The A7s "best footage straight out of the camera thread"...or something.

blafarm said:
Ahhh ... I see. Thanks.

And regarding its use with no Picture Profile, is it an accepted means to achieving higher dynamic range -- or is it simply "corralling" or shifting the signal to fit nicely within a Rec.709 space?
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I'm sure it's just to fit in the 709 space.
But I think it looks great once you massage it in Photoshop - for me it's the ability to punch in while recording, the small size and low light that make the a7s a champ. Shooting SLOG and squeezing out a bit more IQ means you are starting at ISO 3200 so if you swap lenses a lot, even with step-up rings you're fooling around with the ND filters (I use Vari-ND) plus it's much harder for ME in my 40's to pull focus on a very flat image. Since I can now correct the WB, exposure, saturation, contrast, highlights/shadows in Photoshop CC, I see very little difference between PP6 + CC vs. PP7 plus heavy grading in other apps. Not worth the hassle. Plus we've been advised to expose 1-2 stops to the right in SLOG - it's damn near impossible to get forcus on a washed out screen - even an external monitor.
 
No argument here with that logic. There's a "usability quotient" that must be factored into the PP being used.

Too bad this camera is not capable of display LUTs. Shogun should eventually provide this functionality -- albeit with both a financial and physical cost of integration.

But even that doesn't preclude the necessity, and "operational complexity" (run and gun), of one or more fixed or variable ND filters (for multiple lenses).

Have you settled on the stock PP 6 with stock Cine 2 Gamma?
 
I toggle between that and standard dialed back.
Even if your goal isn't to squeeze every last drop of DR out of the camera but to actually use it, for the money it's a bargain.
Here's why I prefer shooting video with it over the 5d3 + raw:
Does 120FPS @ 720p
60FPS @1080
Ability to punch in during recording
EVF great for video
Built in focus peaking
APC-S mode
Better built-in audio
Tilt LCD

Even throwing my files into Photoshop and massaging them is far faster than processing raw ML files, and far more reliable as well.
The A7s isn't perfect, but I'm basically selling all my spare 1000x CF cards (save one) since I don't plan on shooting any more raw 5d3 video.


I shot a wedding in Sept with a mixture of raw and standard H264. Raw footage looked incredible, but it was a 4 location shoot and I was always nervous the raw would stop recording. I don't worry about this anymore.
 
sparky33 said:
I toggle between that and standard dialed back.
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Would you minding sharing your exact "standard dialed back" settings?

I know bits and pieces have been mentioned in this thread -- but I'd be interested to know precisely what settings you finally settled on.

Thanks
 
Creative style "Standard" or "Neutral"?

Also, there does not seem to be a way to dial back "Detail" unless working within a PP. True?
 
sparky33 said:
Just shot a whole hour of footage. I'm sticking with the default PP6 - footage looks amazing!
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I was also going through the same conundrum in another thread and decided to stick with stock PP6 although I add Filmconvert on top of it in the video editor since they have a profile now for the A7s + Cine2. Works out nice and makes my life much easier because I can just focus on filming and nothing more, as an army of one it's so important to not get bogged down, and this method saves me a ton of time. On a side note, this really is an incredible little video camera.
 
There is a glowing quality to the stills even that I like quite a bit, even over my 5D. I think the initial skepticism is going away and this guy is going to become pretty standard kit amongst low and mid-budget video people.
 
wallrc said:
There is a glowing quality to the stills even that I like quite a bit, even over my 5D. I think the initial skepticism is going away and this guy is going to become pretty standard kit amongst low and mid-budget video people.
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Me too - until the other day actually trying to shoot something moving. You can't say enough about rock solid 6 FPS with 61 AF points (5d3). I'm not getting rid of the 5d3 anytime soon - manually focusing running kids is near impossible no matter how good the peaking. I much prefer OVF for still shooting too. The extra 10 megapixel doesn't hurt either. There is no perfect camera, but the A7s has convinced me to give up shooting raw ML video that's for sure! :)
 
sparky33 said:
Me too - until the other day actually trying to shoot something moving. You can't say enough about rock solid 6 FPS with 61 AF points (5d3). I'm not getting rid of the 5d3 anytime soon - manually focusing running kids is near impossible no matter how good the peaking. I much prefer OVF for still shooting too. The extra 10 megapixel doesn't hurt either. There is no perfect camera, but the A7s has convinced me to give up shooting raw ML video that's for sure! :)
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Eh - yeah, yesterday I shot some stills in a dance class with the 24-70 zeiss - responsive but difficulties with the autofocus compared to a 5D. Lots of missed focus and the EVF freezing for the second that the still is shot is annoying. Silent shutter was useful though. Fortunately, I don't get paid to shoot stills, I get paid to shoot video, and on that side the camera is a killer.
 
scoutsbrother said:
Here's some clips from a feature doc we're shooting in the Philippines, I'm really loving using this camera in the field, and the quality is on par with the FS100/700 we're also shooting with. Password: dvinfo (sorry!) https://vimeo.com/110543229
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It looks nice, great subject matter. However, did you have the sony lens turn off it's OSS? It seems really jittery - I have the same lens (zeiss 24-70) and with the OSS on it is very very smooth - no micro-jitters like there seems to be here.
 
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