salim

Not "blathering" at all! This is very informative and I am so appreciative you're taking time to reply me with your personal experience. 

My goal is to make a short film as a stepping stone of making a full featured film. This is mostly a personal life-long ambition. I'm going to make money from it and I don't think I will. 
I did some professional wedding stuff in the past, but I realized I rather keep photography as a passion and keep my day job for making money. Mostly because professional photography is more about being a great sales person than being a great photographer. 
Anyways. I did one simple fun music video with a talent in Belarus (she attended GITI in Moscow which is equivalent for our Juliards).  I also shot 4 cover/music video with a singer talent. I shot most of them with A6000 and the sigma 19/2.8 and some with the contax/zeiss 28/2.8 on the gimbal. One of the cover music video I shot with the D810 and sigma art 50/1.4 which put the gimbal to its limit and I basically ended up using it as a tripod.  That being said, I really loved the colors out of D810 with the sigma 1.4. However, I after I focused on the talent, I had no idea if I was keeping focus or not. In contrast using the A6000 even with the contax 28/2.8 the focus peaking was very helpful. It allowed me to move and yet keep my focus on the eyes. 

So I'm returning back to Belarus and I'm planning to shoot a short 3-5 min film with the acting talent. I have most of the scenes in my head and I'm just writing it down as a script.  I was thinking of getting an A6500. Mostly for it's AF capabilities and also for it's IBIS. I would want to even avoid the gimbal if I could. At least for some shots, especially in the metro where the Belarusian police might start harassing me.  I initially figured I shoot in 4k and downsize to 1080 and I thought A6500 might work really well for me. It's discrete, does well in low light and it has some level of IBIS. 

But I'm seeing new cameras coming out including a pozsslibe A7SIII and decided maybe I should just stay with the A6000 I have and combine it with my D810 to shoot the short film. This is what made me look into monitors that would give me access to focus peaking. So I can use my D810 and be able to know if I'm in focus or not as I move the camera around. 

I'm giving the long winded story, just to give you context and also solicit some feedback and advice on how I should approach it. 

Thanks again,

Salim

I'm near San Fransisco in Bay Area California. 

Yes, I am in US and thank you so much for your informative reply. Much appreciated.

Warm regards, 

Salim