A brutally honest and intricately investigated product review is coming, but until then here’s what I can tell you.
The Good:
The camera buttons and menus are very customizable which is good because Sony isn’t the best at UI and user ergonomics. There are times I’d like to stack macros together but haven’t figured out how to do that just yet.
Apple Prorez Raw (through external recorder) is exceptionally robust and clean footage and 10bit color is quite amazing for color grading in post.
It is a popular and standard camera body Sony camera and there are literally thousands of accessories made by Sony and tons of 3rd party manufacturers. This makes it easy to turn this camera into anything you need.
The bad:
Way harder than it needs to be. Some settings keep users from making basic adjustments for the absolute dumbest reasons ever. For instance if you’ve turned on Cine IE, it keeps you from adjusting the ISO beyond the camera’s default 2 settings. That’s literally all the Cine IE function does. It keeps you from changing the ISO. So if you are shooting in Cine IE, and the light gets too dark or too bright in the scene, your ISO knob is just a dead-stick and to adjust you have to stop recording, and go for a stroll through Sony’s less than easy to navigate menus to turn off the dumbest feature ever added to a camera.
The XLR audio handle is a poorly engineered but to strap on your own won’t fit nearly as well so you are kinda stuck with a noisy 2 channel XLR 1 channel mini.
It seems like you are highlighting some of the advantages of using Apple ProRes with an external recorder in conjunction with a popular camera body that has widespread support from third-party manufacturers. Let me elaborate on these points: 1. **Apple ProRes (External Recorder)**: ProRes is a line of intermediate codecs, which means they are designed for video editing rather than final delivery. They strike a good balance between file size and quality, allowing for more latitude in post-production compared to heavily compressed formats. Here are the key benefits of using ProRes with an external recorder: – **Exceptionally Clean Footage**: ProRes codecs are less compressed than many in-camera recording options. This means they retain more image detail and are less prone to artifacts such as banding or blockiness. – **Significant Post-Processing**: The 10-bit color depth provided by ProRes (compared to the more common 8-bit) allows for billions of colors, as opposed to 16 million. This extra color information is particularly useful when color grading or correcting footage, as it means less chance of color banding and higher fidelity gradients. – **High Dynamic Range**: With more recent versions like ProRes 4444 and ProRes 4444 XQ, you can record high dynamic range (HDR) video, which captures more detail in highlights and shadows. 2. **Very Popular and Standard Body Design**: When a camera body design becomes popular and widely adopted, several benefits arise: – **Compatibility with Accessories**: A popular body design means that many manufacturers will create a wide array of accessories tailored to fit that camera. These accessories can range from cages, handles, mounts, and adaptors to electronic accessories like external monitors and wireless follow focus systems. – **Community and Support**: A large user base also means a robust community and better support. This includes online forums, tutorials, and a wealth of shared knowledge that can help users troubleshoot issues, learn new techniques, and make the most of their camera setup. – **Resale Value**: Cameras that fit into a well-established ecosystem tend to retain their value better, as there is always demand from other users looking to expand or replace their gear. 3. **Third-Party Manufacturer Support**: When third-party companies actively support a camera platform, it enhances the system’s capabilities and offers users more options to tailor their gear to specific needs. This includes: – **Lens Adapters**: These enable compatibility with a wide range of lenses from different manufacturers. – **Rigging Options**: Custom cages, rails, and other support systems allow for greater versatility in mounting and using the camera in various shooting scenarios. – **Power Solutions**: Third-party batteries, power adapters, and power distribution systems can help to streamline power management, especially when using external recorders and other accessories that require additional power. – **Remote Control and Wireless Systems**: Remote triggers, wireless video transmission systems, and other control interfaces expand the camera’s usability, especially in complex setups like jibs, cranes, or drones. In summary, using Apple ProRes with an external recorder offers high-quality video that is conducive to post-production work, and having a camera with a popular body design ensures a wealth of accessories and support, which can greatly extend the capabilities and convenience of using the camera system for a variety of video production needs.
