camera ideas

[BaymaxFan78]

I'm thinking about renting a camera to take with me to the grand opening of Star wars: Galaxy's edge next month. But I can't decide on what type. I want something that has good video and photo quality. Preferably a mirrorless, at or above 24 megapixels. I've been looking at the Sony A7iii and I'm really starting to like it. If y'all have any recommendations let me know.

 

[jec6613]

If you like the Z7III, you'll love the Z6. The video features beat the Sony (weird, right?) with better IBIS and better video AF. Their menus and ergonomics are also much better, and at the moment so are the optics - the 24-70 f/4 is optically on par with the Sony f/2.8 glass yet much more compact. And of course, you could rent a Z6 for video and a Z7 for stills if you really wanted to.

But before diving too far into it, do you have an existing camera system so you can use lenses from that? Or batteries? Or media cards? All of those are going to add up to more than the camera rental, especially with mirrorless involved; and perhaps as importantly, sticking to a menu system you know will be very helpful for a rental.

Aside, if you want good video quality, for the moment skip anything above 24 MP. The higher MP bodies are better for stills, but give more artifacts in video and often have an associated crop with them.

 

[KVH]

But before diving too far into it, do you have an existing camera system so you can use lenses from that? Or batteries? Or media cards? All of those are going to add up to more than the camera rental, especially with mirrorless involved; and perhaps as importantly, sticking to a menu system you know will be very helpful for a rental.

Above is important. Then again, I'd be interested in your focus (haha) on mirrorless. Any special reason or just kool-aid fallout? There's a lot to be said for a FF DSLR.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

If you like the Z7III, you'll love the Z6. The video features beat the Sony (weird, right?) with better IBIS and better video AF. Their menus and ergonomics are also much better, and at the moment so are the optics - the 24-70 f/4 is optically on par with the Sony f/2.8 glass yet much more compact. And of course, you could rent a Z6 for video and a Z7 for stills if you really wanted to.

But before diving too far into it, do you have an existing camera system so you can use lenses from that? Or batteries? Or media cards? All of those are going to add up to more than the camera rental, especially with mirrorless involved; and perhaps as importantly, sticking to a menu system you know will be very helpful for a rental.

Aside, if you want good video quality, for the moment skip anything above 24 MP. The higher MP bodies are better for stills, but give more artifacts in video and often have an associated crop with them.

The Z6 is very nice too. Thank you. I have a cheaper Canon M50 that I use whenever I'm at Disney. I love it, but I really need an upgrade. I already have memory cards and all that fun stuff. The reason I'm renting is because I'm willing to spend a couple hundred for a rental right now but not a couple thousand on a new camera.

Above is important. Then again, I'd be interested in your focus (haha) on mirrorless. Any special reason or just kool-aid fallout? There's a lot to be said for a FF DSLR.

I like mirrorless because they are more compact and lightweight and overall easier to carry around. They have better quality (in my opinion) than any DSLR I've ever used.

 

[jec6613]

I like mirrorless because they are more compact and lightweight and overall easier to carry around. They have better quality (in my opinion) than any DSLR I've ever used.

As a Df owner, I can easily have a more lightweight and compact full frame kit, and I have ISO performance for days...

But the killer thing here for you is video, which mirrorless definitely have an edge in. And you say you have memory cards, but you don't for the Z6 which takes the potent XQD card, and you don't have spare batteries for anything.

The Z6 is really all about the glass. There are pluses and minuses to the A7III vs the Z6 right now, but the Z6 definitely has better inexpensive optics. But, on the other hand, have you considered renting faster glass for your M50? An f/2.8 lens on your crop body is the same as using an f/4 lens on a full frame body (to within rounding error). You get the same depth of field isolation, and the same total number of photons hitting the sensor, so unless you're also renting the f/2.8 zooms or some fast primes with the mirrorless camera, you'd be better off renting a Canon f/2.8 zoom lens and an EF to EOS-M adapter. Then you have your familiar camera with a lot more capability.

 

[KVH]

Agreed. Nothing wrong with the M50's chip and Digic8. Then again, if you can get your hands on a Sony a7iv, that might make a diff. But primes are definitely the way to go here.

 

[havoc315]

Z6 and a7iii are both excellent options. Both have some pros and cons. Autofocus, speed, performance, battery life, etc, are slightly better in the Sony. Ergonomics, EVF, LCD, and menus are better in the Nikon. Iq is virtually identical, video is essentially identical.

Though a big difference is lenses — what lenses do you want to bring with you. No point in renting a new camera just to adapt lenses. Nikon has a few great lenses and Sony has a ton of great lenses. So if you want a great 50/1.8, you can rent either brand. If you want excellent f4 wide and normal zooms, you can go either. You want a 1.4 prime, 2.8 zoom, or telephoto lens, Nikon isn’t there yet.

 

[jec6613]

Z6 and a7iii are both excellent options. Both have some pros and cons. Autofocus, speed, performance, battery life, etc, are slightly better in the Sony. Ergonomics, EVF, LCD, and menus are better in the Nikon. Iq is virtually identical, video is essentially identical.

Though a big difference is lenses — what lenses do you want to bring with you. No point in renting a new camera just to adapt lenses. Nikon has a few great lenses and Sony has a ton of great lenses. So if you want a great 50/1.8, you can rent either brand. If you want excellent f4 wide and normal zooms, you can go either. You want a 1.4 prime, 2.8 zoom, or telephoto lens, Nikon isn’t there yet.

That depends heavily on which f/2.8 zoom or f/1.4 prime you're interested in - the 24-70 f/2.8 is available for a Z mount, the 58 and 105 f/1.4 F mount are pretty amazing and adapt just fine, and the 70-200 f/2.8 F mount is better than anybody else' in any mount (and the FTZ adapts 100%). As for the Sony f/4 lenses, I'd only call them good (the f/4 mid zoom for Sony is definitely only good) or very good, but not excellent. Optically, the Nikkor f/4's are the same quality as the Sony f/2.8's, which is to say excellent. And of course, there's the very different bokeh between them, where the latest Nikkors are approaching Zeiss quality.

But of course, if you're looking only to rent an f/4, as I said above, I'd just rent the f/2.8 for the existing body. A full frame and an APS-C sensor are about 1 stop away in terms of low light and depth of field, so going a stop faster on the lens brings them to a level playing field, with your ISO cut in half and the same physical aperture opening size to give the same depth of field (e.g. at 35mm f/4 compared to 24mm f/2.8 both have about the same 8.6mm physical aperture opening and give the same field of view). And Canon has EF f/1.2 glass available for rent, too.

 

[bob100]

The Z6 is very nice too. Thank you. I have a cheaper Canon M50 that I use whenever I'm at Disney. I love it, but I really need an upgrade. I already have memory cards and all that fun stuff. The reason I'm renting is because I'm willing to spend a couple hundred for a rental right now but not a couple thousand on a new camera.

I like mirrorless because they are more compact and lightweight and overall easier to carry around. They have better quality (in my opinion) than any DSLR I've ever used.

same here. I use the older Canon M5 mirrorless
But full frame mirrorless is going to cost more - The Canon RP mirrorless is at least $1,500
maybe think about large(r) aperture lenses
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless