Your A7R5 is actually a spectacular video camera, with all of Sony's latest bells and whistles. Make sure you shoot in 10-bit SLOG3. Plenty of youtube tutorials to see how. **By far** the biggest tip I can tell you is get acquainted with the custom dials/memory recall function to allow you to easily switch between photo and video while preserving your settings/picture profiles in each. I have one mode set for 4K 24p video, another for 4K 60p, and the other for 1080 120p, all with the requisite settings and stabilization modes I use most.
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I did watch a YouTube video on how to set this up. In fact, I found the setting to "unlink" the photo and video memory so that I can switch between video and camera and all the settings go back to what they were before for each mode. On the camera side, I have the custom 1, 2 and 3 set, and I also have all the custom buttons set. This took a while as might be expected as I experimented during a a few trips to Costa Rica. Only then do you realize "it would be way easier if there was a way to...." and bam the A7R5 is so customizable that there is, in fact, a way. And then it's time to go out again and work on the finger muscle memory. This is why I upgraded to the A7R5 a year in advance of the trip to Africa - one does not go to the olympics of photography without training training training! Attached are a few of my first birding attempts.
As for video, I know nothing at all about video. So I watched a YouTube video for 50 minutes and copied what I learned. I set up the main menus for 24 fps and shutter to 1/50 and ISO to 800, I learned about setting while balance manually, I set to XAVC HS 4K, 100M 4:2:2 10bit, turned log shooting on, and set it to S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3. I learned about S&Q settings which might be cool for a running animal or a time lapse sunset (I'll bring a tiny desktop tripod) and learned about autofocus. All of this is set to custom 1 on the video side. You mention that you "have one mode set for 4K 24p video, another for 4K 60p, and the other for 1080 120p, all with the requisite settings and stabilization modes I use most." I am not there yet! I have not even shot a single clip with the present settings. But I then watched a video on how to color grade in Final Cut Pro which I just purchased. So I am at the very very beginning of learning video - but I have 6 months to learn it. I liked your video and cinematography styles. Looking forward to learning this skill.
