shot with the Sony A7 at 1080/60p, ISO 400, 800 and ISO 1600 using the Nikkor 50mm 1.4 D, the Nikkor 18-35mm 3.5-4.5G and Sony’s 28-70mm 3.5-5.6 kit lens. Grading: minor level adjustments only.
If you like what you hear: incompetech.com, search for “sonanita”
Finally, my friends, the first clips shot entirely with available light, I had about 35min to shoot Gino, who has been a tailor for over 50 years
more after the break
the nicest guy and I am very grateful he agreed to this shoot. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, pay him a visit, he might only be there for another 6 month. You can read reviews about him here.
Let’s get right to it:
Equipment list for this shoot:
Sony A7 with kit lens
Sony add-on battery grip,
Rode mic pro
Nikkor 50mm 1.4 D
Nikkor 18-35mm 3.5-4.5D
Tripod
Glide Track
Sony MDR 7506 headphones
LowePro dslr video pack 250
A minimalist set up, a good thing because the shop was packed and there really wasn’t much room to set up. Custom light balance for this mixed daylight/neon situation and I am pleased the way the camera handled it, esp with the 3200k desk lamp on, which gave the scene a nice and warm feeling.
Shot in portrait mode at -3-1+1. My standard studio setting would be neutral -3-1+1. You are probably wondering why +1 for sharpening, I will get to that shortly.
The Good: Up to ISO 800, the footage looks quite nice with great detail, very little moire-just look at all these different fabrics-moire heaven and I only saw one clip where I noticed it on one jacket (not included)
The build in audio pre-amps are good enough to use at close distance without an external device.
The EVF and articulated LCD are fantastic for this kind of shooting and I had no problem pulling focus with the 50mm 1.4 when wide open or at f2.
I loved using the Nikkor 18-35mm, this lens is already very sharp wide open and a joy to use on the A7 because of its light weight.
The tight close ups where shot with the 50mm in crop mode and I can’t see a quality difference.
Image stabilization and af behavior of the 28-70mm kit lens
Liking the way this sensor renders skin tones
The not so good: battery life: if you shoot video, the grip is mandatory and you will need many spares for a full day shoot, I drained one in less then an hour
The bad: 4x magnification during video recording only, audio level adjustment blacks out image. No direct access button to switch between LCD and EVF. This was one of the most annoying things on this shoot. At ISO 1600, noise starts to show, look at the sewing yarn close up, the only clip shot at 1600
Summary:
Nailing exposure is key, esp when shooting 1080/60p at only 28mbps in AVCHD, you really can’t grade heavily, the footage will fall apart. Video quality appears to be on par with what I am used to from the D800/D800e, although I found Nikon’s codec holds up better during grading. After a few tests I decided the +1 sharpening is the way to go, it produces cleaner and sharper results then when applied in post. When in doubt, set it to 0. Overall, I am pleased with the A7, however, I am not comparing it to the FS100/700, 5Dmk3, 1Dx or C300, why not? It just doesn’t compare, but I love the fact that this tiny camera has a full frame sensor and can produce amazing bokeh with the right lenses attached and if you use it carefully and keep its limitations in mind, it will reward you with lovely video and put a huge smile on your face.
I will continuously update you guys with how this camera fares in all kinds of conditions, so far, so good!
Don’t hesitate to ask questions, I might still update this post, for now this is the first draft, I need to get away from the computer for a bit 
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Hi Henry! I haven’t had much time to shoot with the A7/r yet, if you don’t need slow motion, 1080/24p, it will produce the best quality video, neutral, contrast -3, saturation -3, sharpness +1. Start with that and see how you like it, I am planning to shoot lots of video with the new Sony’s and will continuously post updates.
Mike, what video settings you recommand on the A7r ?
I’m photographer and i want to do a video mixing Videos and still images.
I work on FCPX and the export is in 1080 .mov
Thanks for your review
Henri (France)
OSS works just like on any other OSS lens, constant aperture and electric powerzoom set this lens apart.
Thanks for the reply mike, I was thinking of the 18_105 too! It would be greatif you could do.a short review of how it performs for video on the a, especially since you seemed to like the kit zoom and own the rx10! Am particularly interested if the OSS is better than those options.
thanks Kim, I am currently testing the newly released Sony 18-105mm f4 OSS lens and it works just as you would expect on the A7 A7r, in crop mode, wonderful lens, esp for video, there won’t be any problems when using the 35 1.8 or 50 1.8 either.
Hi Mike!
Great work!
You said you used the A7 in crop mode and can’t see any drop in quality, that sounds very interesting, as Sony makes some E-mount primes with stabilisation for a few hundred bucks. Have you had the chance to try the A7 video mode with either the 35 1.8 or 50 1.8 e mount primes?
Thank you, Van! I love the X trans sensor on the Fuji’s for high ISO color fidelity and how naturally it renders skin and hair. Esp the last two releases, the X100s and the X-E2 are wonderful because of the improved af which makes them even better street cameras. Useless video function which limits them for stills only. Happy holidays to you too!
Thanks Mike! While perusing your blog, I’ve been admiring the photos you took with your Fuji’s. Would you also recommend any of the Fuji’s for more purposes? Have a great Holiday season! Van.
thanks Van! the RX10 isn’t wide enough and not great in low light. your best options would be the Nex 6 with Sony’s 10-18mm ultra wide or the A7 with the Rokinon/Bower Samang 14mm, fantastic lens, mustache desorption might be a problem though
Hi Mike. Really enjoyed this video. I will of course never get to the same stage as you, (given that I’m a realtor by profession), but your work is inspiring to watch nevertheless. I’ve been looking at mirrorless cameras for shooting interiors. Sometimes, I need to shoot interiors of restaurants (dim light issues!) or stores, and I prefer to use something small in order not to be so obvious. Would you recommend theA7 for interior real estate shots (and short video clips)? I guess my problem here is finding a “reasonably priced” ultra wide lens (hopefully something at 14mm to shoot tight spaces) to go with the A7. The other camera I’m thinking of is the Sony Nex6 ? I was also really drawn to the RX10, but I’m guessing it’s lens is not wide enough. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated! (I’m not invested in any camera brand/lenses).
thanks, Van
Hi Frank, I will have a moire comparison between the D800E, A7r, A7 and XE2 shortly. As for dynamic range the A7 beats the A7r, low light performance is less then a 1/4 stop behind the A7r- 0.222 stops to be exact. However, the A7r beats the A7 in color depth, you can see the stats at DXO here and in sharpness but not by as much as claimed.The A7 has a very weak AA filter. Since I already have the D800E and won’t be parting with it any time soon, I wasn’t tempted by mp lust. The A7 has noticeable better af speed, faster flash sync, more manageable files and despite the claim that the A7r produces better video, my primary reason for getting one, is negligible, it doesn’t make a difference for my type of shooting at all-click here for the video aliasing compasion
Hi Mike, I read some early conclusions from various reviews in progress that the A7R has less moire and better dynamic range and sharpness than the A7, by chance did you consider or have any experience with this before you bought your A7?
Hi Franck, you can use both lenses, they are perfectly compatible, the A7 will automatically recognize them and change to crop mode, you will get ~10mp files (A7r ~16mp). You can also change it to ff mode manually, however, it will produce a black image circle similar to this one.
hello ,
Thank you for this test.
I’m mainly interested in pictures..very few video.
I’m using a NEX 7 with Zeiss 24 mm and 16-70f4 zoom.I am thinking to buy this A7 and ( for beginning) just using my Zeiss lenses.( and an old Nikon 50mmf1.8D )
Can I use on the A7 ? how does it works ? APSC to FF
Thank you..
Hi Bob, you are welcome, not sure if you are aware this but the 10-18mm will work in cropped video mode and in full frame mode at 18mm
Thanks Mike: I appreciate your advice, as always! I’ve got to chew on this for a while….The APSC NEX’s 10-18 also gives me the ultra wide coverage I need to back up the RX10, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m an ex-newspaper shooter or what, but I do like my wide angles compositions, even in video. Decisions, decisions!
Thank you, Bob! I haven’t done a torture ISO test yet but from what I have seen so far it is noticeably better then the Nex 5/6/7 and if exposed correctly, this camera produces footage every bit as good as the 5Dmk2 and the D800/e, pretty impressive when you think about it. I could totally see these two cams, the RX10 and A7-covering your needs, in case you decide to go this route, get it with the kit lens (OSS, smooth AF). As a bonus, menu navigation is almost identical.
Great piece, Mike. (Love that language he speaks, whatever it is. For a few seconds, it sounded like English:-)
Do you feel that this camera produces appreciably better lowlight video than the APSC NEX bodies? It’s looking more and more like the RX10 will be my go-to video machine for most of my travel stuff, and now I’m trying to find its low-light companion/backup.
Thanks! Bob