Advantages of shooting A7s with the Odyssey 7Q?

C

ChadN

Well-known member
Hey all, i'm really considering the A7s.

I have the Odyssey 7Q (would have to try and sell for a +). But with the camera outputting 8bit, is there much benefit to shooting the A7s to the Odyssey 7Q+ rather than just shooting internal? I suppose i'd ask the same question about the upcoming A7r II.

I've got the FS700 and 7Q. Starting to look at 3 Axis Gimbals. But i stop and wonder if i should just get a smaller camera, smaller gimbal. I love the 7Q, but wasn't sure if it was worth holding on to if i go with an A7s.
 
External recorder is the only way you'll get 4k out of it. Also I'm not an expert by any means, but I hear there is some benefit of recording 8 bit 422 vs internal 8 bit 420.
 
Not sure all the features of the 7q±, and I'm sure Mitch will pop in soon, but the meters and false colors on the shogun are an amazing tool to have, and I'm sure the odyssey has similar features.
 
Ah, gotcha. The 4k isn't internal on the A7s. Only the upcoming A7rII. And 422 is definitely an upgrade. Good points, thanks!
 
I've just upgraded my A7s with a Shogun and the image quality is significantly better even when outputting the final image at HD. Aside from the 4.2.2 advantage and improved monitoring tools it also shows how the A7s does not do a good job of internally scaling the UHD image from the sensor to the HD image on the card. Major drawback is that with a external recorder it's no longer a lightweight and small camera package.
 
The Odyssey7Q+ also offers a feature for cameras such as the Sony A7s that the Shogun does not. If you record HD on the camera internally, then it is an 8-bit capture of a downrezzed UHD image where the downsizing is fairly simple because the camera doesn't have the processing power for an advanced version. There is a mode on the Odyssey7Q+ called 4K->HD, which accepts 4K or UHD video over HDMI and does a high quality supersampling to 2K or HD. Significantly, this mode will also take the available color information and create a pseudo 10-bit signal in the lower resolution. While it is not quite the same as having originally captured a 10-bit signal off the camera sensor, it is certainly far more information than would be captured in 8-bit. The improvement in bit depth and color fidelity reduces banding and provides more accurate colors while the superior supersampling produces a noticeably higher resolving image.

Adam Wilt wrote a nice article about this mode and its use with cameras like the A7s.
http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acquisition/external-recorders/new-firmware-for-the-odyssey-7q.html
 
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The difference between using the 7Q+ to DownRes 4k to 1080P30 to internal 1080P is about the same as comparing 1080 to 720
I was about to return my A7s until I saw the output thru the Odyssey recorder.

Now I would like to see what the 7Q+ can do with A7s 720P at 120fps.
Could this capability be added by firmware or is there a trick I have not found?
 
RRRoger said:
The difference between using the 7Q+ to DownRes 4k to 1080P30 to internal 1080P is about the same as comparing 1080 to 720
I was about to return my A7s until I saw the output thru the Odyssey recorder.

Now I would like to see what the 7Q+ can do with A7s 720P at 120fps.
Could this capability be added by firmware or is there a trick I have not found?
Click to expand...
Such a function might be possible in the future if the camera makes that output available, but I do not believe it does. 720p120 is not a SMPTE standard spec, so I do not believe Sony offers it. The camera can record it internally for slow motion playback, but the live feed is almost certainly skipping every other frame to output a 720p60 signal.
 
+1 for this combo.

I'd add that if you have the time then recording UHD, denoising in post, stablising then downsample to HD yields excellent results.

This way you can get around 2 of the larger issues with the A7s - the noise and the rolling shutter and still end up with excellent quality HD files.

cheers
Paul
 
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