FS7: NO Sony Fs7!!

[JPNola]

I pulled the trigger and bought the FX9.

I wanted to buy from Texas Media Systems. But their mobile website is difficult to navigate. And when I finally found the FX9 listing and placed in my cart it said “pre-order” in red. I don’t want to pre-order. I want to order. Elsewhere the site said “ships in 3-7 business days”. I want it sooner than that and need it sooner. Need it for a shoot next week. I want it shipped today. You gotta have ‘em in stock, ready to be shipped pronto, TMS. I ordered from B&H.

I also got the XDCA, Chrosziel shoulder-plate and top-plate, Wooden Camera VF mount that is a rail-style and not a rod. Forgot to buy a rain cover. May see if my Porta B rain cover for Fs7 fits.

I don’t know why I am not more excited than I am. Maybe because, loosely speaking, the FX9 isn’t all that different from the Fs7 I own now. And many of my fav lenses I own won’t cover full-frame. Kinda feels like I am shelling out $16k for features that do not interest me much- FF, Cinetone, “6k”, AF. And with the purchase making a bunch of my glass less usable.

I held off on getting any Sony G zooms to take advantage of AF. Need to research those more and maybe try out first.

 

[NorBro]

TMS and Terry are amazing, but TMS has one of the most difficult websites around (like many, many other companies, even Adorama to some degree), IMO.

B&H's is far superior than everyone's and on another level.

I know it's a fast-paced world, and I really can relate with your decision (aka now not later), but you should have at least called the guy if you were thinking about purchasing from them.

 

[JPNola]

“you should have at least called the guy if you were thinking about purchasing from them.”


I thought about calling but I’m lazy and it was easier to click, click, buy from B&H.

 

[Run&Gun]

I'll cross my fingers for 'ya JP. B&H is at the bottom of my list for fast anything these days. I ordered an in-stock piece last Tuesday. Was supposed to be here today(which is already more than double the time it would have taken pre-covid), but instead they just got around to shipping it today and they are estimating delivery NEXT Tuesday(I don't need it right now, it's just a spare). The only thing B&H has going for them right now is covering sales tax(if you use PayBoo, but of course there is a limit on the card). B&H's website/on-line purchase system is probably second only to Amazon, but their shipping and exchange support, right now, is some of the worst I have (continually) experienced in the last ~12 months.

 

[JPNola]

A buddy here locally has an FX9 I can rent if mine does not arrive in time.

I have maintained good relationships with all the local Owner / Ops. They help me out, I help them out. NOLA is a smallish market. If in the biz here you know everyone else in the biz locally. The Sound Ops I use work for the other Owner / Ops as well. It’s a bit incestuous but in a good way. We all family. I’ve stepped in for other shooters when they had an injury / medical issue and not billed them anything for it.

 

[scorsesefan]

I'll cross my fingers for 'ya JP. B&H is at the bottom of my list for fast anything these days. I ordered an in-stock piece last Tuesday. Was supposed to be here today(which is already more than double the time it would have taken pre-covid), but instead they just got around to shipping it today and they are estimating delivery NEXT Tuesday(I don't need it right now, it's just a spare). The only thing B&H has going for them right now is covering sales tax(if you use PayBoo, but of course there is a limit on the card). B&H's website/on-line purchase system is probably second only to Amazon, but their shipping and exchange support, right now, is some of the worst I have (continually) experienced in the last ~12 months.

I've gotten to know some of the sales people at BH as I'm a regular walk-in. The consensus from the employees is that they're being pushed hard by ownership/management who has cut staff significantly. IMO it looks as if BH is suffering financially from the epidemic as a whole, but especially from the tremendous reduction in international tourism in NYC. A trip to the store used to be like going to the United Nations -- a hodgepodge of languages being spoken and many, many European tourists with deep pockets and a desire to avoid GST, who for the most part haven't returned to NYC... All that being said, as you mentioned Run n Gun, BH's customer service (especially phone and shipping) has been horrific the last 12 months and they're seriously in jeopardy of losing long time customers, who, unlike myself don't live in NY and can't walk into the store...

 

[JPNola]

Will Canon EF lenses perform autofocus on a FX9 with the right adapter?

I thought they would not AF when on a lens adapter, no way no how, regardless of adapter. But someone just told me they will AF with one of the newer version Meta EF-e adapters.

 

[OnSet]

Not sure I'd throw all the delivery blame on B&H.
I had a recent order shipped from them that arrived several days late. It was FedEx Ground, and I'm well within the radius that FedEx lists as being 1-day delivery for ground. FedEx tracking showed it as being on their truck and 'out for delivery' three days in a row - and since the first of those days was a Thursday the third day was Monday - when it actually arrived. Maybe it's a low priority because it's Ground, but that looks like a FedEx issue to me.

 

[ahalpert]

Will Canon EF lenses perform autofocus on a FX9 with the right adapter?

I thought they would not AF when on a lens adapter, no way no how, regardless of adapter. But someone just told me they will AF with one of the newer version Meta EF-e adapters.

Unless there's some magic new metabones adapter I'm not aware of (and I highly doubt there is), you will only get good single autofocus by adapting EF lenses, not continuous autofocus. You can get some continuous autofocus performance, but it will be very unreliable. Which probably renders the whole endeavor moot. I looked at a lot of reviews of different adapters and youtube tests before coming to this conclusion, and it was about 7 or 8 months ago that I did the research, so I doubt anything has substantially changed. But I'd be glad to hear if it has. and that's the rub about "having" autofocus - there isn't much quantitative data reported to compare performance just looking at a spec sheet. Hence the countless hours of youtube tests.

Edit: looks like the latest metabones ef-e adapter launched in 2017, so I dont think anything has changed since I researched the issue

 

[scorsesefan]

AF is greyed out in video mode on the A7SIII with the Metabones EF-E IV with all of my Canon glass. AF will work with the same on my FS7 but it's pretty much worthless anyway...

 

[Teddy_Dem]

Curious if anybody has tried any of the EF Sigma ART lenses with the Sigma MC-11 adapter on either the A7S3, FX3, FX6, or FX9. Does the autofocus work well or at all in video mode?

 

[Run&Gun]

Not sure I'd throw all the delivery blame on B&H.
I had a recent order shipped from them that arrived several days late. It was FedEx Ground, and I'm well within the radius that FedEx lists as being 1-day delivery for ground. FedEx tracking showed it as being on their truck and 'out for delivery' three days in a row - and since the first of those days was a Thursday the third day was Monday - when it actually arrived. Maybe it's a low priority because it's Ground, but that looks like a FedEx issue to me.

I’ll throw 95% of the blame on B&H, when talking about B&H and delivery issues for me. Most of the time it isn’t the actual in-transit time that’s the problem, it’s the actual time before the shipment leaves their warehouse. Pre-COVID, as long as you completed your order of an in-stock item before the afternoon cut-off, you could bet with extremely high certainty that it was shipping out that same day. Now, it may be several days to a week before your in-stock item leaves their warehouse.

Semi-interesting thing that I was told about FedEx Ground several years ago. If drivers(they are not FedEx employees) don’t have enough packages to make it worth going to a certain area, they can wait up to a week, I believe, to make that delivery until they get more packages that go to that same area.

I’ve been to FedEx’s main hub in Memphis. I’ve shot in there and had the “grand tour” and been in places I couldn’t shoot. It’s an absolutely amazing operation and it amazes me that we get anything at all, much less in the time frames that we do(just a few hours in some cases), but we’ve all gotten used to these “instantaneous” delivery times and you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

 

[Wes.]

A buddy here locally has an FX9 I can rent if mine does not arrive in time.

I have maintained good relationships with all the local Owner / Ops. They help me out, I help them out. NOLA is a smallish market. If in the biz here you know everyone else in the biz locally. The Sound Ops I use work for the other Owner / Ops as well. It’s a bit incestuous but in a good way. We all family. I’ve stepped in for other shooters when they had an injury / medical issue and not billed them anything for it.

I definitely want to echo this statement. Relatively speaking, I'm a younger guy in industry terms... 9 years ago I was still an intern, but then I was a PA, and all the while I worked with people who I maintained relationships with. Cut to now, and they are the guys I shoot alongside with. They're the guys who call me to fill in for them, play B cam for them, run the movi, etc etc. Having good relationships with other shooters in your market, sharing sound ops or giving discounted rentals so they can still make money using your gear and you can get a piece too, all of these things are so great for getting you out and working with other people who you can learn from. Sometimes what to do, and other times what NOT to do, lol. But anyway, JP makes a really good point and I just want to emphasize it. Right on

Curious if anybody has tried any of the EF Sigma ART lenses with the Sigma MC-11 adapter on either the A7S3, FX3, FX6, or FX9. Does the autofocus work well or at all in video mode?

I've done quite a bit of internet research via Facebook groups and forums - it certainly appears that the Sigma lenses with MC-11 *and definitely NOT the metabones* will autofocus close to the level that the sony G masters will. Best I can tell, sigma paid sony for some info to build into their adapter that metabones didn't/couldn't/wouldn't.
{edit} - on the fx3/fx6/fx9/a7s3

 

[Run&Gun]

I've gotten to know some of the sales people at BH as I'm a regular walk-in. The consensus from the employees is that they're being pushed hard by ownership/management who has cut staff significantly. IMO it looks as if BH is suffering financially from the epidemic as a whole, but especially from the tremendous reduction in international tourism in NYC. A trip to the store used to be like going to the United Nations -- a hodgepodge of languages being spoken and many, many European tourists with deep pockets and a desire to avoid GST, who for the most part haven't returned to NYC... All that being said, as you mentioned Run n Gun, BH's customer service (especially phone and shipping) has been horrific the last 12 months and they're seriously in jeopardy of losing long time customers, who, unlike myself don't live in NY and can't walk into the store...

Yes, trying to get someone on the phone or even the on-line chat is usually an exercise in futility(or extreme patience). I will say though, that they have still been pretty responsive via email. I’ve had to make a few returns over the last year and ask for some price matches and I’d usually get an RA for returns or reply with discount code for the price match within 5-10 mins, maybe 30 mins max, which I’d say is pretty good, even before COVID.

 

[NorBro]

I used to receive B&H packages the next day obviously because of my location.

Now - just like everyone else - multiple days later. And it's best to order Monday or Tuesday or I won't see it until the week after.

If I purchased a FX9 right now, what normally would have arrived on Wednesday (shipping first thing tomorrow morning) would now be expected Friday, 4/16 (look below).

That's crazy...but at least they tell you.

And so far, I have received my packages on the dates they say they will arrive.

HOWEVER, you have to take note of the shipping. They changed many items to 'standard shipping' (even over $49). Before almost everything was expedited for orders over $49. This makes a difference.

Like millions of other companies, they are cutting costs with the shipping and have less people working (which slows down order processing).

 

[Run&Gun]

I used to receive B&H packages the next day obviously because of my location.

Now - just like everyone else - multiple days later. And it's best to order Monday or Tuesday or I won't see it until the week after.

If I purchased a FX9 right now, what normally would have arrived on Wednesday (shipping first thing tomorrow morning) would now be expected Friday, 4/16 (look below).

That's crazy...but at least they tell you.

And so far, I have received my packages on the dates they say they will arrive.

HOWEVER, you have to take note of the shipping. They changed many items to 'standard shipping' (even over $49). Before almost everything was expedited for orders over $49. This makes a difference.

Like millions of other companies, they are cutting costs with the shipping and have less people working (which slows down order processing).

View attachment 143029

I still remember the days when there was no free shipping, even ground. When I bought my first (tape) VariCam and HD monitor it was a hair over $50K total, if I recall. I had to pay for shipping. Now you can buy a $5 pack of batteries from Amazon and you have them delivered the next afternoon for free.

I just wonder when it’s all gonna come to a screeching halt... We’re already seeing some players having to dial it back.

 

[ahalpert]

I've done quite a bit of internet research via Facebook groups and forums - it certainly appears that the Sigma lenses with MC-11 *and definitely NOT the metabones* will autofocus close to the level that the sony G masters will. Best I can tell, sigma paid sony for some info to build into their adapter that metabones didn't/couldn't/wouldn't.
{edit} - on the fx3/fx6/fx9/a7s3

must just be sigma lenses? just tried canon 70-200 ef f/2.8 is ii with mc-11 on a7siii and the camera won't permit the selection of autofocus. manual focus only with this lens, it says

and looking at the feature list of mc-11 firmware updates, it looks like each update just adds compatibility for more sigma lenses. so, i guess they left canon lenses out in the cold

 

[ahalpert]

I still remember the days when there was no free shipping, even ground. When I bought my first (tape) VariCam and HD monitor it was a hair over $50K total, if I recall. I had to pay for shipping. Now you can buy a $5 pack of batteries from Amazon and you have them delivered the next afternoon for free.

I just wonder when it’s all gonna come to a screeching halt... We’re already seeing some players having to dial it back.

As long as it's profitable for them, why would they have to dial it back? It seems like amazon's play is low-margin, high-volume. they capture a ridiculous percentage of e-commerce thanks to their convenience and pricing. just look how easy they make it to return things. traditionally, retailers make it hard so they don't get stuck with returns. but i'm way more likely to order from amazon specifically because they make it so freaking easy to return something that doesn't work or you don't like. if anyone dials back free shipping, it'll be because they're entering a death spiral

 

[Run&Gun]

As long as it's profitable for them, why would they have to dial it back? It seems like amazon's play is low-margin, high-volume. they capture a ridiculous percentage of e-commerce thanks to their convenience and pricing. just look how easy they make it to return things. traditionally, retailers make it hard so they don't get stuck with returns. but i'm way more likely to order from amazon specifically because they make it so freaking easy to return something that doesn't work or you don't like. if anyone dials back free shipping, it'll be because they're entering a death spiral

It’s almost like the old Rodney Carrington bit about being able to take diapers with $h!t in them back to Walmart. “We’re terribly sorry about that Mr. Carrington, you just run on back there and get you a new pack.”

Amazon has made it so easy now if it’s a Prime order, you don’t even have to repack the item or even print off a shipping label in most instances. Just drop it off at a UPS Store or Kohl’s and have them scan the QR code on your phone. I do repack/re-seal my returns before dropping them off, though. I’m not that damn lazy.

 

[ekv]

I've done quite a bit of internet research via Facebook groups and forums - it certainly appears that the Sigma lenses with MC-11 *and definitely NOT the metabones* will autofocus close to the level that the sony G masters will. Best I can tell, sigma paid sony for some info to build into their adapter that metabones didn't/couldn't/wouldn't.
{edit} - on the fx3/fx6/fx9/a7s3

i've tested my sigma 18-35/1.8 with the mc-11 on my fx6 and the focus is sub optimal. my sigma 24-70 e-mount however is amazing for AF. the mc-11 also did not work with my canon 70-200 on the fx6.

oddly, the mc-11 with the aforementioned lenses does work great on the a7riv in stills mode. i did test out the viltrox ef-e adapter per Alister's comments and it worked better for the sigma 18-35 and canon 70-200 but hunted too much for valid use. just my experience, have not tested with any ART primes.