Yup. Gapless capture would be killer. Doing it on-sensor (since stacked sensors often have a frame’s worth of memory that could be used as an accumulator) would save a lot of effort in post, especially since doing it on-sensor means not consuming off-sensor bandwidth and storage.
As to doing summing instead of averaging - since I output float16s, there’s little to no benefit of summing vs. just pushing a few EVs in post. Especially because some RAW converters might do Weird Things if there are values above the whitepoint in the DNG.
The whole “gapless” phenomenon is actually why I use a partial ND filter when doing long-exposure stacks - I want to get the exposure time long enough that the inter-exposure gap is insignificant compared to the capture, and also get it slower than my SD card. CFExpress Type A is still obscenely expensive - despite MicroSD Express having the same interface and being far cheaper…
I see someone else mentioned the A7V - 30 FPS raw bursts is very tempting for this average stacking application, but not $2900 worth of tempting for this A7IV owner. It would be a killer upgrade for III owners though!
The older model was “on sale” for $1299, while the Mk II was at the regular price of $1599 (both USD). Both were with the same kit lens. And the older model was specifically labeled as a “Cyber Monday Deal”.
Oof, that’s not a great deal and I can see why you passed on it. To be fair though, my $600 estimate was more in line with used prices, so maybe not a good benchmark for brand new. I just checked on Amazon Canada, and there’s one going for CAD$1000, which is about US$715, but it’s refurbished.
I watched that video over lunch. I’ve never seen this guy before so I don’t know what he specializes in or what his philosophy is. He talks a fair amount about ND filters, so I wonder why he needs them so much.
I like the fact he has a weight restriction for his lenses. Interesting that it’s 300g because I’d probably agree that you start to really notice weight above this. It obviously restricts you quite a bit with regard to lenses, and he’s basically restricting himself to primes. There are very few full-frame zooms under this weight, but I did count 12 for M43 in the list I keep.
As for the A7C mk2, it’s a camera I’ve been interested in for a while. If you stick to primes, I think this is a really nice compact full-frame camera, although when I see him put the lenses on it, it doesn’t look all that compact to me now that I’ve got used to M43 kits.
I’m constantly asking myself whether I really would get the benefit from the larger sensor. Right now, I think the answer is no, but I won’t rule it out for the future. If the really high resolution bodies (like the A7CR) come down in price eventually, I quite like the idea of using shorter focal lengths in crop mode rather than buying big glass for the reach.
As for the Osmo Nano, it looks like a really cool action cam. I kind of want one but I don’t shoot much video so it would be a silly GAS purchase really. Does anyone here use one regularly, and if so, what for?
I think he basically shoots only 35mm focal length. So a tiny bit wider than normal eyesight. His shots are quite architectural, scenery so I guess that works for that kind of undistorted view. But yes, it’s a limited range of options and he can only find one lens that meets his needs in terms of size, focal length and depth of field.
Yes, it is amazing how cheap third party lenses are these days.
But given that I already have an Olympus 50mm f/1.8, which has AF and is one of the best micro 4/3 primes, with amazing bokeh quality, I am unlikely to buy this one.