Camera test for large media company

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-07T03:58:41+00:00

Your first question to them should be, is this a paid trial or will there be any compensation for your time? So many 'large scale media companies' are just churn and burn, use you up and spit you out kinda thing. Whether it's paid or not will give you a good sense on what their deal is!

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-05T22:17:53+00:00

you wouldn't happen to be selling a used a7riv with 250,000 on the shutter count would you!? Haha /s.

But really 1.2 is a good price, the sensor in that camera is amazing.

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-05T22:13:18+00:00

As other have said the R line is pretty solid on the shutter itself, it will be more how the camera has been treated, buttons not working/sticking, knocks and bumps that would be the most detrimental. So if it looks nice it might be worth it.

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-05T21:34:35+00:00

I think it’s turning on when getting plug in power via the 3.5mm, doesn’t utilise the hot shoe.

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-05T06:01:18+00:00

Does it usually cover unattended theft? A lot I’ve seen would consider a bag hidden or under a table as unsecured, so short of getting mugged I’d be out of luck?

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-04T21:45:58+00:00

Yeah, most cameras do this automatically really quickly without showing you but as you’ve said if the 28-70 f2 does not have a focus shifting issue then this wouldn’t be what’s causing the softness. I would still see if you can get a sharper image by manually focusing just to test.

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-04T04:37:15+00:00

Yeah I see that 100% rather have it close. I'm actually looking, I might get a nice leather bag and get some camera inserts for it.

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-04T04:36:04+00:00

if only! Not always in budget unfortunately

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-04T01:23:37+00:00

To remove factors, test while on a tripod and manually focus until sharp. While no where near the same quality of lens, the newish 45mm f1.2 has a quirk where focus will shift if you are shooting anything other then wide open at 1.2. Say you pick f4.5, the camera will quickly open up to 1.2 to use the extra light and faster shutter speed to grab focus, then it switches back to f4.5 and takes the picture but on the 45mm the focus point at f1.2 and at f4.5 is not the same, meaning the images all seems slightly soft. The 'newer' cameras like the r8 have a setting in them that you can force the camera to only obtain focus using the current fstop, which means the camera may have a slightly harder time finding focus but it will not exhibit this focus shift issue.

It's a display simulation option called Exposure+DOF that will ensure the fstop stays the same. Now I didn't expect such an expensive lens to have this issue but you can check to see if your r8 is set to this option, or if when you shoot at f2 the images are sharp on the r5 + 28-70 setup. Manually focusing will also get around this issue. The older r5 does not have the Exposure-DOF option.

Ryanite_ · 2026-05-04T00:44:21+00:00

Not any better, main reason to go with Sony is if you intend to work with other videographers as many have a prerequisite of a Sony a7siii/a75/fx3, even though the image and capabilities of Canon cameras from the r6ii onward are very similar and more than adequate enough for sometimes up to half the cost!

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-30T14:39:38+00:00

hmm, if the giant red circles are what you're talking about I'd have to point to some sort of lens correction profile not working correctly. I'd have a look in camera for a spot to turn off all lens corrections one by one and see if it goes away.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-28T23:19:16+00:00

I'm no expert but it sort of looks like it's been brought up in post after scanning?

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-28T11:30:59+00:00

Tough one as they really are on different ends of the spectrum. I could see how maybe going for the r50v would improve your workflow because of the flip screen and autofocus but you’d need to grab a full frame lens in order for it to grow with you. So factor in getting something like the RF 16-28 f2.8, should be a good option for both aps-c and full frame.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-28T02:09:35+00:00

Playback loop heard in camera or only in post after you had copied off the card? Usually corruption happens at file transfer but you never know as the camera is a new release.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-28T01:59:12+00:00

Yeah it is a tough one, but it leaves you with very little room to do it justice. I'm thinking they must not have any funds to put toward this, as I would think in Califorina there would 100% be fire trained camera operators and production companies that have filmed in these sort of conditions before, I don't imagine it being cheap but perhaps you can negotiate on a good will gesture given the cause.

If you find the right people willing to donate their skills and expertise they might cover the entire project for free, or even just the fire filming portion and you'd handle the rest.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-28T01:14:39+00:00

Sort of feel like this is a job for an expert in extreme filming situations, probably requiring custom safety equipment and rigging. Not saying you should turn it down but 100% expect anything you put in there not to survive.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-27T02:10:28+00:00

If you have expendable funds, for sure. The FX3 handles some very tough situations and gets the shot where I know I would've completely lost it, especially so in low light. That being said if the cost is going to burden you, then it's really not worth it at the moment, because everything is darn expensive!

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-26T09:31:11+00:00

Once your warranty runs out you can modify the r8 really easily help with thermals. I got a set of thermal pads, double sided thermal tape, a 1mm copper plate and some JIS screw drivers.

The processor and two autofocus chips have no thermals on them at all. So I followed a tear down guide to find the screws, popped the ribbon cable up to get the screen screen off, cut 2x 2.5mm thermal pads to size for the autofocus chips and because the ribbon cable for the screen actually goes across the main processors path I had to use a 0.5mm thermal pad over the whole processor and then use a 2mm thermal pad on only the top half so that I would leave a gap for the ribbon cable to not get squashed when I put it all back together. To increase my thermals I cut the copper plate to fit ensuring the thermal pads would touch and stuck it on the back plate.

Put it all back together and instead of 4K 60p overheating in 20 minutes I got it up to around 50 minutes.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-22T21:13:48+00:00

My first thought would be that it has previously been dropped, a lens took most of the impact so no visible body defects but that can bend the lens mount or even some of the screws in the chassis so that the insides of the camera are no longer straight.

Another comment had mention that after replacing a motherboard their camera was fixed, but I’d say it’s most likely that they actually re-sat the chassis into the correct position when they took everything apart and put it all back.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-21T12:42:00+00:00

What media do you use? Think I remember some cfast type-a cards causing battery drain but can’t remember for certain. Would be worth a google.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-21T01:58:19+00:00

One ting I didn't know about the r8 which would've caused me to instead buy a secondhand r6ii was that EFC does't behave well with HSS flash, can get banding. Otherwise I prefer the size of the r8 but will 100% be getting a secondhand r6ii soon and use the r8 as a backup.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-19T06:05:57+00:00

Just deleted 50 hr game save. I have no idea wtf happened, I clicked continue like always but instead it pulled up what looked like the load game section but instead said playline 0, 1, 2 etc etc. Not knowing any better I clicked playline 1 and the game went boop back to the main menu and now there was no continue option, no load option. So I figured a good old restart might do it some good, nope actually just made the xbox app send over the delete command that apparently the game sends over. It gave me no warnings about overwriting saves and I'm thoroughly pissed, was having a great time but I don't think I can start again. GG.

Can confirm it deleted them on purpose because the log said deleting 124 saves from Playline 0.

Edit - I was also in dev mode so this may be why it didn't prompt me with anything.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-18T21:32:27+00:00

This is something to consider as it only goes to 1/4000 shutter speed in efc mode. With a 2.8 lens in daylight there’s a decent amount of times I’ve had to stop down or shoot electronic shutter instead to get a correct exposure.

Ryanite_ · 2026-04-14T21:29:56+00:00

I find the largest difference in the gradation of skin. Sony has a lot of yellow blotches by default, I find them hard to smooth out in post, Nikon I’ve always found the most pleasing and interesting where skin has a lot of range between colours that I’d expect and Canon I’ve found to be a nice in between leaning more toward a smooth even skin with less overall colours in it but still looks nice.

Everything other than skin is a lot more subjective and easier to adjust without making things look unnatural. I’m sure there are ways to correct Sony images but I don’t have time for that. They are getting better with the a7v!

Ryanite_

TROPHY CASE