FS7: It's a heavy beast !!!

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bigmouthmedia

Active member
I was at our local video stockist today to check out the FS7ii as an alternative to the Z280 - and I've decided no.

The FS7ii had the kit 18-100 lens and the expansion unit on it and it's a BIG beast - practically the size of an ENG camera, and weighed as much too.
I took some footage (that's the nice part of it) but found that even after 10 minutes, that it was a burden on my shoulder weight-wise. I realise it's more likely this would be a camera on sticks than on the shoulder, although a fair bit of my work is mobile activations/street events....it's not really suited to long shoots.

In saying that, the Z280 is about 1/4 of the size, but with the same kind of features (SLog3, Timecode but without having to buy the expansion unit !) albeit it's a smaller sensor.

Coming from the Panasonic GH world, I must say the menus on Sonys are very convulted !
 
Z280 is a 1/2” sensor ENG camera. FS7 has a Super 35 sensor and has more in common with CineAltas than the affixed lens unibody camcorders like Z280. They are wildly different.

Once you attach a shoulder mount accessory the FS7 becomes much easier to wield on one’s shoulder all day. Stripped down, FS7 is akin to my DVX200, but with a far better image, and just as pleasant to hand-hold.

The Sony menus, Panasonic menus, Canon menus...they’re all designed by engineers and are all frustratingly convoluted.

Anyway, different strokes for different folks. Either camera is best suited for a particular type of work. I prefer my FS7II over my camcorder, so it’s likely I’d also prefer it over a Z280. But, camcorders sure are handy when you need everything in one lightweight package.

As it is, I hate using camcorders because I can’t put them on my shoulder and they wind up living on sticks. My FS7II hugs my shoulder just fine. With the shoulder mount and camera comfort cushion I can shoot all day with my FS7II.
 
bigmouthmedia said:
Coming from the Panasonic GH world, I must say the menus on Sonys are very convulted !
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The Sony menus are probably just different from what you are used to and no worse and no better than other cameras. But one big advantage is that most of the Sony cameras allow you to design your own custom User Menu to fit YOUR unique wants and needs. Almost every menu and sub-menu on the camera can be added to the User Menu page in any order you want. I barely ever have any reason to go deeper than my own User Menu.

As for one camera being heavier than another, I will gladly trade a heavier weight for better balance and ergonomics.
 
Thanks guys for your replies...bear in mind that i was only with the camera for about 30 minutes, so didn't get a chance to fully explore everything - but I must admit I do like the ergonomics of the loupe and the extension arm....the shoulder support was a Chrosiel that the company had added on.

A lot of what I shoot varies between stage shows (2 camera setup), street activations, vox pops to video newsletters on green screen. The cost of the FS7ii with all the bits and bobs comes to over $20,000 AUD - the price of a small car !!

I think the 280 will be more in my ballpark (due to the form factor, built in lens etc), I'll just have to find a solution for the shoulder rigging.
I'm also contemplating get a GH5s for my more cinematic/DOF work (I already have the GH4 lenses).
 
bigmouthmedia said:
The cost of the FS7ii with all the bits and bobs comes to over $20,000 AUD - the price of a small car !!
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your small car will cost you money on and on and it won't bring back a single cent.
The FS7 should pay off in two years and still has a good value. If it doesn't pay off
it's a fault of your business, not of the camera.
 
Feels like a lot of people here are trying to defend the FS7 against a perceived attack. I love my FS7, and find the weight brings as much benefit to the look and feel of handheld footage as it does pain to my back and arms.

BUT, I can definitely see why a lighter camera would appeal to some people, and heck, if money were no object I’d use an FS5 for half the work I do, and probably add a few years to my lifespan as a result.

Horses for courses folks. I’m shooting day 2 with an Osmo and X5r today. Some of the shots we’ve been able to get are stunning!

Cheers, jason
 
If you want an amazing little camera that does a great job check out the little Z90. I'm constantly impressed with this camera. Granted you can't get the cool shallow DoF look of a DSLR or mirrorless camera, but for everything else is kills those cameras.
 
jasonbrooks said:
Feels like a lot of people here are trying to defend the FS7 against a perceived attack. I love my FS7, and find the weight brings as much benefit to the look and feel of handheld footage as it does pain to my back and arms.

BUT, I can definitely see why a lighter camera would appeal to some people, and heck, if money were no object I’d use an FS5 for half the work I do, and probably add a few years to my lifespan as a result.
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Thanks Jason - I wasn't having a go at anyone with an FS7ii, and I appreciate if you take off the extension unit and VLock, it would be closer to an FS5 in weight / size...although my situations would lend themselves to having the VLOck at the most as if it's a street activation, there's very little downtime to change a battery in case I miss something.

My retailer said there's a BP-U battery from Jupio that acts like a VLock in the sense of having a D-Tap (and USB) in it so that you can power something else like an Atomos, etc - which is great. That's moreso for the Z280 and cameras that take that battery.
 
If you're trying to stay lean and mean you certainly won't need an Atomos for the Z280 because there is nothing you could output that would be better than the camera's internal recording.
 
bigmouthmedia said:
although my situations would lend themselves to having the VLOck at the most as if it's a street activation, there's very little downtime to change a battery in case I miss something.
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If battery-swap time is a concern then lens-swap time will also be a concern for you. And you should accordingly consider the lens options for any camera you purchase. A "fast" zoom ( faster than f/4 ) for the Fs7 that has a large focal-length range is going to be physically large and heavy. And also costly. Short of spending over $10k for a zoom, with the Fs7 you either work with slow zooms ( f/4 ) that have a great focal length range or you work with fast zooms ( f/2.8+ ) and perform frequent lens swaps. Or you work with primes, something that I find impractical for most shooting.

Size and weight are relative. My fs7 felt "light as a feather" after 5 days of shooting handheld with this 26-lb beast:

IMG_4186.jpg
 
Love it! xD

Add on top... saw a YT video lately where an old timer talked about today's young hopes in photography / film making and how they would have all these brilliant ideas for "cool awesome" shots.... and then he asked them; "but how does that communicate what we want to say about the product?"..... and they couldn't answer that question :)
 
I don't find the FS7 anymore of a beast than many other cameras, including BMCC or even the C100. I've put an A7S on a shoulder rig and it soon looked like an unwieldy beast and drew a fair amount of attention.

If you strip the FS7 down, it is completely manageable and can even be perfectly balanced on a Glidecam HD-4000 with an arm and vest.
 
I find the FS7 not ideal for solo operation, built up and carrying a bag of lenses and carrying sticks it becomes something you dont want to haul all day.

Id like to trim some grams
 
The original post noted liking certain features such as time code in/out and Log mode. May I suggest you take a look at the Panasonic EVA1. It has TC I/O, RAW out & proper audio connectivity without the need of an accessory back. It can also output 10-bit 422 4K video over both SDI & HDMI, captures 14-stops of dynamic range, runs on small batteries instead bulky Gold- or V-mount bricks (there are 3rd party versions with a P-Tap if you need), records robust codecs onto petite SDXC cards, and offers an image that everyone seems to love. Plus the camera body weighs just 2.65 pounds. The EVA1 has been approved by Netflix for original productions, which is a pretty big deal.

OK, enough of my pushing here. I’m the Product Manager so I’m kinda partial. But it does sound that based on your statements the EVA1 may be of interest to you.
 
Mitch Gross said:
The original post noted liking certain features such as time code in/out and Log mode. May I suggest you take a look at the Panasonic EVA1. It has TC I/O, RAW out & proper audio connectivity without the need of an accessory back. It can also output 10-bit 422 4K video over both SDI & HDMI, captures 14-stops of dynamic range, runs on small batteries instead bulky Gold- or V-mount bricks (there are 3rd party versions with a P-Tap if you need), records robust codecs onto petite SDXC cards, and offers an image that everyone seems to love. Plus the camera body weighs just 2.65 pounds. The EVA1 has been approved by Netflix for original productions, which is a pretty big deal.

OK, enough of my pushing here. I’m the Product Manager so I’m kinda partial. But it does sound that based on your statements the EVA1 may be of interest to you.
Click to expand...

The EVA is impressive. Thanks for walking me and my friend through it at Cinegear!
 
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