A7s -Anyone shooting video with the E-Mount lenses? Not FE, but E. Like the 18-200?

[The Irish TRex]

I use the 18-200PZ lens with all 3 of my A7s cameras and they are great. Having a slow power zoom is unique. No other company provides that. And since we shoot everything at 1080p60 so we can "decide later" if we want it in slow motion or not, having a APS-C lens at 60p essentially eliminates any moire which with a FF lens at 60p is troublesome. The OSS is good. If you're careful you can do steadicam like walks as seen in the video above with the help of warp stabilizer. You can see a little warp in that really nice 410 shot (my guess is AE's warp stabilizer VFX might help get rid of even that...nice look though!). But the 18-200 PZ turns the camera into something no other brand has under $8k in a large sensor camera with power zoom that's slow and visually nice to use when rolling. We also use a 10-18mm E-mount lens which I do like and is very smooth with a touch of distortion at the far ends of the zoom. I had the 18-105 for a bit with the A7s and liked it but returned it. I don't need that extra stop of light on this camera. There is no distortion like you'll see on the FS line with that lens (although aren't they fixing that?) It was nice and non-distorted. Interestingly, because I like a slow zoom, I found that the 18-105 has a much slower "slowest" speed although it's VERY difficult to nail that without accidentally hitting the zoom rocker too hard. Whereas the 18-200 is nice and slow and you can SET to be slow no matter how hard you slam that rocker. Also, the remote VPR1 is great because it allows you to drop the 18-200 zoom another 20-30% slower bringing it almost as slow as the 18-105. If you want faster zooms, the 18-105 can go slower and faster than the 18-200. But you can't beat the range of 27-300 especially for event coverage. Hope this helps.

 

[dmitrizigany]

I had the 18-105 for a bit with the A7s and liked it but returned it. I don't need that extra stop of light on this camera. There is no distortion like you'll see on the FS line with that lens (although aren't they fixing that?) It was nice and non-distorted. Interestingly, because I like a slow zoom, I found that the 18-105 has a much slower "slowest" speed although it's VERY difficult to nail that without accidentally hitting the zoom rocker too hard. Whereas the 18-200 is nice and slow and you can SET to be slow no matter how hard you slam that rocker. Also, the remote VPR1 is great because it allows you to drop the 18-200 zoom another 20-30% slower bringing it almost as slow as the 18-105. If you want faster zooms, the 18-105 can go slower and faster than the 18-200. But you can't beat the range of 27-300 especially for event coverage. Hope this helps.

They've said they're coming out with a firmware upgrade to the FS700 to fix compability with the 18-105. My guess that will arrive around the time the new 28-135 starts shipping as I believe that one also needs correction and I'm sure Sony would like to sell a few of that lens to FS700 owners.

I sold my 18-200PZ along with the EA50 I got it with. Still miss that lens. It was often a bit slow on the EA50 (and FS700) but great for events as you said. Stage shows mostly, in my case.
Looking to get the 18-105 as soon as I know it works with the FS700.

 

[sparky33]

Just a follow up - I picked up the original silver 18-200 E-Mount and set the a7s in APS-C mode. I highly recommend this for walk around video. It's 27.5mm equiv and F/3.5, autofocuses with face detection and has AMAZING OSS. Once you turn off the Pre-AF the continuous AF in video mode works great. Not quite 70d level but still pretty damn good.
Overall for $410 shipped used I feel I made a very wise decision.

Just walking around my house and comparing the test footage with the a7s + 18-200 it's night and day difference with the VG10 I rented a while back (with the same lens). What a combo!

 

[Lenilenapi]

Is there any way to get a ramped smooth start and stop with the SELP 18-200 PZ? Also does the motor create resistance for manual zooms i.e can you do a whip zoom. I was thinking about getting the older manual silver version instead since I will much more often want to do my zooms manually and quick. Will be using on an FS7

 

[jcs]

Is there any way to get a ramped smooth start and stop with the SELP 18-200 PZ? Also does the motor create resistance for manual zooms i.e can you do a whip zoom. I was thinking about getting the older manual silver version instead since I will much more often want to do my zooms manually and quick. Will be using on an FS7

The SELP18200 can be manual zoomed as fast as the SEL18200 (silver) by switching off the servo control. However, the zoom ring is a bit narrower and thus not quite as easy to use for manual zooms (though my copy might be a touch smoother than the SEL18200 copy).

 

[Lenilenapi]

what about smooth ramped start & stop?

 

[jcs]

what about smooth ramped start & stop?

There's no built in smooth ramp start/stop; perhaps with practice smooth ramp start/stop would be possible (the switch is sensitive).

 

[Lenilenapi]

I may stick with the older manual version. Optically it supposed to be the same. Without a smooth start & stop the auto zoom its not valuable to me. Also i like seeing the mm marks on the outside. Is the PZ a free rolling zoom ring or does it have hard stops at each end like the focus ring. Wish they made these like they do on the EX cameras where you can push the ring into free auto mode or have it function as a normal lens with footage markings.

 

[jcs]

Zoom is mechanical with hard stops on both lenses. Focus is by wire with no stops on both lenses.

 

[Lenilenapi]

Thanks

 

[olof]

I just tested my silver 18-200 that came with my FS700, I just sold. I am getting a FS7 as new A-cam. The A7s is replacing my C100 as my B-cam. And I have an old reliable EX3 as my R&G shoulder cam.

Anyway I digress. Here is a video shot using Slog in the A7s ISO 3200 all manual. 5600 K 1/60 no ND. The lens goes from 3.5 to 6.3 as you zoom.

The shot is hand held and you will see as I zoom in the image gets darker as the lens gets slower. So as you can see in my screen grabs I just split the clip with a transition in the middle of the zoom and then adjusted each clip. I also used a LUT I made in Resolve for general use with Slog in the A7s. I use a Macbeth chart to do this, it works really well.

It is interesting to see how well the camera does in dynamic range, it is pretty bright outside we have snow now in NH. This is quick and dirty video and editing all of it took 15 minutes including shooting, CC and upload to Vimeo. I know it is not great video but it shows what the OP wanted to know how the cheap lens works. Pretty impressive if you ask me, both the camera and the $450 lens. In 4K the lens is not great but 1080 it is really fine even if slow. Shooting 4K with the O7Q shows how much better some lenses are like the Zies and Canons.