GEAR SONY A7 III V PANASONIC GH5S
BATTLE OF THE CAMS
MIRRORLESS MATCH-UP!
Sony’s new A7 III faces Panasonic’s GH5S in a battle to see which is best for filmmakers
WORDS AND IMAGES ADAM DUCKWORTH
T wo 4K cameras, launched within a few weeks of each other, both costing roughly the same and both excellent at shooting video. he Sony A7 III and Panasonic GH5S are stunningly capable cameras that in many ways offer a similar spec. But for filmmaking, they do things very differently. The Sony A7 III is a full-frame camera that is the firm’s ‘basic’ model, and equally at home shooting stills as well as video; it’s the ultimate all-rounder. It doesn’t have the high-megapixel sensor of the A7R III or blazing fast speed of the A9, but it has a better filmmaking spec than Sony’s previous best video camera, the
built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, focus peaking, tilting touchscreens and slow motion capture. All stuff a filmmaker values. Neither have a built-in flash or can do gimmicky things like in-camera panoramas. These are pro-level cameras ideal for hard use with no frills. All mirrorless cameras are affordable compared to cinema cameras; great at low light, they’re compact and give great results. That’s why filmmakers put up with inadequacies in certain areas such as poor battery life and no XLR inputs. But which of these newcomers is the best bet for filmmakers? We look at how they compare in 11 key areas.
A7S II. And until the Mark III version of the S camera comes out, that makes the A7 III the king of the hill in Sony world. The Panasonic GH5S is based on the excellent GH5 but is geared towards filmmakers with no compromises for users who want to shoot stills. Its sensor may be roughly a quarter the area of the chip inside the Sony, but it is optimised for video with just enough pixels to be perfect for 4K movies and fantastic at keeping noise low. Although the Pana has a much smaller sensor, the camera is roughly the same size and weight as the Sony. Both cameras have headphone jacks, dual card slots, HDMI outputs, mic jacks,
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PRO MOVIEMAKER AUTUMN 2018
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