A7 III vs GH5 vs GH5s vs BMPCC 4k (Video Mainly)

[Lewiscpullan]

Hello all!

 

Right, so I have quite the decision right now. I have about £3600 to spend on upgrading all my kit, my original plan was to keep my current Sony a6300 and buy an a7III however I'm now having second thoughts. I create promotional videos, event videos and hoping to get into wedding videos. I love the low light capabilities and beautiful bokeh the A7 III can create out the box without the need for speed boosters and that's my main reason for wanting it. I have had bad experiences with my old G7, viltrox ef-m2 and sigma 18-35mm with it just being an incredibly annoying set up with the weight and major sharpness and focus issues. A friend of mine has the GH5s, metabones XL and canon glass and his works a dream and even works with his DJI follow focus wheel on the ronin-s but I'm reluctant to go back to that smaller sensor with adapters due to that bad experience. Obviously, the GH5(s) has some insane specs so it's hard not to consider it.

 

I'll devise a list of what I like and what I'm worried about with each camera and hopefully some of you will have experience with the cameras and can tell me what you think!

 

Sony A7 III

I like:

• Low light capabilities - I don't have to worru about lighting conditions for weddings and events
• "Full frame look" - Deep DoF achieved easily and great lens selection (easy to get wide angles)
• Great AF - Although not extremely important as I can live without (have been doing for a while now) it would be nice to have and would be great if I'm filming trackside or just telephoto at all
• A lot of great sony glass and can be adapted to canon fairly easily if really needed
• Works great with a6300 - Can share glass and colours will be similar

Worried about:

• Slow mo and 1080p isn't as nice as GH5(s)
• Only 8bit colour - although my post-processing doesn't tend to be too intense atm but I'm currently working on improving it
• If that insane lowlight is really needed - Will GH5 be good enough?
• HDMI issues - Doesn't show settings on the monitor and the screen turns off if recording 4k etc...
• Possible rolling shutter issues?

GH5

I like:

• 4k 60fps
• Amazing slow-mo and 1080p
• 10 bit colour depth
• Stabilisation on the GH5 is insane
• Extra FoV with the GH5s
• Menu system 
• Works well with monitor (full hdmi :D)
• Works well with Ronin-S

Worried about:

• Low light capabilities good enough?
• Don't particularly like native lenses
• Worried about using adapters and they're extra cost
• GH5 or GH5s?
• Autofocus isn't great
• Doesn't work well with A6300 - Would have to sell it and replace with another camera (what camera to get then?)

BMPCC 4k

I like:

• Even crazier specs 
• Like insane specs!
• HOLY SHIT THEM SPECS!!!

Worried about:

• God awful battery life
• Awful autofocus
• Need for adapters
• Needs to be rigged up to work well - more cost!
• Unsure about its capabilities for run and gun kind of shooting

^ As you can tell I'm not sold on the BMPCC 4k but it's there as an option so I can't ignore it

 

If you can think of any other advantages/disadvantages to any of the cameras please let me know. Hopefully, some of you have experiences with these cameras nut even if you don't please let me know what you think is best!

 

Thanks so much!

 

Lewis :))))

 

 

[wisex]

I'd say its close between the Sony A7 III and the Black Magic, frankly its better to stick with something you're already familiar with and you have a whole host of similarities with the Sony, be it lenses or color science. You're also right that Sony probably has among the best low light, and it has a better full frame look. HOWEVER the black magic is technically a better video camera, considering that its basically all it does, and its just a much more versatile camera that can be built out much more than any DSLR/mirrorless camera. Frankly the only two things I'd really worry about is the low light capabilities (which are fairly important for weddings that go into the night). So honestly for me if I had to start from scratch and choose a camera to shoot video with I would go with the black magic, but its important to consider all the other variables.

[Lewiscpullan]

42 minutes ago, wisex said:

I'd say its close between the Sony A7 III and the Black Magic, frankly its better to stick with something you're already familiar with and you have a whole host of similarities with the Sony, be it lenses or color science. You're also right that Sony probably has among the best low light, and it has a better full frame look. HOWEVER the black magic is technically a better video camera, considering that its basically all it does, and its just a much more versatile camera that can be built out much more than any DSLR/mirrorless camera. Frankly the only two things I'd really worry about is the low light capabilities (which are fairly important for weddings that go into the night). So honestly for me if I had to start from scratch and choose a camera to shoot video with I would go with the black magic, but its important to consider all the other variables.

Yeah tbf I'm really familiar to the Panasonic system too (probably more so than sony) its just that case of the lenses. What's the low light capability of the Black magic, is it not similar to that of the GH5s? Just wondering why you wouldn't consider the Panasonic also?

[Thanatopsis]

The bmpcc4k does not have auto focus at all asfar as im concerned. It will only hunt and peak on command.  If auto focus is of any real importance too you i would probably pass on the bmpcc4k.

[ThePointblank]

Of the options, I would go with the Panasonic GH5 or GH5S. For one, both are highly video centric cameras, with a ton of features that make shooting video easier, such as waveforms and vectorscopes as well as zebras, focus peaking and corrected previews both for Log and Anamorphic shooting. They also have a number of accessories, such as an optional audio accessory that will accept XLR input as well.

 

Big difference between the GH5 and the GH5S are as follows:

1. With the GH5, VLog-L is an optional extra, while the GH5S has it out of the box;
2. The GH5S also has a larger, dual-gain sensor that gives it better lower light performance;
3. The GH5 has sensor stabilization, the GH5S doesn't

If you are concerned about low light performance, but can live with slightly sluggish AF performance and are more than willing to compensate via using the zebras and focus peaking, get a Metabones Speedbooster, and adapt Canon EF mount glass to it.