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Advice: A7S II vs RX10 II for travel cinematography

nc1983

By nc1983,
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nc1983 Apprentice

nc1983

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Posted

I'm a film editor and will be doing a world travel backpacking trip for the next year and a half and trying to decide what camera to take. 

 

I won't have a lot of room so it will be a 1-2 lens max setup.

 

Can anyone experienced videographers weigh in on whether they would rather take the a7s II with the sony 3.5 24-240mm lens or the rx10 ii that comes with a 24-200 2.8 fixed lens.

 

I realize these cameras are in completely different categories but if you're looking purely at video, the only real advantage I can see is the a7s II superior ability in low light, and the ability to change lenses (which like I said, I will be taking 2 max). On the RX side, the advantage is the addition of decent 240fps, and weather sealing.

 

I've watched Brandon Li's amazing A7s travel videos on vimeo so I feel inspired to follow his lead, but he has also used the rx10 ii and rx100 iii as B cameras. So it makes me wonder if I could get away with one of these cheaper cameras as my primary. 

 

We are talking $1200 vs. about $4,000 for similar lens setup. 

 

Any videographers here have any additional thoughts that could help me make a decision?

 

Thank you so much. 

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pilsburypie Collaborator

pilsburypie

Posted
Posted

I have an A7sii - I have never used a RX10...... I am also an amateur - a keen one though! So really you have to take my answer with a pinch of salt.

 

The reason for me getting the A7sii was indeed low light ability, not so much taking video of black cats in coal sheds, just being able to use a small aperture for deep DOF inside. Stopping down to f11 inside requires high iso. This is why I am really interested in this feature.

 

With regards to manual focusing, I kind of do and don't. I have button C3 on the back set to auto/manual focus. I let the camera auto focus on my subject, then hit the button to turn to manual to stop focus hunting - lazy, but effective, especially when you have the focus peaking to confirm sharp focus.

 

I'm sure either camera will do a decent job. The A7sii does have the trump card of high iso ability though.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Joan Giner Rookie

Joan Giner

Posted
Posted

Hi nc,

 

I am videographer since 10 years and went for shootings in foreign countries a lot. I just bought the A7SII with  sony/Zeiss lens and I would really feel confortable doing a 1 year trip with it.

IMO if you want to buy a camera to work with it and sell your videos, don't be cheap on the price, you will make the A7SII more profitable compared to RX10.

Why I choose A7SII:

Main reason is being able to record clean night shots with sharp focus.

I am also a manual focus addict but for once sometimes I use the AF-C because it works very well (actually the best I have ever experienced) even at night, you can track almost anything without having to worry about focus, you can lock the focusing target on a face and track it if you want to follow someone in a crowd for example and you can magnify during recording in case you have a doubt!

Also the steady shot works crazy well.

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Snowfun Collaborator

Snowfun

Posted
Posted

Have to say that in your situation I'd take my Blackmagic pocket... a lot of decent cards and some spare batteries. Quality over convenience.

Lens? It's a personal thing but I think I'd take a Canon 85 f/1.2L and one of the wider Samyangs (T/1.5) or a Voigtlander f/0.95.

If you posted this question on eoshd you'd get a huge range of responses!

Sounds like a good trip.

Tim

 

(Apologies as I realise that the original question was binary!)

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