Gensnap

There are a great deal of female photographers shooting weddings and family portraits. Fact is, they are really much more suited to that genre of photography. it's harder for me to get work now as I'm older. I sometimes still get commissioned by Nickelodeon and I think to myself "this would be so much more suited to a younger photographer".. and in all honesty it would. Women didn't really go into photography a while back, but there are some incredible female photographers from the film days. I find that video is still quite male dominated. Every time I hear of redundancies, I think to myself..."there's a whole new bunch of photographers coming onto the market".....Nothing can be done about it, so there isn't really any point in whinging about it. There seems to be photographers and "photographers" who seem to spend most of their time on the internet, selling guides and workshops and this and that. It's all jealousy, from us who have lost a hold of the rope of advancement. I try to offer both video and stills as I see that as being the only way. I do though know of a highly successful fashion photographer ( Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein) who still shoots Kodak portra 400 on Pentax 67's and still charges £$£$£$£$. So, while film lives, photography is not dead, to steal a line from William Egglestone it's a "Democratic Forest" out there.......Um, I do seem to like the wood,trees,forest analogy :))

Like most things, this questioned posed has an infinite amount of possible answers. Is photography dead? of course not.....is it alive? I'm not so sure. I have a bookshelf full of photography books, when I look through them, I see photography. When I look at pictures on the computer screen I see pictures. It's probably because I started out as a photographer in the '80's.....but to me a picture doesn't become a photograph until it's tangible and I can hold it in my hands. If I travel I always shoot film because on that piece of celluloid I feel I have a little bit of that far away place. Silly, I know but it's tangible and not a combination of mathematical equations. However, I believe our eyes become overwhelmed with imagery, we find it hard to see the wood for the trees.

I would hold on to your Canon lenses. I'm in a similar situation with Canon lenses and now moving to A7s. Forget auto focus with Metabones, it's quicker manual focusing. The way I see it is that I may want to return to Canon at some point and the lenses I have are expensive and I don't want to lose money selling. The A7s can be used with hundreds of different lenses, I'm going to take my chances on old Nikon, Pentax, Olympus and any others that take my fancy. I like the idea of not being tied to one lens manufacturer. For your type of work, you should get one good wide range zoom and not worry too much about it being fast.

Thanks CineG.....so, in the non PP settings mode dial down the contrast and sharpness. Much appreciated !!! It's a learning curve and I'm getting there. From a Hasselblad and Ektachrome it seems such a long way :))))

Forgive the naivety, but when you refer to -3,0,-3 what exactly do you mean? I'm assuming it's in the expanded feature menu of the PP's or is it without any PP at all and just the numbers refer to the photographic menus. I would really appreciate a pointer. Appreciate all your help ! Cheers

Thanks to all for your feedback. It quite clear there is no specific science to getting images from this or I guess any camera. It is, as you say subjective and one persons preference is another's distaste. Part of my problem is fear of the unknown and all will seem less intimidating when I can test the camera for myself using the suggestions made here. One other question: Does it degrade the footage if I import it into my FCPX for basic grading then export out to supply to my editor. He will simply edit and not grade, so if I can grade prior to the edit, it will help a lot? I intend to record through the shogun as pro res HQ but not 4K. Greatly appreciate all your help !!!

Thank you. I want the A7s for stills as I shoot on set and want to use the silent mode, so Nikon won't work, I also have Canon lenses.... thanks anyway. Where do I get the LUTs from, do you have any in mind? I'm totally green (sorry bad pun) to grading so any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

I'm about to buy the A7s. My fear is the grading of the picture. I don't often edit as I don't have the resources or the knowledge, so hand over rushes to an editor who basically edits but due to budget constraints doesn't grade. Can anyone help me out. Which PP with any associated recipe will give me close to good pictures straight out the camera, particularly skin tones as I do a great deal of interviews. I will certainly learn ways to grade, but in the short term I need a profile that is pretty neutral. I guess you may ask, "why not just buy a camcorder" the reason is, I need the A7s as a stills camera too. Any help/ assuring comments will be very much appreciated, and of course any PP's and tweaks to achieve the " clean out of camera look". Cheers

I see your dilemma. I have a similar problem. I shoot Behind the scenes/EPK's for TV drama and film here in UK and have been using the Canon XF300, with all the usual attributes of a camcorder, also BBC approved. It's a very easy camera and doesn't requite any special kind of working. However, the reason I'm looking at the A7s is because it seems to me that the shallow depth of field look is what folk now want. I really can't do this with the XF300. I've stayed awake at night pondering the possibilities and have considered the C100, X7,GH4 and A7s. Now I see JVC are bringing out a changeable lens type camcorder. My issue with the A7s or any similar camera is mostly the lack of XLR's. I'm a total one man outfit so the less I have to fiddle with the better. Cut to the chase......I have not yet bought but am almost buying the A7s with the Atomos shogun, which gives me pro res recording, a super screen for focus assist and exposure and XLR input. And now I'm worried by the configuration of such a set up (I will get the cage too). I'm also concerned about which profile I can shoot in without having to go through the grading process. I'm very impressed with the Sony X70 but it just looks so "video" and folk now seem to want that film look. I wish you well in your decision, it really is not easy when money is a consideration. If you are delivering to TV the X70 has all the requirements. 4:2:2 and 10 bit @ 50mbps. good luck !

I'm looking for a little guidance. I have been a film and Tv stills photographer for some years and now shoot both video and stills, so I need both stills camera and video camera. I currently shoot stills with a Canon 5D III and video with a Canon XF300 video camera. The video needs to be broadcast compatible, so minimum 50mbps 4:2:2 and minimum 8 bit. The XF300 has been great but i need something that gives me a shallow depth of field, at least for the interviews. The other requirement is a silent stills camera. So, the fairly obvious choice is the Sony A7S which shoots pretty good video and has a silent shutter. I currently have all Canon lenses and know that with the Metabones adapter I can use them, albeit not awfully well, at least in terms of AF. My 'dilemma"is firstly, can I sync XLR sound with the A7S? Does the new XLR package for the A7S sync with the picture in camera or can I get an external monitor/recorder to do that? And would I be silly to sell my XF300. I shoot all my video alone so negating the need to fiddle with syncing sound is a must, with my XF300 this isn't an issue. I'm tempted to jump Canon ship completely and swap in my 5D II for a A7 II (mostly for specials photography) and get the A7S for silent stills and video, it's just the XLR syncing that's bothering me. Any advise would be most appreciated, it's a minefield out there and having to split ones brain between stills and video is challenging when for years it was just a few rolls of 120 and a Hasselblad :)) Cheers !