Leica s007 video work

[Glenmcd]

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Has anyone been using the S007 for serious video work? It shoots in a well worn codec with decent bit rate...the HD video out of this camera uses the full sensor so I'm thinking it could be quite beautiful.

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[alan.y]

Full HD uses the whole sensor but with crude line skipping so the end result is not that beautiful. 4K is beautiful but yields a 1.5x crop factor and impracticality large files as you know. In both cases the "rolling shutter" / jello effect is severe and makes the camera unuseable for most handheld situations.

[alan.y]

Also very little room for adjusting the image parameters. Just saturation and contrast and sharpness.

[jip]

is 4K available with HDMI out with a external recorder? 

[alan.y]

I'm not sure. RedDot's review suggests the HDMI output is full HD only, although in 8-bit 4:2:2 color space.

[Glenmcd]

I believe it can output a clean 4k signal (8 bit) to an external recorder. to the SD card it can record MJPEG 4k 8bit 422.

[Glenmcd]

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I have to admit that after looking at about 30 minutes of HD video footage from the S I'm quite pleased. The image is huge and the colors match those achieved in photos, pleasantly saturated without looking false. Tried to push the image around in post and there is very little room to maneuver. The image degrades very quickly if you try to grade color or compensate for an over or under exposed shot. For HD, definitely run and gun is not recommended, must have stabilization, and get your exposure as right as you can on the day and enjoy very organic film like footage! I'll check out 4K when I finally get my camera back from Germany. After four months supposedly it's been fixed and shipped!

[alan.y]

Found this video done with the S 007. I believe there's a mixture of "full frame" HD shots (visible moire) and "cropped" 4K shots. The footage is more photographic than true video in sensibility, but it is some of the better looking footage from the S out there (very little to begin with). 

 

Edited October 5, 2017 by alan.y

[Paul J]

I really hope they don't drop video from the next S.

[Glenmcd]

here is a short HD video I shot with the Leica S007. The image can be a bit soft at times but I have to admit that I really enjoy the look of it.

 

[alan.y]

Glenmcd thanks for sharing. Even in HD the S007 does produce a very nice organic image (except past iso 1600 and except when moire hits). But for me it's far outweighed by the impracticalities. Any camera movement or adjustment in post more or less destroys the image, as you suggest. I get better results using R lenses on the Sony A7S ii or FS5 with a lot less fuss.

 

However I do very much hope Leica beefs up the video capabilities of the S 008--improve jello, downscaling, adjustability, and add some kind of log gamma if possible. Even if photographers find video a distraction, the promise of the "medium format / Leica / Thalia look" on a budget (relatively speaking) will no doubt tempt many filmmakers and help to keep the S line alive. And the lenses are what Fuji and Hasselblad won't have, even when they too introduce better video.

 

In fact, I can hardly think of a more cost-effective thing for Leica to do to keep the S viable, whether I personally will ever earnestly use it for video or not. They already have some experience with the SL.

 

Edited October 16, 2017 by alan.y