Sony fs700 or 2 Sony a7sii cameras?

G

gutterball321

Well-known member
My company wants to buy a Sony fs700 and I thought that was more of a news camera with a wide field of view and not as good for corporate work. Would the a7sii be better for corporate video? What would be the benefits of the Sony fs700, and slow motion is pointless to us.
 
Well... The A7SII has a bigger sensor so it will have a wider field of view than the FS700...

Some benefits of the FS700:

- Combined with an external recorder you can get 10bit 4.2.2 (and raw).

- Much better battery life.

- Record for longer than 29 minutes.

- Proper audio inputs.

- ND Filters.
 
Have you considered the FS5?

It's roughly the same price as 2x A7sII's, and has most of the benefits of both the FS700 and A7sII. You'll get internal 4K, 10-bit 1080p, dual XLR audio, internal ND filter, long battery life and record times, and nice ergonomics all in a small, lightweight package.

Regarding FOV, the whole idea of interchangeable lenses is that you pick whatever FOV you want. You can also add a Metabones Speedbooster to the FS5 or FS700 which means it will "see" everything the same way the A7sII does. A good starting point for the FS5 or FS700 though, would be the Sony 18-105 F/4 kit lens. After a little while using that it will quickly become apparent what extra lenses you might need (eg a longer telephoto for more zoom, a faster prime lens for low-light conditions, etc).
 
i know more about the fs5, never really heard anyone talk about the fs700. Maybe the gh5 with an xlr adapter is all they need?
 
You'll get internal 4K, 10-bit 1080p, dual XLR audio, internal ND filter, long battery life and record times, and nice ergonomics all in a small, lightweight package.

Not one to nit pick but just for the record don´t you get all of that for less than an A7sII in Sony´s PXW-X70.

For me the main difference is the ergonomics of the "real" video camcorder or the "combo" photo+video camera that both have strengths and weaknesses depending on what you want to do.
 
Yes, but you don't get the better images and lens selection available form large-sensor cameras (no, I don't consider 1" to be "large" for a 4K camera).


Gutterball; can you tell us a bit more about what the camera/s will be used for? It'll help people who want to point you in the right direction.
 
gutterball321 said:
My company wants to buy a Sony fs700 and I thought that was more of a news camera with a wide field of view and not as good for corporate work. Would the a7sii be better for corporate video? What would be the benefits of the Sony fs700, and slow motion is pointless to us.
Click to expand...

We have an FS700 in our office, as well as FS7, A7S, A99II, and others. The FS700 has tragic ergonomics and the AVCHD codec is showing its age. When it was new, it was the only cinema camera that did 240fps. That's its party piece, and why we bought one several years ago. (We shoot cars and motorsports.) However, now with the FS5 and even cameras like the A7RII, the FS700 is simply outclassed. Yes, it's still good with an Odyssey (and that's how we use it.) But nobody in the office wants to use it with all the other options we have. So it's basically relegated to duty filming our weekly studio news show. Since you don't want slow-mo, there is really no reason to consider the FS700.

Short version: Get the A7SII, or if you need better run-and-gun ergonomics, get the FS5.
 
FS700+7Q is pretty great from a feature-set standpoint and you could probably find a used package for less than 2 new a7s2's. A7S2's are nice cameras and the sensor is arguably the best in the price range, but they are quite lacking if you will be shooting a lot of run and gun or exteriors or need control over sound recording or long takes. You can get away with a lot on the A7S2 but you have to be careful due to the color and codec limitations. FS5 is a more all-around camera, and with a 7Q, an FS5 or FS700 does so many things few other cameras can do in the price range...

Frankly these days an FS5 and A7S2 is a hard to beat 2 camera setup if you want to have the flexibility and ease doing handheld and gimbal and moving quickly and having two cameras running simultaneously when necessary.
 
I'd go for two A7S IIs.

Multiple cameras increase your production values. I learnt that the hard way. The ergonomics are better than most people make out. Obviously, physical camcorder style bodies are little easier to get to grips with, but the A7S II isn't that hard once you customise the buttons.
 
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