Miklos Nemeth

I guess they were preproduction models only. When AR, PB or JB, so some reputable videographers, report their results and opinion, then I'd say we can start talking about reality and not hyperboles. I used to have the EOS R, and the gigantic 1.8x 4K crop totally killed it, I simply wasn't able to get myself used to the practice that my excellent 16-35f4L wide lens is just a paperweight for 4K video. The first version of the video AF on the EOS R was really disappointing vs what Sony had at that time even in A7III let alone A9. Today the EOS R's video AF is quite OK, even to my high expectations, too. So, I'll wait and see, if this just rumor-announced EOS R5 is really up to the hype and fanfare. I agree with the commenters that a year ago Canon wasn't even able to make non-cropping 4K, had zero experience in sensor stabilization, and suddenly they are releasing a camera that simply jumps over, leapfrogs evolutionary steps, from "stone age to rocket era" with one jump. We'll see, in a couple of months I guess.

Still it is just a kind of rumor, even the Canon EOS 1D X Mark III is not available, it was announced to be available mid February 2020, actually now, and I'm definitely looking forward to hands-on evaluation by reviewers like AR, here. As for how the heck Canon could make a 8K video camera while the S1H cannot? The only explanation I can think of is that all recent 24M cameras, A7III, Z6, S1, S1H, fp, all use basically the same Sony sensor (technology), and somehow Canon managed to make a sensor that is revolutionary and better in this regard than the Sony sensor technology. It could be just by-mistake or whatever.

I've just had a look on e-infinity's eight best sellers and there are four Sony full frame cameras, a Canon and a Nikon DSLR, a Tamron lens with Sony mount and a Sony GM lens. No APS-C cameras at all, not anything from Fuji, nothing from Panasonic. The Sony E-mount ecosystem is so versatile and excellent that Fuji cannot compete in this arena, at least not today. APS-C? Come-on, who wants to buy APS-C when full-frame cameras are abundantly available: Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Sigma, Sony. Fuji made a big mistake not jumping on the FF band-wagon in-time. Fuji is esoteria, honestly, when thinking in a system. Sigma and Tamron are churning out brilliant and affordable lenses for E-mount. Even if the rumored X-T4 was going to be technically that great, it wouldn't guarantee business success. Samsung NX1 is a nice example. Samsung should have been the first maker of a FF mirrorless camera, instead Samsung was just wasting its resources on APS-C, and eventually closed the division. Fuji is kept alive by the gigantic amount of cash coming from Instax, I am an Instax film user me myself, too. Buying Instax film I help Fuji to maintain its digital division, too.

You wrote Andrew Reid in your article "However, you won’t find a full frame mirrorless camera with 4K video from any of those manufacturers at $1299." From Canon you won't have full-frame 4K below $33000 (it's the price of C700 FF).

Excellent review, Andrew, Thank You so much. There is a way to do this "AF-S in video" function with the excellent Touch to Spot Focus this feature is available only on touch screen Sony cameras: A5100, A6500, A9, A7RIII. This does exactly what you just described. When you gently touch/tap the screen in Wide, Center, Zone focus area modes, the camera performs a hunting-free rack focus to the touched position with a speed depending on the AF transition speed you configured (fast, normal, slow). While establishing the focus the camera screen is blinking a label Spot Focus. After the focus is established, it changes to MF (see the left hand side indicator icon), and the focus plane remains locked there until you touch again or cancel Spot Focus. You can touch another point to relocate the focus position and the focus is transitioned to that point with Spot Focus. Or, you can touch the Spot Focus Cancellation icon (a finger with an x) or press the Center Button to return back to regular continuous AF. It would be great, if Sony implemented a no-touch version of Spot Focus function with the joystick and half-pressing the shutter/joystick or AF-ON button, I fully agree. Can you communicate this wish of ours to Sony, please? Thank you so much.

ANDREW REID: "OK first of all, assuming you might use manual focus sometimes, or often, let’s get that punch-in focus assist working which is absolutely mega on the GH5 – the highest frame rate and resolution I’ve ever seen for a punch-in focus assist." Do you mean that punch-in focus magnification (aka MF Assist) works on the GH5 WHILE/DURING recording video? The GH5 would be the first Panasonic camera (including expensive dedicated video cameras) that would support this feature. It would be really awesome. So, again, do you say that after you start recording on the GH5, you can activate MF Assist and monitor focus while the camera is recording video? This function is pretty common on all Sony cameras, but not on any other make. Thank you so much.

:-)

The A7Rii and A7Sii both have 0.78x EVF (2360K pixels) and 1229K resolution LCD, the EM-1ii EVF is 0.74x (2360) and 1040K resolution LCD, A7Rii/A6500 has excellent quite usable no hunting video AF, the EM-1ii just like GH4/5 continuous AF is unsubtle because of excessive microhunting. The EM-1ii doesn't support focus magnification/MF assist while recording video. How do you evaluate these (severe) limitations? Simply ignore them? Whatever you say the image feels just from a small sensor camera; I simply cannot see any reason to go Olympus/Panasonic when we have no cropping 4K full-frame A7Rii and A7Sii. The 4/3 sensor's aspect ratio is terribly not efficient for 16:9 or 17:9 videography.

I'd never expected that Mattias Burling would ever touch a Sony camera. He used to be an avid Sony hater (the only Sony I saw on his youtube channel was an FS100). And now, he is here as an evangelist of Sony technology. Hmm. On the other hand, he is really a knowledgeable guy, and worth reading his articles, and watching his videos, absolutely. On this topic he is delivering really great contents, so a big thanks, that he is taking the time of sharing his experimenting. I am a recent fan of medium format film photography, and I guess I'd change from Mamiya 6x7 over to Mamiya 6x4.5. I've been quite reluctant to buy anything smaller than FF (Kleinbild); so this thread of discussion was revelational to me: no GH5, no A6500 to me. I'll buy the first A7 with 4K and touch screen along with this adapter; touch-to-magnify for manual focusing while recording video is so brilliant on Sony.

What is the maximum acceptable ISO value on Canon XC10 on f5.6 applying the maximum (305Mbps) 4K bitrate? What is the maximum acceptable ISO value on Sony RX10m3 on f4 applying its 100Mbps? What is the maximum acceptable ISO value on Sony RX10m2 on f2.8 applying its 100Mbps? I am very much interested in your opinion. Thank you so much.

Yes, exactly. Since I have my Atomos Ninja2, I never copy video files from the 1T HD or the 512 SSD I have. I simply configure my Premiere project directly on the USB3 disk next to where the video files are recorded. When I am done with editing and rendering, I save/export the final movie file and upload it from the USB3 disk. For a while, I keep the source on the disk, but eventually I recycle. I am not on 4K yet, still even today with my 1080 files, I found external recorders with (affordable) high capacity and fast (USB3) HDs/SSDs are godsend for working with enormous video files of high quality.

Yes, sure, but, the XC10 is priced as if it were a full-frame ISO400k :-) Anyhow, I am impressed with your reply, thank you so much, Andrew. Keep up your great reviews, it's a pleasure to read them. You are pointing out important facts, your hands-on experiences; I've especially learned a hell lot from your GX80 review, that was phenomenally revealing.

Yea, the A5100 has its limitations, definitely: I use it with an Atomos Ninja2: no overheating, no 30 minute recording limit, it has microphone jack and headset jack. The 1080 image quality (no 60p, unfortunately) is excellent with this combo. The A5100 has brilliant accurate/snappy/shimmer-free a touch to focus function because of the 179 PDAF points at least as great as the 70D/80D dual pixel. It's not 4K, but excellent HD combo. I use a Swivi LCD viewfinder with the A5100, not tiltable, though. I wouldn't say my A5100+Atomos combo is better than XC10; but, the XC10 is better only daylight and all for more than double price (let alone the crazy prices of CFast cards). Andrew recently reviewed the Panasonic GX80 with Blackmagic Video Assist 4K, and I found it quite impressive. If I wanted to upgrade, I'd go in that direction, or something like that. Unless, Canon would be so kind to come out with something reasonable in the meantime. No 1" again for me, please, I don't care if it's Canon/Sony/Panasonic/Nikon. Yes, but you, Andrew, evaluated that the AF is pathetic, and MF is very hard to use (unusable). How can you focus this camera then?

The 128G Transcend CFast card is $300 at B&H or €200 at Amazon.DE What XLR module/adapter can you get for $40? Actually, I wanted (still I haven't given up completely) to buy a Canon video camera, and I love a number of XC10 functions tremendously: 4K, excellent image stabilization, touch screen, joystick (sic!), tilting LCD viewfinder (!). But eventually it was the 1" sensor for $2000 which prevented my purchase. I am so sorry, I was so disappointed; another year I have to live without a Canon video camera, another year I have to stay with my Sony A5100, since I see no really better camera to upgrade below $2000.

I stand corrected, apologies for the false information. Honestly, I don't regard the missing XLR module a big negative, but it is a fact that the $2000 XC10 Canon professional videocamera has no direct XLR support. I use a Tascam DR-60DmkII ($200) and a Zoom H5 anyway, so I am quite OK with the fact that the XC10 has only a mic jack and no XLR. Nevertheless, you cannot ignore the fact that the XC10 has only a 1" sensor, which is really below today's expectations for low-light applications; today, when ((much) more) affordable solutions exist that are great for daylight and low-light situation either. The XC10 might be (much) better than an Sony RX10iii, RX10ii, AX100, RX100iv, X70, but definitely it is not a competitor of larger sensor 4K cameras especially not APS-C/S35 (JVC GY-LS300, A6300) let alone the 4K A7 family. I have enough experience with 1" sensors, I've been there, I don't want to go/step back, definitely not for $2000.

I have zero emotions either pro or against cameras of any brand/make. I was seriously thinking of going for an XC10; in my post I just wanted to point out facts/limitations that I should take into consideration before buying any camera. Reviews and comments on this forum help me a lot to evaluate a camera. I was totally wrong anyway when I wrote that the XC10 has no ND filter: it has a (3-stop (?)) ND filter, which I could live with; still, it's weird that the consumer Sony AX100 has a 3-step (4/16/64) ND filter, while the "professional" XC10 has only one. When I mentioned Nikon J5, my point was that the J5 is a decent camera for $500, but a "1" sensor camera" is definitely not what I'd pick today whatever great its codecs and other features would be, because the low-light performance of 1" cameras are disappointing vs the image quality of APS-C video cameras (Sony A5100/A6000/A6300, for example). Daylight or for professional video applications/assignments with led lighs 1" cameras are excellent, but not for (ad-hoc) indoor, eveining, club recordings where no video lighting is available or allowed. If I paid $2000 for a camera, I'd expect it to be perfectly fine for low-light handheld applications, too; the XC10/RX10iii/J5/AX100/X70 are not.

I was experimenting with an RX10ii in a local store here for a couple of hours, and after using Sony A5100 with its brilliant touch-screen, smooth and accurate/snappy PDAF video touch-to-snap-focus, excellent low-light (APS-C), I found the RX10ii even with its 4K, ND filter pathetic. I guess I'd love the XC10 but buying a 1" video camera for $2000 without dual-pixels or PDAF touch-to-focus, no ND filter, no XLR. No way I'd buy a camera with CFast2 just to be able to shoot 4K. I love that eventually JVC/Sony/Panasonic stopped pushing proprietary memory card formats. GX80 with its touch screen, larger than 1" sensor, interchangeable lens, 4K, IBIS in video, hmm, definitely, interesting. I wonder when, if ever, Sony is coming out with the 4K version of its touch-screen operable A5100. Exactly, no XLR, no ND filter in XC10, and just add the hilarious prices of CFast2 cards just to be able to record 4K. Even the "consumer" Sony A6300 can get an XLR module. In a couple of months, hundreds of affordable cameras will shoot excellent 4K videos on regular SD cards. I have a decent 1" camera Nikon J5, but definitely, I wouldn't buy any camera with only 1" again, since their low light capability is way inferior to what we can have today from affordable APS-C cameras. To me 1" is dead end.

Excellent points, John, Thank you so much for sharing. My problem is that point (2) kills the benefit of (1). Practically, with a MFT camera including this GX80/85 the only way to record video is: focus - shoot - stop - refocus - shoot and stop. You cannot adjust focus precisely during video recording: no magnification for MF, and unusable (shimmering hunting) AF. The 4K image quality is great, but the ergionomics on Panasonic cameras for video recording is absolutely not my style because of these reasons. They are so close: why the hell they don't buy Sony PDAF 4/3 sensors into their cameras and add magnification with a firmware update? This is beyond me. BUT, in this article Andrew pointed out that the GX80/85 outputs clean HDMI that can be used by an external recorder. A decent external recorder definitely has excellent focus peaking and MAGNIFICATION WHILE RECORDING, therefore this limitation of the GX80/85 and all other MFT cameras is mitigated. At least a workaround solution to the accurate-manual-refocus-while-recording problem; Hmm, I like the idea. Blackmagic Design Video Assist 4K 7" 1920x1200 XLR recorder is only $900 + GX85 with excelent IBIS and 4/3" large sensor is only $800; total is $1700, not a bad deal. Thank you, Andrew, for the excellent hint/suggestion/idea. Anyhow, I am waiting for the hopefully-forthcoming "4K edition of Sony A5100", then I'll make my decision.

The A5100 is absolutely not a mainstream camera; but, its touch-to-pull-focus implementation is brilliant; very smooth and accurate. Since the A5100 is the only touch-operable Sony camera (excluding dedicated video cameras (AX100, AX53, FS5,X70), of course), this feature is not available in any other Sony cameras. Whatever great Panasonic cameras are I had two major issues with all of them: The terribly annoying shimmering when refocusing (the same thing you observed and mentioned in your article); totally unusable in every Panasonic cameras I have experimenting with (GX8, GH4, GH3, GX7). No touch-to-magnify while/during recording. That is, when you start recording, magnification is disabled on Panasonic cameras. I think for manual focusing during video recording it is terribly important to punch-in to confirm focus accuracy. I simply don't understand why this important function is simply ignored by Panasonic/Olympus. On the other hand Sony, Canon, Samsung has very nice implementations in their cameras. Can you, Andrew, confirm that magnification/punch-in is available during recording in GX80/85?

As written in the article "You can touch the screen whilst recording to rack focus. It works well but not quite as well as Dual Pixel AF on the 1D X Mark II since there’s a millisecond of a shimmer at the end of the rack. Contrast detect AF doesn’t yet eliminate hunting." Actually this my major problem with Panasonic/Olympus cameras. I have the Sony A5100, the only touch-operable Sony Alpha camera, and because of its phase detect autofocus points, it performs brilliantly smooth, shimmer-less focus pull for $500. This inherent shimmer in MFT cameras practically negates an important benefit of their anyway brilliant touch screens. Canon 70D, 80D and Sony A5100 are the only reasonably priced cameras (all HD-only, unfortunately) that can perform shimmer-free touch-to-pull-focus operation. Sony is repeating its silly mistakes again and again not to add touch-operability to its excellent 4K PDAF cameras: A7Rii, A6300.

It was a joy to read this blog post. Absolutely hilarious. I think you do this intentionally to raise high interest towards eoshd.com Definitely, absolutely entertaining. Keep up the good work. HNY!

Very much thank you for the review. I skipped GH4 because of the many quirks. The Sony FS7 is hell very expensive, no Sony APS-C/FF cameras below 2000 with in-body 4K video. Today NX1 is really the best bang for the bucks, you are right (although you wrote "could be", which could mean anything). Sony seems to be trying to protect its high-end video camera products by avoiding 4K from affordable camera models. Maybe they have a deal with Atomos? I am not in a rush, and Sony is a serious player in videography whatever the others do.

Excellent review, Andrew. I have a question, actually multiple questions about the same subjects: D750 vs A7S. On http://www.eoshd.com/2014/09/nikon-d750-video-quality-step-forward-much-one/ you (Andrew Reid) wrote that "Although the D750 is definitely a viable alternative in video terms for an older 5D Mark III (without raw) or D800, it sits quite far below the Sony A7S and Panasonic GH4" On http://www.eoshd.com/2014/10/sony-a7s-review-part-2-conclusion/ you wrote that "So I ended up using 90% A7S and just 10% D750 for this particular shoot" (