GEAR. MIRRORLESS
“The E lens mount enjoys many advantages of L, being wide enough for a full-frame sensor”
Alpha 7S, released in 2015 with a modest 12-megapixel sensor behind the company’s own E-mount. That’s a comparatively low number for a full-frame device, but it quickly emerged that this was enough for uncompromised HD resolution and made for spectacular low-light performance thanks to the big, receptive photosites. Leveraging its background in moving-image camerawork of every kind, Sony distinguished the original 7S with video tools like exposure zebras and focus peaking, which had too often been lacking in video-capable stills machines. The most recent incarnation of the series is the Alpha 7S III, which retains the sensitivity and suite of tools while adding, among much else, 4K/120p in 10-bit 4:2:2. The E-lens mount enjoys many of the advantages of L, being shallow enough for good adaptor compatibility, and wide enough to accommodate a full-frame sensor. It also allows users to consider some of Sony’s E-mount electronic zooms, which do involve some servo actuation, but remain about the most affordable solution to the problem of finding convenient full- frame glass for documentary work. At around £3800, an Alpha 7S III sits in the upper midrange price- wise, but punches appropriately high, and those affordable zooms
IN PHASE The Lumix S5 II adds phase detection autofocus to its already- capable toolbox
LUMIX S5 II £1999/$1998
represent a potential cost saving for the right kind of job. FUJIFILM AND CANON Fujifilm’s approach is refreshingly different, packing enough pixels to resolve 6K images into an APS-C sized sensor. The company’s X Mount is, like E and L, shallow enough to adapt to many things, and that smaller sensor is likely to be covered by more lenses. It’s a mistake to assume that APS-C and Super 35 are exactly the same – in fact, it’s a bad idea to assume that everything which claims to be Super 35 is the same as anything else – but in general, the movie industry’s
historic lens cupboard is much more available to X-H2S users than it is to any of the other cameras we’ve discussed. The company was an early adopter of on-board ProRes in mirrorless cameras; it’s possible to record the X-H2S’s whole sensor into a 6K file at the native 3:2 aspect ratio, which is a lot of picture. It’s a very big spec, and whether or not the £2500 price seems reasonable depends on how much value we place on full-frame sensors. Full- frame fans might call the X-H2S
WORKHORSE The Sony A7SIII remains a dependable B-camera for some of the most high-end productions
FUJIFILM X-H2S £2499/$2499
SONY A7SIII £3799/$3498
72. DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
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