What's your Sony a7 series video set up like?


J

JacePhoto

Senior Member
I switched from Nikon D800 to Sony a7r. Using it for both video and stills.

I was wondering if anyone is using the Sony a7r for video and what's your set up like? Any pointers or suggestions for my set-up?

Mine is:
Sony a7r
FE 55 mm Lens F1.8 - This is the only native lens i feel its bokeh is good.
FE 35 mm Lens F2.8 - Sharp for stills but bokeh not useful for video
E 16 mm Lens F2.8 - For wide angle shots.

Konova 60 cm - Good for bigger camera. looking to change to Varavon 60 cm Slide cam lite. (Does anyone has any input on this product?)
Mid-small size Benro Tripod.

Seinheisser G3 wireless mic - Hoping to get a zoom H1 to complement
No brand ear phones - Hoping to get a Dr Beat Headphone set. Impressed with its ability to shut off outside noise.

I used to use a LCD viewfinder on D800. The viewfinder on the a7r is good but looked small for me to determine focus. Using the Sony LCD on the other hand is prone to over heating as 10 - 15 mins of usage prompts it to shut down. How do you overcome this?

Appreciate your sharings.
 

Last edited:
Looks like no one else in CS is using a7 for video. Haha.

JacePhoto said:
Using the Sony LCD on the other hand is prone to over heating as 10 - 15 mins of usage prompts it to shut down. How do you overcome this?
Click to expand...

Hmm... this sounds like a significant limitation that makes it unreliable for video work in our climate? One guy seemed to find a workaround by using an external recorder: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3624430. Then that negates the intent of a compact FF solution, unfortunately.
 

Bamboopictures said:
May be can look into Voigtlander's Nokton 35mm f/1.2
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...er_BA237B_Nokton_Aspherical_35mm_f_1_2.ht ml
[video=youtube;jhTYiYzmUmM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhTYiYzmUmM[/video]
Or a Samyang/Bower 24mm f1.4
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/849813-REG/Bower_SLY2414N_24mm_f_1_4_Wide_Angle_Lens.html
Click to expand...

Hi Rodney, thanks for the tip. Yes, the Voightlander 21 mm F1.8 and the 35 mm F1.4 seems to be a solution.

kandinsky said:
Looks like no one else in CS is using a7 for video. Haha.



Hmm... this sounds like a significant limitation that makes it unreliable for video work in our climate? One guy seemed to find a workaround by using an external recorder: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3624430. Then that negates the intent of a compact FF solution, unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Yeah. To overcome it, after setting the focus and letting it run, i put my thumb over the viewfinder to let it go into EVF mode.

But despite this, i like it for its size.

Want to find out how other a7/a7r owners are setting up their gears.
 

JacePhoto said:
Mine is:
Sony a7r
FE 55 mm Lens F1.8 - This is the only native lens i feel its bokeh is good.
FE 35 mm Lens F2.8 - Sharp for stills but bokeh not useful for video
E 16 mm Lens F2.8 - For wide angle shots.
Click to expand...

You could take advantage of the metabones speedbooster and mount on Canon lenses with IS, gaining stabilization and a stop drop in aperture. Otherwise your primes only setup would require you to be on a tripod/monopod for 70% of your shots.

JacePhoto said:
Konova 60 cm - Good for bigger camera. looking to change to Varavon 60 cm Slide cam lite. (Does anyone has any input on this product?)
Mid-small size Benro Tripod.
Click to expand...

A heavier video tripod set is recommended for steadier camera movements, if you are looking at it from a casual hobbyist perspective going with all the lightweight equips blah blah. Your existing equips wou

JacePhoto said:
Seinheisser G3 wireless mic - Hoping to get a zoom H1 to complement
No brand ear phones - Hoping to get a Dr Beat Headphone set. Impressed with its ability to shut off outside noise.
Click to expand...

You could consider extra audio inputs, as the G3 is a lavalier you may wana add an ambient mic for cutaway shots and future XLR inputs. H4n?
Dr Dre is a terrible compliment as it is meant to provide "color'd" sound to the user, use monitor headphones for reference sound to know exactly what you are getting.

JacePhoto said:
I used to use a LCD viewfinder on D800. The viewfinder on the a7r is good but looked small for me to determine focus. Using the Sony LCD on the other hand is prone to over heating as 10 - 15 mins of usage prompts it to shut down. How do you overcome this?
Click to expand...

Is the Sony CLM-V55 you refering to as the LCD that you have? Bring it back to service center, monitors aren't supposed to shutdown. And yes monitor is a good choice.
 

saveDqueen said:
You could take advantage of the metabones speedbooster and mount on Canon lenses with IS, gaining stabilization and a stop drop in aperture.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I think what you're describing is achieved by two separate metabones products, unless they've recently recently one that does both. The Smart Adapter (electronic, no optics) supports IS/AF/etc... The Speed Booster (optics, no electronics) will increase max aperture by 1 stop, but as it's designed for APS-C, will have to use crop mode when used with the FF A7.


Compatibility (Canon EF lens)

Is my Speed Booster® or Smart Adapter™ compatible with full-frame camera bodies?
Smart Adapter™ I, Smart Adapter™ II and Speed Booster® are NOT compatible with NEX full-frame camera bodies. If the full-frame camera body is configured to auto-crop mode, cropping will be automatically applied and only the center of the frame will be used.

Smart Adapter™ III/IV has a large rectangular opening and is compatible with full frame camera bodies. It will detect whether the Canon lens used is a full frame lens or a cropped lens and inform the camera body accordingly, if the camera body is configured to auto-crop mode.

http://www.metabones.com/article/of/faq
Click to expand...
 

Bamboopictures said:
May be can look into Voigtlander's Nokton 35mm f/1.2
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...er_BA237B_Nokton_Aspherical_35mm_f_1_2.ht ml
[video=youtube;jhTYiYzmUmM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhTYiYzmUmM[/video]
Or a Samyang/Bower 24mm f1.4
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/849813-REG/Bower_SLY2414N_24mm_f_1_4_Wide_Angle_Lens.html
Click to expand...

Hi Rodney! Thanks! I went down and checked the 35 mm F1.4. Suits my needs! Thanks for the suggestion!
 

saveDqueen said:
You could take advantage of the metabones speedbooster and mount on Canon lenses with IS, gaining stabilization and a stop drop in aperture. Otherwise your primes only setup would require you to be on a tripod/monopod for 70% of your shots.



A heavier video tripod set is recommended for steadier camera movements, if you are looking at it from a casual hobbyist perspective going with all the lightweight equips blah blah. Your existing equips wou



You could consider extra audio inputs, as the G3 is a lavalier you may wana add an ambient mic for cutaway shots and future XLR inputs. H4n?
Dr Dre is a terrible compliment as it is meant to provide "color'd" sound to the user, use monitor headphones for reference sound to know exactly what you are getting.



Is the Sony CLM-V55 you refering to as the LCD that you have? Bring it back to service center, monitors aren't supposed to shutdown. And yes monitor is a good choice.
Click to expand...

Hi SaveDqueen!

Thanks for the inputs!

Noted on Dr Dre! I went to asked around what is a monitor Headphone is. Got an answer. Probably looking at Audio Technica ATX-50V. or something like that. And yes, will get a zoom H1 also.

The Sony LCD i refer to is the tilt-screen one on the Sony a7r itself.

Thanks for your inputs!
 

Here's a single-rod rig I assembled for hybrid shooting. Great for A7 if you plan to attach the XLR-K1M adapter.Will not get in the way of focusing or swapping lens.
$20140622_114042.jpg

http://postimg.org/image/gc6m6ub3p/

parts as below:
$$_57.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/15cm-6-Long...922?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27e4d42cea

http://www.photographyandcinema.com/search?q=kamerar+pico+plate

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Variable-...029?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item233064972d
 

Wow! Rodney! You already know what my next question is gg to be. Haha! *thumbs up!*
 

Thinking how to stablise it like movi freefly leh.
 

Bye bye GH2. Hello A7s
$A7s.jpg
My bargain basement lens kit for A7S:
Samyang 14mm f2.8
Nikkor AIS 28mm f2
Nikkor AI 50mm f1.4
Nikkor AIS 85mm f2
Nikkor AIS 135mm f2.8
Nikkor AIS 180mm f2.8
Nikkor AIS 100-300mm f5.6
Canon FD 35-105mm f3.5
 

Last edited:
Woah! Cool! You are onboard w Sony now? Haha

How do these lens perform on the camera?

No voigtlander? I was thinking of the 35 mm F1.4 w my a7r. Haha
 

JacePhoto said:
Woah! Cool! You are onboard w Sony now? Haha

How do these lens perform on the camera?

No voigtlander? I was thinking of the 35 mm F1.4 w my a7r. Haha
Click to expand...

Coming from M43 and APS-C, these lenses are taking on characteristics that I haven't seen in awhile. They seem brighter and sharper than I remembered actually. Maybe it's the new sony sensor. Many of the lenses have been with me since the days of 35mm DOF adapters. They can't match the sharpness of modern lenses. A niche look for stills but perfectly acceptable and in fact more filmic for video. Best of all, they are cheap and all second-hand. (except the Samyang which is only $400 new)
But 35mm is something quite foreign to me. I've never own that focal length for as long as I can remember. For ENG camcorders, that FOV is rather vanilla and most cameraman would wish for a wider start on their zoom. But go for broke and get the Voightlander f1.2 instead on the f1.4.
 

Last edited:
Oh? Go for Voigtlander 1.2 instead of 1.4? Did I hear u correct? Haha
 

JacePhoto said:
Oh? Go for Voigtlander 1.2 instead of 1.4? Did I hear u correct? Haha
Click to expand...

At 35mm, the 1.2 might knock out the background slightly better. Video samples were shot by the f1.2.
The Voightlander f1.4 is almost a pancake but the Voightlander f1.2 is not much larger than a nikon 35mm f1.4 amd cost the same brand new.
So that was my benchmark. Still great value by comparison.
 

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