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Sony A7s, FHD camera, with 12Mp sensor, big DR
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  • Well, good thing it's only checking one thing that's not on your list: Numbers not adding up to the great image posted on YouTube of all places.

    =P That makes two new cameras for me in 2014, I guess depending on this camera's initial cost.

  • While the full frame sensor is an integral part of the low noise level of the images, and it gives that nice extra shallow DOF, for a video oriented camera its definitely an unconventional sensor size. Focusing is just going to be that much more difficult, unless you always shoot at small apertures. At that point you are bumping the ISO anyway so..... Seems like an APS-C sensor would have been a better choice, maybe? Or am I making it a bigger issue than it really is?

  • Focusing is just going to be that much more difficult, unless you always shoot at small apertures. At that point you are bumping the ISO anyway so.....

    So, it means that on FF sensor you can use small apertures and get picture as on small ones, but you can also shoot open in some cases :-) Plus DR is really dependent on pixel size on sensor, so it all counts.

  • What is the actual price of this thing? I've heard $1,699 while others (dslrfilmnoob) are saying $2,500. Why wouldn't Sony include that in the press release?

  • True, but shooting closed down for deeper DOF can sometimes increase your lighting budget or increase noise to compensate for the stop loss. Sometimes a smaller sensor is the sweet spot.... Sometimes.

  • @DanPV

    All this is pure fantasy now.

  • @itimjim

    From pure math pov it does not matter, you can find on web calculations proving this.

    Small sensor advantage is lenses size anyway.

  • VK is right. The light advantage doesn't exist until you start shooting 0.95s, and even then, in my opinion it's only due to lowlight ability in the past.

    That dojo stuff might as well have been shot at 400 ISO/1.4 as far as I can see it, where noise and overall IQ are concerned, and I'm not the biggest lowlight groupie... it did look quite damned impressive.

  • I'll take one of these and a gh4. Now if there was just a good small recorder like the hyperdeck shuttle for recording 4k

  • Atomos Shogun external recorder is due Q3 or 4, that will record 4K 10 bit 4:2:2 over HDMI. Price stated to be "under $2,000".

    So, perhaps very high IQ, but it looks like the cost of entry for 4K will be $4,000+ and will require a rig to manage the recorder/monitor.

    I don't think I'll be canceling my GH4 order.

  • While I don't like the size/weight of FF lenses anyway, the "No in-camera 4k recording" mis-feature makes this camera completely uninteresting to me.

  • So this camera is a 4K video head for a rig, a 4:2:0 HD camcorder with s-log2 and a low-light beast. It's not all that good for sports due to underperforming autofocus and low frame rates. It won't be available until summer and the price is TBD but the rumor mill says it will be $1699. If I was a bit paranoid I would say Sony just released a camera purposely designed to muddy the waters with the GH4 without actually providing better performance in any category other than low light capability.

  • I look forward to seeing the dynamic range as well on the a7s, for me, the adaptability of the mount, good video, and good stills is making me waver on the GH4, being honest with myself about image, if I was to get the GH4 could I stand by and not buy the external recorder for 10bit 422? Probably not going to be easy preventing that purchase.. (even if it takes a while to save up!) And if I owned an external recorder.. which camera would I then choose?

    I do like the still image quality from the other a7's, and I think my Canon FD's and Minolta MD's should capture some nice stills & video on this in low light, great choices we have here :)

  • Extreme Low Light and High ISO performance is major marketing factor, especially for the DSLR crowd. There are several 'blogs' that discredit cameras for not having clean ISO 6400 believe it or not.

  • @Tron Low light, noise in general, and vastly superior dynamic range. Also, does it autofocus during video? If not, cant really call it a camcorder!

    Speaking of dynamic range, why dont all manufacturers implement a log recording mode on their cameras? Is it that difficult/epensive, or is it just that the greedy f**ks dont want to give us too many goodies on the cheaper cameras?

  • Speaking of dynamic range, why dont all manufacturers implement a log recording mode on their cameras? Is it that difficult/epensive, or is it just that the greedy f**ks dont want to give us too many goodies on the cheaper cameras?

    It is that 95% of users do not need it.

  • And the people that think they need it don't know how to grade it so footage ends up looking like crap anyways.

  • True, unfortunately those other 5% are the ones on this blog complaining :-)

  • @matthere Don't forget that the a7s is going to be a 12mp stills camera and so will probably have lower resolution than the GH4 (or any recent MFT camera). Great for shooting in the dark, though.

  • No 4k internal recording and 4K hdmi output been 8bit is a deal breaker against the GH4, until now we have a pseudo GH3 competitor with a expensive option to go 4k, still so, i'm sure the a7s will give a lovely image, if the price is right (for my wallet) i will get both the GH4 and the 7s. My question is, in FullHD the image is recording with the sensor readout or line skipping?

  • @joethepro Judging by the video DR I've seen thus far, while it is certainly a very respectable performance for 8 bit, the term "vastly superior" does not seem to fit here. The dynamic range for stills will probably be incredible but with a resolution of only 12 Mp I think the DR will be squandered for landscape use (unable to deliver large prints at 12Mp). For each strength presented in the spec there seems to be a related problem that accompanies it, at least from my perspective.

  • @xenogears Apparently HD video is a full sensor read that is then down-converted properly in camera.

  • My beloved D700 is 12MP also, but twice the size and no video. 12MP is perfect for my uses - I'm starting to warm up to the idea of getting one. Would love to see a native mount lens roadmap - adapters are fun and all but if I would be buying this I would want to keep the size and weight as small as possible.

  • Yep, 12Mpx are plenty enough for my still needs. Low light and DR: Yummy :-)