Andrew Reid

I'm talking about the way people shoot now, not in the 50's. Yes there will always be the exception like a crew with 4 A-cams all with the same purpose. But in my mind and in this topic with Oliver we are talking supporting role, small camera, multiple bodies at a price lower than the A cam.

No, it's absurd to deny the existence of B-cameras. Same camera as the A cam isn't a B cam, it's another A cam!! That's the way the concept works!

Anyone watching Oliver Stone's Putin interviews on Sky Atlantic? Canon C series but 5D Mk III as B-camera and quite a few DSLRs going on there. B-cameras are a real thing... Saying C200 is B-cam on a C200 shoot is just silly.

Enjoy. I'll give you a free copy of EOSHD Pro Color to go with it, just DM me when it arrives!

Find the one that responds to protocols over HTTP and get that one I know what you mean though - I have the same dilemmas, in the end Mk IV has stood the test of time and I didn't feel upgraditus coming on... The A6300 and A6500 on the other hand, I regret buying.

Who cares about sales? Most people are sheep with minimum knowledge, and as I'm not a Canon shareholder I don't care about who is in the lead of sales, I care about what is going to give me the most artistic image, best specs, the most convenient form factor and best value for money.

Yes. Obviously the GH5 has the edge on the codec side with 10bit and it has slow-mo. Nearly everything else is better on the Olympus though, including the general 'feel' when using it. What is surprising about both is just how good the colour and skintones are... Canon have competition. I know I will keep both as they are too hard to sell... Obviously with the GH5 I don't absolutely need the E-M1 II but there is something about it that's compelling... a nicer feel in the hand and slightly better stabilisation with 90% of the video quality of the GH5.

It's not C-mount. It's Arri Standard mount (Arri-S)

I have upgraded your forum profile to a Super Member so you can edit your original post and generally have mod-like access to the forum. Thanks for all your efforts so far on the project.

You can get great results with the wire insert for horizontal flare and the oval iris. Look at the prices then you will understand and appreciate it...

Ah yes saw those from Ironglass, very nice work from the Ukraine. Looks like a real talent behind the endeavour. Perhaps we have our new DogSchidtOptiks

The GH5 has the chunkiest 10bit files I've ever seen for $2000. Some of the lenses are even more of a bargain. Read the full article

Not a very good rumour. Not their highest rating for the source and specs sounds made up. 26MP? Makes no sense. It's been nearly 6 years since the old 6D, they have to get it right. Problem there is the completely different set of lenses you'd need to buy and manual focus ring that turns in opposite direction plus the terrible 2x crop factor on the D500 and the expense of the D5 means you may as well get the 1D X Mark II instead with DPAF.

1D C as a B-camera depends on how long you shoot for over the course of a day, because trust me that codec in 4K is not nice for long form content, interviews and live events.

I know many pros through this site and in Berlin, they are all shooting A7R II, GH4, etc. despite owning the larger cameras... The supporting role is still valid. They have cut-away angles that need a less experienced operator shooting handheld, so C200 is overkill for that role. The headaches are a pity because they're unnecessary. Not to mention the electronic NDs which could filter down into more models and make an A7S Mk 3 much more viable even as an A-cam.

Your whole premise is based on a slice of the market that isn't representative. Ask any of the distributors, retailers and rental shops and they will tell you that the majority are using the C200 as their main rig. That RED, C700, F55, Alexa users will consider it a B-camera does not make it "Not an A-cam" in the eyes of the rest of the pro video market. I know Cinema5D think $8000 is little money... all those ads are clearly paying well. For the rest of us it's an A-camera.

Will you sell your Canon gear or keep hold of the lenses?

I'm in love with how natural this looks. What grade of Warm Black Mist Pro filter did you use? Grades 1,2,3 are a bit to much like a 1970's porno according to what I've read. 1/2 is supposed to be most popular, still a strong haze but not overbearing. 1/4 is more subtle and natural. 1/8 is the least noticable. I love the softening of the harsh highlights in this scene, but preservation of detail on the pavement and shutters... amazing. Really takes the digital edge of it and actually looks like haze in the atmosphere rather than a filter.

All 24-70mm F2.8 lenses are bricks even G Master. With Sigma 35mm F1.4 ART on the market, Sony probably would be wasting their time. I like the existing 35mm F1.4 G, it's tiny and renders beautifully. Could do with SSM. Between SSM 1 and 2 hardly any difference. I don't think a 12MP sensor would make sense in A99 II instead of 42MP. Remember it's a photography flagship not a low light / video specialist cam. I like that stills are still 18MP even in APS-C mode, gives you huge crop ability to reframe a shot. 28mm F2.0 is old MD not AF? I have the 70-210mm F4 beercan. It's great for stills, for £70! Bbut AF is very noisy.

Yeah it's fun. Cinema5D just said $8000 is Little Money for the C200, haha. I like your idea of cheapest premium camera you can find. $28? THAT is "Little Money"!! The Sigma DP1 is a really unique tool for colour, for pleasure and for art... slow, but so much going for it. I wish more people would cover the cheap cameras and hidden gems. Samsung NX1 was one as well. Most of those who bought it didn't feel need to go all out and blow $3000 on a Sony afterwards. My current tip for a bargain for 4K, art and sheer enjoyment is the GX85 with cinelikeD hack And for stills a $500 Sony A900 with $80 Minolta 24-105mm F3.5-4.5... Can't go wrong with that. Full frame and the lens has character... whilst being 1/7th of the price of the Sigma ART 24-105mm F4, almost as sharp and 1/4th of the size.

Get a replacement on Monday so let's see about all that. The Super 35mm 4K mode is competent up to ISO 12,800! The full frame mode 4K is good to about 1600 but I think the 1080p might go higher and still look good. a7s still has advantage in low light for full frame 4K. Yes the Sigma is a bit sharper but the Sony has a lovely rendering and character. The new price for the Sony is insane but I got mine used for £599, which is similar price to the Sigma ART. Same with the Zeiss 50mm f1.4 vs the Sigma, the Zeiss has a nicer character and rendering.

It depends on the shot. Sometimes you will notice a huge difference between cameras and sometimes not. For instance there's a big depth of field difference between full frame at F1.2 and micro four thirds at F2.8, which you don't notice quite as much at closer subject distances, but at longer ones the M43 image would be completely flat, and the full frame one would be nicely layered. In low light situations obviously another big difference. Can you take great images on anything? Absolutely! But let's highlight the differences as much as the similarities.

You don't need to quote the post if your reply is directly under it.

This camera is better in almost every way than the A7R II and A7S II. Lenses... I'll get onto those in a minute but A mount is nothing to be afraid of. Will be selling a lot of Canon glass after this and will end up actually saving money at the same time as increasing quality and decreasing weight. The AF is definitely better than the A7R II and kicks the A7S II into the dust. At F3.5 it tracks like a hawk. I can now see why Sony did this because at F1.4 on a softer lens it doesn't work nearly as well as Dual Pixel AF on the 1D X Mark II. But to have this bonus feature on the 24-70mm F2.8, losing just half a stop, but gaining amazing run & gun AF for video. The 1080/24p and 1080/120p are the SAME QUALITY. This makes the 1080/120p the best on the full frame camera market. The nicest ever. There's no crop, it's full frame. A7R II was 720p only and A7S II was a big 2x crop! What's more it is not just an S&Q mode but a fully continuous normal video mode with 5 axis IBIS and AF tracking, at 100Mbit. The S&Q mode is only 16Mbit. The 4K full frame quality is also very good but Super 35 does still have advantage in low light and to eliminate moire. Nice to have a top LCD for shooting info. A7 series lacks this of course. Buttons are better arranged than A7R II and A7S II. It is not laid out like a RX10 III. It is its own beast in terms of ergonomics. You can now assign Super 35mm mode to a button, which you can't on the mirrorless cams. The new menus are in there and do group stuff together better but they're not a big enough overhaul to make me really appreciate them. I try to go into the menus as little as possible. Unfortunately you can't assign 4K/1080p to a func. button or the func. menu, you have to dig into the menus when switching between 4K 24p and 1080/120fps. You can assign video recording to the exp. comp button next to shutter release, really handy. Default video button is better placed than A7 series but on the rear not the top. Exposure compensation can be assigned instead to rear or front dial when in A-priority mode, then it automatically reverts to shutter speed / aperture control in manual mode.... again super handy. The LCD can face forward for VLOGs and stuff, cannot do that with the A7 series or A9. It can also sit on top of the hotshoe almost (reminds me of Sony R1), or flips away to the base. More articulation options than the A7S II. AF for photos.... hmmm lovely. Super quick and reliable. The A lenses...TOP stuff. Particularly Zeiss 135mm F1.8, 50mm F1.4 and 24mm F2.0. The 85mm F1.4 is a bit noisy and slow for AF but great in MF. Super optically. The Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8 is like the G-Master lens, and just as big unfortunately. I prefer wherever possible the SSM lenses (24,50,24-70 but not 135 and 85) if using AF for video - much quieter internal focussing. I love the green indicator boxes in manual focus mode for video. Way less intrusive than peaking. It stops you from diving into the punch-in zoom mode or racking the focus ring back and forth a little bit to be sure. As soon as you get that green dot you can just stop and relax knowing that area is in focus. LOVE IT Have dialed EOSHD Pro Color into PP1. Looks WAY better than the default. Not tried S-LOG 3 to see if the banding is improved since A7S II yet. S-LOG 2 and S.Gamut Cine 3 with view assist all present like A7S II and an improvement over A7R II. 42MP stills and 18MP Super 35 mode. This for photography is significantly more in resolutions terms than the 1D X Mark II and allows you to effectively get two high quality prime lens focal lengths in one. The camera is more responsive than A7R II / A7S II. Starting / stopping video has zero lag. Start-up time very good. Writing the 42MP RAW+JPEG files - MUCH smoother. Max write speed is 60MB/s to UHS 1 cards. Dual card slots. Not Compact Flash speeds (80MB/s plus) on the card controller but much better than A7R II 30-40MB/s. This isn't a DSLR. EVF quality is very good, translucent mirror doesn't flip. It's instant-on like mirrorless camera. Body size and weight is similar to the GH5. So far far less than 1D X Mark II. Has a DC-IN port, but doesn't seem to take charge from USB. Battery is probably too big for 5v 2-amp charging. There's a very smooth and nice front dial near the lens release which is assignable to things like ISO... It can be clickless or clicking. Now the bad stuff... The LCD dims in movie mode when you're shooting 4K or 120fps 1080p. It's either a power management thing or a heat thing. Makes exposure look totally different and 2 stops darker than same settings in stills mode. Very silly Sony!!! It seems all unnecessary on this camera because of the bigger battery than A7 series. Although the screen does get very slightly warm at full brightness outdoors, to think this would contribute to overheating problems is unlikely and it can be flipped completely away from the back of the camera where the hot main board and chipsets back directly onto the rear casing with no proper heat sink (I've seen the tear-down photos). Sadly my camera came with a small faulty part... a sticky joystick in the 'right' direction. Apparently it 'wears-in' over time but I don't think mine is proper...why would it only need wearing-in to click right responsively and not also up/down/left? We'll see if my next unit does the same weirdness. On this point, I think Sony still have work to do to convince us they can make buttons. Can you imagine this on a pro body like a Canon 1D X Mark II? Journalists would be rabid, foaming at the mouth. That's it for now, can't actually use it much more as it has to go back to DigitalRev but plan to do the review soon. I think this is a real rival to the GH5... No 10bit but you gain full frame, better slow-mo, 42MP stills and maintain pretty much all the other features. That's it with the Zeiss 50mm F1.4 The Sony 35mm F1.4 G is also a nice one... forgot to mention that. It's much smaller and lighter than the Sigma ART 35mm. Size comparison with the GH5 Although lens mount makes the A99 II look much larger, the tops of the bodies are practically level (look at hot shoe and mode dials) The grip is a bit deeper on the A99 II and card door a lot wider... dual card slots on both.

Great stuff!! Well done!