The trend of shooting in the moonlight will continue given the proliferation of Sony A7s and A7s II’s out there. It’s nice to have the option to shoot in little light but we still follow the maxim that the better lit your scene is the better it looks.
Month: December 2015
Tokyo Cherry Blossoms shot on the Panasonic GH4
The footage really is quite nice. With proper lighting we still prefer the GH4 image look to the Sony A7r/s II cameras. We use and appreciate both. It’s hoped that the GH5, which is expected in 2016, will bring its A game and hopefully improve on low-light and dynamic range.
Xiaomi Mi 3 70″ Smart TV
Xiaomi is one of the better Chinese TV produces and they have announced their 70-inch 4K TV for a price that converts to around $1500.
Their 60-inch TV was launched for under $800 recently too but we find the 70-inch version more interesting because at that size the benefit of 4K is more obvious.
The 70-inch model has a 120 Hz refresh rate, 4K resolution, Android 5.1, 178 degree viewing angle, and about 85% of the NTSC color gamut. The brain unit is separate from the TV (but included).
A Mini-Documentary Shot on the Sony FS5
Philip Bloom has released The Wood Carver:
This mini documentary was part of a commission from Sony to promote their new camera, the PXW-FS5. They wanted me to make a film using their camera that would highlight many of it’s features. The content of the film, this mini documentary was what I decided to make as I really wanted to tell a story rather than just shoot some pretty pictures as it would be far more engaging.
RED Epic Dragon Versus Arri Amira and Sony F3
An interesting comparison of 3 professional video cameras. Only the RED was shot at an ultra-high resolution in this test.
Blackmagic Ursa Mini Compared with the Sony A7s II for Dynamic Range and Low Light
JS Filmz has released two videos about the Ursa Mini 4K comparing it to the Sony A7s II.
The first video compares dynamic range:
The second video compares low light:
And a third video is expected with an overall comparison and verdict between the two.
Sony A7r II AquaTech Water Housing
The AquaTech Elite A7 Series II underwater housing currently sells for $1,895.00 at B&H. It’s rated to a depth of 33 feet and is compatible with all three of the II modes of the Sony A7 series.
The following video was shot with this housing and a Sony A7r II:
Andrew Reid’s Pre-Review of the DJI OSMO
See his post My DJI OSMO fairground shoot – plus a mini-review for the complete article.
Image quality in 4K with the flat picture profile though is only mediocre by cinema standards, if I were serious I would get the X5 gimbal & MFT sensor, add in the DJI follow focus and put the tiny Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7 on it.
Further Tests of the Sony FS5
Anticipate Media has released their tests of the Sony FS5.
View the video description for more information but the following was our favourite snippet:
This is a run n gun camera that cannot be used cleanly above its base ISO for Slog, or maybe 6400 in Cine. The A7RII is better at the same task and that’s a 42 Megapixel stills camera.
Sony FS5 Woes
We love the size and some of the features of the Sony FS5 video camera, but the video codec and bit-rate is completely inexcusable to us.
Then there was the issue of not being able to record internally and also use the SDI or HDMI output at the same time. The recently released firmware 1.10 has helped in this area in that you can now do both but you lose the video image on the built-in display. Better but still not ideal.
Some users are reporting issues with the LCD brightness inaccurately reflecting the true brightness of the scene. Other users are reporting blocking and noise, for example:
https://vimeo.com/149915169
Sony has shown more willingness to release firmware so it wouldn’t surprise us if there are some more improvements coming. We will stick with the Sony FS7 which is much larger than the FS5 but it produces much better image quality and it has more features.