Showing what’s possible with their mirrorless cameras (we’re talking about Alpha 7 series, and specifically Sony Alpha 7S II), Sony Pictures shot a Hollywood movie using Sony Alpha 7S II.
The movie in question is “The Possession of Hannah Grace” – you can see the trailer here.
Sony are saying that the movie was shot primarily on Alpha 7S II – that’s a mirrorless camera that costs about $2000. Attached to the camera were Vantage’s Hawk 65 anamorphic models, more expensive than the camera itself. These were resizing the video footage from a standard 4K in 16:9 aspect ratio to 2.40:1 widescreen.
Sony Alpha 7S II is a cheap camera compared to video cameras typically used in Hollywood (like RED) but it has some advantages over these cameras, like very shallow depth of field. This specific camera is also great for low light shooting (which allows for shooting at high ISO).
To add to that, this camera is not new (it came out 3 years ago) and it doesn’t shoot 10-bit video (like more recent cameras). But the video quality is still spectacular. Great quality video from camera that shoots in 8-bit.
Producers had many versions with different Hawk primes at their disposal – 40mm, 60mm and 95mm – and they could shoot with them without worrying to change the lenses.