kaylee

The 120 fps is unrivaled in its price range, a lot better than the NX1 even.

what a coincidence: that very same alexa lut in premiere is doin some magic on my slog2 rx10ii footage shot w a modified version of kholi's pro color settings. i just randomly tried it playing around with lumetri. im looking for a baseline of pleasing, naturalistic color and what i described is working really well

So for anyone who does not have the newest Premiere I have made available the LUT pack. (shhhh)
.cube: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u2see09x4a5s16c/GH4alexa.cube?dl=0
.3DL: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v3a0bbek7p5qmki/GH4alexa.3dl?dl=0
Instructions for GH4 profile:
Portrait
Contrast -5
everything else 0
0-255
Master Pedistal: 0
Shadows: 0
Highlights: -3

Did some testing today and yesterday at a state park near my home. Mainly video as I'm trying to learn how to grade the slog2 into something I like.
I did take some pictures and at some point I took a shot that for whatever reason (I believe I had left the ND filter turned on ) it turned out way underexposed. I took this shot not for it's artistic value but more for a look at detail rendered. Well, thinking the shot was ruined I figured I might as well crank up some exposure in lightroom via the shadow recovery and exposure sliders. Wow. It's like someone turned the lights on and with almost no noise penalty. No color banding. Nothing. Just plenty of detail and my respect for this one inch sensore genius of a camera!  As for a stills camera, this RX10 2 reminds me a lot more of my D800E than the gh4 ever did as far as the look and dynamic range of the image produced.
This might not blow you away the way it did me, but I just didn't expect such a clean photo from something so drastically underexposed. Especially from such a small sensor camera.  Have a look... I could have boosted this much further but I was going for natural.
 

I took out my GH4 to a Ren Faire today testing out Portrait profile with 96fps HD. I've always used either Cine D, or Cine V, but wanted to try something different. So I shot everything with Portrait profile. After importing to Premiere CC I added Arri Alexa SL profile LUT. The colors looked really nice. I then tried just added some contrast to the original image and comparing the 2. Have a look and tell me that the Alexa LUT doesn't produce cleaner colors? Honestly do need opinions.
First is Alexa LUT. Second is Contrast only.
 

I'm a big fan of Kholi's SLOG2 profile settings, with the saturation dialed down just a touch.

Found this on dvxuser and thought it was really interesting. Tells a lot of us what we kind already know but in a lot more depth.

Article: http://www.inventome.com/Blog/2015/8/a7exposure/Sony-A7s---how-to-expose---cine-or-log?
dvxuser: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?339113-A7s-detailed-breakdown-of-the-gamma-curves-slog-or-cine
Basically, SLOG2 is mostly great but overexposing correctly and bringing it down in post but will generally crush the blacks.
Cine 1 is great for when you want to retain detail in the highlights.
Cine 4 is when you'd like to keep detail in the shadows.

I'm a big fan of Cine 1 for bright outdoor conditions so this makes sense to me, I know a lot of people are also Cine 4 fans. But recently I've been using SLOG2 more and more and the general aesthetics are beautiful.

Had a chance to do my first filming test of the A7R II earlier tonight. We went to a glass blowing tutorial/class thing. Of course when you're standing in front of a 2500 F degree oven, things get a little warm and I was curious about how the camera would hold up. I didn't record a ton of footage but I did run the camera continuously for a 10 minute clip with no problems. The thing did get very hot in my hand - not uncomfortably so, but enough that I can imagine a prolonged day of heavy shooting would begin to stress the system quite a bit. It's not a problem for my usage, but I think others won't be as lucky.
That image, though. It's just absolutely gorgeous. I took a random guess at color settings and ran the default 'Cine1' gamma on top of a low contrast Neutral color scheme. It's not perfect and there's definitely a lot of room for experimentation and improvement in both recording and workflow. People who are really particular about their color work probably have a long road ahead of them; I'm not enough of a colorist to really be sure. There's a LOT of available combinations of settings and I really think someone will eventually dial in the camera to be magical. I might buy Andrew's settings and LUT he posted earlier, we'll see.
Setting aside the rather tricky color issue though... there is a quality to full frame that I just adore. It was possible to get there with GH4 + SB + 18-35 but it's an awkward combination, lacks IS, and it still missed something. IMO whatever you want to complain about with color science or 'digital look' from the Sony cameras, the Panasonics were always far, far worse. The GH4's output always felt like the world's greatest camcorder to me. Fantastic on all technical points, but weirdly clinical and lacking in 'film feeling' without a lot of work and judicious lens choice. I feel like the A7R2 has gotten me much closer much more quickly. 
Battery life, though, is freaking awful. These FW50 batteries were designed to fit in a NEX-3, and now they're being asked to drive a massive sensor attached to an IBIS rig attached to a massive CPU. The A7 cameras should have been built off a larger battery platform from day 1. It's embarrassing. The good news is that USB external batteries work wonderfully for powering and charging. I have an Anker sized like an iPhone 6 that slips into my pocket and provides 10x the internal battery power. USB cable fitment seems a bit loose though, so we'll see what happens. Might be best to buy FW50s by the half dozen.

Agree 100 %, it makes so much sense if you run around all by yourself. Just frame, touch where you want the focus and shoot.

Just received the RX100IV today and I'm dang excited to create some things with it. I had the mark 1 and despite its limitations, had lots of fun shooting with it. 
I created a 15 second instagram video at work today just as a means to try out the 4K mode. I was in a hot warehouse in Texas right next to an open door. After 1 take, it began to display the overheat symbol. After two takes, it told me to let the camera cool and shut off. Switching to 1080p mode and I was just fine. 
This is by no means an A Camera, but I do think it is an absolutely incredible creative tool. Its so versatile! The 4K is sharp and clean, and the image grades well. This particular short was shot in  Picture Profile 4 and graded with film convert to add a lot of punch. I'll continue to share my thoughts and include more video after I've had more of a chance to shoot with it. 
General light coming from a nearby open door. A bit of spot from below added by a pair of Lumos Trip Pro LED's. Cinevate Duzi V3 slider.
 

So I've always, always struggled to get SLOG2 right on the A7s. I'm self taught and not a particuarly good colorist. I still haven't learned how to read scopes properly and found myself relying on the presets within FilmConvert to help me get colour and exposure right when using it. I had a couple of tests that were 'OK' but always found there to be far too much noise and ended up switching over to Cine4, and recently, Cine2 when using the camera.

For some reason I decided to give it another shot this weekend after playing around with the new Lumetri Colour panel in Adobe Premiere CC, and lo and behold, it is far far easier to grade and I have finally gotten footage that isn't a noise infested mess. Being able to play around with the highlights, whites, shadows and blacks with sliders instead of curves (as I was previously using) gave me way more control over the image. Below is an example of some quick shots I took walking around Berlin this weekend, graded with a Visioncolor Impulz Ultimate LUT. Also have to add, that while the original footage did have a yellow tinge to it, this was easily taken out with the saturation wheel. Single out the offending yellow hue, drop the saturation of that hue, and its gone.
 
 

Now onto the next mystery of why my Vimeo uploads always end up pixelated when there's any sort of movement...better to download if you're curious.

Either way, if you found SLOG 2 was a nightmare beforehand it might be worth checking out again if you have access to Premiere CC.

I think if you're primarily shooting landscapes 4K has a lot of benefits. The '1080p' out of DSLRs really falls apart on wide shots with a lot of details.

I haven't, but it wasn't overly warm after 27 or so minutes of 4K recording. Also I believe that due to the body ergonomics the RX10 isn't as overheating prone as the (even if improved) A7RII. Still, though, I'd never expect Canon reliability from the Sony. The lens does seem a bit frail for the long run imho.

This is a test i did using it for the first time neutral settings
https://mediazilla.com/Tns97htU4

SanDisk are usually higher quality than Transcend and if they advertise up to 90 MB/s write instead of the 65 from the Transcends, I'm pretty sure they will work. Kaylee can probably tell us that they do.

That's the spirit!  I really hope he, and you, are right.  If you're able, could you please consider testing bulb mode, in non-silent mode, for the same thing?
Also, Jim Kasson, on his excellent blog, has noted that the drop to 12-bit is typically only noticeable quite close to base ISO.  So, 100 ISO appears to be the best setting with which to test, which probably almost goes without saying  http://blog.kasson.com/?p=8586
 

Be aware that fully electronic shutter drops the image to 12-bit precision.  It's in the manual.  Bulb, continuous, continuous bracket mode do the same.
At low ISOs, this equates to about a 1-stop noise increase and a 1-stop loss in dynamic range. Bummer.

Sweet images! And I probably like your taste in movies (C'est arrivé...). : )
Tbh I don't expect any of the fancy new Sony stuff to hold up for very long with all the IBIS, overheating and whatnot going on, but it's just too tempting convenience-wise. We'll see.

Hey all.
Been a lurker here for many years already and finally registered - mainly because of this little camera. I've been shooting with DSLR's since the beginning of 5Dmkii days (and started shooting with the venerable Sony VX1000 DV camera many years ago!), but have shot on every camera out there from BMPC to RED Dragon / Alexa. I wanted something small, light and non-obtrusive and the RX10 ii seemed to fit it all.
Mine arrived on Friday afternoon and I went out yesterday and filmed some random images - mainly to test the ability of the camera (the narrative is piss poor!) So I focused on DOF, Latitude, variable frame rates as well as looking for moire and other artefacting.
Here it is: https://vimeo.com/135201792
Everything you need to know is in the description of the video.
Overall, I'm incredibly impressed with the quality of the footage coming out of it and my only gripe is the built-in kit lens which feels a little toy like. The images it makes are great, but I keep wondering how long that servo motor will hold out...time will tell.
Any questions, ask away.
 

They're much more expensive and have higher write speeds (90 instead of 65), so I don't see why they shouldn't.

Quotes like that annoy me as well because it's too easy when you have money rolling in left right and centre from professional video work to say "ah, throw that $12k 1D C aside I'll use it as a doorstop" and run out and spend another $3.5k on an A7R II. Way too easy!
However for the majority of people $3500 is a lot of money and significantly more than a GH4 or NX1 and thus the deliberation needs to be more critical.
When the Samsung NX1 came out Cinema5D basically rubbished it. The reason? Bad rolling shutter! Yet here with the S35 crop mode of the A7R II we have what looks like potentially even worse rolling shutter problems and they are practically mute about that... do I detect a Sony bias?
Well I have seen Cinema5D's guys operate first hand myself, at trade shows such as Photokina and they do know a few Sony people and get cameras early. It is too easy to recommend something when you have the camera literally dumped on your desk by a PR company as well.
I was offered a trip to the US to shoot with the A7R II by Sony and I turned them down. I was offered a demo unit by the US PR agency Sony had organising the A7R II marketing and I turned them down. On Wednesday 5th August I will walk into a shop, hand over my hard earned cash for the A7R II and if it is rubbish I will say so and take it back for a refund.
The only reason I am going anywhere near Sony and their PR agents is that they have organised an interesting shoot the day before on Tuesday and it is a chance to get some decent footage. Most of what I say to the Sony people there will be about how it can be improved and what the most glaring flaws are, because that is what I regard as feedback... saying "wow buy buy buy" does not have any useful substance to it, it is pure hype.
And so back to the topic...
It's an open secret Sony want you to buy more than one camera!
That's one reason why the launches are staggered like this. If the A7S II and A7R II came out on the same day you would be able to compare them and select the best ONE.
As it is, this week if you need an internally recording 4K full frame mirrorless camera and can't wait for a mystery to unfold 6 months from now then you are obligated to buy the A7R II.
Personally this is the approach I am taking because there's always eBay to shift gear whenever you like, whenever it is superseded.
I am sure the A7S II will push video to even greater heights, 4K 60p and at least 250fps 1080p, much less rolling shutter, better low light, etc.
it's a guess though and the A7R II is a guarantee of quality right now.
However there's always the danger with waiting for the next model and upgrading in that you never appreciate what is right in front of you.

Hello dafreaking, thanks for your inquiry, I hope I can be of help to you.
I'm not really sure about this, but as there's always software involved and adjustments made, I think it's a thing you just have to learn individually. The sensor size helps immensely, though, just using focus peaking worked relatively well for me. Andrew can probably say more about this.
The zooming certainly is far from silent and will most likely end up on the audio track. Other than that I didn't find it too annoying, though. And since the lens isn't parfocal, anyway...
Battery life is OK (few hours with a bit of recording here and there) and since the things are cheap, I don't see it as much of an issue.
Best regards,
Your unofficial Sony support

The cheap Transcends U3 (95/65) work flawlessly. In terms of batteries I got cheap ones for 14 Euros from your island (Expro), no issues, either.

TONS more coming from RX10 II in the review.
RX100 IV is a separate piece but I have had to work on that for past week, time which could have been spent finishing off my RX10 II review!