Sony A7SIII = $3500, 10-bit 4K120p internal, 16-bit 4K60p RAW out
- Thread starter ahalpert
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ahalpert
Major Contributor
Unfortunately I cant draw any firm conclusions yet.
What I can definitely say is that it has nice color depth. There is a rich variation of hues when I look at shots of my skin or other objects. This pleases me.
But I just realized that - at least on my unit - the LCD seems to have different color than the EVF. and, based on a quick test earlier today, the EVF is more accurate when compared to how the file looks on the computer.
But I had done all my previous testing by looking at the LCD, which is how I usually eyeball color.
The LCD seems to be a bit warmer than the EVF and possibly also a little greener. So, I had been adding about a full point of blue shift and a quarter or half of magenta much of the time. and then finding that the image looked cool and a little magenta on the computer.
When I color balanced my recent, brief test through the EVF, I didnt need to add any hue adjustment and the result looked accurate on the computer.
I haven't really had enough time to put it through its paces. But I'm planning on shooting a wedding with it on Saturday, so I better settle on a profile or two to use by then (right now I'm using either cine1 or cine2 gamma, I cant remember, and the "Movie" color as a default - it seems a little more subtle than Standard with contrast turned down a lot and saturation turned down a little, though that also looks good). I will definitely know more after doing an actual shoot with it.
And at least it seems like you can use the LCD to accurately judge exposure if you want to get a vibe for how the scene feels. I adjust exposure way more often than color, so that's something.
Dan puredrifting - are you seeing a discrepancy between the 2 screens as well?
I have wedding too but no A7SIII but wondering if you are going to trust AF to pick the bride and groom out of a group of guests or others? When the bride walks up the aisle there are guests standing on either side, on what basis (movement of the bride?)would the AF use to track her?
ahalpert
Major Contributor
I'm going to try touch tracking. So far in my tests it has been pretty darn cool. You just tap the screen and it locks onto whatever it is (contrast and detail help). It will track it all over the screen and even return to it if it leaves the screen for a few moments. You can tap and lock on with your smartphone remote control and I ordered a smartphone mount to ride on my gimbal handle
There is also a way to register specific faces and give them priority but I haven't played with that at all yet
rob norton
Veteran
Haha sorry Abe.
Mavic 2 zoom does it automatically. Maybe you could do one while walking, strapped to scooter etc.
Then you possibly have the movement in camera but would need to match colours in post, arguably a more involved task than the scaling!
Anyway I'm glad you got the new camera, I like reading your AF discoveries.
ahalpert
Major Contributor
Wow. The eye AF on this thing is ludicrously good. I dont have extensive knowledge of another camera to compare it to. But tonight I was testing it at ISO 6400 panning to follow my wife around the kitchen. It latches onto a face and an eye faster than I thought possible. What's interesting is that it grabs it faster than it will grab an ordinary object that enters the focus spot or when you half-press the shutter. Clearly a large amount of programming and processing power are devoted just to picking out eyes.
I can get shots with this I could never dream of nailing before (ok, maybe I could nail part of it manually every 1 in 3 takes or less). Like on 24mm f/2.8 my wife and baby lean in from 3 feet and suddenly they're at 12 inches in a split second. Follows them the whole way without buzzing focus.
Back at 3 feet distance I can zoom to 70mm f/2.8 and she's holding him at her shoulder. Only one of them is in focus at a time and it always grabs the subject's eye precisely.
This might be useful to Tom's question about grabbing the right subject - if I switch the focus spot box (I cant remember what mode I was in) from her shoulder to his shoulder, it will shift from her eye to his eye. So, it will pick out the eye of whoever is in the box.
Pretty darn cool!
I can get shots with this I could never dream of nailing before (ok, maybe I could nail part of it manually every 1 in 3 takes or less). Like on 24mm f/2.8 my wife and baby lean in from 3 feet and suddenly they're at 12 inches in a split second. Follows them the whole way without buzzing focus.
Back at 3 feet distance I can zoom to 70mm f/2.8 and she's holding him at her shoulder. Only one of them is in focus at a time and it always grabs the subject's eye precisely.
This might be useful to Tom's question about grabbing the right subject - if I switch the focus spot box (I cant remember what mode I was in) from her shoulder to his shoulder, it will shift from her eye to his eye. So, it will pick out the eye of whoever is in the box.
Pretty darn cool!
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I appreciate it! Situationally, the worst case is when I shoot a wedding alone. I'm positioned up front, on one knee, the wedding party pairs are coming up the aisle, so zooming wide as they get close and then tight for the next couple farther down the line and so on, or just forget about zooming and accept they will be very small until they get close, use small iris for the deepest dof and just let them walk into a fixed focus zone. More important to be steady here than shaking the camera from too much movement. Then when I see the flower girl, catch a few seconds of her but then swing around to the groom to be ready to catch his reaction upon seeing the bride. So go from zoom-in to zoom-out, hold on him, and simultaneously watch for the bride out of the corner of my eye. When she gets about halfway up the aisle swing around to her, and focus track all the way to the altar. Meanwhile, the guests are leaning out into the aisle forcing me to move into the center, but I can't remain there in the bride's way. It can seem like an eternity and then suddenly it's happening very fast. Keeping steady camera action for these moves is not easy for one person, edits in post.
So for AF to work, it has to not just hit a pair of eyes but the *right* eyes, and from very far away. So I practice the kitchen and yard shots on the family too but the real event is always different, throwing wrinkles at any plan.
I usually have a 2nd camera for a safety shot, but unless it's from a balcony or high point from a long distance, someone or something invariably gets in the way of the shot or blocks it, and I can't leave my post at the front to check the 2nd camera, recompose, refocus it without taking a risk of missing something important happening up front unless it's like a Catholic wedding where things are slow and static. It's why we generally try to have two shooters for this, but then along with the photographers you could be fighting for a view with them and bridesmaids/groomsmen who crowd the altar for certain things like the unity glass ceremony (pouring of the sand), or special readings, songs etc. That is them jumping into my shots and me jumping into theirs. So two videographers and two still shooters can be an annoyance at best, and sometimes the 2nd videographer is inexperienced and overeager to get a shot, usually of the bride, and causes a problem for your shots as well as drawing attention. So all things considered I'd rather work it alone but it is more pressure.
ahalpert
Major Contributor
Do you think the a6400 could still be better than the A7SIII? I think they both have "4D focus" or whatever. But so does the a7iii. I'd the a6400 better than the a7iii?
ahalpert
Major Contributor
I'll let you know how the AF goes, Tom. I am shooting solo on Saturday although it'll be a smaller crowd due to covid (40 in attendance I think). I do the same thing as you (stationary master shot from the back) and I'm up front with my Ronin-S pulling focus manually using the DJI focus motor and a 7" monitor. I'm still debating if I leave my motor on the focus ring as a backup or if I go for broke and shift it to the zoom ring. Gonna do a full build on friday, chase my 5-year old around and make the final call. Exciting!
Bassman2003
Veteran
scorsesefan
Veteran
I'm liking the color.
ahalpert
Major Contributor
Here are some samples of the a7siii autofocus earning its keep for me last weekend. It works terrifically at low ISOs and had more mixed results at high ISOs, where I will need to experiment further. These are all straight out of camera but cropped to the client's delivery aspect ratio.
this one I stabilized further in post:
I think I generally overexposed it on my first outing. Some of the shots I thought were underexposed were my favorite exposures, such as this one:
this one I stabilized further in post:
I think I generally overexposed it on my first outing. Some of the shots I thought were underexposed were my favorite exposures, such as this one:
Bassman2003
Veteran
Thanks for posting Abe. Looking forward to hearing your impressions of the footage after working with it. I think the hardware of the camera is hands down incredible. It is the image quality and look that are the main determinate of the camera's place imho.
ReelFilmGeek
Well-known member
Looking good would love to hear about your thoughts on how intense of the footages to edit and how's the battery life as those are my main two fears about the camera
ahalpert
Major Contributor
I'm not going to be editing this but I tried pulling down the highlights on some overexposed clouds and it helped recover some of the detail there. I'll post a shot later. This is all shot in a tweaked Standard profile, so it's far from demonstrating the full DR the camera is capable of. This client doesn't want to grade beyond a bit of contrast and saturation.
That was the main question for me: if I would be happy with footage out of the box. I know the s-log3 can be worked with, especially by better colorists than me.
After playing with in-camera profiles, I will echo what Tom Roper said: the camera reproduces real-world color pretty accurately. So, it's pretty mojo-less. But that's ok, especially when I'm shooting fine art and Picassos and they want it to just look accurate. If we could do user LUTs and import RAW processing files from Canon RAW or whatever, you could have more control of the image in camera. so...it is what it is. But I'm not seeing any green bias. I think the extra green shows up in the log profiles, based on what I've seen from flipping through. I'm going to tackle my log workflow next.
So, in some ways I think I still would have preferred a fully functional R6 for the extra skin tone love. But the A7SIII has better dynamic range and more features. I will have no problem SOOCing with it, although I need to set myself up with 2 or 3 profiles for different scene contrast levels.