Rented a $4k camera rig for a shoot, my 3-year-old mirrorless almost beat it
I booked a commercial in Scottsdale and the production house insisted we use their Red package, but when I edited the footage side by side with my own A7III, the exposure on theirs was flat as hell without heavy grading. Is anyone else seeing this where the expensive hardware relies on post work way more than the newer cheaper stuff does, or was that maybe a bad rental unit?
Flat as hell straight out of the camera is just how the Red rolls, it's built for people who plan to spend hours in post anyway. Your A7III is doing all that work in camera and saving you the hassle, which is either a nice perk or a sign the rental shop handed you a sensor that's seen some things. Honestly, if your cheaper camera looks better with zero effort, that says more about their post workflow than your gear.