If there is one thing that we love here at Whistle Video (other than a good cup of tea and online cat videos) it's new kit.
And we are really happy right now as we have just invested in the Sony A7S. This small, mirror-less, full frame camera is an incredible piece of kit. It has an abundance of key features which convinced us to go for this camera over other well suited cameras currently on the market. But one of the main selling points was it's amazing low light capabilities.
Low Light
Wherever possible I am a keen advocate of lighting the scene. The more light control you have the better outcome of the video. Unfortunately though there are going to be times when you just can't get enough natural light or you don't have access to a lighting rig due to limitations such space and time. This is when your camera needs to take on some of the responsibility. If you have a camera with poor sensor capabilities then when you 'push up' the ISO you start to get noise and pixalation on the image. The A7S doesn't have such problems. You can really push the ISO up in the thousands and the picture quality is still crisp.
Lenses and adaptors
One slight drawback and one of the things that made us question going for the A7S was the limited amount of Sony lenses currently on the market. However, this wasn't a major problem as we were able to get an adaptor which means we can use our Canon lenses - problem solved!
Size and lightweight
Due to the A7s being a mirror-less camera it means the size of the camera body is greatly reduced. This really helps when you have a large rig setup and you are shooting all day. It is lightweight and easy to manage which is a real selling point.
Battery Life
The only problem with having such a small camera body is the limited space for the battery. This means the battery is smaller and therefore you get less battery time. But again, this wasn't a deal breaker as we have plenty of batteries on standby and if we have a static shoot we just plug in.
The benefits far out way the negatives and we can't wait to show you the footage we shoot with our new family member!
In the field
We recently helped out on 'High Hazels' new music video and tested the camera out for the first time - we have to say, we already love the quality of the footage - watch this space!
