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Sony A7S v Panasonic GH4

S

Scott Brown

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Hi folks

We are looking to purchase a DSLR camera for use on a Ronin M and a DJI S1000 drone and our options are either a Sony A7S or a Panasonic GH4.

I haven't used either cameras so I'm trying to base our decision on sample footage online and reviews. Technically the GH4 appears superior in that it has internal 4K BUT I prefer the footage I've see out of the A7S and it performs very well in low light. I think the A7S looks more organic and "filmic" but I'm struggling to decide between the cameras.

Anyone got any experience with these cameras and care to give an opinion?

Many thanks.

Best wishes

Scott
 
The A7S is an amazing camera, planning to get one myself. That said, it does have rolling shutter issues that may be vexing on drone footy. The GH4 is the safer bet, but IMHO, the A7S is a superior imaging device. My advice is to see if you can "assist" someone flying the A7S on gimbals and drones to see for yourself whether the images look too "jello" for you. BTW, the GH4 is not fully immune from skew either.

Cheers - #19
 
I didn't test the GH4 but I've shot a docu with the a7s and it's dynamic range is incredible. I love the organic feel of the noise and didn't see much aliasing nor any banding.
There is some record time limitation and the handling of the edited rushes is a bit annoying due to very poor metadata integration (the counter allways reset the clip number after each format and TC is not well transferred between Avid and Resolve but semi-manually doable).

The A7s codec is incredible good but incredibly hard for CPU's to handle (you get more work load than 5k R3D debayering) smooth reverse playback is not possible in Resolve on our 1 year old Mac Pro.

Jello effect is really visible when you try to stabilyse in post. Strange thing is the read out is made from the bottom to top so the distortion is in the other sense.

On the Nebula gimbal when I needed to close the aperture, for deaper depth of field, while shooting at night the high noiseless iso levels where a real plus.

I didn't shoot in APS mode but it seams that the jelly effect is much less present and you can do some slowmo.

Pat
 
Unless the drone is nice and smooth. Rolling shutter will drive you mad.
Gh4 is 4k.
Sony A7s is HD ( 4k with a recorder )
both cameras are fine for the job. A7s just kicks arse in low light situations.
Dont expect to get RED Dragon dynamic range. You won't ! Anyone that says you do is doing something wrong with the Red files.
Being able to shoot noise free images at night does not mean better Dynamic range. It means better noise reduction , less sensor depth so can get better night time ISO. But at 8bit 50mps.... You get what you can get. And to be honest. Quite amazing images considering.
 
While not yet ready to pull the trigger, I have been eyeing those two cameras myself. Thanks for weighing in, Blair, and Mark and Patrick.

I have seen some really nice footage from both cameras but I'll admit the "jello" issue on the A7s makes me nervous. I'll follow this thread eagerly as people weigh in with their experiences.
 
I own both and love both, if you have the money get both (GH4 for Commercial work/Daytime and A7s for events/nighttime/low light issues). But if you can only afford one get the GH4 its better and here is why:
4k Internally (A7s doesn't have)
Varispeed (A7s only does 24, 30, 60, 120 and not varispeed have to convert using Mpeg stream clip)
Cheaper $1500 (A7s is $1000 more)
GH4 can use standard SD cards (except for 4k) (A7s needs at least 64 gig 90 to do Slog)
Easier Menus on GH4 (A7s menu is very frustrating sometimes)
Gh4 boots up right away (A7s takes about 3-8 secs to boot up)
GH4 has flip monitor (A7s only tilts down)
GH4 Cinema D is ideal for commercial work (A7s Slog is 3200 native the lowest you can go so shooting daytime you will need a ton of ND for shallow death of field)
Gh4 Cinema D easier for white balance in post (A7s Slog is sometimes hard to get proper white balance in post due to how flat the picture is)

I rent out both and GH4 gets more love too but love having these on shoots and both work great with my RED :)
 
I've had both and my GH4 is my BTS cam at this point. Not a huge fan of the sensor/pixel quality and format size however. The A7s needs to be rigged up completely for 4K. Both cameras in practice are noisier than their reputation lets on and they are "thinner files" as Mark mentioned.

Convenience to 4K recording puts the GH4 ahead in my mind for the reasons Neil mentioned.

I'm using the Veydra primes with mine and that's been working nicely.
 
Thanks everyone, your thoughts and feedback are very much appreciated.

I think for flying, the GH4 makes more sense - it's internal 4K is a big plus and as it's cheaper. I'll cry less when we fly it into a tree! I'd love to fly a RED and the rig we're planning to get will carry the weight BUT the stress would be just too much! Flying such a heavy payload also brings with it serious safety issues too!

The A7S is also tempting me as the test footage I'm seeing is really lovely....not Dragon quality in any way BUT with a Shogun/Odyssey Q+ the A7S is producing some amazing 4K results. I know it's 8 bit but god it looks real nice.

Have any of you tried the A7S on a Ronin M or similar? Would the jello effect be too much and rule the camera out?

There are rumors of the A7S Mk2 with internal 4K and also a GH5 with up to 8K res down-sampled to 4K - interesting time we live in :o)

Thanks again.

Best wishes

Scott
 
Terry VerHaar said:
GH4 is 4/3, correct? Is there a way to adapt Canon lenses? A7s can use Canon?
Click to expand...

Yes and yes. Also, investigate Speed Boosters and Focal Reducers. Not truly recommending them, but they are fun.
 
Samir Patel said:
Hi Terry, I use a metabones speedbooster s version on my gh4. This will give you EF control and will reduce the crop factor to about 1.56 in 4K and 1.633 in UHD
Click to expand...

The metabones is a great solution for people who have FF35 glass blowing around their houses like tumbleweeds. But as you know, FF35 glass is going to be bigger and heavier that m43 glass for the "equivalent" lens, and the speedbooster is going to add an additional ~180g to give you that equivalence.

What about image quality? Here's the summary from LensRentals.com: there's no free lunch.

If you are thinking about flying a GH4, then m43 glass is going to weigh less and perform better than FF35+Metabones.
 
One more thing to consider. The A7s comes with that lovely blue LED blowout issue. As long as you never shoot anything with blue LEDs, you should be okay. I think the only work around is you are forced into shooting 5600k. Lots of little gotchas with this one.
 
Michael Tiemann said:
The metabones is a great solution for people who have FF35 glass blowing around their houses like tumbleweeds. But as you know, FF35 glass is going to be bigger and heavier that m43 glass for the "equivalent" lens, and the speedbooster is going to add an additional ~180g to give you that equivalence.

What about image quality? Here's the summary from LensRentals.com: there's no free lunch.

If you are thinking about flying a GH4, then m43 glass is going to weigh less and perform better than FF35+Metabones.
Click to expand...


Kind of sounds like 4/3 glass may be the best avenue fir the GH4. Although, I hate to start collecting different sets of glass. Grrr. Trade-offs! lol
 
Lots to consider, thanks everyone for your input. Seems like we have lots of compromises with these cameras but with some TLC they offer great bang for the buck!

For use on a drone, I think we've decided to go with the GH4, probably using an Olympus 12mm F2.0 lens. For those ultra low light moments we often experience in our ob doc filming though, I think it would be great to be able to pull out a A7S, so we'll most likely add one of these too.

4/3 glass is an unknown quantity for me; we've put most of our money into Canon EF lenses so we'll run with these if possible.

Best wishes

Scott
 
As well as the GH4 and A7s you should also check out the Samsung NX1 and BMD Micro Cinema Camera (though the BMMCC won't ship until July).

Also take a look at the Panasonic G7, is like the GH4 but even cheaper so you'll mind even less when you crash!

Last suggestion , but not least, Panasonic LX100! Probably my most preferred option, alongside the BMMCC. As the LX100 is affordable, 4K, and very lightweight!
 
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