Sony A7SIII = $3500, 10-bit 4K120p internal, 16-bit 4K60p RAW out

firehawk said:
How are you guys that bought one liking it?
Who all is planning to buy?
I really want 4K60P for my gimbal but I really do NOT want to buy another camera..
My A7Riii looks good and focuses well but it's 30P. My A7Sii handles my low light needs.
Sell them both and get the A7Siii? ;)
I think I'll just wait a couple years until the price drops and if I'm still alive and my business not destroyed consider it then. Or get an FX6 which is what I really want :) haha
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I love my A7SIII. But I also loved my S1 that it replaced and my GH5 before that.

And there's a new a6xxx coming out in may that may give you 10-bit 4k60p for half the price, but I'm not sure of the specs

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/rumor-sony-will-announce-a-new-high-end-aps-c-model-in-may/
 
Can anyone share their A7SIII AF settings for run n' gun documentary? For instance, I always leave face/eye af on, but what do you guys use for Focus Area?
 
"Well, focus breathing is just a slight shift in focal length accompanying the shift in focus distance. so, in theory, automated cropping could correct it. but I haven't heard of any software or camera that does this"

Have you seen the breathing on a sony 35 1.4 G? I watched this video this morning and thought the guy was kidding but I guess not... never seen breathing this bad on ANYTHING...

https://youtu.be/wPF5cxSHCSg right about the 6:50 mark.
 
scorsesefan said:
Can anyone share their A7SIII AF settings for run n' gun documentary? For instance, I always leave face/eye af on, but what do you guys use for Focus Area?
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The only AF setting I never change is AF tracking sensitivity. I leave that at Locked On. I'm not sure why you'd want it to be anything else since the point of touch tracking is to stay on the thing you touch. But maybe there's something I don't know.

I leave face AF on most of the time. But if you're trying to focus on an object and theres a face in the frame, it'll screw you up. Or if there are lots of faces in the background, or if the person's face is partly covered. I have the on/off toggle mapped to a custom button but I can't use it during a shot. I have to cut, change it, and roll again. I need to see if I can change it mid-shot by putting it in the quick function menu...

My subject switch sensitivity is usually at responsive if I'm shooting an evolving situation and changing the subject of the shot a lot, or it's in the middle if I'm shooting multiple shots of the same person/object before moving on to cover something else. Or it's at locked on (lowest setting) if I'm trying to focus on someone and there's a bunch of s*%t passing in front of them in the foreground. I guess most of the time I have this setting set in the middle, but it depends on the scenario. Typically I change it when coming to a new scene or when the action of the scene changes. (Maybe I was shooting details b-roll at a wedding reception and I was happy to have rapid subject switching to different objects or parts of objects in my frame. Then it's time for the couples entrance and dance and so I want the focus to stay on them pretty much the whole time, or maybe trade from one person to the other when appropriate, but not go crazy going to the background people, so I set it at the middle setting. Then for dance b-roll when the dance floor is full, I might set it to locked on so that it wont get distracted by the tons of people passing through the foreground.)

My focus speed is usually either set at the fastest setting if I'm more interested in getting a series of coverage without focus pulls, or at the middle or lower settings if I'm doing focus pulls in the middle of the shot. I'll often change this setting just to grab a shot or a few variations of a shot, and then change it back to rapid speed.

I usually leave the focus area on wide. The camera does a good job of intelligently selecting a subject. I put it on zone or spot if I want to do a pan and have the camera focus on the leading edge of the pan. Or one time recently, i was covering an auction and panning and zooming over to whoever was bidding. I was always putting the bidder in the lower center part of the frame (with plenty of headroom for their raised hand), and i put the spot where their head would be. But typically I'm shooting a variety of framings/compositions, so it's not useful to do anything besides wide.

My favorite aspect of A7SIII AF by far is touch tracking. I put my phone on a wrist mount and run wifi control to it. I tap the phone to select a subject so I'm not touching the camera. You can also change color and exposure settings with the phone.
 
finally got my purchase confirmation on an fx3...so much for b&h. i lost the race again on the final used unit I saw them offer. and now they're still back-ordered on fx3 even though other people have it in stock?

I ordered from pictureline in salt lake city. no sales tax + free shipping, and then I get to use a credit card with rewards unlike when I use the payboo card at b&h. so the total purchase price comes in actually below b&h. delivery expected on the 7th...
 
Kind of an ordeal. Should be a nice companion to your A7sIII. I think I would miss a viewfinder but it will be a killer gimbal camera.
 
I've given up trying to "win" scarce items at BH i.e. beat others to checkout. There was an OB fx6 up a few wks ago and in the 1.5 secs it took to check out it was gone. I'm pretty sure the competition is using bots or something... BH is really slipping. Adorama has had the fx6 come in 2 or 3 times in the 2 mos I have had my order placed at BH. The only thing keeping me loyal at this point is Payboo...
 
Bassman2003 said:
. Should be a nice companion to your A7sIII.
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Yeah, not enough of a difference for me to want to upgrade. But I wanted another a7siii and went fx3 instead mostly because of the fan. I've overheated several times with the a7siii. It only goes down for like 10 seconds before you can shoot again. But usually I have to change settings to prevent it from happening again, by turning off smartphone monitor control and/or changing from 120p to 60p. Most of the time it hasn't been a problem since most critical events or long-form stuff i shoot is 24p. But occasionally it's very stressful. Having tally lights will be great too.

I don't typically shoot it on tripod looking thru the evf. I just use evf for outdoors and judging color by eye since the a7siii lcd screen is inaccurate. Now that I have a 2800 nits monitor, I don't think I need evf outside. And for color I can shoot a white card or make an educated guess at color temp

so basically the a7siii will become the B unit unless I really need the weather sealing for rain or beach
 
In general, that kind of information is best kept private. Some businesses make mistakes, or don't operate properly. (Not saying the one above is or isn't.)

And you're also supposed to pay the tax on the item yourself if you use it in New York.
 
Speaking of tax I need some advice. This Spring I applied for small businesses covid relief program (which I ended up not getting). During the process I was required to get a trademark name through my local municipality.

Recently I received a city business property tax form. Up until now I've never paid business property tax. I like to avoid doing so I was going to cancel my trademark name but I have to sign an affidavit and provide letter of dissolution or proof I no longer own the business. There is a steep penalty for making a false statement.

In truth I'm not like a regular business I work out of my home without a formal office or anything resembling a business and 90% of my income is as an independent contractor for another company. I'd prefer to return to self employed video contractor status. It's not so much the money but the time and hassle of tracking all my purchases with their depreciation etc and filing local business property tax every year.

Has anyone else dealt with paying property tax on all your equipment?
 
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