BUYINGUSED MOVIE MATTERS
SONY FS7
The FS7 has proved a massive success for Sony, as it was a capable camera that could be used for everything from ENG to cinematic-style shooting and everything in-between. The Mark II version has a rotating lens mount, Rec. 2020 colour space and variable ND filter, but the image quality and all the function remain the same, such as 180fps continuous shooting in HD with no buffering. And, of course, 4K shooting to a pair of XQD memory cards. Although the FS7 body only costs £7000/$7500 new, good used ones go for around £4000/$4500. If you really need Raw out of it, you need an external recorder and Sony’s own XDCA extension unit, which costs an additional £1800/$2000.
SONYA7R II With the same 42-megapixel sensor as the current A7R III, the older version is just as capable a camera as the current range-topping model. It just costs a lot less, with used version around for under a grand. It’s more than double that for a Mark III. The sensor may be the same, but the newer model has a touchscreen, Hybrid Log- Gamma, a different design body, 120fps HD video rather than 60fps and a wider ISO range. But both shoot 4K at 30p, have S-Log gamma, dual card slots and five-axis stabilisation.
Take the sensor of the FS7 and essentially put it into a smaller body at amuch lower price. That made the FS5 a big seller, despite its internal codec not being as high quality as the FS7. But the ace up its sleeve is that, with a firmware upgrade, it can output Rawto an external monitor/recorder. So it gives the same quality as the FS7 in a smaller, cheaper and more portable package. And it can do 240fps shooting, which is even faster than the FS7. The Mark II version has better colours and a fewother tweaks, but the original is still a bargain at around £3600/$4000 – especially ifyou can find onewith the high frame rate and Rawfirmware upgrade. SONY FS5
“The ace up its sleeve is that it can output Raw to an external monitor”
SONYA7S
The Sony A7S was one of the first mirrorless cameras aimed specifically at filmmakers and was the world’s first full-frame sensor capable of full pixel readout on 4K video. And although it has been usurped by the Mark II version, it still has a full-frame for incredible low-light performance thanks to a 12.2-megapixel sensor that can be set as high as 409,600 ISO. The original A7S can only record 4Kwhen linked up to an external monitor/recorder rather than recording it internally like the Mark II, though. But it records lovely full HD internally and costs around £800/$900.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER AUTUMN 2019
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