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I'm a manual lenses guy. I despise auto focus for my filming. Even when it works I find it more of a curse than a blessing. Weirdly, I like it when subjects move out of focus and someone on the other side of the lens makes an organic correction to maintain it. And I love a slightly sloppy but creative rack focus. It's a neat trick of the craft. I'd rather have imperfections created by humans than perfection created by programming. Am I simply justifying my anachronistic (read: old fart) attitudes or do I really have a legitimate point? Am I alone? Is anyone else attracted to this?

Many of us never use AF in video. So it's not "excuses". More like "not caring".

Comparison of A7R IV should be along with Z7( and S1R) not Z6.

I agree as well, same thing for IBIS. It looks weird, sure it helps a lot when doing some event work where you dont have time to shoot everything perfectly. But I often tell myself: the arri alexa, or any film camera has ibis or autofocus, and my goal is to shoot with those camera's. If im spoiled with ibis and autofocus, im gonna have a really bad time shooting with a camera that does not have it. So I tell myself " practice and step up your game"

Manual focus all the way. I want to have total control of what I do professionaly. I am using the C200 a lot, and certainly AF is not there yet. Even in home videos I regret using AF almost all the time! Maybe with the quality increase in Artificial Intelligence and the various - unlimited - scene recognition algorithms we will have in the future, AF would be just perfect, but I do not believe that will happen any time soon.

@kye as you know I shoot sports, we've had a bunch of conversations about this. From 2016 till about a few months ago I was like exclusively autofocus only cause the a6300 did it so well. Since I bought the FS5 about a month or so ago ive been for the most manual focus only and i'm starting to like it even more than AF. I think what really makes a difference is the lenses your using, my Sony 70 300 FE aka my daily driver is focus by wire and absolute ass for manual focus (I found this out the hard when I tried to shoot a game with it), but all my vintage lenses (both primes and zooms) make manual focus a breeze. So far ive found with a manual lens that has a decent focus throw, as long as you can see the screen clearly - all it takes is some focus peaking a little confidence.

Dude of course you have to be a better photographer. That's a given. It's a bad argument though. The A7RIV has better AF, Better Dynamic Range (advertised, still needs tested), Dual Card Slots, Better EVF, higher FPS burst, much higher resolution, along with more native lenses. Those are quite a few areas of superiority, which for some will make it a better stills tool. Your argument is the equivalent of saying there's no point buying a BMW over a Subaru because you need a good driver to get it around the track. That's true, but a good driver might choose a BMW for it's better onroad-track specs and be faster because of it. A better photographer will be able to use a more capable tool more effectively or efficiently, and for some the A7RIV will be a better tool. We all know this. Sure it's not competitive for video, but for stills it's a pretty nice piece of gear.

New picture taken with Sigma OM mount 28-70 F/2.8 on Canon T2i.

Some more test shots with the 35mm 1.4. This time in B&W...

Here goes nothin'........ Camera #2

I think this is genuinely a HUGE step. Rarely, do we get such a big leap out of nowhere like this. I've never felt like any other camera was anything other than just good, or expected in 2019. This is different. It's like having a full frame Pocket 4K with nobs on... from the future. This image sits in the cinema world, not the video one. I've shot some S1 10bit V-LOG with it this weekend. Here's a frame: Compared to the X-T3 10bit F-LOG, dynamic range seems wider and shadows cleaner. Image is creamier, and less noisy at high ISOs. Base ISO is 640 in V-LOG, but extended ISO can go a bit lower. Compared to A7 III S-LOG 2/3, the codec is far more robust, less banding and compression, it looks like ProRes. I'll upload the original MOV files soon.

Time of Flight / LiDAR continuous autofocus is really quite remarkable technology. There are rumours Panasonic will implement it on future cameras like the GH6. Don’t you wish the current autofocus-challenged cameras like the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K or GH5 could have amazingly smooth Dual Pixel AF-like performance? Well, you could soon be in luck. Time of Flight Autofocus is a reality and I’ve seen it working. With this prototype add-on, a Time of Flight sensor sits in the hotshoe and talks wirelessly to the Pocket 4K. The autofocus motors in the Micro Four Thirds lens are commandeered based on real-time depth sensing information from the LiDAR beam. I met up with CDA-TEK’s Ian (BTM_Pix on the forum) this week in Manchester to take a look at what he’s been working on. Read the full article

So will it arrive before GH6? ? The idea is great and I love the ability to store multiple focus pooints with various speed transitions. But the focus should work smoothly, otherwise it is not very usefull for me personally. I think you can gather even more customers with a Panasonic version, specially if it'll work on multiple cameras, like good old G85 or GX85.

I'm with @zerocool22 I see image quality issues in *many* places in that video. I downloaded the highest quality version from vimeo. I am not convinced that the issues that I see are due to compression artifacts from vimeo as the patterns that I am seeing are very odd. I would really like to see the original footage before I decide for certain. I used to run JVC LS-300 cameras and this reminds me of those cameras. The problems that I notice are most prominent in the dark areas. Here are some examples of the issues that I see. I just took snapshots from VLC while the video was playing, then saved those as 100% jpgs. When you let the video play, these issues are more visible. There is weird pattern noise here in the intro. Watch the video to see more clearly. Here, notice noise in his jacket and on the wall Here notice the pattern in the shadows and on the rope: Here, watch the guy's face. There is a lot of weird pixelation in places that I haven't noticed before. Perhaps this footage is just jacked up or something.

One of his videos in After Effects.

Bought one at HobbyKing in the past for my RC battery charging (where you can specify cut-off voltage) and modified it with NP-F battery plate to do this.

yes I understood it like that, I did some test with Kodak stock and just normal vlog to rec 709 conversion and the green colours look more towards how it looks with our eyes.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zea3apd5pscumks/FlowersV-log.mov?dl=0 Anyone who wants to have a go at grading I have here the Flowers video in v-log pro res 422 HQ No commercial use.

Right folks, I have been a follower of the blog for a number of years but only just became a forum member to take part in this challenge. When I seen the blog post i was pretty interested but then became busy with work. Im now keen to enter and looks like I have three days to find a camera, shoot then edit and upload the video. I know Andrew wasn't keen on enforcing too many rules since this is a bit of fun but I just wanted to know what the consensus would be on using Speedboosters? This would not necessarily be used to improve the low light abilities of my chosen camera body but more for an adapter. I have a £20 lens I already own which I know to work quite well when paired up with a Speedbooster - I'm also willing to make my chosen camera less than £100 if it fits better with the spirit of the competition. Let me know! Otherwise I will try source a dumb adapter in time!

I prefer to focus manually but can't make a lens magically stabilise itself. Make sense? When handheld I like to use the EVF - how do you tell the camera which part you want to focus on when using AF? I don't trust it to read my mind

Also, the Z6 has a quiet strong AA filter which the A7R IV does not have, therefore the A7R IV resolving better details...

Great shots @mercer - I do enjoy the 35mm framing. Are you playing with the colours before you convert to B&W? You probably are but just in case you're not it can really create great contrast

It probably will. Because it is easy on all Sony's imo. Just time consuming like you describe (minor desaturation of colors × 1000 images per day = gray hair).

I remember James Miller making a tutorial about that but now I couldn't find it. Sometimes I actually miss grading Raw video using After Effects just for the controls of Adobe Camera Raw. But I can't say the same about the time it usually took to export.

Well lets see... dual card slots might be the thing that saves your ass if card 1 manages to fail A brighter sharper evf will make manually focusing easier, the best lenses in the world are still manual focus only higher fps gives a better chance of getting "the shot" this is big for anyone that does sports, you just have more to pick one when it comes time to cull high res allows you to crop in even more with less noticeable detail loss.. more native lenses gives more creative choices in what you can shoot. Remember back in 2013 when Sony had like 4 full frame lenses?? If all this doesn't matter, then what happens if/when the next gen Z6/Z7 have dual card slots, an even better EVF, faster burst rate, and higher res sensors???

I pointed Lightroom to a folder containing an image sequence of CDNG files and it sees all of them, and seems to import them fine. I then made edits, copied those edits and pasted to a bunch of images (in one click - not one-by-one) and went to the export window (but stopped short of actually exporting) and it seemed to be fine with all of that. Does that answer your question? [Edit: the CDNG files were extracted from an ML clip, so should be the right format]

I used to be a champion for AF and was looking at buying an A7III because of its AF until I discovered that I actually like the aesthetic of MF. This lead me down the path of GH5 with manual lenses and I've never looked back. I particularly like the very human and analog feel of MF, and its imperfections (which are especially prevalent when I do it!). I am completely in love with the aesthetic I get from the GH5 and I think the imperfect MF is a real contributor to that, as I think it suits the emotional/nostalgic feeling I want for the home videos that I make. The fact that I stopped being frustrated by poor AF is also a bonus, the number of times I was just standing there holding the camera watching the moment go by while silently screaming "focus you @#$@#$" probably had a measurable impact on my average blood pressure...

I started using Lightroom to catalog and manage my footage but (IIRC) as soon as I moved from the 700D to the XC10 that stuffed it up because Lightroom wouldn't even recognise the files existed, so I think it depends on what file formats you're using. I can try it for you if you tell me what file format you're interested in using.

I finished writing this for the documentary I'm doing of my small town: The Small Town of Dadeville By Zach Goodwin Dadeville was named after Major Francis L. Dade who served in the Indian Wars in the state of Florida. The town was known to have Alabama's first medical school. Dadeville is called the heart of Lake Martin; a man made lake on the Tallapoosa River operated by Alabama Power. Dadeville is the county seat for Tallapoosa County. The town has a population of about 3,100.The most common thing to do there is fishing, boating, swimming, and hiking. Dadeville is mostly a blue collar small town centered around manufacturing car plants and logging timber. The current mayor of Dadeville is Wayne Smith. You can also find Wickles Pickles here. Wickles Pickles is a spicy pickle made from the company Wickles founded in 1998 by the brothers, Trey and Will Sims and Andy Anderson. The company uses a secret 70 year old family recipe which differentiates Wickles from all other pickles. It is indeed a spicy and delicious pickle. Where all the Wickles Pickles can be located is in a grocery store known as Renfroe's. Renfroe's is a family store owned and started by a father and son. The store is a chain groccery store with four locations in Alabama, and Dadeville is one of them. Originally the Renfroe's store was known a Dadeville Foodland. Renfroe's is known to sell local goods and at an affordable price. The store was also said to be named the best groccery store in Alabama. Another place you can get food is Home Plate. Which has been said to be “Dadeville's premier place for southern-style home cooking”. Offering many types of foods for breakfast lunch and dinner. It has a cafeteria part to it with serving your own food to a diner part to it with waiters and waitresses cleaning and serving food to you. You purchase the food when you are done picking it out. Home Plate used to be an old fast food restaurant, a Hardees. The restaurant was started by two Delta Airline pilots: Ken and Bambi Hay. They also work on Keba Farm. The owner has changed to a long time employee and relative of the Home Plate owners, and her name is Deanna Jernigan. We all may need a hair cut in Dadeville, so the best man to go to for hair cuts would be Rod Siggers owner of the barber shop known as Sigger's. Opened since 1992, this devout man has been running this shop and doing favors for his church. In the shop you'll find some memorabilia of automobiles, and one man cutting your hair for a good price and a man who shares the word of God in his shop and some music from his radio. The locals go in and out of the store to get a hair cut and indeed have a nice conversation with the man. A place where you can get plenty of flowering supplies and hardware supplies is Floyd's Feed and Seed. Floyd's Feed and Seed carries a lot of flowers and equipment for it. They are known as another family store in Dadeville. Friendly folks are at this store selling you and looking for you to have the best for your garden and house. The store is located near the town hall, bank, and this small tax accoutning office. Lastly, You'll find also all your basic stores like Dollar General, McDonald's, Jack's, Subway, a Chinese Resturant, hardware stores, and some gas stations. There are some churches here too. You may also find a repair store, and some of it's stores nearby. This is Dadeville, a small town in Alabama and where I live. A lot of forests are around here. The weather here is usually hot and warm. It does get cool and cold in the winters though. A very lovely place and I hope you love it too.

I have had some terrible experiences with autofocus on Panasonics. Plus, I also realised that I am terrible with pulling manual focus too (on moving subjects). I have to therefore, do very precise blocking for scenes, and ask actors to be more concerned with how and where they move, rather than their expressions or other things. Maybe I should try the focus transition with touch focus, and do it like a little choreographed thing with step by step movements. Maybe we could have a separate thread, where people discuss their focussing tricks, and now they nail focus on cameras that don't have PDAF. Especially for moving subjects.

I only ever use AF for macro. If I was interested in a camera that turned out to be MF only in video I wouldn't care even a little. In my mind, "automatic focus" is still no yet invented.

Personally, the A7riv is the first interesting model since the original A7. So I'm not hating on it. I actually wish I could justify the cost.. ..But... Hilarious irony for someone who has been told a million times that I'm an idiot for shooting a camera with 2016 video specs.. only to see Philip Bloom of all people point out that the Sony flagship is using 2015 video specs.. I spilled my coffee laughing. (And to be fare to Canon, it at least has 400mbit and 10-bit out with it's 2016 specs.)

Look who's using GHAlexa too

Thanks for the positive feedback. Much appreciated. Please buy it I've run out of gaffer tape making this one so that integration will have to wait for a while.

OK, sorry, I couldn't resist anymore ... 300€ immediately off, 1 free battery (90€ worth), and the 200€ worth offered VLOG upgrade finished my efforts to resist... OK, now I have to sell a lot of stuff ahah !

It would be 0-1023 for VLog I believe (which is locked on the GH5 for VLog). Another advantage to the S1 vs the 5, is that it apparently can accept full look-ups for preview? The GH5 .vlt interpolation is shoddy next to the S1 and P4K here. Saw these this week, I was really impressed: Yan Berthemy sent this to me:

Well, I haven't posted on EOSHD for ages, but when I saw this competition I thought that sounds fun. I dropped by on Bexhill-on-Sea on the South Coast yesterday on my way to somewhere else, and shot this footage over an hour or two. No grading, straight out of camera. Manual settings (although fairly limited choice that's all I'll say). Edited on my laptop this evening. I bought the used camera on ebay for £133. I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for Andrew. As long as I don't come last.

Smooth no drops ( iPad Pro10.5 ) Its does give a yellow warning message that the file is not supported but I don't care it works well.

Luma fusion on the iPad can open them

I sold my Canon mk3 with Magic lantern 14 bits raw, that was working great, to get this camera. My main reasons to upgrade to the S1 are better lowlight, IBIS and 10 bit Vlog. I'm hoping the vlog workflow will be easier on storage than my previous raw workflow. I just have to remember to nail the white balance. that was never an issue with raw. It seems like my choice is paying off. Will get firmware key next week. Looking forward to any more footage.