JFlack

Thomas, Cooke S4's and Summicrons on a PL adapter which puts a two stage MB right into the EVF. It's worse because the MB in question is a top loader. Long story short, I found the camera produced a decent image, but was not a fan of the control layout. I sold our unit easily enough and are happy the Alexa and Amira are now so readily available we can happily go that route. The projects we work on are not so constrained that a few hundred in rental is the difference between doing a project or not.

There would be no additional expense in designing the same camera with a viewfinder that didn't block the filter stage on the matte box and a sensible button layout. But we can't all be satisfied by every manufacturer. It's a decent camera, for the price, a great camera, just not what we need. That's why our 10 day new camera is for sale if anyone wants one with a full warranty and a couple nice extras.

Nice, much easier on the F5, largely because the button layout was not designed by a junkie like the FS7.

Cost of buying a camera has really never been a realistic factor when budgeting any production I've worked on. There are much more practical considerations, like how quick can the crew work with it and how likely are problems with the camera due to operator error or over complexity of the equipment. Just like I don't need GPS on my hammer when I'm hanging a picture on the wall, some manufacturers are more concerned about marketing specs than usability. Arri clearly resisted that when everyone was screaming 4k, and look who is the market leader now.

No it's not. Not by any measure. Exactly, and in CineEI mode you're further constrained. Sure I can go into S&Q but I lose sound then?! WTF? We had high hopes, bought the camera, tested thoroughly... but we're selling it and sticking with renting the Alexa for our work. Sony makes great tools for engineers, but still makes very poor tools for filmmakers.

We put the camera head to head against the Alexa and have serious control tests built into Resolve. Having tested the Canon C cameras, various Panasonic, Red cameras, etc., all using this same methodology I'm confident the color is consistent at the (ahem) 'dneg' stage. We work with folks who have developed LUTs for multiple platforms to emulate various stocks and have had good results consistency-wise. Skin tones have a decidedly Fuji film 'metalic' feel to them. Other earth tones witch seem equally over saturated above 60% luminance (especially for those of us more used to film's tendency to desaturate at higher exposure levels). The camera has it's plus side, but it's still far more painful to work with than an Alexa given the horrible menu setup, etc. It's a good camera, but it's still designed like a video camera and despite a wealth of buttons to control the camera, jump into auto everything modes, etc. setup is a pain, and switching modes is a pain. If you think this is a Cine camera, it's not, it's a video camera with progressive cine-like features. I can change shutter angle, framerate, etc. an Alexa in 10 seconds. With the FS7 (and all the other Sony cameras) it's down into this menu, over into that, up over here, scroll to that.. just a major PITA and VERY prone to error if your AC isn't a Sony expert. Don't get me started on all the other little gotchas. To me, working with a crew, I want equipment that helps reduce errors, not encourages them. I don't think Sony's ever understood this. The EVF also interferes with a lot of support equipment that's close by. Mattebox stages that are top load will require the EVF be moved away to swap filters, the follow focus is very cramped by the EVF meaning every lens change this is an issue. The image in the EVF is good got LCD, but it's nowhere near the image you get from an OLED and the length is a real problem, burn issues be damned. We tested with Cooke S4's and even the 75 was just cramped as all hell, so the operator will be wanting to re-adjust the EVF every time you have to change lenses, filters, etc. Some aftermarket support options for the EVF will help here, but that's going to be an add on. For Sony the camera is a 7 where the earlier cameras like the 700 were a 4 at best for ergonomics, but their menu system and the EVF will have anyone using it for serious production work wanting.

After over a week with the camera, I should probably qualify the above comment by saying that the image still looks ike a Sony camera, which means that from a color standpoint it is far behind the Alexa, and still behind the Canon CXXX cameras in my opinion. I would even say the Panasonic cameras coloremitry is better. Others may argue with this, but for my taste, even their sLog3 has a very video feel to it that Arri has managed to cure with the Alexa. Am I happy with the camera? Kind of. Does it live up the the hype? Well, that's subjective. I have not liked the F5/55 look since day 1, and Slog2 was a step in the right direction, but not a solution. Slog3 is just a tiny incrimental improvement in my opinion. The camera is okay, but like Sony did with ergonomics, they need to go back to the drawing board on the color side.

We've also gotten ours and there are some annoyances and bugs, but overall the camera seems to be very well built and produces a beautiful image, particularly in CineEI mode, I really haven't used it in any of the other 'video' modes. Some people have reported Slog3 to have more noise, but I really don't see it, sure there's more signal there, so the noise that is there is Slog2 is amplified a little, but it's the same noise. I will say I think the noise pattern lacks the organic feel of the Alexa sensor, but for what we paid for this camera I'll be very happy with it once Sony addresses some of the bugs. Only real annoyance is the enormous viewfinder. Sony claims it's to reduce the possibility of burn, but I'd have preferred something like the F5 with a mirror to get is out of the way of the FF and matte box. Hopefully they will offer an upgrade at some point for this or I'll just buy the Zacuto and toss the FS7 EVF in the bin.