Considering the a5100/a6000 for a travel rig but looking for suggestions

W

Wolves

New member
I shoot indoor concerts, festivals, clubs... things of that nature. Usually involving music and lots of low light. Ideally, I would love to have an a7s on board. However, as a travel rig, I'd prefer not to hit over the $1000-1500 mark on a body.

I had a chance to shoot with the a5100 and I was happily surprised by the sensor's ability and the XAVCS codec. The lack of viewfinder or programmable dials/buttons made it a bit of a pain. The lack of cold or hot shoe made it a bit more of a pain. I would definitely need a solid rig for it.

The a6000 might not have XAVCS (yet...) but it does have similar sensor sampling and includes all of the programmable buttons and dials. No mic input is not problem, I use external devices for that. Even the lack of XAVCS isn't a killer if I can use a Atomos Ninja Star with it.

I've been tossing these two around with other options in that price range - including the D7100, possibly a D600/610, the GH series, possibly a Canon. I'm wondering particularly how Canon/Nikon DSLRs would match up against video quality of the a5100 and a6000.

So, for a traveling event videographer on a budget, what do you think the best option would be?

(I've attached a unedited shot of the last 2 venues I filmed at to give you a sense of the conditions.)
 

Attachments

  • CIS60.jpg
    CIS60.jpg
    85.5 KB · Views: 0
  • the_menzingers_show.jpg
    the_menzingers_show.jpg
    48 KB · Views: 0
Maybe it sound weird, but the Lumix LX100 it looks like a nice option for this, small, 4k recording, fast glass with stabilisation.
Good luck.
 
I was considering those two options as well. Ended up going for the A7s though to compliment my FS700. To me the idea of having a second small camera of equal (or even better!?) image quality as my a-cam wa really appealing.
For my event gigs (film quite a lot of live performances) the A6000 would probably do. As those events usually aren't very high end, AVCHD is just fine. They tend to be quite long and XAVC-S files are more tha twice as big!
Here in Europe there's deal for the A6000 + the 18-105 power zoom for €995. Quite a sweet deal, and for live events I love to have a power zoom. I'm gonna pick up that lens as soon as I'm sure the FS700 get's the firmware update to support it.
 
An article about this very subject was published today by pure serendipity in Alpha Sony Rumors. It's about a Professional Nat Geo Photographer/Videographer that switched from his larger DSLR to the a6000 and the Sony RX 10 for his some of his run-and-gun international work. He even posted some great lens recommendations. It looks like he eventually moved on to using the a7s and is about to purchase a 2nd soon. However, it's a great article for my needs. Hopefully anyone else with a similar question will stumble onto this post.

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/nati...pher-bob-krist-explains-why-he-moved-to-sony/
 
For resolution, check this.

For dynamic range, I'm testing the a6000 against the pocket, a7s, GH4, 5D3 and D5200 next week (should have been last week, but...), but I would say the Sonys are among the best "regular" DSLRs: maybe half a stop behind the Nikons, around a stop better than the Canons, and more than two stops better than the Panasonics. The pocket+RAW, a7s+slog2 and 5D3+RAW are clearly ahead, at least two stops better than any of these.
 
I bought both the a6000 and the a5100. I bought the a6000 weeks after it hit the market. It is truly a wonder, I am an Nikon guy from the films days and bounced around canon and panny for a while. But when I read the reviews on the a6000 I bought and have been very happy ever since. But I wanted a better codec than 24mbps or 28mbps, there were options in m43 or 1 inch sensor but I wanted a aps-c. I could have gone atomos but I also wanted compact in some cases and I did not want to get new expensive cards. I emailed Sony to see if there would be a firmware update, not now but please check our website periodically is basically what they said. So when the a5100 hit the market I bought it, and have been very happy since. Some people claim that there is no difference between the xavc-s and avchd at 28mbps. Perhaps not at all times but I have noticed the difference in low light and lots of movements. Also I think that it holds up better under a lot of editing. I love both cams, a6000 has become my primary still and the a5100 vid. I can carry both in my carhart large pockets or small camera bag. Oh before I forget you can use the wired remote that is claimed for the a6000 on the a5100, Sony claimed that it would not work and directed me towards the advertised remote for the a5100. Why does this matter, because the remote for the a6000 has shutter release, movie start and stop and a zoom rocker. The one for the a5100 only has shutter release. With the remote now you have an aps-c small camcorder with interchangeable lens, manual controls and a lanc controller with robust codec considered to be "broadcast quality"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top