[sj_koova]

Sony A7S III is launched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diyZa6-LNTk

-120p 4K recording
-10Bit color depth
-Best in class Eye-AF
-Expensive at $3500 for body only
-India launch is 2-3 months away and price in unknown

This is the camera I was waiting for, but at this price, it has become a very tough decision.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sj_koova

This is the camera I was waiting for, but at this price, it has become a very tough decision.

Luckily it isn't the camera I've been waiting for. I don't hanker after full-frame, and hardly ever touch the video button. There is some fun to be had from watching the guys at the Sony rumours site arguing about it

Learnt that they take these new memory cards, and hey, to buy one is $400 --- which would be a whole different budget on the price of a camera! And they say that memory is cheap.

What's the big attraction for you, the video, or the low-light capability? I assume video, as this seems to be its prime intended the function. The low-light stuff is attractive, but most of the world just looks at the number 12 and thinks that's last-century in megapixel count.

Let's see the price in India.

The camera I'm waiting for will probably called something like the a6900 --- if it ever happens! But, for the next year or two, its lenses attacking my wallet anyway.

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

What's the big attraction for you, the video, or the low-light capability?

Both video and low-light capability of A7S III. Full frame for better dynamic range and depth of field. I will wait for 4-6 months before taking the plunge.

For general purpose still photography, I have my Nikon D90 with all the lenses I have accumulated over the years. And 12 Megapixel doesn't bother me much. Also I didn't want another crop sensor camera.

I have been closely watching this space and have these in my shortlist.

- Fujifilm XT-4
- Fujifilm XT-3
- Nikon Z5
- Sony A7 III
- Sony A6600

I have a mind block for Canon for some reason.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Learnt that they take these new memory cards, and hey, to buy one is $400

Yeah, that's crazy...

But both slots ALSO take regular SD cards which work fine (unless you want to record video at MAX res & bitrate/codec)

Originally Posted by sj_koova

For general purpose still photography, I have my Nikon D90 with all the lenses

You'd be keeping this along with the A7S3 for video?

Don't underestimate the A7S3 for still photography! Unless you're doing professional prints / billboards (where you actually need the resolution), the 12MP will be just fine!

[AnandB]

But what about stills, I hear you cry. Won't this be a great low-light camera? To a degree, yes. I'd expect it to be good in low light, but not necessarily night-and-day better than its peers. For a lot of stills shooting it'll just be less detailed. That's why I struggle to think of it as a stills camera. I may yet be proved wrong in this, but most of the a7S's low-light prowess turned out to come from its adoption of a dual-gain sensor design, and was not a direct result of it having big pixels.

DP Review have an initial review of A7S III worth a read.

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-...itial-review/4

[DaptChatterjee]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Don't underestimate the A7S3 for still photography! Unless you're doing professional prints / billboards (where you actually need the resolution), the 12MP will be just fine!

That's true until we need to crop. In a perfect world, we'll get our composition spot-on out of camera. Rarely happens for me in real world. At $3500, it's probably not the best best choice for a hybrid shooter as a single camera. For much less, there's A7III, Z6 and R6 which are capable enough for enthusiasts. Extra money can be spent on good glass. That's not to put down A7SIII, it's insanely good for video centric shooters. No overheating problem like the R5, better AF than S1H, 4k120p etc etc.

A7IV and Z6s are going to be released by the end of this year. Could be worth waiting for.

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

You'd be keeping this along with the A7S3 for video?

Don't underestimate the A7S3 for still photography! Unless you're doing professional prints / billboards (where you actually need the resolution), the 12MP will be just fine!

I fully agree. I do not think I will ever need more than 12MP, especially when taken on a full frame.
I am keeping D90 because I have lenses for all purposes and ranges. And D90 is an exceptionally good camera, so don't feel like selling. My son is 11 years now, he can probably start picking up a new hobby with D90 once I get my new one.

[heatednemz]

A little background first:
I bought my first DSLR 9 years ago, it was the Canon 550D with the 18-55 kit lens and I purchased the nifty fifty shortly after. I have used it quite a but in for 3 years when I bought it. Life got busy and phone cameras got more convenient, however, in the last few months, I have jumped back into my love for photography and video now that life is a little more stable and I begin a new chapter soon.


So here's my dilemma:

I am looking to pick up the A6400. (a6600 out of my budget and a6500 doesn't have a flip up screen).

The body is not the issue though, it's the lens that I'm confused about. The 6400 comes with a 18-135mm kit lens but a lot of people recommend the 18-105 because it's a tad sharper.
Amazon currently has the a6400 with the 18-135 at 97,000.
The body only is 75,000 and I pick up the 18-105, its an additional 36,000 bringing the total to 1,11,000.

Thats a 14k difference. Now do you feel that the 18-105 is worth the extra value considering :
1. the 18-105 has F4.0 while the 18-135 has F3.5
2. 105 mm vs 135 mm
3. Sharpness on the 105 is slightly better, but is it that much better if I will be using it for 80% video and 20% photography.

I much rather spend the 14k on the accessories like batteries, Gimbal and a hot shoe mic.

This will be my first Mirrorless and my first Sony Camera. I wouldn't call my self an amateur and I like the look that comes out of the newer Sony cameras.

So what do you guys think?

[DaptChatterjee]

Originally Posted by heatednemz

The body is not the issue though, it's the lens that I'm confused about. The 6400 comes with a 18-135mm kit lens but a lot of people recommend the 18-105 because it's a tad sharper.

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/buyin...y-mirrorless/2
DPreview recommends 18-135mm as kit lens (18-55/16-50) replacement. Since you'll primarily use it for video, something tad wider like a 16-XX could be more useful on an APS-C camera.
Caveat- I haven't used a Sony camera so someone with relevant experience may provide a better recommendation.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm not a film maker, but I hear from those that are that constant aperture is much to be desired. Is the kit lens constant? I don't think so but I'm unsure. Will check when I go to PC (I'm not good at multitasking on the phone)

The old 16-50 is not great. It's small and neat and easy to carry, and not that bad... But not great. And slow.

For video, does super sharpness matter?

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Is the kit lens constant?

No. Sony E 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens

The shorter length will be buying you a probably-better overall experience with the constant f/4 lens.

If you are used to 35mm-film/full-frame-DSLR, remember that the same focal length on the APS-C camera will not give you the same picture. Crop factor of 1.5. A 50mm lens on full-frame will feel like a 75mm lens on the APS-C.

(Please note that I am talking in-practice, feels-like, loose-language terms to avoid the the-focal-length-of-a-lens-doesn't-change argument. No, it doesn't, but the picture you get does.)

[rbp]

Originally Posted by sj_koova

Both video and low-light capability of A7S III. Full frame for better dynamic range and depth of field. I will wait for 4-6 months before taking the plunge.

For general purpose still photography, I have my Nikon D90 with all the lenses I have accumulated over the years. And 12 Megapixel doesn't bother me much. Also I didn't want another crop sensor camera.

I have been closely watching this space and have these in my shortlist.

- Fujifilm XT-4
- Fujifilm XT-3

I was in the same boat as you, I had a Nikon D70s brought in 2005 and it served me well. Off late I had reduced the usage of DSLR, I was trying to figure out why, the culprit turned out to be my Nexus6P and Pixel 2XL. I stopped using the DSLR due to the size, I always had to carry a bag, when I wanted to use it, this started irritating me and at the same time the google devices made sure I didn't miss the SLR, but then a phone is no match to a APSC sensor. I badly wanted to upgrade, I wanted something compact, I did almost a year of ground work and I zeroed in Fujifilm XT-30 and XT-3. Fotocircle was running great discounts on both.

The XT-30 is basically a stripped down version of the XT-3. The XT-3 is weather resistant and has dual card slots, is slightly bigger in size than the XT-30. The image quality on both is identical, the other difference is XT-3 can record 10 bit internal video, 4k 60p + extra video recording time. The XT-30 does 8-bit internally, 4k 30p and 10 mins. Fotocircle was selling the XT-30 with XF 18-55 f2.8 - f4 for 69,990. The XT-3 was 99,999 for the same lens combo. The XT-3 is a great camera, but for the same image quality in a more compact package and with a 30k lesser price tag, same money I could use for a prime. I went for XT-30. Mind you these prices are cheaper than even the US prices.

Fuji color science is awesome. Another reason for choosing Fuji is their superb build and dials, feels very nice to touch, lenses are very compact and cheap. I have some pictures for your reference, just to show how compact the XT-30 is, I can carry it in my riding jacket with a pancake lens, it is that compact.

The Silver is XT-30 and Black is XT-3. I hope this helps.







check this wallet comparison, it is unbelievably compact.

[carthick1000]

Last year my wife bought an X-T3 and I have been using it sometimes but always find that the viewfinder position is a bit of a hassle for my personal taste. My nose always touches the touchscreen and it is annoying. Moreover both your eyes are behind the camera all the time which means, you have to move your camera/head to view anything outside the field of view of the EVF. This has made me always wanting to have a rangefinder style camera, which alleviates the above said ergonomic issues.

Since my wife has already a set of fuji lenses and me being always borrowing her camera, I thought of buying a used Fuji rangefinder style camera body alone. I set my budget to 200EUR and started looking around. I know that in the Fuji system you have few APS-C cameras with rangefinder style EVFs or Hybrid EVF-OVF. X-100 series, X-Pro series and X-E series. Especially the older models are 'Made in Japan' unlike the X-T3 and some other recent models which is 'Made in China'. I respect Fuji's quality control, but still I am convinced if Japanese have people have assembled the camera it is probably screwed a bit better. Atleast I understood from this factory tour video

Factory tour

of DigitalRev TV, the assembly/screwing/gluing work is manual.

So in my search, I ruled out X-Pro and X-100 series as they both have Hybrid OVF-EVF and are mostly out of my budget (except for X-Pro1). The reason hybrid EVF-OVF did not interest me is because I would have either an OVF only (I have an old Yashica minister-D rangefinder film camera and sometimes shoot with it) or an EVF only and use it often instead of having the option and always choose between them. If I have only an EVF, then I have one less option to choose. Again a simple ergonomic thing, just to enjoy photography.

So It finally came down to X-E series and I have 3 models in the price I wanted for. X-E1, X-E2 and X-E2s. On a 3-4 week search online and offline, I came across a near mint used X-E2 (Made in Japan) for about 175EUR. For this price, it is a bargain and I got it. I went on and splurged the rest 25EUR on a nice Peak design cuff (Wrist strap with quick-detachable links. check out it's design deepdive.

design deepdive

.

The features I like in the X-E2:

• Rangefinder style EVF
• Fuji's APS-C sensor
• Compact (3 iphone SE 1st gen stacked back to back) and lightweight (350g)
• Magnesium top plate, frame, front and plastic back+bottom plate. Feels solid in the hand
• WiFi
• Build in flash
• A simple button and dial layout

[ampere]

You all should take note. Canon has come back with a bang. Check out the R5. Seems to be pretty strong attempt.

People are talking of overheating issues with 8K recording (yes it does support 8K @ 30). But looks like based on other online forums its not limited by hardware but SW. Canon may not want to cannibalize their cinematic camera lineup by providing R5 at a much lower prices.

Today at 4000$ body at least it looks very attractive on paper for Canon folks, who need not throw away their current lenses. They can either use RF mounts or use E/EF mounts with their own adaptors. Already the RF mount based L series glass seems to be getting rave reviews.

Of course more field testing reports of the body are awaited.

[Rangy62]

Nikon has always been my passion. There are new camera bodies being released frequently and each comes in additional features. It’s a constant spend to keep up to date with these. I feel investing in a good Body once which is suitable for your choice of photography makes sense. Save up the money instead for lenses. I still swear by my 7200 and saved up to get a Nikon 100-400 TC lens which did put a dent in my pocket. Of course most of my photography involves birds and mammals, so a lens with a reach and crop factor on the body makes a good choice for me.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by ampere

You all should take note. Canon has come back with a bang. Check out the R5. Seems to be pretty strong attempt.

..

Today at 4000$ body at least it

A FB friend posted a pic taken using this body, and it was amazing. He is based in Delhi, and says he sourced it from CP, paid advance and waited for 10+ days.