In Part Six we looked at audio and power for the Sony A7s. In this part, we’ll look at tripods, heads, rigs, accessories and then combine everything to learn how much a Sony A7s kit will cost.
Tripods and Heads
The problem with light cameras is that they don’t have the necessary weight tripods and heads ‘expect’ in order to provide maximum stability. This is especially true for light carbon fiber tripods and heads, which work great for photography, but fail for motion.
For one, once you start panning and tilting, any slight vibration introduced through technique or a less-than perfect fluid head will be magnified. Secondly, on uneven terrain, where the legs are not in the perfect pyramid position, any lateral forces (like wind, your feet kicking against the legs, etc.) will induce motion. These vibrations are very noticeable, especially with longer focal lengths. True, with careful technique you might hope to circumvent most of these issues, but my experience dictates otherwise.
Therefore, one must find a tripod that is light enough to not negate the weight and size advantage of the Sony A7s, while also being sufficiently heavy to deliver the missing weight for stability. I would not go ‘lower’ than the following system.
First, the head:
Manfrotto 502 Flat Base Fluid Head
The legs:
Here are the combined specifications of this system:
- Maximum height with center column: 75.12 inches
- Maximum height without extending center column: 59.22 inches
- Maximum load capacity: 5.5 kg (12.2 lb)
- Minimum height: 7.92 inches
- Folded height of tripod: 24 inches
- Height of head: 5.12 inches (included in all calculations)
- Weight of the full kit: 3.9 kg (8.53 lbs)
- Cost of kit (approx.): $350
- Features: Tilt/Drag control, counter balance, quick release system
Another excellent solution for run-and-gun work are Manfrotto Monopods. You would use the same fluid head. If possible, and if weight is not a concern, I would upgrade to the Manfrotto 504HD head because I find it much more usable for professional heavy duty work.
Thoughts on rigs
You can read my thoughts on rig ergonomics here. To learn how to design and balance a shoulder rig configuration, check this out.
As far as an overall rig is concerned, the Sony A7s is almost a non-factor, weight and size-wise. A lens, the Atomos Shogun, and even the audio recorder will all probably weigh more than the A7s. As shown in the first image on this page, it would be a wise move to position the camera body as close to the shoulder support as possible. I would also position the audio recorder and any battery supply to the back to counterbalance it.
Otherwise you’re asking for a world of pain. I do not recommend front-heavy shoulder rigs. I usually don’t recommend cages but for the Sony A7s it might be a good option, since there are zero mounting points (excluding the tripod mount, that is). A cage would also protect the tiltable LCD screen that might just break off – and it’s a critical and possibly expensive part of your camera.
Here’s a list of important accessories and gear you will need to add to a kit:
Items | Unit Price | Qty | Price (USD) |
Opteka shoulder rig | $150 | 1 | $150 |
24″ Rods, ikan | $50 | 1 | $50 |
Railblocks and Counterweights | $200 | 1 | $200 |
Base Plate* | $90 | 1 | $90 |
Cineroid HDMI EVF | $995 | 1 | $995 |
Letus Follow Focus System | $899 | 1 | $899 |
Sanken COS-11D | $329 | 1 | $329 |
Sennheiser ME66+K6 | $470 | 1 | $470 |
Tascam DR-60D Recorder | $220 | 1 | $220 |
Media (Transcend 8 GB SDHC Card) | $7.5 | 2 | $15 |
Manfrotto tripod and head | $350 | 1 | $350 |
Cables, etc. | $50 | 1 | $50 |
*Care should be taken in selecting a base plate that provides easy access to the battery compartment and does not interfere with the lens mount or any lenses.
It’s too early to recommend any specific gear since the camera has just started shipping. However, in a few months I’m sure we’ll see a lot more options.
The Cost of a Sony A7s kit
Because not everyone needs rigs or tripods, I’m going to keep those separate. The same applies to lenses.
Base Kit
This is what you get with the camera:
Items | Unit Price* | Qty | Price *(USD) |
Sony A7s | $ 2,498 | 1 | $ 2,498 |
Internal Battery | $ 0.00 | 2 | $ 0.00 |
Mount Cap | $ 0.00 | 1 | $ 0.00 |
Charger | $ 0.00 | 1 | $ 0.00 |
AC Adapter (USB) | $ 0.00 | 1 | $ 0.00 |
Cable Protector | $ 0.00 | 1 | $ 0.00 |
Wasabi Charger and Battery Kit | $ 27.00 | 1 | $ 27.00 |
*Important: the prices might be totally inaccurate or wrong, so don’t assume any of the prices in this page is correct. Please refer to manufacturer’s website for details. Also, the price might be different depending on which country or region you’re in.Lenses
You could go as high or as low as possible with lenses. Many might spend entire lives with just a Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS which retails for about $750 or less or a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR ($1,300). For the sake of this article, I’ll assume the spending on lenses is about $1,000.
Secondly, many will be using existing lenses along with adapters. You could get cheaper adapters though not all of them will be perfectly machined. Let’s assume you spend about $100 for cheap and completely ‘dumb’ adapters with no electronic controls.
One thing you will need is an ND filter, if only a variable ND like the Heliopan 72mm Variable ND Filter which retails for about $384.
Additional Accessories
I won’t be considering these individually (let’s just say you’ll be spending about $100 on accessories):
- AC Adapter AC-PW20 ($80)
- OP/TECH neck strap (about $20)
- Screen protector
- Sony CLM-V55 LCD Monitor (about $400)
- Sony RM-VPR1 Remote Control/Cable Release (about $53) – need this for long exposures
- Cleaning kit, bags, etc.
- Other rigging gear like matte boxes, handles, etc.
External Monitoring and Recording
If you want 4K you need an external recorder:
Items | Unit Price | Qty | Price (USD) |
Atomos Shogun | $1995 | 1 | $1995 |
Hot-shoe mount | $10 | 1 | $10 |
HDMI cable | $6 | 1 | $6 |
Wasabi Charger | $84 | 1 | $84 |
Wasabi Batteries | $80 | 4 | $80 |
This kit will get you through a full day of shooting without having to charge your batteries.
Media
SSD drives are expensive, but not as much as SDXC or Compact Flash on a $ per GB basis:
Items | Unit Price | Qty | Price (USD) |
SanDisk Extreme II 120GB SSD | $78 | 3 | $234 |
SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB SDHC | $48 | 3 | $144 |
SSD Dock or Toaster | $29 | 1 | $29 |
You’ll need at least three drives, which will give you 18 minutes of 4K Prores HQ footage each. The SDHC cards are for internal 1080p recording and photography. It goes without saying that for data wrangling you’ll need a laptop and a fast drive for backups.
The Bottom Line
What’s the grand total? We have three versions:
- Bare bones Sony A7s 1080p kit: $4,150
- Bare bones Sony A7s 4K kit: $6,591
- The ‘from scratch’ all inclusive video production company kit: $10,409
Your mileage may vary, though it is safe to assume that you’ll be looking to spend anywhere between $5,000 to $10,000 to get going.
It really would be foolish expecting to get into 4K for just $2,495. Kit cost aside, you still have to deal with the costs of 4K post production (more later) in addition to onset data wrangling headaches.
I hope this small analysis will help you calculate your own expenses with regards to your Sony A7s kit.
In Part Eight we’ll look at post production workflows.