Run away from nikon?

did anyone say that the e-mount version works equally well? doesn't seem like a foregone conclusion to me just because the ef version works... there are so many gotchas with AF compatibility...

aren't RF lenses focus by wire as well?

FWIW G masters may not always have the best AF. they may never have it, for all I know. The Sony 85mm f/1.8 has the best autofocus on an 85. I heard that the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 has better AF than the G Master (according to Dustin Abbott's tests). The Tamron 70-180mm has faster/better AF than the Sony G Master. the G Masters definitely have pretty optics, though, basically better than those other options

But supposedly the manual focus is improved on the cine 16-35 which is like $5k but should be pretty badass and has a servo. And they're going to come out with more AF cine-type lenses.
 
Those cine lenses did float in my mind.. but they are probably beyond me.

One thing I like with canon is 70-200F4 for £2.50 and 24-105 for £3.25

A bit to sleep on :)
 
I just pulled the trigger on a Sony 70 - 200 f2.8 as well as the 2x extender for it - which now gives me 70 - 400 range, or really up to 600mm (albeit at f5.6) when using the C I Zoom on the A7siii. And then roughly 105 - 300 fov range on the FS7. It's still early days but the AF tracking on the A7siii is really something to see & try for yourself. (assume it's nearly the same with new Canon's) The jump from the a6300 days of AF to now is rather impressive. Dropping the coin hurt... but I will certainly retire this lens only when I retire myself in 15 years or so.

One thought about going Canon route... it seems they are still straddling the EF & RF mounts in their products - which may be a non-issue really (if you don't lose any AF using adapters). Sony has obviously gone all in on E mount when they put it on the Venice as well as lower end consumer.
 
ahalpert said:
... FWIW G masters may not always have the best AF. .
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That's probably due to their weight. It's lot of glass to move. Which is why cinema bazookas have external motors/gears.

markfpv said:
... One thought about going Canon route... it seems they are still straddling the EF & RF mounts in their products - which may be a non-issue really (if you don't lose any AF using adapters).
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Something like 140 million EF lenses are out in the wild. That will take forever to unwind. Sony sort of had the same problem with the A-mount but, after saying that they wouldn't abandon it, abandoned it.

And, to borrow from Columbo, one more thing - new external LiDAR AF modules are pretty inexpensive and could be a solution for those stuck with a lot of manual glass or are ecosystem agnostic. The modules should only continue to get better too.
 
As a former Nikon (now Fuji) guy (for stills). I've always found Canon and Sony both pretty awful ergonomically. The Sonys have the advantage of being incredibly customisable - so you can generally configure them into an arrangement that's pretty similar to how you'd use your Nikons. But they just have so many options, that it can be overwhelming at times, and for the brief time that I owned one, the complexity of switching all the buttons over to different things (if I was switching from stills to video work on a gimbal) was pretty traumatising.

I think it's worth looking into whether the new Cinematch software for Resolve will allow you to get a good enough match with your Nikon (to either the FX6 or C70). Because that would be a MUCH simpler and cheaper prospect overall (and I've been hugely impressed by how well it's matched my Fuji X-T3s to the Sony F55 - which was a ***** to do manually).

If you're inclined to stick in the Sony world for video, it might be worth having a play with the A7Siii at a camera shop. I hear they've made some pretty big leaps in operational ease/menus (so maaaaaybe it won't be as painful as Alpha cameras have been in the past).
 
Grug said:
... the complexity of switching all the buttons over to different things (if I was switching from stills to video work on a gimbal) was pretty traumatising.
Click to expand...

This was the case on many of the mirrorless (I know my a6300 was a pain to switch back & forth). But that has changed with the A7Siii. You can set custom buttons differently for stills than video. And maybe more importantly, whatever settings you last used when shooting stills, remains when you switch back over to it. Leaps & bounds better now.

[/QUOTE]If you're inclined to stick in the Sony world for video, it might be worth having a play with the A7Siii at a camera shop. I hear they've made some pretty big leaps in operational ease/menus (so maaaaaybe it won't be as painful as Alpha cameras have been in the past).[/QUOTE]

I'm not one to complain much about menu systems... the best feature of the A7Siii is that you can make your own custom menu. It's similar to FS7 - but with much more options / places to put things - so much so I can't imagine running out of space.
In the weeks since I've had it, I've come to think of my A7Siii as what the FS7 should have been from the start. It's got one of the best / easiest white balance methods of any cinema camera I've ever used (small box - can be moved around in frame & does very accurate WB without having to fill any of the frame). If only it had built in eND - and took higher res stills... etc etc.
 
Yeah the A7SIII is an instant classic. The a7iv will probably be an even better deal (bad surprises notwithstanding) and may come out in 2021. It may be an even better better deal too because it will be a more capable stills camera.

Personally, I may skip it and get the next flagship APS-C sony camera for extra reach and macro capabilities, assuming they give it 10-bit. A7iv will probably be 2500. Aps-c will probably be 1500ish

Although come to think of it, there's supposedly an R7 coming soon (mirrorless 7D) which could be sweet because probably no overheating problem + speedboosterable with FF or use with 18-80 and stuff. Probably $2k or less. And unlike any speedbooster scenario on Sony, you end up with good autofocus
 
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Its funny - while I hate sony menues Im now totally dialled with the FS7.

I actually dont really change anything ever so dont use the menu.

I shoot 180 shutter and slog - meaning I only use.. SQ button (canon do noise with SQ) ND wheel and the WB flip switch (very rare) adjusting the iris on the lens.

Stills wise I guess I peddle shutter speed, iris and ISO, but dont change anything else (raw - do the WB later)

The nikon Z6 stills/motion flip switch is brilliant.

The one menu dive i do is going from 1FPS to high FPS in S+Q (canon dont have 1fps and dont have af at less than 25?)

I would like easy punch in if Im doing 24-105 - getting that to S35-135 is useful or makes a 24-70 more worth considering. (interesting one button can make a huge difference on a major lens choice. I love non tromboning lenses)

Changing the focus attribues is something I know little of but guess one has to do. Nikon have the wheel AFs AFs M.

Any other stuff like P or flower mode or such like is just white noise for me because Ive always shoot 100% manual. NR, lens vignette and the like in camera is also white noise because I do that in post. I guess sometimes auto guff could work or at least save huge hassle.. say a gimbal shot from ext to int some of the youtubers are clearly on auto and look OK - not cinema but OK.
 
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So thinking on..

We are at canon or sony lenses.

-EF mount may become obsolete vs R mount - a win for Sony

-EF is as old as the hills there are millions in circulation value is excellent - a win for canon EF

-R is new and unknown but compact and good - a win for R

-EF fit with space for a booster or drop in adapter.

-Sony mirrorless have no ND, Canon MIrrorless have no ND, Canon C70 needs a booster

EF fits Alexa/Red ??

Its looking like a win for EF but I need to read up on EF->sony as FX6 is my fav camera right now.
 
You won't get reliable continuous autofocus from EF on sony, it seems to me.

But yes, EF is way more adaptable. I used EF on all my cameras (ef, m43, E, L) with adapters before buying e-mount lenses.

If you like the FX6- that camera may be usable for a good long while, long enough to forget about the cost of moving to canon in 6 years if you decide to switch systems.

These Tamron zooms and sigma/samyang primes for Sony are a terrific value. Probably similarly priced to old EF lenses but with better autofocus. It seems that newer lenses generally have better autofocus.

For $4200 I bought the sigma 24-70, tamron 70-180, sony 28-135, and samyang 18 2.8, 35 1.4 and 85 1.4. Granted, they were all on sale or used.

And the Sony 28-135 can be had for 1500, basically half the cost of the canon 18-80. It's not quite as good and can't do a crash zoom, but it has linear MF and f/4 is much more palatable on full-frame, especially with iso12800. I think it's satisfactory
 
Good input :)
Sony is the only brand of lens we don’t have in house - we have nikon and canon from 14 to 400
I’ve got 18-200 Sony horror and a (great for £2.20) Sony 16 panckake
At least we could try Sony- nikon adapters out!
 
^ True that.
I've had both the EF < E MetaBones IV and the SBooster version for my FS7 ever since buying it. They allowed me to shoot with my existing EF & FD lenses (barely used that tromboning Canon 24 -105 f4 until I bought the FS7) and I would recommend them over & over. Getting an extra stop and a more FF fov on s35 was / is a treat. And maybe more importantly, those adapters kept me from buying more lenses for at least 3 or 4 years (the Sony 18 -110 the one exception). But if AF is important to you - or something you are moving toward - then as far as I'm aware - you've gotta go E mount with lenses to get the best AF on a Sony. Not sure how this plays out in the Canon infrastructure.

I really held out buying E mount lenses. Kept thinking I would eventually go back to some kind of EF mount camera. But then realized that having that EF speedbooster was really an appealing part of the ecosystem. And now - after over 25 year career of manual focusing for video - I'm starting to realize and actually see that AF might actually be useful in my work. (perhaps it's more about my aging eyes than it is about the technology... or at least a bit of both).

I will say...All of these choices & minutiae details makes it harder and harder to land... and along with those same YT's hardly ever seeming to work the same way I do - getting "real-world" feedback is getting harder as well.
 
AF is absolutely critical because the camera may be used in a remote manner- anything but the best AF is a waste - I have a motor and a bunch of manual lenses - how I function now - this must be a major upgrade:)
 
I spoke to 'someone' who accesses a lot of cameras, lenses and gubbins. Someone does know thier stuff.

The summary was thus..

All lens adapters are not really up to scratch. They work, but not for AF, they are a stopgap.

Spend on sony glass, bin the Z6 but keep the FS7.

In a two camera situation use the FS7 as the wide camera.. put all audio into it - get an a7siii and do the wanko 85/2 interview CU using all the AF goodness of the camera while the FS7 rolls on the 18 prime on sticks.
He also pointed out it (the sony) is excellent on a gimbal or whatever being lighter than a FX6, C70 r watever.
Can (get rid of the FS7) at the next round with the FX6A or whatever in a couple of years.

Something to sleep on.
 
I will say that reliable AF will completely change your life (in a very limited and conditional way). Over the past several months, I've been rolling 2-camera solo interviews using the A7SIII and A7RIV. The off-angle (or "wanko," as I will henceforth likewise name it) just does its thing on a parallax slider, and holds focus. The wide does its thing, likewise holding focus. This leaves me all sorts of time to take over the simultaneous duties of the soundie, gaffer, prompter operator, and livestreaming technician that nobody wanted to hire "because of Covid."

But seriously, with the ongoing minimal crew requests, having a camera that requires slightly less babysitting can really help you make bank capably managing the other stuff. With decent remote apps, you can set your stuff on a cart and operate from outside the room if the talent is at-risk (or just leery of human proximity).
 
Just as Morgan I'm finding FS7 very easy to operate when everything is set and apart from auto focus I don't miss anything really. So far my experience with auto focus from S35 cameras is I can't trust them. The best performance so far has been from my Sony ZV1 and I hope the FX6 brings the same level of confidence for work that I finally can use auto focus without worrying.

I have a set of Canon EF lenses for use on FS7/FS5 but I also have a good set of Sony lenses that hopefully will bring good AF performance with the FX6 because I don't think EF lenses on the FX6 will prove to be good enough for me.
 
It doesn't have to be Sony glass, just e-mount. My Sony 28-135 seems to have the slowest autofocus of all the e-mount lenses I bought, probably because it's the oldest and heaviest.

But research is required. The Samyang 50mm f/1.4 was Samyang's first autofocus lens for e-mount and it's an irredeemable dog. It's had 32 firmware updates and still can't focus smoothly and reliably. (Their other lenses top out at about 4 updates.) And its motor is noisy, which will never change.

But basically all the lenses they made after that had good autofocus right off the bat or after a couple updates. Their recent ones are very fast indeed (the 45mm f/1.8 and 75mm f/1.8 - those are two lenses I would have bought instead of the 35 and 85 f/1.4 if I didn't want the shallowest DOF I could get)
 
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