Those of you who know me will remember that I’ve drooled over the Sony a7S II and again over the a7R II, yet my favorite camera these days is Sony’s a6300. I put it in my bag as I headed to Oaks, PA last month, part of a team covering a Bernie Sanders event (this is not a political post, don’t worry). I got some great footage with it. But the camera I chose as my primary was Sony’s FS5 with their Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS lens. Here’s why.
Read more12-bit, 4K DCI RAW Recording from Sony FS5 for $600 - Whoa.
Do you love the light weight, form factor, variable ND, and 120fps in HD of the FS5 but prefer the 4K quality coming out of the FS7? You're going to love this firmware upgrade for the FS5.
Read moreIs the Sony FS7 the Last Camera You'll Ever Need? A Five-Part Series
This series is the biggest hands-on evaluation of gear I’ve ever done with the most advanced gear I’ve ever used. I know it is incomplete, limited, and wrong – I just don’t which, where. But this also made it the perfect Three Blind Men and An Elephant project. It allowed me to see the FS7 from many different angles and thus get a little closer to some kind of objective truth not just about one camera, but the entire endeavor of filmmaking. Heads up: there is a TON of video and images in each episode, so stick with them!
But it wasn’t just the FS7 that we tested. The good folks at Zacuto, Atomos, Veydra, and CAME-TV lent us gear to fully kit it out as it was intended, with fascinating results:
· Zacuto Recoil Rig for the FS7 and Gratical-X OLED EVF
· Atomos Ninja Assassin 7” HDMI Monitor/4K Recorder
· Veydra Mini-Primes in Sony E-Mount
· CAME-TV Wireless Follow Focus Controller
Here’s a top level recap by episode, but I encourage you to visit planet5D where my original series was first published.
Episode 1: "Built Like a Tank" - I find out how tough the FS7 is when the entire setup crashes to the floor
Episode 2: "Brilliant Footage at the Cost of Ergonomics" - the footage looks amazing, but the menus and physical handling are tough for someone coming from the DSLR/ILC world.
Episode 3: "First Footage" - Did I say it looks amazing? I believe I did. But do I really need it? Want it, absolutely. But...
Episode 4: "Enter the Ninja Assassin and the Gratical X" - We respect the Gratical X and love the Ninja.
Episode 5: "The Answer" - We go a little nuts and compare 1080p footage shot with the Veydras on a Sony a6000, 4K footage shot on an iPhone 6s Plus -- and 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 footage shot on the FS7 -- to help get to a final verdict.
You can read the rest of this post on planet5D, where it was originally published.
source: http://blog.planet5d.com/2015/12/is-the-sony-fs7-the-last-camera-youll-ever-need-episode-5-the-answer/