Yeah, I did that for four years, and it was pretty miraculous. That said, I am now trying to do the freelance route — laid off in January. It’s really hard to start up with that, at least for me at the moment.
Buy a used ZV E1, and rig it out. A used ZVE1 runs for the same price as a used A7IV depending on where you buy it
It’s the same sensor as the FX3/A7S3/FX6.
You get 12800 dual iso
This. Clients should pay for what they ask for.
If you have clients that don’t pay enough for you to rent a camera, then you don’t have clients that will pay enough for you to live.
If you’re trying to build up reel and doing passion projects, then go cheap and get something like a7s or a7s ii, and use extra money on good glass. Date a camera, marry the lens.
If you can shoot well in HD 4:2:0 8bit, you can shoot well in 4K 4:2:2 10bit. Skill is more important than gear.
I started the other way. I bought my A7C, started taking gigs and rented lenses for the gigs depending on need. Tamron 35-150 was the most common one I rented, so I just bought it a week ago. The Sony 85 1.4 was also amazing and was hard to pass up, but the flexibility of the Tamron was much more helpful.
Still - good advice. The quality of your photos will come through much more with quality glass than the top of the line camera.
Sometimes you don’t have anywhere to rent. I live in a fairly big city but surrounding is very rural but loads of filming opportunities. World renowned locations for ads and tourism.
Nearest rental place is a 7 hour round trip away.
Then that’s not an option for you.
But it does sound like an opportunity to open a camera rental store lol
Joking. Advice is only as good as your ability to take advantage of it. Seems my advice doesn’t work for your specific location.
While not as good as the A7SIII, the standard A7III and IV are still very capable nowadays. You can buy used or open box models for very affordable prices, and then maybe after you build out your clients, you can update the body.
From what I've been told, invest more in the glass, not the camera body.
Don’t really see the need dor the 120fps soo it will do great. The dual native ISO for the A7S3 will be soo hard to give up for the time being but hey game is the game
You do get a 7K oversampled image though which looks really clean, although at the expense of rolling shutter. If you’re just doing video, maybe an FX3 is the better call?
The A7iii is my main cam and works fine. But that 30min limit pisses me off so bad.
This week I’m finally upgrading to an A7siii and I also bought a second A7sii because as b-cams they are great. You can override the 30min limit, great low light, and with a battery grip + battery pack they run for hours. You get pretty much an identical image to the A7iii and match it even closer with cinematch.
A7iii will be all you need. Main things it would be missing is the “S” attributes - only important in very dark environments, the rolling shutter is worse - but this is only important for fast moving shots and would not otherwise be noticeable, 120fps. It’s a solid piece of kit.
Literally any camera can make money. And it's not like Sony is exactly the leader in video anyways. Get the clients first and then work your way up. Focus on value of the camera, not the brand
>soo as any sane person should. I’m trying to escape the 9-5 life and slowly build my own clients 9-5 and employer owned equipment ain't so bad...
Yeah seriously...should we tell him now
Become self employed and you can tell your boss every day how big of idiot they are and not get fired.
Yeah, I did that for four years, and it was pretty miraculous. That said, I am now trying to do the freelance route — laid off in January. It’s really hard to start up with that, at least for me at the moment.
Hope you pick up speed with the freelance soon, that’s gotta be tough at first. Best of luck!
I get what you are saying but i don’t get freedom to use the equipment for my personal projects and my paycheck isn’t good at all…
I hear that, pluses and minuses to everything in life. Definitely gotta do what’s best for you.
Buy a used ZV E1, and rig it out. A used ZVE1 runs for the same price as a used A7IV depending on where you buy it It’s the same sensor as the FX3/A7S3/FX6. You get 12800 dual iso
I will definitely look into that 🫡
I have it as well. Perfect starter camera and really the only option.
gonna need to know a budget
There isn’t really a specified budget just a cheaper upgradable set substitution for the a7s3
You don't need a camera to get clients. You just need somewhere to rent a camera.
This. Clients should pay for what they ask for. If you have clients that don’t pay enough for you to rent a camera, then you don’t have clients that will pay enough for you to live. If you’re trying to build up reel and doing passion projects, then go cheap and get something like a7s or a7s ii, and use extra money on good glass. Date a camera, marry the lens. If you can shoot well in HD 4:2:0 8bit, you can shoot well in 4K 4:2:2 10bit. Skill is more important than gear.
I started the other way. I bought my A7C, started taking gigs and rented lenses for the gigs depending on need. Tamron 35-150 was the most common one I rented, so I just bought it a week ago. The Sony 85 1.4 was also amazing and was hard to pass up, but the flexibility of the Tamron was much more helpful. Still - good advice. The quality of your photos will come through much more with quality glass than the top of the line camera.
Sometimes you don’t have anywhere to rent. I live in a fairly big city but surrounding is very rural but loads of filming opportunities. World renowned locations for ads and tourism. Nearest rental place is a 7 hour round trip away.
Then that’s not an option for you. But it does sound like an opportunity to open a camera rental store lol Joking. Advice is only as good as your ability to take advantage of it. Seems my advice doesn’t work for your specific location.
While not as good as the A7SIII, the standard A7III and IV are still very capable nowadays. You can buy used or open box models for very affordable prices, and then maybe after you build out your clients, you can update the body. From what I've been told, invest more in the glass, not the camera body.
A7 iv is really nice just doesn’t do the 120fps but picture quality is amazing and very good price second hand.
Don’t really see the need dor the 120fps soo it will do great. The dual native ISO for the A7S3 will be soo hard to give up for the time being but hey game is the game
A7iv also has dual native ISO, 800 and 3200
True, just not 12800
You do get a 7K oversampled image though which looks really clean, although at the expense of rolling shutter. If you’re just doing video, maybe an FX3 is the better call?
Used a7iii or a7iv is all you need. Also, get usedd first generation Tamron if you want to save money.
I was also thinking something like that. Thanks
The A7iii is my main cam and works fine. But that 30min limit pisses me off so bad. This week I’m finally upgrading to an A7siii and I also bought a second A7sii because as b-cams they are great. You can override the 30min limit, great low light, and with a battery grip + battery pack they run for hours. You get pretty much an identical image to the A7iii and match it even closer with cinematch.
A7iii will be all you need. Main things it would be missing is the “S” attributes - only important in very dark environments, the rolling shutter is worse - but this is only important for fast moving shots and would not otherwise be noticeable, 120fps. It’s a solid piece of kit.
Literally any camera can make money. And it's not like Sony is exactly the leader in video anyways. Get the clients first and then work your way up. Focus on value of the camera, not the brand
I'm looking for a camera.
I suggest going with the Sony A7 III. It features a full frame sensor and excels in both video and photography.
I am biased because this is my kit, but the A7IV + Sigma 24-70 would be my choice, just because I prefer to have those extra MMs on the wide end.