I spent some time with an A7S today. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with Sony cameras, but the menu system is pretty disappointing for video coming from say a GH4. Figuring out how to turn on S-log is is not intuitive, and still feels like a still camera with video tacked on. S-log on a retail unit did limit the lowest ISO to 3200. I could not get 4k HDMI output to turn on, and it wasn't connected to a monitor either, so maybe that becomes available when it detects a 4k capable output.
The image looked amazing on the viewfinder up to even 100k ISO. You could barely see any noise. Thinking of all the cine anamorphics that shoot best at f8, the thought of clean high iso is very high on my wanted list.
The biggest letdown was the rolling shutter. I was using the 24-70 f4 and at 70mm panning reminded me of the D90. It's been awhile since I've used a D90 or a 5D mk2, but it certainly seemed worse than an mk2. At $2500 in 2014 that's unacceptable.
Sony A7S, A7R, Nikon D4s High ISO Comparison Gallery
http://www.popphoto.com/gallery/sony-a7s-a7r-nikon-d4s-high-iso-comparison-gallery
@last_SHIFT You're right I'm an idiot haha. It's under picture profiles, and the it's the 7th one. And you're right, it's not named as such, it's simply PP7.
I thought Slog was accessed as one of the picture profiles - but it is not named as such.
Anybody have a clue on how to access Slog2? I'm using the XAVC S codec, but I'm not sure if that natively uses the SLOG curve.
Here's the manual: http://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1420/v1/en/contents/TP0000301879.html
It's really weird, I see no mention of it anywhere and I can't see any picture style or anything that would indicate anything about slog. It's like it doesn't exist outside of a few mentions online and some videos that were supposedly shot with it.
I'm getting further and further away from buying this camera. I have a hard time seeing it as more than a lowlight tool. Disappointing, although expected, that it's photo side is unimpressive.
Micro hdmi out for video? yikes.
The 4:2:2 8bit 4k video is going to have to be amazing and hold up like a champ in grading to make up for all the other lacks.
It's concerning there is still no 4k video out there a couple of weeks before release.
I think it would be possible for Sony to implement a way to do the S-Log2 grading inside the camera before the 8 bit compression. Sony could enable different grading levels to shadows/midtones/highlights for the user to chose and turn the S-Log2 image into a graded image inside the camera, this way there would be no need of post production grading, much faster workflow and would avoid gradient banding. I think this is simple to do, just enable a menu function with some grading algorithms or lut curves. Also it would be interesting to allow the user to load custom grading presets to the camera.
@last_SHIFT we can't have you loose faith in humanity.
What no unboxing video yet? What is this world coming to?
@fase56 I'm just sharing what I come across. If there are higher quality versions out there, I haven't seen them. But being that this is an 8-bit camera, a bit of banding is to be expected.
Nice shots! Thank you for sharing. Do you have vimeo version or something better than YouTube?The quality looks good but some ugly banding is quite obvious in the sky. Is this due to YouTube heavy comoression? Do you see it with the uncompressed footage? I am concerned with the 8bit limitation of the camera. This is not a problem with very heterogeneous images, but becomes much more important with images with large low contrast areas.
Hi all! I just had to register. Thank you so much for posting the arizona clips. I took them into resolve and my jaw dropped. All I can say is "shut up and take my money!". I was considering a BMCC but not anymore. It may be only be 8bit 4:2:0 but i can bend the colors like crazy and the image takes it like a baws. It does need a bit of denoising on the whole image tho. Not because the image looks bad but just to make it even better.
A-cam!
Been away for a few days but it seems like Sony is nervous about this camera and making a few tweaks in the final production cams that suggest it was too good. Possible? Marketing department chiming in perhaps?
http://www.newsshooter.com/2014/06/25/the-sony-a7s-a-world-camera/
Not evidently a world camera in all regions. If that is true then it would be a bummer as I really want to have 120 fps as I think that is the slo mo sweet spot. It is one of the main reasons I considered it. Mind you there are ways to get the non region locked version from abroad.
Still need a thorough tester to get it through its paces as the images are very, very good from a few examples. But just not thorough enough yet
Here are some original files form the Arizona shoot - some seriously nice quality here in S-log2
And some from the low light shoot
http://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz662inx02TQQnZmY0k5MUNSTmc/edit?usp=sharing
More on the "Arizona Falls" video (linked to above) here:
http://www.newsshooter.com/2014/06/25/sony-a7s-first-impressions-by-w-ashley-maddox/
Vimeo version of "Arizona Falls":
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