salim

Just received the new Aputure F7 last night. It's a gorgeous little light. The CRI is great but I remember the review by Kaleb his measured showed the reds were not as good. At least in 5600K. I compared it against Viola. It's brighter but also spottier. So not sure the total real output is more or it's spottier. But it's gorgeous little light, very versatile for travel. It's plastic but feels solid enough. You have to be careful with it, but I think it'll perform great. I also received the Boltzen light. This their new 30W bicolor. It has no fan! (unlike their 55 W). The brightness is constant across different color range. BUT, I don't believe the color reading. There is a strange step color change from 3300K-3200K but otherwise, it seems like a great option. It's heavier than I had hoped for and the barn doors do not cut the light nicely it has a very soft edge to the light shape both in spot and flood mode. The Aputure 20 is arriving tonight and I'll compare it next to Boltzen and see which one will take with me. But I've realized for the look I want I need something with a reliable 3200K light option. Since I want to WB to 3200k and give everything but the skin tone of actors a blueish cool tone.

I have a Crane v2 (not the heavier Crane 2) and I'll have chance probably this week or next week to test the Ronin-s for myself. I'll try to do a side-by-side comparison. Though they're not exactly comparable, I just to get a feel for usability, etc.

@mopixels - I'm like you. New to Sony. Mine is arriving tomorrow. So I started this thread with the best info and tutorial I can find on how to setup the camera and how to maximize it's filming ability. You need to spend couple of days to learn your new tool:

Here are sets of videos on how to best customize your A7/Riii cameras to make them into an image making tool. There are few different options and how to do them with various preferences but these are some of the better ones that I've found: This one does a good job of showing you also how to customize your sony as well as which customization he uses: This one is geared a bit more for those doing weddings: This one covers everything and it's probably good for beginners: Good overview on what to setup for hybrid shooters: Full setup and understanding of Sony menus for beginners coming from different camera brands:

Here's a good example of A7iii temporal noise reduction (AKA ghosting). You can see it well in this example. Also interesting info on the description of the video: the image is deliberately underexposed by 2 stops. it seems that in s-log2/s-log3 and itu 709 (800%) (basically every PP that has a base iso of 800) gammas the amount of noise reduction is turned down considerably, almost completely freeing the image from ghosting artefacts (s-log3 has even less NR than s-log2). this only occurs with the underexposed parts of the image (which are inevitable), so it seems on the a7 III it's better to shoot s-log2 at high iso in low light environments (given you can manage to overexpose the image 1,5/2 stops to avoid noise) rather than shoot in any of the cine profiles or with PP off. i'd assume the noise reduction algorithm is so aggressive that it confuses the inter frame codec a lot thus resulting in image doubling and even quadrupling.

I bought the A7Riii and I wanted to make this thread into a resource where I can learn from others and share what I have I've learned. There is enough overlap in video with A7iii that I think it would benefit both camps. I bought mine $300 less than the MSRP via GreenToe. If you're not familiar it's like Priceline for buying gears. You place your price and if it's reasonable, sellers match your price or make a counter offer. I placed a bid for $2750, later increased it to $2780 and I got an offer for $2890 which I accepted. It's from a US Sony dealer. I've also heard people buying some zeiss lenses about $200 blow MSRP. You can go to Greentoe.com or if you follow my affiliate link, I think I get $25: https://gtoe.me/YsjOxVWyaM So I like to discuss camera settings, picture profile people are using, AF settings, post processing, LUTs, noise reduction techniques, etc. I start with what @Don Kotlos replied to my question on his picture profile settings: setting suggestions by Sony Global Ambassador: a setting used by a youtuber: and by another YouTuber: Understanding picture profiles: PDF version: HTML version: http://helpguide.sony.net/di/pp/v1/en/contents/TP0000909109.html Picture profile comparison: One YouTubers recommendation for Cine4 profile settings: Exposing SLOG2 for skin tones: Wolfcrow's explanation and reasoning for his Slog exposure process: Cine4, Slog2/3 comparison video: Some good reads from XDCAM, they're not specific to A7Riii but still very informative: http://www.xdcam-user.com/2014/10/using-s-log2-from-the-a7s-in-post-production/ http://www.xdcam-user.com/2014/03/understanding-sonys-slog3-it-isnt-really-noisy/ http://www.xdcam-user.com/2017/09/why-is-exposing-log-brightly-beneficial/ http://www.xdcam-user.com/2017/09/why-are-sonys-isos-different-between-standard-gammas-and-log/ http://www.xdcam-user.com/2017/12/using-luts-for-exposure-choosing-the-right-lut/ http://www.xdcam-user.com/2018/03/banding-in-your-footage-what-causes-it-is-it-even-there/ http://www.xdcam-user.com/2017/12/more-on-frame-rate-choices-for-todays-video-productions/ Not specific to A7Riii but relevant to getting a correct exposure:

Are you shooting 2 stops over as I've seen suggested around the internet? Also are you testing this in Super-35 mode of FF?

@tihon84 - I'm curious how do you know you're precisely at 42 IRE? What is your workflow. I just a SmallHD and I have the waveform in one of my cards, but I didn't realize you can get that kind of a precise reading. Can you share some screenshots (that would be awesome) that shows your IRE regarding? Is there a different method than the waveform. I'm still fairly new about video stuff (despite doing photos for 20 years) so trying to absorb as much as possible from other group members. thanks!

That GH5s has very nice colors

@Sage - any plans on making this for Sony A7Riii or A7iii?

I'm curious about your shooting process. Are you doing focusing yourself. What about gimbal use? You have any wireless focus motors?

No did not try it. The fan is audible. I think if the light is within 2-3 meters of a shotgun mic it could possibly be picked up. But I could have lived with and put the light further away. However, the spot is only down to 25 degree, I wish it could do 20 or better 15 degree and I wish it was lighter. They tried to make a clever design. And it is pretty well made. But it comes at a cost, which is weight. There is some kind of a heavy heat sink inside, the body is partially metal and once you add all the stuff to it, it becomes to heavy to travel with, unless you want have a few pieces of luggage. Now I'm looking at the Aputure 20. It's not as powerful, but it seems lighter and it spots to 20 degrees which is better than 25. The daylight is rather cool. But I wanted to use it as a kicker mostly in the project I had in mind, so I can put on a CTB gel and get nice bluish kick hair light and use some thing softer as a key. So that's my plan for now and how I'm pre-visualizing my shots for now.

That totally make sense. But do keep in mind, that LEDs change from generation to generation. The phosphor formula changes to improve CRI, etc. So even if you have the same brand, if the actual LEDs are not from the same batch, they may not have 100% the same spectrum. But from having the ability to use the same accessories, power supply, etc. it totally makes sense. I got my light today. There is so many things to love about this light (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1305546-REG/genaray_cd_contender_daylight.html) but I wanted something lighter so I can put in my luggage and travel with it. But it's just a tad too heavy. If you don't need to put it on luggage for traveling it's a great system and nicely constructed.

@Jordan Drake I’m hoping you guys spend more time with reviewing the video aspects of these cameras. Low light AF, high iso, grading, banding, etc.

@DaveAltizer - have you checked out this guy who is comparing HLG vs SLOG? He thinks HLG might be giving him better results. Was curious what your thoughts were. I'm not sure if he knows 100% what he is doing, but it's an interesting approach to explore.

I would pick something with a bit more light control ability. Like a spot LED with barn door that I can control or have ability to soften it with shooting it through a reflector or something else. My needs are different I need something to travel with and setup different lights. I just ordered one of these to test. Should be here on Friday and I can play with it a bit. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1305546-REG/genaray_cd_contender_daylight.html He does a lot of videos on different light setup, you might find something interesting in his reviews: https://www.youtube.com/user/dslrvideoshooter

I think this is what @Young and @DaveAltizer were talking about image ghost from noise reduction, for anyone who is interested in specific example:

Here's a nice rolling shutter comparison between A7Riii and A7iii both in full frame and S35. From this it looks like the A7III is actually better.

A lot of the shots here wont look as dramatic without the longer focal length. On a 24mm equivalent the background buildings etc, would be too small and wont be as dramatic as they look on parts of the shots, here. These guys flew their Inspire2 which is very hard for people to travel with. Yes, a mavic would be awesome. But Phantom is still doable, I've traveled to bunch of places with it.

For me this is HUGE! shooting 50mm or better yet 90mm equivalent image with a phantom would make such a big difference. I have tons and tons of drone photos where I wish I could get the larger focal length compression

These photos have been coming out for the past months. I think there is another thread here about it, too. I’m hoping it’ll support prores raw

@Don Kotlos - so I'm still evaluating the Greentoe path. Did the seller tell you it was an open-box unit? What was your tactic? Did you put your price at $2700 or more? How long before your request and actually getting an offer? Thanks!

@Gregormannschaft - Thanks! Funny you say that, I've sold more iPhone photos than I think SLR photos. But SLR photos were sold for higher prices. I basically started using them last year or so, and after I sold a few more images, I thought why not. However, their commission pricing (especially with their premium market that works with Getty's) is not that great. My best licensing has come from the olden days, when I used, PhotographersDirect (which closes pretty much).So for that reason, I've started posting to Alamy as well. But I've just started (initially you have to go through this QC process so it's slow to upload and sell) and have no volume in there. Once I'm able to upload 500-600 or more...I probably can see if it's useful or not. If you have a big social media following it's much better to use that to license your photos, from what I've been told.

Hi @Robert Collins - thanks for input! Yes, I am addicted to high res. I often shoot multi-row panos with my Nikon D800e/D810 and prior to that with my Canon. I often (depending on the subject and how fast the light is changing) shoot between 100 megapixels to close to 1 gigapixels. So, I'm leaning towards the A7Riii. On fred miranda, I learned about Greentoe and some people told me they got their A7Riii for about $3-400 below MSRP. That makes the price differential not that bad, and I know I'll miss the 30-40 megapixels image size. I'm just waiting for a solid in depth side-by-side video autofocus comparison. The alternative is to buy both the A7riii and A7iii and shoot two camera at once for a short movie I am planning to shoot. This way I have a backup and get both to shoot the dialogues for both sides, etc. Only reason I do not want to do that, is I love the color from my Nikon and I'm just hoping the D850 sensor will end up in a mirrorless in a few months or even canon might do something out of character and release a really competitive 4k camera. I have a few of my panos here but I have a ton that I need to gradually upload, https://www.eyeem.com/u/photojournalist Thanks, again!!!

Hi @DaveAltizer I’m debating between A7Riii and A7iii if the AF for video on A7R3 is as good as A73 especially in the low light for continuous AF for video, I’ll get the A7R3. I take a lot of photos for large prints and I like the resolution. I’m getting the A7xxx for video. I’ll be using it on gimbal so I need a reliable AF. If A7R3 video is not as good I get the A73 and bring along my D810. Which is a pain to carry two systems. would appreciate sharing your experience. Thanks!