Could someone share some tips/tricks/cheats which would ease the recording or improve the end result of your footage which you find useful?
Let me start with some basic ones which I learned on this forum/other sources and my limited experience.
1. I'm still learning how to use A7s but I found it very useful to change the behaviour of how to switch from AF to MF (you might want to apply the same for AEL). The default setting is to hold the button (which is located on right top of your screen) when you want to leave MF. I found it very uncomfortable, so I changed the behaviour to toggle. You can change it from the Menu -> Gear icon -> 6 page -> Custom Key Settings -> AF/MF button change to AF/MF Ctrl Toggle.
2. Expose your footage over 1-2 stops. Your shadows will be cleaner when you reduce exposure in post.
3. Enable zebra (Menu -> Gear icon -> 1st page -> Zebra, I set it to 95, maybe I should use some different value), so it would mark on your screen where you are losing the details.
3. Sometimes it's difficult to spot whether the subject is on focus or not (either via LCD or EVF). You might want to enable peaking level (Menu -> Gear icon -> 2nd page -> Peaking level and I set it to high), so it colors (it might be in White/RED/Yellow) where your focus is.
4. Shoot in s-log2. I also use Kholi's PicPro settings.
5. Get ND filter if you plan shooting in slog2. I bought a variable (some people don't prefer variable one but it suits me when I shoot on a rapidly changing conditions) and strong one since the min ISO for slog2 is 3200.
6. When shooting indoors (with low light) overexpose the scene with 1-2 stops by increasing ISO to 10000 (or more if needed). The footage will look better than underexposed but with 3200 ISO.
7. Don't leave the white balance to Auto. Set it manually. I shot some indoors scenes with AWB, it auto balanced differently when I changed the recording position and as a result I had to apply multiple different corrections instead of one in order to match all scenes.
8. Lastly for better understanding read this Alister Chapmans blog post.
Hope someone find it useful and more experienced forum users would share their secret tips
Let me start with some basic ones which I learned on this forum/other sources and my limited experience.
1. I'm still learning how to use A7s but I found it very useful to change the behaviour of how to switch from AF to MF (you might want to apply the same for AEL). The default setting is to hold the button (which is located on right top of your screen) when you want to leave MF. I found it very uncomfortable, so I changed the behaviour to toggle. You can change it from the Menu -> Gear icon -> 6 page -> Custom Key Settings -> AF/MF button change to AF/MF Ctrl Toggle.
2. Expose your footage over 1-2 stops. Your shadows will be cleaner when you reduce exposure in post.
3. Enable zebra (Menu -> Gear icon -> 1st page -> Zebra, I set it to 95, maybe I should use some different value), so it would mark on your screen where you are losing the details.
3. Sometimes it's difficult to spot whether the subject is on focus or not (either via LCD or EVF). You might want to enable peaking level (Menu -> Gear icon -> 2nd page -> Peaking level and I set it to high), so it colors (it might be in White/RED/Yellow) where your focus is.
4. Shoot in s-log2. I also use Kholi's PicPro settings.
5. Get ND filter if you plan shooting in slog2. I bought a variable (some people don't prefer variable one but it suits me when I shoot on a rapidly changing conditions) and strong one since the min ISO for slog2 is 3200.
6. When shooting indoors (with low light) overexpose the scene with 1-2 stops by increasing ISO to 10000 (or more if needed). The footage will look better than underexposed but with 3200 ISO.
7. Don't leave the white balance to Auto. Set it manually. I shot some indoors scenes with AWB, it auto balanced differently when I changed the recording position and as a result I had to apply multiple different corrections instead of one in order to match all scenes.
8. Lastly for better understanding read this Alister Chapmans blog post.
Hope someone find it useful and more experienced forum users would share their secret tips
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