLR audio interface (could use a Tascam DR-70D preamp)
• 30 minute record time limit
• Soft 1080P & 4k that lacks detail
• No zebra stripes exposure aid
• No electronic viewfinder
• No servo power-zoom lenses
• No Log or HLG wide dynamic range profiles
• 8-bit color

Canon R6 Pros

• EF/EF-S to EF-R lens mount adapter with variable neutral density filter available
• Great face tracking auto focus
• C-Log and HDR PQ wide dynamic range profiles
• 10-bit color
• Zebra stripes exposure aid
• Focus peaking
• Electronic viewfinder
• Minimal rolling shutter: 10 millisecond in HD, 16 millisecond in 4K
• Pleasing color out of the box
• Headphone and mic ports

Canon R6 Cons

• No native XLR audio interface (could use a Tascam DR-70D preamp)
• 30 minute record limit
• Overheats after 50 minutes of video recording
• No servo power-zoom lenses
• Soft 1080P that lacks detail

Canon M6 Mark II Pros

• Electronic viewfinder
• Great face tracking auto focus
• Focus peaking
• Pleasing color out of the box
• Minimal 17 millisecond rolling shutter in 4K

Canon M6 Mark II Cons

• No native XLR audio interface (could use a Tascam DR-70D preamp)
• 30 minute record limit
• No zebra stripes exposure aid
• Overheats after 50 minutes of video recording
• No servo power-zoom lenses
• Soft 1080P that lacks detail
• No Log or HLG wide dynamic range profiles
• 8-Bit color
• Short battery life (120 minutes when recording video)
• No headphone port

P.S. The company already has the following lenses:

• Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
• Canon 55-250mm f/4-5.6
• Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6
• Sony 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3.

[NorBro]

Here is a list of general information in no particular order while you think about and provide us a price because it's really necessary:

- The following Canon cameras don't have any additional 4K crops over their natural sensor sizes: 90D, M6 Mark II, R5, R6, 1DX Mark III (1DX Mark II is 1.3x)
- All of the cameras above have 4K DPAF
- Only the R5 and R6 have zebras (all have focus peaking and recording limits)
- Overheating is a tricky question because you most likely will encounter it in the best modes on the R5 and R6, but if you're considering a 90D then you will never encounter it in the worse modes, which may look great to you
- Many Sony cameras besides the a7SIII and a1 do have a very small crop at 4K/30p
- a6600 has a terrible rolling shutter (one of the worst if not the worse in history...consider that if the camera will be off the tripod)
- Keep in mind many modern full-frame cameras have APS-C modes to use
- Any screen dimming can be disabled in almost any camera in the menu
- Let us know which model you are interested because the HD and 4K difference can be potentially massive (like in some Sonys and in the 90D)
- Battery power is easily manageable

The 90D actually sounds like a good fit if you shoot in 4K but:
- 8-bit
- Has a recording limit
- No zebras
- No C-Log

More options: Canon R6 (full-frame), Sony a7C (full-frame)...will think of more.

[morgan_moore]

Random thoughts.

Industry is moving mirrorless ? so what.

I want a hole to look in in the sun to avoid reflections? buy a mirrorless.

If the 90 works.. then it does and is bound to be cheap

I wathced this hell.. and they all use sony.. and there is actually a good reason.. the xlr click on box.. it is a sort of game changer if you want the simplest audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrX-2EBdy5U&t

After cruising the market for a while I bought an RP.. it was total sh_it for video as it i soft. I then bought an r6.

It is pretty good.. but mainly because it shares lenses with my cinema camera a c200

im probably gonna buy a lot of lenses and I fancy getting canon glass as it is cheaper.

an R5/6 can get in a nnd if you use ef glss - that could be a big help

so things to think on..
sony - no nd
canon - no xlr
canon ef, no nd or xlr

the r6 focus is certainly good.

there is also the new canon 605

[Imamacuser]

Industry is moving mirrorless ? so what.

I want a hole to look in in the sun to avoid reflections? buy a mirrorless.

If the 90 works.. then it does and is bound to be cheap

Mirrorless cameras have electronic view finders, so you don't have to mess around with an LCD-VF, and EF-M and EF-R lenses will likely perform better with AF, and may still be relevant when the camera body is upgraded.

Most any DSLR or mirrorless camera could work, but certain ones have an edge over others, and I'm just trying to narrow down the options to what would be most useful for the Communications Specialist.

[NorBro]

EF-M is done, only RF moving forward. I'd say 90D and lights and audio.

Might ruin her expectations with a Sony if she liked the Canon 90D.

[Imamacuser]

Won't Canon APS-C cameras continue to use the M mount?
Do Canon cameras still have noisy preamps, and use BT.601 color?

The camera will be on a tripod for video, and possibly a gimbal.

Audio will be from a Sennheiser MKE-2 lav and AVX, likely run directly into the camera's minijack input rather than a preamp or recorder.

[NorBro]

Do you mean the EF-S mount?

If so, yes - if they continue to make them. But APS-C cameras are most likely done. It's a full-frame world.

Originally, it was a corporate decision to separate the two sensor sizes, but most people used EF lenses on the APS-C models which worked with a EF-S mount but not vice-versa.

EF-M was great and had a few nice cameras, including likely the last of them in 2020, but the world wasn't ready for it and in the meantime RF became much better with the continued R&D.

Preamps have greatly improved in all new models (naturally in general with technology), but I still used DXA-Micro-Pros for superior results.

601 is for standard-definition and that ended about 8 years ago, but most of their cameras do use 709. The better ones have introduced RAW/HLG/post capabilities with more options, but are most likely out of their budget (for this purpose).

[Imamacuser]

I think I understand what you were saying now, you think Canon is dropping APS-C and consequentially the M series along with it. Would a 24-105mm f/4L autofocus well on a 90D? I thought I read something about only STM lenses providing good AF performance.

[NorBro]

Just want to expound a bit though because sometimes there is confusion about their mounts.

It sounds like you think Canon's APS-C sensor cameras have the EF-M mount, and that's true - but most Canon APS-C sensors have had the EF-S mount.

The difference between them is that the EF-M mount is their mirrorless mount and the EF-S mount is their DSLR mount.

In comparison to full-frame, the RF mount is their full-frame mirrorless mount, and it's TBD what their new APS-C mount will be (if any, but they could just use RF for both, which would make sense).

But with the last thing said, I do think that the APS-C sensor cameras will end and the RF mount will be the only Canon mount that will exist as far as new products and sales. (The consequential end to the M series will not only be because of an APS-C production end, but because the RF mount will replace it if they do make any more APS-C cameras.)

___

The 24-105mm would work perfectly fine. STM lenses have good AF performance, but the lineup is pretty weak.

[Imamacuser]

It sounds like you think Canon's APS-C sensor cameras have the EF-M mount, and that's true - but most Canon APS-C sensors have had the EF-S mount.

Now I get what you're saying, you think that Canon will drop all mounts in favor of EF-RF. I understand that EF-S is for Canon's APS-C DSLRs, but since Canon is shifting to mirrorless, it would follow that they would use EF-M for mirrorless APS-C cameras going forward. I guess time will tell whether they switch exclusively to EF-RF, and full frame for that matter.

[NorBro]

EF-M never really took off the way they hoped...introduction was too early.

The RF mount already has more lenses in 3 years than the M in 10 (and almost half the cameras of M).

[DLD]

Canon got its clue from Sony mirrorless - single mount for the entire lineup. Which isn't difficult, when you have only APS-C and full frame. And APS-C just might be on its way out.

[Imamacuser]

How does the 90D, R6, and A6600 perform in relation to moiré and aliasing artifacts when shooting in 1080P? Is the 1080P detailed out of the 90D & R6 or is it mushy like the Sony?

[NorBro]

In 1080p, the 90D and a6600 are worse with moire and aliasing. I don't know about the R6, but I'm assuming it's not great either. (There might be an APS-C crop mode like on the R5 which might handle it better, but IDK.)

But IMO you need to shoot in 4K with these cameras, or output a 4K signal to a 1080p-only external recorder to manually do the oversampling yourself for nicer 1080p.

As far as the 1080p quality, all mushy (pixel-binned and/or line-skipped) besides possibly in a crop mode in the R6.

With that said, millions of videos are still shot every day with Canon DSLRs in 1080p so it might be okay for her purpose. But the 4K is much nicer (and not because of more resolution - although that helps - but because of proper processing).