I went through some situations over the past four months that was making me question if I chose the right company in Sony. After hours of research and really weighing the pros and cons of all the big name companies, I chose to stick with them. In this video, I’ll give you my five reasons why.
As with all professions, deciding what tools to use are vitally important to how you do your job and photography and videography are no exception. Having the right tools that best fit your workflow and your shooting style will allow you to do your best work in the shortest amount of time. This is essentially why deciding camera company to invest in is such a pivotal point for a professional.
Sony cameras have always had a certain allure about them. The size, technology, and innovation that they’ve managed to put into such a small camera is still impressive to this day. With that being said, they aren’t without cons. These cons specifically really started to weigh heavy on me the past couple of weeks after almost having a card malfunction at a wedding and going through countless batteries on the cold mountains. I had to really sit down and be honest with myself about if Sony was still the right fit for me going forward in my career. I weighed the pros and cons of all the big name camera companies and thought out different scenarios for each one. In the end, I decided to stick to Sony. No, I wouldn’t consider myself a Sony fan boy or that Sony is the be-all and end-all of camera systems. I just personally think that it fits me best for my shooting style and workflow.
Too often we find ourselves in a game of cat and mouse for if we should switch because a new camera came out from another brand. Or we build up the grass is greener on the other side scenarios to other cameras. At the end of the day we just have to remember that the camera is just a tool to bring what our vision is to light. Learn the business, train your eye, and learn how to present yourself as a professional to clients and the rest will fall into place. Just keep shooting and creating and enjoy what you have, regardless of the logo on the viewfinder of your camera.
For the love of Pete....another one of these "why I" stories??
FS Should maybe slow down on the travelling and pay attention to the quality of articles posted on here. There are so many relevant photo/video developments going on..yet we get this drivel.
I agree lol
We need something like.... "Why I decided to create a YouTube video rather than use my cameras!"
+1 this
Or possibly " I'm using my cameras plenty and I decided to start providing more content on different platforms "
I think that's a good one.
I promise you are not required to read everything Fstoppers posts.
Correct but I do because this site started out with very good content. It seems to have gone downhill since they did hurley's headshot thing...different priorities for business reasons I guess.
Also...your not required to comment on all replies right?
What's wrong with trying to elevate the usefulness of the site by doing real newsworthy work instead of fluff?
People like content like this, look at the billions of hours watched on opinion based photography material. Opinions are just as important as news. Opinions help people realize points that you can’t get with just reading gear specs on a site.
This site is for the masses not just for news.
You what I would like to see?
A video about "why I'm not switching from "INSERT CAMERA BEAND HERE"...that would be a nice change of pace.
The Sony A9 and A7RIII have new batteries that last SO MUCH longer! People can shoot for days instead of hours with the new batteries (or at least all day!). Plus, both have 2 card slots! I can't imagine shooting an assignment without 2 card slots. And autofocus with these two cameras is comparable to Nikon and Canon. Actually, with eye detection, I feel the Sony has better autofocus. These two cameras are the first ones from Sony that are legitimate for pro use. Personally, I am a commercial photographer and shoot with the Nikon D850 now. But, I am seriously considering Sony for several advantages I feel they have over traditional DSLRs.
Yeah Sony has finally staked their claim to their own piece of the market the new A9 and A7rIII literally fixed all the reasons I would’ve considered switching.
I shoot an A7 II and also have battery issues in the cold.
2 things really helped:
1) Keep spare batteries near your body so they stay warmer.
2) NEVER turn the camera switch off. Let the camera go to sleep instead.
The second point is very important in my experience.
The battery will still run down more quickly in cold weather, but not using the power switch seems to help.
Of course, the battery issue seems solved with the newer bodies. YMMV, but test it out.
I definitely keep the spares on my body but u do always shut the camera off instead of letting it sleep so I’ll try that!
"Canon has better color science, we all know that"... ummm... BULLSHIT! Look at recent BLINDED head-to-head comparisons between the A9/1DXII/D5 and compare the colors. Sony gets the nod from the largest percentage of people who compare the images.
Stop regurgitating this old mantra.
I agree to a point with you here...I'll qualify it by saying that Canon has historically had "pleasing" color science. It's not particularly accurate though especially the reds. In fact I don't know many camera mans. that I can actually say the color is accurate...but quite a few are pleasing Such as Canon, Olympus, Fuji and even Pentax which surprised me this past year...
One of the reasons I switched AWAY from Canon was the red/orange saturation. My wife and son are both blue-eyed, freckly, orange/blonde and I spent SO much time trying to get accurate skin/hair from the Canon images. With Sony, it's either instant or MUCH faster.
Very interesting points.
Whoa whoa whoa.... you're right. I honestly should have said on my current camera and or to my taste of end product I enjoy how canon cooks the warm tones. In terms of true color I agree with you Sony is far closer to the actual tones and color. The a9/a7r mark III both have amazing color science.
True but in video it makes a difference.
Not with Canon. At least, not with certain types of product photography. I'll add Mk IIs and Mk IIIs, dunno about other bodies. I have no idea why people think those cameras have great color. I've never seen a camera, film or digital, so inconsistent in my life.
I have a 5D Mark II I bought refurbished directly from Canon. The shadows have oversaturated blues. I have tried camera calibration, channel-level curves adjustments, and several other techniques. Way too much work to correct something that shouldn't be there to begin with. I've met one other Canon user who had this problem. His was much worse—borderline cartoonish. I don't know if this problem is unique at the copy level, but had I realized it in the beginning, I would have returned the unit for a different one.
But you said "If one is shooting RAW, as I'm sure most serious and professional photographers do, then it makes no difference." My point is yes it does. If your camera puts out shit for data, it becomes problematic and, more importantly in a production environment, time consuming to correct for, both in raw and in post.
It's not that simple. By design, every manufacturer's proprietary circuitry still reacts uniquely to various color values. The colors of the spectrum are not represented uniformly, even in raw images. With moderate color grading and/or the additional step of creating a camera calibration profile with a ColorChecker chart, it's possible to adjust the colors to one's liking, but at the end of the day, I can still observe differences in color characteristics between brands, even after post-production.
You can never, ever, match raws from different cameras.
You obviously don't do precision product photography.
...and I keep telling you you're wrong.
Wow.
Even after a raw file is processed in Photoshop, Camera raw, Capture One, a camera brand's proprietary raw processor or any other 3rd party raw processor, then color graded or adjusted to their liking by a photographer you are able to tell by looking on a monitor what camera was used...impressive!
here's the video... https://youtu.be/0xo9qKPVhEk
jump to 29:07 and have a piece of paper and something to write with. Don't jump ahead. See where you fall when it comes to a blinded test and which one YOU LIKE the best. Don't try and pick the Canon shots because you say you like Canon colors the best (you may end up picking lot of Nikon shots if you do that, by the way), pick the shots you like the best in terms of color. Let me know what you find.
In THIS test, Sony wins with the most people according to a DPReview-user survey. MANY people who thought they preferred Canon colors ended up liking Sony more. I was one of them.
the camera body weight argument . sony 7r3 = 657 grams,. the sony 5D4 is 800 grams. big boy has a problem with 143 grams. the weight of a Mc Donalds big mac is 240 grams. agreed the sony is a great camera but the whole weight discussion is non discussion. but for him size could be an issue so it fits his handbag.
When you’re taking anything up a mountain, even grams make a difference.
but you dont workout. besides photography i workout and that helps me stay fit and healthy. a 150 grams more or less wont make that much different s. in three months i turn 50. photography is much more than just the gear. its the vision you have, the planning or timing and the gear you are going to use. i will buy a sony but my reason is the size, not the weight and the video options. im not sure if will buy the a6500 or the 7r3. a small camera gets a different respons from the public then a dslr with a 24-70 f2.8 on it.
safe 143 grams is about the weight of a cup of coffee. i just read that nikon D850s are still out of stock in the US. i notice special offers for the sony 7r3 over here. means that nikon is outselling sony. sony is about 348 grams lighter. i see your argument but the weight argument i dont see.a lightweight sony body and than carry around fixed lenses instead of a zoom lens. i wanne sony cause i want it, i dont need a reall reason. thats how i bought my car, its bigger then my neighbors car and shiny
" i just read that nikon D850s are still out of stock in the US. i notice special offers for the sony 7r3 over here. means that nikon is outselling sony"
Oh is that what it means? Number of units produced have nothing to do with it? Your ability to deduct sales figures based on that information is just stupid.
I'm highly active and I workout constantly. When you carry that extra weight all day it makes a difference. I know from multiple trips where I've carried a 5d4 over 20 miles a day on the trail.
But yes, I agree that you get a different response from people. People get scared of DSLRs lol.
hehe someone poking a Canon in your face, that would scare anyone. a smaller camera and people react different.
Great points, I by no means think that Sony is for everyone but I think having a dark horse like Sony causing disruption is great for the industry.
It is kind of funny how randomly a lot of us got into our respective systems. I bought a Canon kit simply because of a Black Friday sale.
I didn’t know anything at the time.
bought my first canon rebel camera because of the name (all i knew) and in a consumer test magazine it said it was the starter camera of the year. for FF i went to nikon, very happy with that choice,. but now im getting into video, nikon wont offer the options im looking for so i might go with a sony just for that,. and my 2001 clock radio is sony so i know the brand.
troll troll troll
never mind :)