- I'm gonna help you decide which camera you should get: the Sony A7C, the Sony A7 IV, or the Sony A7S III. Now, if you're looking to upgrade to the Sony full-frame system, these are some of the best cameras that you can get when it comes to video. Though this guide is gonna be heavily focused on the video features, I'm gonna touch on photos as well 'cause I know a lot of content creators are gonna be shooting photos and videos with these cameras, but I'm mainly gonna be talking about the video features. Now, if you were my best friend, which you are, and you were spending your own hard-earned money on these cameras, this is exactly what I would tell you, and by the end of this video, you're gonna know exactly which camera that you should buy. - [Narrator] You got to just press record. - Hey guys, my name is Nolan Malt with Think Media.

Now, let's get some of the basics out of the way, and this is going to answer a lot of the questions that maybe beginners have when it comes to the Sony full-frame lineup, 'cause there's tons of full-frame Sony cameras out there. So, this is gonna help kind of answer some of those questions that you might have. Now, when we're talking about Sony full-frame cameras, the full frame refers to the sensor inside of the camera, and this is actually a larger sensor than something like their APS-C sensor, which is in the ZV-E10 or the Alpha series of cameras. Those all have a smaller sensor. So, we're getting a bigger sensor in the full-frame Sony cameras, which basically just means that these cameras can capture more light. So, these are gonna be much better in low light than the other cameras. You can also get a blurrier background with these cameras because of that larger sensor, and the lenses are going to be more expensive.

for the full frame lineup and overall, for the full frame Sony cameras, these are professional cameras. So yes, a lot of these are very expensive, but they are professional cameras. Now, some of the full frame cameras are going to be tailored towards photo, where some are towards video, and some are a little bit of both, so let's cover that real quick. For photography, Sony has the A7R lineup, and these cameras are gonna be heavily focused on photo. Where it's lacking in video features, it does really well with photography. Now, for the video users out there, they have the A7S series, and these are gonna be more tailored with video specs and less of a photography-based camera. This is gonna be really great for video, though. Now, the Sony A7 series is gonna have a little bit of both photo and video. It's gonna mash them together into what we call a hybrid camera. Now, when the Sony A7C came out,

this definitely falls into the hybrid group where it's great with photos and with videos as well. Now, the A7C actually came out before the A7 IV, and this was the first camera that Sony released, the first full-frame camera with a flip-out LCD screen. The purpose of the A7C, C for compact, was that this is a very small, lightweight camera that also has that full-frame sensor. Now, Sony also has the A9 series and the A1, and these are hybrid cameras. You can take photos, you can take videos on them, but they're very, very expensive. They're top-of-the-line Sony full-frame cameras. So, the three cameras that we're gonna be talking about are the A7C, the A7 IV, and the A7S III. Let's get right into it. The Sony A7C is the cheapest out of these three cameras, coming in at $1,800, and this is for the body only.

The Sony A7 IV is gonna come in at $2,500, and then the A7S III is gonna come in at $3,500. Now, the first thing you need to know is that all of these cameras are great video cameras. They are also all worthy upgrades to the next camera. However, there are some pros and cons to these different cameras, so depending on how you're gonna use this camera, we're gonna talk about that to see which one is gonna be best for you. Like I mentioned, they all have the full-frame sensor, and all these cameras have the E-mount system. So E-mount lenses are gonna be compatible on all of these Sony full-frame cameras. All of these cameras can shoot 4K video at 24 and 30 frames per second, and they also have the battery that I love. It's that Z-type battery, and it just lasts a long time. I really love the battery life.

that I get out of all of these cameras. It's the same battery; you get great battery life. The build quality is really great on all these cameras. The A7C definitely is the cheapest, but they're all gonna be weather-sealed. They all have the articulating flip-out screens. You also get USB-C, so you can charge this camera while shooting on it, or you can plug it into a computer if you wanna live stream with these cameras. They all have a mic jack, a headphone jack; they also all have the electric viewfinder, so you can look in there if you're shooting video or photo. But autofocus is incredible on all these cameras, and they're also all customizable, so you can get into the menu and really dial in the autofocus settings depending on your needs. But really, I would say Sony leads when it comes to autofocus, and so you're getting great eye-tracking autofocus in video and in photo for all these cameras.

There's gonna be no 30-minute record limit that you see on a lot of cameras. You're also not gonna get overheating. You have to go into the menu system to actually change something so that it allows you to get the camera a bit hotter, but once you do that, I've never had any overheating issues, and I shoot videos all the time with these Sony cameras. We're also getting gyro data. So they have software where you can plug this in, and it works really, really well to stabilize your footage. Basically, when you're shooting, it kind of captures all that data inside of the camera, and then when you throw it in, it really does a great job of stabilizing footage, and they all have amazing image quality when it comes to video. You're going to get beautiful video out of these cameras. They're updated with the new color science, and if you're just shooting in the standard picture profile, you're actually gonna get a pretty similar look.

out of all three of these cameras, and I'm really happy with the improvements that they've made to the color science over the years. So overall, even if you do no color grading and you just wanna shoot and upload videos, you're gonna get great colors. All right, let's talk about the upgrade from the A7C to the A7 IV and why you might wanna upgrade for $700. For the photography users out there, you are gonna get a 33-megapixel sensor on the A7 IV versus the 24-megapixel sensor on the A7C. So this just allows you to crop in more and have larger resolution photos for web or print or whatever you're doing with the photos. You're also getting a full mechanical shutter, and you can increase your shutter a bit more than you can on the A7C. Overall, the A7 IV really is the better photography camera over the A7C. Also, when you upgrade,

you're gonna get a new menu system, and personally, I really like the new menu system versus the old menu system. And it's also touch screen, so you can navigate through that menu system all with the touch of your finger, boop. There's more buttons, there's more dials, and so this makes it a lot easier to shoot photos and to shoot videos. The A7C doesn't have that front shutter that I'm used to. That kind of took a little bit of getting used to, but it's definitely not a deal breaker. You can still get away with A7C, and there's customizable options in there, but when it comes to the A7 IV, there's way more buttons, way more dials, and you can customize everything, definitely more of a professional camera when you upgrade to this camera. Instead of just one SD card slot, you are gonna get two, and one of those has the CF Type A Express card slot.

integrated into the SD card, so it can take either or. You're gonna get a full HDMI port on the A7 IV. You also have some differences when it comes to the USB-C. So yes, you can still use this to charge and connect to your camera, but on the A7 IV, you can actually live stream up to 1080 60 frames per second and do live streams like that, whereas on the A7C, it does not go that high. I believe it caps out at about 720p. Now, for the electric viewfinder, you actually get this in the middle of the camera. On the A7C, it's off to the side and it's actually more pixel, so it's gonna be clear, but it's also bigger. So when you look in there, the screen is going to look a lot bigger because of the magnification, whereas on the A7C, it's gonna be a lot smaller.

and for me, this is a pretty big upgrade. Having that extra-large screen really makes a big difference. Though both cameras have the in-body image stabilization, you are going to get the active stabilization, which basically crops in a little bit, but it's gonna be a lot smoother. I use this when I'm shooting B-roll or slow motion to get really smooth shots, and it almost looks like a gimbal sometimes if you're using it just right. It's definitely not in replacement of a gimbal, but you can get some really smooth shots with the active stabilization. You also get animal eye autofocus, and you get dual native ISO. So you're gonna get your regular native ISO if you're shooting in S-Log3. I believe it is 800 ISO, then it bumps up to 3200 ISO. And so when you jump up to that, it basically resets, and you have a perfectly clean image again. So the low-light performance is gonna be way better.

when it comes to photo and video. You can also shoot in 4K 60 frames per second, but there is going to be a pretty powerful crop of 1.5 times that full-frame sensor, but in 1080, just like the A7C, you can shoot up to 120 frames per second. Now, the interesting thing about shooting 4K on the A7 IV is you're actually getting a 7K downsample to 4K video. So, the video is still 4K, but if you actually do pixel peeping, it's gonna be a bit sharper than the A7C and actually even in the A7S III. Most people really are not going to notice this at all, but it's definitely worth mentioning. A few other upgrades where when you're recording, you get that red frame around your LCD screen to make it really easy to know that you are filming. We also got a focus breathing compensation feature,

So when you turn this on, your lenses aren't gonna have that focus breathing. It's gonna automatically adjust that for you. There's also a new feature called the focus map, which I personally don't love. If you wanna hear more about it, you can check out my A7 IV review, which is gonna be down in the description below if you wanna check that out. Now, my favorite upgrade with this camera as a videographer is you get 10-bit color depth. Basically, what this means is it gives you the power and the ability to shoot an S-Log3 on this camera, and this is a flat picture profile that is gonna give you way more dynamic range than just shooting on your regular standard picture profile, though you have to grade it and post. For me as a videographer, it's definitely worth it, and it's a professional feature that I love having on this camera. So really, those are a lot of upgrades, and that's why I tell you it's worth the price to upgrade.

Even though the A7C is a fantastic camera, the A7 IV is a fantastic camera as well and definitely worth the $700 extra. So let's talk about the Sony A7S III and why you would upgrade to that camera for an extra $1,000. One of the big things here is you can shoot 4K up to 120 frames per second and you don't have to worry about the crop. There's no crop at 60 frames per second. There's a very small, like a 10% crop at 120 frames per second, but you can shoot 4K slow motion and it looks absolutely beautiful. So the dual native ISO on this camera actually goes a bit higher. So it starts at 640 in S-Log3 and then it jumps up, I think, to 12800 ISO. So you can shoot incredible low-light stuff on this camera. Now, another big upgrade with this camera that the other two really struggle with

is the rolling shutter. So on the A7S III, you're not gonna have any rolling shutter issues. Basically, if you're filming video, maybe you're vlogging, maybe you're shooting a music video or some sort of commercial, if the camera's moving around a lot, you're gonna get this jello effect on the other two cameras, whereas on the A7S III, this has been fixed. Now, though this is awesome and I absolutely love it, it comes with a compromise and that compromise is to the photo feature. So when taking photos on the A7S III, you only get 12 megapixels. Now, this is still a good amount and definitely usable for web use, social media, stuff like that, however, you're not gonna be able to crop in as much because you just don't have the resolution there. So though this camera is a video beast, it does lack in the megapixels when it comes to photography.

and that's why a lot of people don't go with the A7S III is because they want a camera that can shoot very high quality, a lot of megapixels, a lot of resolution photography for their content. So you're still gonna get 10 bit color depth. You can shoot in S-Log3, get amazing dynamic range, beautiful colors, all that kind of stuff and really, the A7S III is just a rehoused FX3 and that camera is part of Sony's cinema line. So you truly are getting a cinema camera if you go this route. You can shoot movies on this thing, TV shows, you can shoot high production quality stuff on this camera. I love it so much, it's a beast. All right, let's talk about these cameras and what they are best for. When it comes down to the best hybrid camera, one that can do photo, one that can also do incredible video,

I would say go with the Sony A7 IV. For a lot of you guys out there, you might be live streaming, and you might have your camera on a tripod like this, and you're not gonna see any issues with the rolling shutter unless you're shaking the camera like crazy. But for most of you guys, you're gonna have no issues with that camera. So with that camera, you get a lot of the benefits of the A7S III, meaning that 10-bit S-Log3, which is just gorgeous. And then you also get an amazing photography camera and a lot of other features that were not on the A7S III, like the focus breathing compensation, even the live streaming through USB-C 1080 60 frames per second. I hope there's a firmware update that allows the A7S III to have those things, but right now they don't. So the A7 IV actually kind of has an upper hand.

in some of these categories. Now, when it comes to the best budget vlogging camera, it's definitely the Sony A7C. It's lightweight, it's super small. You have the great autofocus, and for most people just doing online content, whether that's YouTube or whatever else it is, you're gonna be shooting in the standard picture profile, so you don't need the 10-bit color depth. You don't need to shoot an S-Log. You can just shoot in the standard picture profile, and you still get amazing video quality with that new color science in the Sony A7C that you're seeing in the other cameras as well. And check the link in the description because Omar made a fantastic video talking about vlogging with the Sony A7C, so check that out after this. Now, the A7C was the best budget vlog camera. I think the best vlog camera is the Sony A7S III.

because there's no rolling shutter. So you can run around, vlog everything with that, and the Sony A7S III is also the best video camera. This thing is just an absolute beast, and if you want the best video production quality out of your camera, maybe you wanna shoot in S-Log, maybe you wanna do higher-end work, the Sony A7S III is gonna have you covered for so much stuff when it comes to video. It's just an absolute beast of a camera. Now, some of you might ask if it was my money and what would I buy? I probably would buy the Sony A7S III just because I am a video nerd, and I care about rolling shutter, and I wanna shoot 4K 120 frames per second uncropped. But a lot of you guys out there are not gonna be doing that. You're not gonna care about the little bit of rolling shutter that you get with other cameras. So for most people, I'm telling them to buy the Sony A7 IV.

because the cool thing is there's professional features inside of this camera. So if you wanna start editing and grading S-Log footage, you can do this on the Sony A7 IV. Now, I know I'm gonna get some comments about the A7C. Yes, it's an eight-bit camera. You can shoot in S-Log2 on that camera and still grade it. There's just not as much flexibility there, so there's a lot more room to actually mess up your footage if you're shooting an S-Log because of the eight-bit color depth, but you still can do that. For the filmmakers out there, the videographers out there that wanna get the maximum dynamic range out of that camera, you can do that. And again, if you're someone who does not want to mess with color grading, you do not wanna shoot any flat picture profile, you wanna shoot, upload, live stream, all that kind of stuff,

I kind of recommend just going with the Sony A7C and save that money. My buddy Alejandro got the A7C when that dropped, and then he got the Cam Link, so he just live streams 1080p to his computer, and that thing just sits on his desk most of the time. He can still use it for his vlog channel, but for just meetings and live streaming and online content where he doesn't need to grade any of the footage, the A7C has been working perfect for him. So, yes, it's gonna depend on your budget. Are you doing video? Are you doing photo? Do you wanna shoot an S-Log and grade your footage, or do you just wanna shoot in the normal standard picture profile? That really is all up to you. So let me know in the comments which camera are you going to buy and tell me why. Now, because I believe that A7 IV is the best bang for your buck,

Click on the screen to watch an A7 IV video, or you can click on the screen to check out the A7C vlogging video that Omar did, and I'll see you guys in the next video. (gentle music)

Best Sony Full Frame Camera To Buy! (a7C vs a7IV vs a7Siii)

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