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Silly speculation: Sony A7sIII


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Here is what features I think this camera will have:

 

- 4K downsampled from 5K

- 5K with no downsampling

- 5K compressed RAW

- 10-bit video

- Global shutter just like the A9

- 120fps 5K, 240fps HD

- HD full frame or HD windowed

- Anamorphic support

- 20Mpx RAW files

- Great low-light performance

- Better DR than anything that's not a cinema camera

- Electronic shutter only

- 24fps photos which will step down to 20fps if the sensor overheats

- Huge buffer

- Same AF as the other high end cameras

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  • 10-bit video would be nice, at least for external recording. Internal 10 bit video is compressed nearly to the point of being useless.
  • There is no commercial use for 5K video. However you could do a better job re-sampling to a standard resolution in post than in the camera.
  • The A9 does not have a global shutter. It is roughly 10x as fast as other Sony's, however. Sony does have a global shutter in Venice video cameras, which start at about $28K.
  • Anamorphic support is best done in software. All you need is the right lens. For a real-time display, the Atomos Shogun 7 recorder/monitor has built-in anamorphic support, and will work with any camera with HDMI or SDI output.
  • Sony sensors don't overheat when shooting video. The timeout is strictly an import duty issue, conveniently blamed on a non-issue. I use my A7iii for hours on end without any heating issues. The trick is to record externally, because the battery can overheat when pushing data into the internal memory card.
  • Frame rate has nothing to do with heating or bandwidth. If you cut the frame rate in half, each frame is twice as long - net zero. 20 fps is useless for anything other than special effects. You would need pull-up for display on any TV. Be happy with 24 (23.97), 30 (29.96) and 60 (59.94).

RAW still images have been standard fare since early in this millennium. It's too early to say about RAW video, and I have serious doubts about its implementation in HDMI, even in a 10-bit version. With RAW video, every piece of footage must be graded before it can be used. I'm about to experiment with 12-bit raw, via SDI.

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10-bit video would be nice, at least for external recording. Internal 10 bit video is compressed nearly to the point of being useless.

I see. Well, maybe this can be improved?

 

The A9 does not have a global shutter. It is roughly 10x as fast as other Sony's, however. Sony does have a global shutter in Venice video cameras, which start at about $28K.

Thanks for clarifying. I suppose 'close enough' could be good enough.

 

Anamorphic support is best done in software. All you need is the right lens. For a real-time display, the Atomos Shogun 7 recorder/monitor has built-in anamorphic support, and will work with any camera with HDMI or SDI output.

Panasonic cameras have real-time display options which I personally would prefer.

 

Sony sensors don't overheat when shooting video.

So it's about batteries, got it.

 

Frame rate has nothing to do with heating or bandwidth.

I didn't realise - but I was talking about photos, not video.

 

BeBu, I agree, I think 8K is arguably best left to high end cinema cameras. Arguably.

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Batteries and storage. Batteries barely get warm if you only record video externally. However they only last about an hour. I use large video batteries with D-Tap battery eliminators, solving both problems, heating and charge life, at the same time.

 

If you power via the USB connection, about 20% of the power still comes from the Sony battery, giving you about 3 hours of continuous operation.

 

When you cited "24 fps", it sounded like video. Nonetheless you would fill the buffer with images in a few seconds, long before overheating occurs. The A9 will continue to shoot, but slowed to the rate at which the buffer clears. That has not been a problem for me, since I use the high speed to shoot bursts of 3-6 frames.

 

I shouldn't be judgmental about 8K video. For sports, 8K would give you 20+ MP images at 30 frames per second. At this point I seldom find justification to shoot 4K instead of 1080p. It takes too much time to upload (for customers), and too much bandwidth to stream. But 10 years ago, I though that about HD v SD. I still burn DVDs for customers, but kinda' cringe at the low image quality.

 

The Panasonic Lumix is arguably one of the best hybrid video cameras on the market. If I weren't invested in Sony lenses, I'd give it a try. I don't see an anamorphic lens in my foreseeable future, however.

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