A7RV High ISO for VIDEO - Good Enough?

We all know that the FX3/A7Siii are incredible in low light / high ISO situations, but how far behind is the high resolution A7RV? The results surprised me and I suspect they will surprise you too!
Feel free to download original video files here: www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/iu1371...

[@hasenmyer]

A7R5 continues to be one of the best (if not the best) camera I've ever used..Price being the only weakness. ZVE1 has its place, but I find myself using the R5 more often than not.

[@RandumbTech]

It really is great at everything. And the screen / EVF combo makes it so easy to use in any situation. I'm so glad it went on sale briefly for a couple days at the $3k price. If the A7CR offered the same screen / EVF, I would have gone with that, but unfortunately, it doesn't. Both of the new A7C cameras are in stock everywhere which tells me they aren't selling well - overpriced in my opininon.

[@AndreasRavnestad]

Completely agree that it's difficult to make out any meaningful differences between the two. The AF test was a surprise for sure. At 2:37, the mush in the sweater looks a lot like compression artifacts and not ISO noise. Did you use identical bitrate/quality settings?

[@RandumbTech]

There may be some compression artifacts. The A7RV is definitely noisier at 12,800, but for my needs, it still useable. I was surprised as well by the incredible AF performance of the A7RV! I used the max bitrate settings for both cameras which I believe are the same. I believe the A7RV uses some type of pixel binning / line skipping vs. full sensor readout from FX3 which I would imagine accounts for the difference between the two.

[@stkuj]

I've shot the A7RV almost a year now. I don't have an issue with high ISO. Where I do have a huge issue is the pixel binned video is super soft. the A7RV is a video B cam at best for me.

[@RandumbTech]

The pixel-binned video is not great, but most people watch on a phone or iPad so it's not super obvious. But if you watch is on a 4K monitor, it's not nearly as good as the A7iv or FX3.

[@vonwolfersdorff]

Very nice video. Would love to add the 7R5 to my toolbox for its 8k ability. Greets from Berlin!

[@RandumbTech]

It's such a great camera! I never use the 8K only because it's not great for any type of motion.

[@johns_creative_media]

Thank you for the valuable info 🙌🏽 but has this camera ever overheated during your usage?

[@RandumbTech]

I've never filmed for more than ~30 minutes, but it hasn't been an issue for me. If I know I'm going to be filming for longer periods, I'll use the FX3 or camcorder instead.

[@LoremIpsumProd]

I was literally thinking about the problem today, still torn between buying the A7rV or the A7c2!

[@RandumbTech]

Of the 4 Sony cameras I currently own - FX3, FX30, A7iv, A7RV - I reach for the A7RV at least 80% of the time. The A7C2 is nice, but single card slot, below average display, and barely useable EVF make it not so fun to use. I initially bought the A7RV when it first came out and sold it after 6 weeks because I thought it was too much camera for my needs. I missed the 4-axis screen, gorgeous EVF, and stunning 61MP images so I rebought it when it went on sale for $3k about a month ago.

[@LoremIpsumProd]

@@RandumbTech awesome! I only have a FX6 and a puny Fuji s10. Indeed the price for A7rV right now is quite awesome @~3k, with all the features I want. Tho if they add 8k30 I would have absolutely no complain!

[@jordiblanchcosta]

@@RandumbTech 3K for a the A7R V is a good deal - Do you know about e-infinity shop? is it realiable? (It is the only store where I see it at 3K)

[@DigiDriftZone]

Can you please share the originals? - it's difficult to make judgement on KZbin as there are a lot of compression artefacts. Does go to show that for KZbin it is unlikely to make much difference. Would be interesting to see more extreme low light test like 50k ISO.

[@RandumbTech]

I just updated the description with a link to the original files. They are currently uploading so you can check back in ~20 min and they should be there. I know the cameras can shoot higher than 12,800, but realistically, that's as high as I would ever go. If I needed to go higher, I'd grab a faster lens or add lights to the scene. If you are pushing past 12,800, the FX3 is going to be the much better option.

[@DigiDriftZone]

@@RandumbTech When you zoom in 300% to the originals, there is quite a drastic difference between the FX3 and A7RV, in both videos. Does it matter for many kinds of videos? - probably not :)

[@RandumbTech]

@@DigiDriftZone Exactly - it's definitely good enough for most applications. If you add a little noise reduction, the difference becomes even smaller. I've configured my A7RV to shoot in Flexible ISO all the way up to 12,800 - one less thing to worry about! 😁

[@DigiDriftZone]

@@RandumbTech the FX3 is super noisy above around ISO5000, so it's quite tricky to use flexible ISO there as it keeps jumping between 10k and 12.8k ISO causing your footage to jump from super clean to super noisy. Does that happen on the A7RV?

[@RandumbTech]

My real world experience is that very few people will spot the difference between 10k and 12.8k on the FX3. Yes, there is a difference, but if your storytelling is good and audio is nice and crisp, no one will care / notice. My experience using Cine EI to get the absolute cleanest footage out of the camera is that it's a nightmare to get an even exposure in post if the scene is highly dynamic. I'd rather have "noisy" footage that is exposed correctly than "clean" footage that isn't. That's my own personal preference, but I understand how others prefer the other way.