Sony A7r for video?

Before I say anything I just want to make it clear I love the idea of a full frame NEX compact size mirrorless camera. Sony seems to lead the way. The Sony A7r is about the size of the Oly. OMD. Now its here! With the short lens flange distance there bound to be more than just Metabone people making adapters for adapting other lenses to this mirrorless beast. Can't wait to try it out.

Now my real concern is video. One thing nag at me after searching and looking around for online reviews is the video footage with these cameras.....for example the attached review looks soft and highlights clipping like hell. Colour is rather odd. May be it is just me. Not a low light camera is a surprise for me for a full frame. with 36 mp sensor it seems the camera is more geared towards digital still but paradoxically it presses all the right buttons as a camera for video. It has ear phone jack, decent sound recording, clean HDMI and nice EVF. Small and swivel screen etc

Well I like the still pictures more than the review footage. Flash sync at just 1/160?

Can't wait to see it for real later in the year and then I will know for sure.

The RX10 is better suit for video even it has the same Bionz X processor.

Read this article, not sure if the A7/7R has the full sensor read out feature:

http://www.eoshd.com/content/11337/surprise-new-sony-rx10-sensor-full-pixel-readout-5k-raw-video-output

It's a long zoom camera, so I doubt there would be housing for it. If it does, I would imagine many people would move away from the RX-100M2 and use the RX10 since it's handy on land for its zoom, and the constant 2.8F is useful, oh, and a build in ND filter!!!!

The 1/160th sync for most Sony cameras is a huge disappointment for me too (well, the A77 and A99 both do 1/250th, but of course they're virtually impossible to find housings for).

Since a few manufacturers have chosen to house the NEX models, I too am hopeful that the A7/A7r will get some housings. Not that I'd be upgrading soon (2015 earliest, probably), but I will be watching this camera style for the future. I want to see how the on-sensor PDAF shakes out before I decide. I've not been willing to go "mirrorless" yet because of that, and love the way the SLT's permit a true live view simultaneous with SLR-equivalent PDAF. If Sony indeed can get to the same AF performance without the mirror, then the advantages of the A-mount vs. a smaller flange distance E-mount pretty much become just 'hand ergonomics' (and perhaps a little distortion), which is totally different underwater where the housing, not the body, defines the ergonomics.

Hi KC

The RX 10 does sound interesting. 5K full sensor read and then down sampled to HD. The image should be super crisp. Not seeing that in the sample videos yet. I hope someone could hack this when it comes out and pipe the 5K readout to a SSD and housed in a battery hand grip module. One can dream. If the zoom could be limited on camera then may be possible to have a housing made for it.

No info on the bandwidth. If it is just 8 bit in AVCHD wrapper then not much of a leap. 10 bit uncompressed ? Hmmm one can hope. Sony is probably targeting GH3 with this one. Interesting times ahead.

cheers

The RX10 is the right direction, for on land anyway because if people hack it, then the HDMI will be able to use for 5K output. I suspect the next generation of RX100 may be similar to the RX10 in term of sensor and image processor. 4K can be done on today's camera body, but I read that they're waiting for the media (SD/MicroSD) and processing (computer spec, software, H.265 etc.) to catch up so consumer can afford to upgrade this hobby, not just for pro-videographer. I think it will be another 2 years or so. 4K TV and UHD TV are starting to pop up, so it's a good sign!