A7RIV: A Quick & Dirty Review

Me asking questions again - with its 8-bit codec, have you tried to push the color grading just for the heck of it?

DP Review posted a video about a trip to Mongolia and the interior clips looked gorgeous; exterior just OK.
 
thanks for the tip... I took a look at that video, way bigger stuff than I've been able to do so far. Lots of small jobs and editing these past couple months. Playtime has been at a minimum.

Re: the Mongolian footage, I can sympathize... a lot of that video was shot outside, on the treeless steppe, with miles of clear blue sky, in the middle of the day. It's about the worst situation you can get for an 8-bit camera.

On a couple of my shoots, I noticed that the stock non-PP holds details in the shadows pretty well, but not the highlights... so it's typically better to expose for the highlights and lift the shadows vs. the inverse. The codec withstands some minor grading... it's manageable, but you can't be the least bit sloppy with your exposure... especially as you climb in the ISO. As with other cameras like it, Slog2 is a bit easier to work with than Slog3... I've done a couple jobs with Slog2 and Phantom LUTs, and it didn't fall apart (unless, as mentioned, I blew highlights or severely underexposed).

This camera is gradually replacing my FS5 for web jobs, which are going to be crammed down into 8 bits for delivery anyway... and in a pinch, heck, "Parts Unknown" used A7's frequently for various broadcast shots. I'm not asking it to be my forever A-cam.
 
A few days ago I was looking for the Alexa LF clips on YouTube. There's a short film about a similar subject that's in the Made in Mongolia project - horses and horse breeders under a bright sun. And it looks just about the same. Like video.

Not that ARRI would care one way or another. Its stack of Oscar winners says enough.
 
So, the NFL is using A7RIV on a gimbal to get the closeups in the end zone. They're shooting in 1080p, then wirelessly transmitting the file to the truck. Compared to a typical small sensor sports camera, it looks a bit bizarre when wide open. The AF on a 24-70 G-master hunts too, as the teammates pile up onto a TD celebration.

But, hey, it's something different.
 
Just started recently...really looks so unreal compared to the regular broadcast as they are shooting super shallow.

But it gives another amazing dimension, layer to the game and it's surreal seeing players like that in some shots (after 10-15 years of such deep DOF for the most part).

Last year or the year before, MNF started experimenting with very shallow long lens shots during warm-ups. And lots of slow-motion b-roll. And I see a lot of 60p this year.

But the above is during the game after touchdowns which makes it different.

I am really impressed.
 
It's kind of a shame how little traction this camera got in video circles. If only it did more than 8 bit... but it's a better tool than A7III which is everywhere.

FWIW I even slightly prefer its image to that of the SIII... and it can roll 4K S35... but the SIII's AF, HDMI, 10-bit, audio, flippy screen and more certainly make it the overall better video machine.

The two work spiffily together as a 2-camera, no-30-minute-limit flight kit.
 
The a7III was $1500 cheaper so it definitely took the spotlight (and it was out before the a7RIV).

The a7RIV has the much better AF than the a7III, but with no 10-bit and for $3500, most people wrote it off.

a7RV will be a home run in 2021...(or a touchdown).
 
RIV was Camera of the Year in 2019 by many sites. Primarily due to its 61 MPX sensor (and a 4x pixel shift mode) for stills. For 4K, it had a major crop. Sony could have mixed the line skipping and a crop, with variable aspects ratios on top of that. But chose not to.

Really, the sin there was sitting on SIII for two years (as a sop to all the buyers of the A7III sensor).

Now rumors percolate about an R5 challenger with top notch video and stills capabilities - 8K, 50 MPX and so on. Canon then supposedly is working on an RIV challenger with 75 MPX sensor (and a 4x pixel shift to 300).
 
It did not have a major crop...not sure what you're referring to but it also had a S35 crop mode if it's that.
 
Some new rumors on RV from some Chinese sites. Speculation that it will keep the same sensor but will improve video. Kind of underwhelming. Which makes it sound legit.
 
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