miguel_13 Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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joychris wrote:
Numbers don't tell the entire story, the A7s internal files have more DR and far less noise than the GH4 - regardless of GH4 output. There's a great thread on DVXuser - both cameras recorded externally - that shows the GH4 noise at 1600 is about the same as the A7s at 12,800 - despite "only" being 8-bit. The GH4 at 3200 is so noisy, I found it unusable even after noise reduction, and that's with the 200mbps bitrate, the A7s easily tops it at 50mbps. So my 64gb card has 4x the recording time and produces better 1080p. I have to push the A7s beyond 51200 before noise hits the unusable point, the FZ1000 will be worse than the GH4 noise-wise due to its sensor size. Blackmagic have very limited ISO's and no frame rates beyond 30p, plus they're plagued by aliasing and moire - except for the 4k cam which uses the global shutter at the expense of DR. Blackmagic cameras are the very definition of half-baked, they have numerous issues that BM doesn't seem to have the engineering staff to overcome. The A7s is also free of aliasing and moire. Rolling shutter can be an issue, but then you just shoot in APS-c mode and its at the same levels as any of the other top performing DSLR's.
Everyone's needs are different, but the superior DR of the A7s makes the image less video-ish, highlight rolloff is so much more natural and its pretty tough to introduce banding in the video - something that will appear far more often when using the smaller sensor - especially the FZ1000. The A7s 1080 24/30/60p outclasses everything in its price range, 120fps is a nice to use in a pinch, but I would think that's not the criteria most decisions hinge on. No camera is perfect, but the A7s is an amazing value when you consider you have to spend twice as much to get a marginal improvement in IQ - the Canon C100 which doesn't do 60p. YMMV...Show more →
I actually don't understand what people are doing with their A7s's, from a practical standpoint I need 6-7 stops of ND to work in a lens's sweet spot (maybe at the most 2 stops down from wide open) in exterior daylight with ISO 200. I just finished two projects that I did with a pair of GH4s and even shooting interiors available light I never needed more than ISO 800. I could easily go to ISO 320 when lighting an interview with a 750watt Rifa and a couple of 250 Prolights. So yeah, shooting bats in cave with ISO 25,000 ? ok.
Frankly I would probably take issue with the idea that increased DR has anything to do with "video-ishness", I'm pretty certain we were getting more DR in the hacked GH2 than we were with 16mm neg back in the golden age of film. Also any "moire or aliasing" you are seeing in GH4 footage is a function of your work path, its not in the original footage, at least not if you are shooting UHD or 4K. There has also been a lot of online crap about the skin tones with the GH4, it took me one or two afternoons of testing to put that to rest.
I actually like the A7's, and the E mount in general, already being committed to the format and mount with an A7r is the best reason to get an A7s, although I think that ergonomically and functionally the GH4 is a better to camera to actually do video work with. The advantage with FF for legacy and adapted lens is mostly at the wide-end, the Sony native FE mount selection remains a little anemic, I think if Sigma ever came around to adapting its line to FE mount it would be a huge shot-in-the-arm for the Sony system.
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