Personal Projects Camera Recommendation

[RJ_Ortiz]

Hey Everyone,

I've been considering getting a personal cam for small projects and some stills time to time (Family or Scouting). I initially had my heart set on a Blackmagic Pocket 4K camera. I preordered it on day one, but schedule delays and scarcity have kept it out of my hands so far. I have been considering the Fujifilm X-T3. It's small, has decent character, and can provide some AF features for stills.

There are obviously pros and cons to both. I just haven't seen that character I was expecting out of the Pocket 4K camera. I'm not saying it's a bad camera at all and honestly the look I'm after could be dialed in somehow, I'm sure. However, it's not a real stills cam. Seems more of a novelty feature than a serious one. I've seen a few strange quirks with the red channel and their current v4 color science. Could just require some updates though. Both of these cams have made their way out into the world recently and I wanted to see what input you guys had. Similar price range. That's not really a consideration for me. I'll outline those below.

1. Not intended for serious projects. This is a personal camera. My group uses our Monstro for most of our work.
2. Price difference between the cams isn't a consideration for me.
3. I already have a license for Resolve.
4. I'd like to use this for stills.
5. Intend to adapt vintage glass for use as well as using modern glass.
6. Maybe. Big maybe. Might try and use this cam for quick cuts between Monstro footage (tight spaces, unpredictable locations, being low-key). Not sure which would be better for that if there was a need.

This post kind of seems silly to me, but I feel like maybe someone out there can slap me upside the head and tell me if I'm missing something. Thanks in advance!

[Brendan H. Banks]

Totally feel you on this. I had an RX100IV for this purpose a few years ago when main cameras were more like FS7 and GH4. It actually came in handy on a few situations where I landed at the location first and saw something magical happening on a doc-style shoot - whipped out the RX100 and grabbed a few 4k shots with it. They cut in pretty nicely and it was so small I would carry everywhere for stills.

I've now begun my path into insanity with vintage glass. I've got a modded FD set at the moment for use on my Helium and I LOVE those lenses...so much so that I want to get another 28mm just for stills. I've been eyeing up the XT2 for this reason. I am likely going to pull the trigger on the XT2 with some price drops and get a simple adapter for vintage glass. I wish it were full frame, but it'll still pair so nicely. Honestly, I realized that getting something more dedicated to the main use of the camera will end up suiting you better. I shy away from "jack of all trades" items now in most cases and find a "master of one". For me it's going to be the XT2. I hear the video on the XT3 is supposed to be awesome which makes it fit in for those situations you're speaking about.

Plus physical controls and menu systems I don't see on set make me feel like I'm pursuing more art and my brain doesn't flip into work mode. I learned that when I had my 7D as my main shooting camera and fun camera. A single look at the menu system made me think of making sure my color profile was right and it wouldn't overheat instead of having fun.

[M Most]

Panasonic GH5.

[Misha Engel]

Sony A7III

[RJ_Ortiz]

Panasonic GH5.

Sony A7III

Can you guys elaborate on why you'd choose these systems over the Pocket 4K or Fujifilm X-T3? Let's take glass out of the equation. They can all be adapted in one way or another. Why choose those bodies?

[Misha Engel]

A7III features:

Pros: The best video image quality of any hybrid, best low light, 24 Mpix stills, good autofocus, IBIS, e-mount, 14 bit RAW stills.

Cons: internal 420 8 bit only or 422 8 bit with atomos ninja, max UHD 30p

[Michael Tiemann]

Panasonic GH5.

Gh5s: trade away superior stills functionality but gain lowlight video capabilities that work in typical houses at night. Leica lens range for Panasonic quite nice now.

[M Most]

I actually have the GH5s. However, the first post specifically mentioned stills capabilities. If we're talking about video capabilities, the GH5s also allows internal recording of 10 bit 422 at up to 400Mb, considerably beyond anything else on the market that I know of. It also has long GOP 422, and 4K 420 at higher overcrank speeds (up to 6fps), even higher overcrank at HD (up to 240fps), and an anamorphic mode. And, as already mentioned, excellent lowlight performance, and excellent picture quality with very low noise. The Sony A7III is also a good choice, I just prefer the generally more compact and lighter micro 4/3 lenses and the GH5's format flexibility.

[rand thompson]

Yeah, I owned the GH5 none "S" version. It's great in 10-bit and 8-bit to some extent. Get the fastest lenses you can afford to get some remnants of "shallow depth of field" results. I liked the Olympus 75mm f1.8 and olympus 45mm f1.8 and Panasonic 42.5mm f1.2 for autofocusing. Get one or all of the manual focusing Voigtlanders, 17.5mm f0.95, 25mm f0.95 Version 2(with the "clickless" aperture ring) and the 42.5mm f0.95.

[Uday Bhaskar Karra]

XT-3 all the way... in my opinion ( only few sacrifices Are IBIS and a bit of DR). The straight out of the camera image ( Pictures and videos) or with Eterna LUT looks beautiful ( No H265 please. Rather record Prores through HDMI to Ninja V).

I wouldn’t look into GH5/S, I want a good Auto focus when am shooting for family, personal stuff... would like to capture the moment while I live In it than worrying about focusing the subjects.

Sony colors doesn’t look pleasing to me... except that, it’s perfect ( Low light, Battery life, Auto focus, etc).