Sony A7SIII = $3500, 10-bit 4K120p internal, 16-bit 4K60p RAW out

Samuel H said:
If the new announcements fail to impress, it's definitely a contender for me.
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If you're unimpressed with the new announcement, I highly recommend you rent the X-T3 and test its video AF before purchasing. Especially with the older 56mm lens.

The 56mm is beyond beautiful, but I made this exact $2500 mistake.
 
I've owned most of the fast Fuji primes including the 56 but AF feels so dated and even Sonys 50/1.8 operates better.
 
Samuel H said:
XDDDDD



Thanks for the detailed report on the XT3. I was always confused about the AF situation, it's good to hear it's back to good performance. I definitely like the form factor and the awesome dynamic range (looking at the latitude tests on the lensprotogo youtube channel, it's almost matching the UMP, clearly ahead of the p6k, A7III, and p4k). And the price, of course. If the new announcements fail to impress, it's definitely a contender for me. Currently watching reviews on the Fuji 56mm f/1.2 to see if I could be happy with that instead of my Sigma...

And yes, completely agree with the last part
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FWIW, the XF 56mm f/1.2 is a beautiful lens with a really old design, noisy motors, slow to focus. I've only borrowed it once and would never use it again for video. Not a good video lens, great portrait lens.
 
J.Brown said:
I've owned most of the fast Fuji primes including the 56 but AF feels so dated and even Sonys 50/1.8 operates better.
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My Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM with the Fringer Pro adapter works better than the 56mm. Just got the XF35mm f/2.0 WR and it's a nice, tiny lens. All of the f/2.0 primes
have the new USM motors, which are quiet and focus quickly and smoothly. My exception to that rule is I have the XF16mm f/1.4 WR and it's not as fast to focus but fast enough
and it's an astoundingly beautiful lens, I'd say it in the neighborhood of my EF 70-200 f/2.8 which is definitely the best looking sub $2k photo lens on the market.
 
I got bored by the Fuji 35/2 also but yes it`s much better than their faster primes. A FF Fuji could have bern interesting but to switch back and forth between brands or have dual sets of lenses is something I`m tired of.
 
I accidentally thumbsed you down and now it won't let me change it...

I agree it'd be nice to have a FF fuji which they won't do. It's cool that fuji matches S35 lenses but for my budget the best lenses are stills FF glass. Plus I need top shelf low light performance
 
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DLD said:
Being on the Netflix "approved list" gives most producers sufficient cover to defend their choice of equipment. It's a practical choice.
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I don't think it's as literal as "Now I can make a Netflix Commission." It's like the Discovery, PBS and BBC standards of the past.
You might not be shooting for them, but your gear is good enough (even if you're not).

DLD said:
As to SIII, I'd curb my enthusiasm.
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Or, in the case of camera crippling... Arrested Development.
 
Here's AP's own story (and video) on Sony. Shooting video is a big part of the decision- gear and staff.

These cameras are the latest technology and give us a range of cameras enabling us to choose the right tool for the job. While our video journalists will be assigned one model specific to them, our fleet of video cameras will contain six different models, enabling us to choose a small discreet camera when needed, for instance, in a protest. We will have bigger cameras when we need them for press conferences, or for set-piece interviews with newsmakers. And we will have other cameras for a more documentary style of shooting when we need them.

The technology at the heart of these cameras should mean that, because of commons sensors, the look and feel of the video should be technically similar, no matter the camera being used.
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https://blog.ap.org/announcements/new-sony-gear-a-game-changer
 
ahalpert said:
I'm getting a tingle. This could be a cool camera. How neat would it be if it was RAW via USB to an ssd instead of an atomos.
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First a climax, now a tingle (isn't that backwards?).

Just what exactly happened on that vibrator shoot, Abe?!?
Was it 8, um, "K", and... raw? :undecided
 
groveChuck said:
First a climax, now a tingle (isn't that backwards?).

Just what exactly happened on that vibrator shoot, Abe?!?
Was it 8, um, "K", and... raw? :undecided
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well the tingle was on the back of my neck and the climax may have been premature as it was just a rumor

i don't have your gift for double entendres but let's just say that if sony sells a camera that i am certain i won't "need" to upgrade for 5+ years, they can have their way with me

the vibrator shoot was anticlimactic :)
 
Thanks @all for the very useful Fuji talk on this Sony thread, I didn't mean to hijack it but we're just waiting for the announcement this week so I don't think it was a horrible sin...

It seems the portrait lens would be a problem on the fuji: the 56mm has beautiful bokeh but it is soft on the corners and AF didn't impress any of you. The sigma is sharp corner-to-corner even at f/1.4 and has good AF, and yes, the most important thing, it has beautiful bokeh too (on par with the fuji, better than the Sony FE85mm or the Batis, not as great as the Sony 85mm GM). But there's no Sigma for Fuji.

So my alternative "if the new announcements fail to impress" is probably going to be "patience": I'll keep using my p4k for video and a6000+a6500 for stills, waiting for new and better stuff to come out next year.

So far the overheating stories about the r5 and r6 have made me stop considering a huge investment in new (but gorgeous) RF glass. And I still don't know what to expect for the a7S III: the specs won't tell me what I would want to know (whether the DR and codec strength can match the FS7), but it's not looking good because I already had a 12 Mpix camera (a7S I) and I felt limited for stills.

So yeah, it looks like I will try to exercise my patience, until either Sony brings an APS-C body with everything I want, or Fuji brings out a better portrait lens, or gives Sigma the info and permission they need in order to sell Fuji mount lenses.
 
Samuel H said:
And I still don't know what to expect for the a7S III: the specs won't tell me what I would want to know (whether the DR and codec strength can match the FS7), but it's not looking good because I already had a 12 Mpix camera (a7S I) and I felt limited for stills.
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I'd be surprised if the DR does not match or exceed FS7. Sony claims 14 stops on FS7 and the rumors say they claim 15 on A7S3.

As for codecs, rumors claim 10-bit 4:2:2 internal and up to 600Mbps.

Now, that doesn't tell us if it's XAVC-I or maybe XAVC-L and the 600Mbps is for 4k120p and not 4k60p. But it seems to me that it will have FS7 codecs, perhaps without all-I compression. Or maybe it's all H265 compression. In any case, 600Mbps is a lot
 
ahalpert said:
...In any case, 600Mbps is a lot
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IMHO, 600mbps is massive overkill. The X-T3 shoots 400mbps and nobody uses it mosty because it's not distinguishable from the 200mbps, I shot and edited a lot of tests when I first bought the X-T3.
Considering all of their current A7 cameras max at 100mbps 4:2:0 8-bit, all they need is 300 mbps, it would be the perfect balance of data rate, heat management, card space management, processor load and 4K 4:2:2 10-bit
is going to look amazing at 300mbps.
 
Sonys XAVC-I run at 10mb/frame so 24 frames gives you 240mb/s and 60 frames 600mb/s. I think that is a very good solution not reducing bitrate up to 60p and instead letting it follow the fps.
 
ahalpert said:
Sony claims 14 stops on FS7 and the rumors say they claim 15 on A7S3.
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These claims are all over the place and they usually don't mean much. They also claimed 15 stops for the original a7S and it was laughable (it was never clear if they meant video or raw stills, but it was laughable on both sides). I do expect this to be on par with the FS7 or very close to that, but just based on me guessing it's about time... XD

puredrifting said:
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/...astest-af-lens-still-due-to-release-this-year
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oh wow
but let me see the price first, f/1.0 lenses are usually E X P E N S I V E ! ! ! ! ! !
 
If the damn thing works without overheating and has state of the art sony PDAF and great low-light, I'm sold. Toss on a tamron 28-75 and be set for AF. Maybe add their 70-180 and 17-28 later as needed
 
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