Value in F5 versus FS7

[Derek Dockendorf]

After shooting corporate work for the past 5 years as part of a production company I will soon be going out on my own and want to have a personal camera so that I can offer my services to other productions while continuing my own client work in the corporate space. I've been shooting almost exclusively on the FS7 since its release so I'm leaning toward that with a B-Cam A7SII (for gimbal) but the F5 package deal with the A7S is very tempting. I've shot with a rented F5 once a couple years back when it wasn't all about 4K and Slog3 so my perspective has changed since then.

So my main question is for those that use the F5 do you find that it adds the value you are looking for? The only thing that really scares me is media cost on the F5. Going the F5 route means I won't have the budget to get my own gimbal which I am ok with as long as the value is there and I hire others for that or rent a Ronin when needed.

[Tyler Purcell]

I like your original idea... stick with the A7SII and FS7. LOTS of money to be saved and it allows you to run a gimbal which is a very nice thing to have. Most of the guys I work with who do commercial stuff, run the A7SII for gimbal and drone work.

[Mark Kenfield]

The F5 can use the same QXD media as the FS7, you just need the $30 SxS adapters. My preference would be for the F5, because it's more ergonomic, is better built, has proper timecode, can be pretty affordably upgraded seamlessly to offer 16-bit 4k raw, and with the new quick-menu in v7 firmware, it's a delight to use.

 

That said, if you're one-man-banding it all the time, don't require things like timecode sync or raw recording, or a heavy duty lens mount. Then the FS7 is incredible value (though, then again, the F5/A7S package is too).

[David Peterson]

You can get gimbals for under a thousand bucks for the a7S and a small lens (even small single handed gimbals can cope with that load!). So that shouldn't hold you back from going with the F5 package if that is what you want.