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B-camera to go with Scarlet-W - recommendations

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Martin Konrad

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I have my Scarlet-W allocation so my 5diii will get retired.

But I do need a small camera for reportage style photography, carry around family/holiday camera and
for scouting and quickly establishing camera angles.

needs to be as close to the Scarlet-W 5k fov as possible (APS-C)
needs to take the same EF mount lenses as the Scarlet-W (direct or with a glassless adapter to keep fov)
needs to take decent stills (good AF, 15-20MP, good low light)
good video quality in HD to be a possible B-camera for some setups (4k or 50fps would be great to have)

anything better than the 7dii for this??? probably not the best video but hard to beat on the stills side or?
 
Gh4 for studio/daytime use/setting (matches really well with the R3D Files just make sure you have lots of light doesn't do well in low light setups)
Sony A7sii/A7s (this camera just does it all and really well and you don't even have to use Slog you can use P1)

Both are great and you can get a GH4/A7s for cheap when buying used
 
GH4 + Leeming LUT provides very good color matching to natural DRAGON sensor. I.e., as long as you are not heavily pushing around your grades, you can land the GH4 look about where RG4/DC2 shows up. But GH4 needs light...ETTR at ISO 800, and get ready for noise at ISO 1600 and above. The SONY has unmatched low-light capabilities, albeit with unique SONY colors. I have a GH4 and am pretty happy with how it plays with my WEAPON cameras.
 
correct me if I am wrong, but the GH4 has a different field of view on the same lens or not?
I really want to be able to scout and test shoot on the same lens with the same crop.
 
Martin Konrad said:
correct me if I am wrong, but the GH4 has a different field of view on the same lens or not?
I really want to be able to scout and test shoot on the same lens with the same crop.
Click to expand...

It has a very different FOV. You would need a SpeedBooster to get your lens into the same ballpark as 5K. I was more answering the question about image matching and low-light (or not) performance.
 
thanks Michael,

I really want to have the same field of view and the same f-stop. There are many situations where I just want to grab a camera and establish the next shot while
camera assistants change cards, batteries... or where I just dont want to take a full Red package to scout.
 
We have shot on the GH4 quite a lot and yes, the F-mount speed booster gives you what is nearly a S35 FOV. A believe a crop around 1.64x? As far as F/T stops... keep in mind that the booster adds a stop of light.
 
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Hi Martin, in terms of using the a6300 for shooting, the lack of in-body stabilization, along with the sensitive 4K sensor and the APS-C crop makes the camera essentially useless for anything other than locked down shots. There is no way to hand hold that camera and get a useable image. The pulse on your finger shows up as shake in the shots. Breathing shows up as shake. Sony tried to fix this problem with the a6500, which does have stabilization. But I would recommend the A7rii instead and shoot in aps-c mode if you want a similar fov. The A7rii is a much better camera.
 
I second the Sony A7s, A7rII or the (new) A6500. Looks like the A6500 fixed a lot of the problems that the A6300 had (overheating, lack of in-body stabilization, etc). It is also downsampling from 6K to get its 4K image, so it's super sharp. However, it does not have a microphone jack (which is insane), but does have a 3.5mm and its hot shoe accepts Sony's XLR module.

I've shot with the FS7 and FS5 a lot but am switching to RED - I got fed up with the color and sucky codec. With that said, I think the A7rII and the A7s color profiles are better than the more expensive doc/cinema cameras. Just my opinion - I like the 4K images out of the two mirrorless cameras better than the FS line.

So, go for A7rII, A7sI or II, or A6500 - Hope this helps!
 
thanks Kerrin, I saw that the 6500 just got announced, seems to tick a lot of boxes. I keep an eye on the overheating tests, surely the first thing reviewers will check...
I really wish Canon had a solution, I prefer their ergonomics, reliability and battery life but the video of the 7dii is just a bit sad...
 
Martin, on second thought, I think you are making the problem way too difficult for yourself. I think the EOS 70d is the right answer for your Canon glass, and here's why...

If you think that your SCARLET rig is too large to take on scouting trips, then you are probably not bringing lighting rigs with you on those scouting trips, either. If you are not bringing lighting, then you really aren't shooting for useable video. Rather, you are looking at framing and blocking decisions. Which is very valid. The 70d sensor (with appropriate frame guides) and a close look at the RAW images will tell you what you need to know about the raw materials of the location. Don't worry that Canon DSLR video is crap--if you aren't lighting, everything's going to look like crap. Bring back your images (plus field notes), plan your framing, your blocking, your lighting, etc.

I think you are gong to drive yourself nuts trying to create a baby SCARLET when, in fact, you don't really need one. You need a scouting camera, not a B camera.
 
Yes my title might be misleading... the camera shoud do multiple tasks:
Recording video on scouting (no top quality needed)
Acting as director's view finder in between shots
B-camera on Interviews, sports and quick reportage style jobs
Decent stills camera with reliable fast focus for reportage/corporate jobs and family pictures (fast moving kids)

The sony a6500 could be decent if they get overheating sorted
The GH4 / GH5 has probably the best video, I get close to the fov with an adapter but the smaller chip gives different depth of field and the AF is slow
Canon has a few options that a good for preview and stills but video is reference only... (7dii 80d M5)
 
As a B camera in interveiws I've been using the A7s with a Red Scarlet MX. When our Scarlet W comes in the MX will become our B cam for interviews though. The sony color isn't as nice or natural as Reds, but after using it so much, so long as I have a red shot/angle as a reference I can bring them into line pretty quickly. If you watch the opening interview of this doco that's Red and Sony A7s together.


Here's another example

 
ive seem some pretty cool stuff coming off the Fuji XT-2, fuji stepped up their video feature quite a bit.

Also, nothing will match perfectly to the S-W crop, all APC body crop down slightly more for video.
 
I really like the handling and colors of the Fuji, but I am not aware of any possibility to mount Canon Lenses and keeping AF.
Without AF it rules the camera out for sports stills and family stuff

For now I might get an a6300 used and wait for the the gh5 and sony a6500 to come out for some testing in my setups.
 
I have been doing allot of research regarding a secondary camera to shoot with apart from my Epic Dragon. I to came from the Canon side of the house dating back to the 7D, Mark II and Mark III. I was disappointed with the specs for the Mark IV and I came across several reviews for the A6500 and the Fuji XT2. I was able to get my hands on the A6300 and it was indeed a nice setup; I decided however to go with the XT2 and I will keep you guys posted once I get my hands on it. I just purchased the 16mm 1.4 and I will be pulling the trigger on the XT2 as soon as it becomes available. They are currently on back order.

B&H and several other stores are sold out o. the XT2....which is interesting to say the least.
 
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