Epoca Libera

About firmware update ILCE6300 V1.10 : updates that are not described in the release note and probably Sony does not like to speak about:
What I describe here affects the camera when used together with
a: Auto-Focus Mount Adapter EF-NEX for Canon EF lenses to Sony NEX Mount
and/or
b: speedbooster (in green mode).
1.Camera set at : Movie mode and setting: movie/hfr>aperture priority
Supposing you have a lens with f=2,8 on the adapter.
a. Firmware v1.00 (previous): While you turn the dial knob to set the aperture (e.g. at desired  f=11) you read the desired value on the screen but in fact the aperture will stay at 2,8. It will be really set at the moment you press the REC button (and you will hear the slight noise of the  aperture blades). So there is no way to have depth of field preview.
b. Firmware v1.10 (new): While you turn the dial knob to set the aperture (e.g. at desired  f=11) the aperture blades are set real time. So before you press the REC button, you have depth of field preview.
So with the new firmware there is a different way in handling the aperture during movie mode: The real aperture value is now set before you press the REC button.
2. On my previous comment on March 2016 at the link:
http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/19110-sony-a6300-4k/?do=findComment&comment=137969
I describe a firmware V1.00 bug that: PAL switched to NTSC a6300 camera would not set the correct aperture on 24p movie modes.
This bug was fixed with the new firmware.
 
Hope my notes will help some people.
 

About firmware update ILCE6300 V1.10 : updates that are not described in the release note and probably Sony does not like to speak about:
What I describe here affects the camera when used together with
a: Auto-Focus Mount Adapter EF-NEX for Canon EF lenses to Sony NEX Mount
and/or
b: speedbooster (in green mode).
1.Camera set at : Movie mode and setting: movie/hfr>aperture priority
Supposing you have a lens with f=2,8 on the adapter.
a. Firmware v1.00 (previous): While you turn the dial knob to set the aperture (e.g. at desired  f=11) you read the desired value on the screen but in fact the aperture will stay at 2,8. It will be really set at the moment you press the REC button (and you will hear the slight noise of the  aperture blades). So there is no way to have depth of field preview.
b. Firmware v1.10 (new): While you turn the dial knob to set the aperture (e.g. at desired  f=11) the aperture blades are set real time. So before you press the REC button, you have depth of field preview.
So with the new firmware there is a different way in handling the aperture during movie mode: The real aperture value is now set before you press the REC button.
2. On my previous comment on March 2016 at the link:
http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/19110-sony-a6300-4k/?do=findComment&comment=137969
I describe a firmware V1.00 bug that: PAL switched to NTSC a6300 camera would not set the correct aperture on 24p movie modes.
This bug was fixed with the new firmware.
 
Hope my notes will help some people.
 

It's really misleading... They use a still life scene consisting of about 6 stops of dynamic range at best, shot at close focus.
The differences in resolution are minimised and it doesn't really tell us very much.
The 80D for example looks like abject shit when you shoot landscapes in video mode with it
Something that a stamp pinned to the side of a light box doesn't quite convey as well...
Wow you have low standards.
RED... What is the point!??!
Fastest contradictory statement ever on the forums?
The 5DS actually does quite good 1080p so if you have a lot of money to flush down the toilet on mediocrity it is your next camera....

I am just a guy with an independent voice in the world of camera reviews without hundreds of cozy ties to people from the manufacturers, without ads splattered all over the screen, without sponsors on my every video, yet still I find EOSHD mired in a world of cut throat rivalry. Only very occasionally like in the beginning with DPReview have I been given a leg up in this industry and even then it only takes one person like Barney to massacre that relationship too. The other blogs like NoFilmSchool, Cinema5D and NewsShooter spend 10's maybe even 100's of thousands of dollars trying to punt my homebrew EOSHD site into oblivion and I just find the whole thing utterly distasteful. Rather than offering a new talent an opportunity they instead I am treated like just another commercial rival to be beaten.
In the end it is up to you guys to choose. The managed platform of platitudes and advertorial, or the honest opinions and educational books of an artist/filmmaker.
May the best guy win.

Unfortunately I fell out with their 2 main guys, over disagreements with the direction their editorial was taking. I guess this is the result but it's still a nasty thing to do to their own forum users. I don't care so much about myself. But why punish their own readers and limit their knowledge of external resources?
It is a shame as I have met some of the DPR team in person and count them as friends - Lars and Richard in particular. Lars used to live in Berlin!
There's a bit more to the story as well... I began to be frustrated at every turn at how hard it was to get my articles past their main editor Barney and something else happened, something deeply disturbing, that I will not go into detail about.

Dont expect free speech from Dpreview. I was temporarily banned from posting in the forum. No reasoning given. Presumably because I posted a comment that insulted the week mind of one of the mods.

Display units in stores are always broken and man handled in my experience. No matter what brand.
No, I think they will stay on for a while still.
On the still side its another story. Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Pentax.... This won't last. There aren't enough customers. Samsung is not the last to go.

This is going into an article so it has to be right...
As others have pointed out, when a camera does a 1:1 readout of the sensor in 4K mode, you can JUST use the horizontal resolution to calculate the added 4K crop of the full frame 16:9 window of the sensor.
This way the math is really easy - just by dividing the total horizontal resolution of the sensor by the resolution of 4K can you get the crop factor.
4096 for DCI 4K or 3840 for UHD
So I tried it on a few cameras and it gives this -
Canon 1D C (DCI 4K) - 1.26x (5184 / 4096)
Canon 1D X Mark II (DCI 4K) - 1.33x (5472 / 4096)
Canon 1D X Mark II (UHD) - 1.42x (5472 / 3840)
Nikon D5 (UHD) - 1.45x
Panasonic GH4 (DCI 4K) - 2.12x
Panasonic GH4 (UHD) - 2.2x
How is this mathematically, does it stack up?
What is interesting is how little difference there is between the 1D C and 1D X Mk II in DCI 4K after all... I think most people were quoting the UHD crop when it first came out.
The field of view difference here we are not talking the difference between 3:2 full frame and cropped 4K. We are talking the difference between 16:9 full frame 1080p and the cropped 1:1 4K window.

Yes the Sony lens I have adjusts the iris during movie capture automatically, as does the e mount sigma in shutter priority or program modes. Aside from the Minolta, I have no other automatic lenses.
Can confirm I have a PAL camera - UK stock so I get that message in NTSC mode and have to format the card.

I have the sony 50mm f1.8, the sigma e mount 19mm 2.8 and neither of these two things you have observed affect these lenses, however the first issue affects the Minolta 135mm STF T4.5 through a Sony LA-EA2 Adapter when the second A mode iris is engaged, even though the camera recognises that A mode has been engaged and adjusts the iris display to match. I cannot find a lens that replicates your second issue.

I don't see much evidence of massive de-saturation or heavy noise past 1600 here. 6400 sure, but it's honestly not past saving with a little Neat Video. 
What CAN'T be saved are those horrible artifacts on highlights. In the first scene, all the lights next to the pool have gone sickly, saturated yellow. Very videoy. The Panasonic's are neutral, more like film's would be. Look at the underwater pool lights in the second scene. 100% clipped, then a ring of pure cyan, then blue water again. There's no fixing that in post. Now look at the Panasonic. A smooth gradient from darker blue to aqua, then a gentle transition into soft highlight. It takes longer to clip too, which means it holds more highlight detail than the A6300 even at higher sensitivities--which I prefer, since I light most of my work. 

I agree that the noise grain has improved quite a bit, but it's not more than a stop, stop and a half better than the G7. If you need that, cool! You have another good option. But realistically, how often do people really need to shoot about 3200? Even the weddings I've shot rarely require more than 800-1600. 

The A6300 does have a certain sense of "richness" as it ramps up in ISO, but that might be the amber-magenta color bias fooling my brain. Hard to say without a better white balance.

It's good to hear that some of the profiles have been improved. For people who prefer to bake in their look, that's awesome. But for video power-users and enthusiasts who are trying to squeeze every drop of performance from this camera, it's disappointing to have a LOG mode that's borderline unusable. 

Natural has the best color straight out of the G7, and it loses maybe one stop to V-LOG. CineD loses nothing to it, and has excellent colors with the Leeming LUT. So it feels like I'm losing out less on Panasonic by not using LOG than I am on Sony. Although...I guess I've never seen any empirical tests. Has anyone shown the difference in DR between SLOG and the Cine profiles?

You could get 3 or so hours out of a GX7, and the A6300 certainly isn't smaller than that. I haven't heard much on the A6300's battery life, but does it top that? The G7 does 4 hours, and it has the same small battery. And once you've added several overpriced Sony spares, you're adding more weight and expense to the bag, both of which you were supposed to be saving with a Sony mirrorless camera.

Ah, so you did see the word "native" in there. Eventually. :P

Seems rather unwieldy to strap huge Sigma or EF glass to a tiny Sony body, and the AF won't hold up for some stills work. I suppose unlike Sony themselves, Canon does offer a nice variety of APS-C glass, which should balance reasonably well. Shame most of them are focus by wire, though.

Sony's actual APS-C lenses are mostly either awful or very overpriced. The stabilized 35 and 50 are good (if sterile), but other than that....you've got a couple Sony Zeisses that are nice, and...that's basically it. You could get FE glass, sure, but paying $1000 for a 55mm 1.8 when Panasonic and Olympus sell portrait primes for less than half that seems silly to me. 

It definitely wins with vintage glass, though, especially smaller primes. No arguing that. And come to think of it, SLR Magic makes a few lenses in E-mount. No AF in that case, but they render and handle better for video.

Unless Sony's improved their button customization, the A6300 should still require a healthy amount of menu-diving over the course of a shoot. By your own (and most other people's) admission, Sony menus are ass. I'll still take Panasonic for usability.

Eh...maybe it's to do with S-Gamut, but I'm not sure this test was even shot in that and it shows mis-balanced color too. I'm guessing, like other Sony cams, the A6300 will benefit heavily from manual WB with a grey card. 

Look, I'm not trying to bag on Sony. This looks like a great camera, and the sweet spot for a lot of shooters. But when we have 2 or 3 different topics breaking down why Sony cams wow and impress out of the gate but ultimately fall short of their competition, I feel compelled to play devil's advocate. 

Thanks for the tests, Andrew. Eagerly awaiting any new footage.

Cheers.

Edit: Any chance of an answer to the two questions at the end of my last post?

No but you can pass audio out via HDMI to a monitor with a headphone jack, or go off the on screen audio levels instead.
Yeah I see, makes sense!

I picked up my A6300 this morning at Samy's in LA on the way to a shoot at an auto body shop and have been shooting with it (in Slog2 PP7) in place of my A7s. I did a quick and dirty sharpness test between 4K 24p, 4K 30p, 1080 24p, and 1080 60p. I also threw in a 1080p Slog2 frame from the A7s version 1.
 
All images are on a speed booster (non ultra) using a Canon 24-105 F4L IS (wide open at reported f2.8) through a "Fader ND Mark II" brand variable ND. This is my doc-style work setup and now that I'm seeing the results I'll definitely be redoing this test stopped down a little on a different lens, with a less busy subject. Good news is that the 4K 30 mode doesn't seem to suffer from any weird image quality loss or additional noise compared to the 24p mode aside from the obvious crop. I was very surprised at 20,000 ISO that the shot has very little noise in either mode. Granted it's still daytime and I just applied lots of ND for a proper exposure, but I'm going to do more tests as night falls.
https://philymack.box.com/s/3x7ge6qqeqgvsvj3z4t6e05oi7vc00a4
 
 
Overall, having a good time with the camera today especially because I was able to roll right into a gig with it, but between the 4K having a near-dealbreaker amount of rolling shutter (10-11ms more than the A7s II 4K mode) and the 1080p mode being a little soft, it's going to be a tough sell for me. You can definitely tell that the 1080p mode almost looks like a combo between the softness of, say, a 5D Mark III's video mode with the dynamic range of an A7s. I'm dedicating the weekend to tests and have rented a Sony E 24mm 1.8, a 16-70 f4 OSS, and a Sony E 35mm to give them all a shot. I've got plenty of A7s Is and IIs through work so I'm sort of debating whether I want to keep the A6300 for myself as a personal stills/video powerhouse or jump to an A7rII. 
 

I think the existing ULTRA 0.71x is adequate for the following reasons:
The "6" series has a 2-year cycle. 2 years later image processors will be faster and be able to do a full readout at 30p (The counter argument to this is, what if the sensor resolution increase more quickly than image processor performance increase?) There is no crop at 24p. The people doing cinematic work, which is Speed Booster's primary audience, are already happy. The crop at 30p is not as bad as it sounds. My calculations arrived at 1.9x, which after boosted becomes 1.3x. Canon 1D-C also has a 1.3x 4k crop. Do we HAVE to beat 1D-C up? If we do, there is always the A7RII S35 + Speed Booster, and for A6300 we have already done that at 24p (see 2). Dwelling more on point number 1, I conjecture something magical will occur at the next resolution increase. The horizontal resolution will become exactly twice UHD, i.e. 7680, for a 7680 x 5120 resolution (39MP). A simpler oversampling algorithm can be employed, and UHD 60p is not unthinkable, without consuming any more processing power. 39MP is the magic resolution which enables 8k. It is just a matter of time, if the industry is indeed heading towards what it says is heading.

So to recap on the all important crops...
24p = no crop Super 35mm 4K (1.5x crop vs full frame)
30p = 2.3x crop 4K
120p = 2.3x crop 1080p
Looks like the Samsung NX1 has an ace card here.
But I am sure the A6300 will have the dynamic range advantage... and proper LOG profile.

Most of Sony's aps-c lenses are stabilized. Only time will tell if Sony is going to move IBIS down the line or keep it on the A7's. I think given the size of FE lenses there's definitely space for a larger, top of the line crop body with IBIS that sells in the $1500 range. I'd buy one, FE lenses are getting too damn big and the new ones are the largest yet.
I wonder if we're ever going to see any more lenses like the 28/2, 35/2.8 and 55/1.8 - all are small with good IQ and one is pretty cheap, the others can be had at good used prices. Sony's FE lens strategy is making me reconsider my decision to wrap my kit around the A7's. Crop lenses and a speedbooster covers pretty much everything.

Touch screen on the A5100 with face tracking is mean as!
Why not?? I'd rather spend more on lenses than the body, as that is what will last longer.

It's just the general trend. If you look at the lenses that Sony, Canon and Nikon have recently announced it's to 99% either really really expensive or plain uninteresting. Luckily there's the Sigma ART series for those of us who want performing autofocus lenses and still be able to pay rent.
I'm feeling you. I love the NX1 but the system is dead and not compatible with accessories I have (and that will never be fixed) so I'll have to decide between color (Blackmagic, Canon) and 4k / HighFrameRate / LowLight (Sony)... or you have to be filthy rich and get a sherpa to carry your RED Weapon for you. I was really short away from just going meh and buying a A7rII or A7sII but then both have downsides and after test-grading some footage I downloaded I'm not sure Sony give me at my skill-level colors that make me happy.

Well, one more thing to point out.  No fully articulating screen.  It is so useful on the Panasonics.  Why they have to make this so hard.

This is going to be such a popular camera.
A real bargain for $1000, you're getting the image of an FS5 with better AF system, better EVF and 4x cheaper in a MUCH smaller body.
Shame no IBIS but it is only one third of the price of the A7R II!
Samsung NX1 only other APS-C camera to do 4K from 6K readout.

Ah no ibis.  This camera doesn't have everything.  But to be honest, it will never replace a need for a gimbal.  I highly recommend anyone to get one.  Words like Ibis or rolling shutter will never be a concern after that.

Hi everybody, my first comment on this forum, very nice to meet you.
I like Andrew's review for EOS M3, and I find it to the point and I find very useful the videos "Japanese Garden" and the "Studio Test Scene".
Well I am from the first who bought EOS M3 body from Amazon Japan at under $500 with free EVF included.
I already have a Nikon D800 and when I compared it with EOS M3 in movie mode side by side, I was impressed to see that the EOS M3 video is much more clear and full of details than this of D800.
After I liked the freedom that M3 gives me: small size, tilting screen, standard external microphone port, focus peaking that make manual focus quick, and a variety of lenses to choose from Canon, or Nikon, or legacy Pentax, Tamron etc.
You cannot find all these at this price.  Not even an external microphone port unless you go more over $1.000.
I also want to inform other M3 users that if you search the settings in "Picture Style" you will get a movie output much more rich in details: not only remove sharpness but remove contrast as well.
But I was really surprised to see that magnification assist for MF doesn’t work in movie mode, while it offers focus peaking, which is related and has to work together with MF assist. I hope that they fix this, it is crazy: every time i want to fine focus or to check the accuracy of the focus peaking, I have to: rotate the selector from movie to photo mode> fine focus>rotate again the selector to movie mode.
In general am happy with this camera and for this I made a short "Low Light High ISO Movie Test" which i can share with you:
 
 
Chipped and unchipped lenses were used for shooting the samples of this movie, which are:
1. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 non-Ai (adapter used).
2. Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).
3. Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124AF Pro DX II for Nikon (adapter used).
4. Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF for Canon.
And here is a picture of EOS M3 with the lens: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).  With this long lens, the first clips of the movie test were shot:

Best Regards!

Hi everybody, my first comment on this forum, very nice to meet you.
I like Andrew's review for EOS M3, and I find it to the point and I find very useful the videos "Japanese Garden" and the "Studio Test Scene".
Well I am from the first who bought EOS M3 body from Amazon Japan at under $500 with free EVF included.
I already have a Nikon D800 and when I compared it with EOS M3 in movie mode side by side, I was impressed to see that the EOS M3 video is much more clear and full of details than this of D800.
After I liked the freedom that M3 gives me: small size, tilting screen, standard external microphone port, focus peaking that make manual focus quick, and a variety of lenses to choose from Canon, or Nikon, or legacy Pentax, Tamron etc.
You cannot find all these at this price.  Not even an external microphone port unless you go more over $1.000.
I also want to inform other M3 users that if you search the settings in "Picture Style" you will get a movie output much more rich in details: not only remove sharpness but remove contrast as well.
But I was really surprised to see that magnification assist for MF doesn’t work in movie mode, while it offers focus peaking, which is related and has to work together with MF assist. I hope that they fix this, it is crazy: every time i want to fine focus or to check the accuracy of the focus peaking, I have to: rotate the selector from movie to photo mode> fine focus>rotate again the selector to movie mode.
In general am happy with this camera and for this I made a short "Low Light High ISO Movie Test" which i can share with you:
 
 
Chipped and unchipped lenses were used for shooting the samples of this movie, which are:
1. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 non-Ai (adapter used).
2. Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).
3. Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124AF Pro DX II for Nikon (adapter used).
4. Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF for Canon.
And here is a picture of EOS M3 with the lens: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).  With this long lens, the first clips of the movie test were shot:

Best Regards!

Hi everybody, my first comment on this forum, very nice to meet you.
I like Andrew's review for EOS M3, and I find it to the point and I find very useful the videos "Japanese Garden" and the "Studio Test Scene".
Well I am from the first who bought EOS M3 body from Amazon Japan at under $500 with free EVF included.
I already have a Nikon D800 and when I compared it with EOS M3 in movie mode side by side, I was impressed to see that the EOS M3 video is much more clear and full of details than this of D800.
After I liked the freedom that M3 gives me: small size, tilting screen, standard external microphone port, focus peaking that make manual focus quick, and a variety of lenses to choose from Canon, or Nikon, or legacy Pentax, Tamron etc.
You cannot find all these at this price.  Not even an external microphone port unless you go more over $1.000.
I also want to inform other M3 users that if you search the settings in "Picture Style" you will get a movie output much more rich in details: not only remove sharpness but remove contrast as well.
But I was really surprised to see that magnification assist for MF doesn’t work in movie mode, while it offers focus peaking, which is related and has to work together with MF assist. I hope that they fix this, it is crazy: every time i want to fine focus or to check the accuracy of the focus peaking, I have to: rotate the selector from movie to photo mode> fine focus>rotate again the selector to movie mode.
In general am happy with this camera and for this I made a short "Low Light High ISO Movie Test" which i can share with you:
 
 
Chipped and unchipped lenses were used for shooting the samples of this movie, which are:
1. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 non-Ai (adapter used).
2. Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).
3. Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124AF Pro DX II for Nikon (adapter used).
4. Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF for Canon.
And here is a picture of EOS M3 with the lens: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).  With this long lens, the first clips of the movie test were shot:

Best Regards!

Hi everybody, my first comment on this forum, very nice to meet you.
I like Andrew's review for EOS M3, and I find it to the point and I find very useful the videos "Japanese Garden" and the "Studio Test Scene".
Well I am from the first who bought EOS M3 body from Amazon Japan at under $500 with free EVF included.
I already have a Nikon D800 and when I compared it with EOS M3 in movie mode side by side, I was impressed to see that the EOS M3 video is much more clear and full of details than this of D800.
After I liked the freedom that M3 gives me: small size, tilting screen, standard external microphone port, focus peaking that make manual focus quick, and a variety of lenses to choose from Canon, or Nikon, or legacy Pentax, Tamron etc.
You cannot find all these at this price.  Not even an external microphone port unless you go more over $1.000.
I also want to inform other M3 users that if you search the settings in "Picture Style" you will get a movie output much more rich in details: not only remove sharpness but remove contrast as well.
But I was really surprised to see that magnification assist for MF doesn’t work in movie mode, while it offers focus peaking, which is related and has to work together with MF assist. I hope that they fix this, it is crazy: every time i want to fine focus or to check the accuracy of the focus peaking, I have to: rotate the selector from movie to photo mode> fine focus>rotate again the selector to movie mode.
In general am happy with this camera and for this I made a short "Low Light High ISO Movie Test" which i can share with you:
 
 
Chipped and unchipped lenses were used for shooting the samples of this movie, which are:
1. Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 non-Ai (adapter used).
2. Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).
3. Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124AF Pro DX II for Nikon (adapter used).
4. Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF for Canon.
And here is a picture of EOS M3 with the lens: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A).  With this long lens, the first clips of the movie test were shot:

Best Regards!