Club MacMost Exclusive: Switching to the Sony 𝛂6100 Camera

So I finally got a better camera for shooting MacMost videos. Some of you may remember I had been using the Logitech Brio, a 1080p webcam, for years. Then I upgraded a few months ago to a cheap camcorder, the Canon R800. I plugged that in to an Elgato Cam Link 4K to stream the 1080p video into the Mac and record in ScreenFlow. That was better. But I know a real camera with a large sensor and lens would be much better. I had planned to get the Sony 𝛂6400 for a while, but the $1,000 price point held me back. Then Sony came out with the 𝛂6100, a cheaper version for $750. I got that over the weekend and have now shot two upcoming videos with it. Take a look at the comparison. It is quite a jump. And I can see it when I zoom in really well. I now understand why not all actors were thrilled when 1080 became the standard for TV! The camera is actually 4K, but I'm using it at 1080p. The Elgato Cam Link 4K can do 4K, but at the moment I can only seem to get 4K by sacrificing frames. So instead of 30 frames per second, I'm getting dropped frames, so more like 10 fps. It looks jittery. Each frame is crystal clear, though. And the preview of the video looks 30fps. So I'm wondering if even my 2013 Mac Pro isn't capable of encoding 4K video <strong>in real time</strong>. That "in real time" is the key here. Even a midrange Mac can work with 4K video, but it isn't encoding a stream of it in real time. So I can try some 4K video, but just recorded to the camera's SD card. And maybe my next Mac will be able to do it. Or maybe the successor to the Elgato Cam Link 4K will work. I can't wait to use the new camera as a camera too. Oh, and I've moved the R800 to the other side of my desk to use instead of the old Brio in the shot of me in the corner of the screen. Have to use the same Cam Link for now, swapping out the HDMI input though.

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