Mark Romero 2

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

I also find it very hard to use the EVF on the a5100 ?

 

Good catch.

5 hours ago, Dustin said:

I believe I have settled on IBIS if nothing else to add some stabilization to the couple manual primes.

The thing about that is you would need to use a "smart" adapter to communicate the EXIF to the a6500 body, otherwise, you will have to go into the menu system and set the focal length in the menu system for the IBIS to function correctly. Might be a pain if you switch lenses.

Here's the thing about Sony (and I shoot about 10 to 15 photo gigs a week, so I do have a bit of experience): The lenses are good (generally) but pricey, and a few real expensive ones seem to have quality control issues.

There is no native 16-50 f/2.8 E Mount lens, for example.

Minolta made some nice prime lenses with lots of... um... "character" and they sell somewhere between $15 to $100. You could put them on an LA-EA4 adapter and have autofocus with them (not great autofocus, but better than nothing I guess), or you could put them on an LA-EA3 and use them as a manual focus lens. I am about 90% sure that they would then transmit EXIF to the camera and that would give you IBIS for them, whether you used the LA-EA4 (autofocus) route, or if you use the LA-EA3 (no autorfocus) route. But double check this first.

Some sony users swear by their Minolta lenses, some swear AT them.

If you are going to use Nikon lenses and want the IBIS to determine the focal length automatically, you are going to have to use a smart adapter. However, the smart adapters are more expensive and the autofocus is pretty spotty. So you would be PAYING for autofocus but probably still end up using manual focus.

30 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

Yeah, I'm probably going to have do something radical and download the user guide.

And actually read it.

Oh the humanity !

Some People swear by the Gary Friedman books,

http://www.friedmanarchives.com/ebooks/index.htm#Sony_Books

I haven't read them though, but have checked out a couple of his free videos on youtube. I have no relation to him. However, I am notoriously cheap, so I would start with downloading the user guide as well.

2 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

My view as a recent reluctant joiner to the Sony party via the A6500 is that as you are going to be spending a significant amount of timing cursing it and ploughing through endless menus shouting "Where the f** are you, you little f***" to hunt down and change a setting then you might as well spring for the A6500 over the A6300 as at least you'll be getting a bit better reward for your quests.

While it's true that it can be a hassle, I have found that I can cut down on my cursing significantly by utilizing the M1 and M2 functions, optimizing the Fn menu, and customizing the buttons.

Heck, in theory you could have five custom memory functions (three of them are recorded on to the SD card), but since I tend to format my memory cards, I am not sure whether the three that are saved to the SD card would remain (kind of doubt they would, but the sony cameras allows you to deleted multiple images by date without formatting the whole card so maybe there is a work around).

Takes a lot of work to get it right, but it does help cut out a lot (although not all) of the frustration.

One other thing: The kit lens is no bueno. You will have to stop down a couple of stops if you want it to be sharp.

People like the new 18-135 a lot, but I think it is about $600, which is pretty pricey for a kit lens (especially since it is not a fixed aperture lens).

The 18-105 might be good for you, since it is a fixed f/4, but it too is $600 and some people say the IQ is only slightly better than the kit lens

I would try and contact the people who run the youtube channel gear, gadgets and glasses since they shoot weddings with sony https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6-NdwwgCY-DFaFDeEGr6BA

I think they are currently using a7 III, but I know they have shot weddings in the past with a6300 / a6500

@IronFilm makes a good point about monopods. Wonder if you could make some sort of monopod / shoulder rig / quick release contraption that would make sense???

One other thing:

Are you left eye or right eye dominant???

I am left eye dominant so I almost never use the EVF of my a5100 / a6000 / a6300 / a6500 cameras

As for a6300 vs a6500 vs other cameras...

The three reasons to buy an a6300 / a6500 over any other cameras are:

Really good low light
Really good AF with Sony lenses
Really detailed 4K at 24fps

So you have to ask yourself if you will be negating those benefits with your shooting scenario:

Motion blur (can) negate benefit of Really detailed 4K at 24fps
Using adapted lenses can negate the benefit of the really good AF
Using lights can negate the advantage of really good low light performance.

BTW: a6300 and a6500 are both great stills cameras... as long as there is a sony lens that meets your focal length and - more importantly - your budget. Eye AF is great. The dynamic range is great. There is a reason I take my a6500 out on my paying gigs while my D750 sits at home.
 

28 minutes ago, Dustin said:

Maybe since I'm on a budget I should just grab an a6300, update the new firmware for less overheating and one of these guys for $60 bucks? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NJKJ1IA?tag=kit-gl-20&th=1#customerReviews Not quite as portable as a gimbal but better than nothing.

Yes, those are better than nothing, but the a6300 / a6500 is too short / too light for those. You would need to add a cheap (Meike) battery grip. There is a guy on you tube

https://www.youtube.com/user/kylester925/videos

who has used the a6300 with a glidecam and I think he has some tips on it.

Oh, as for updating the firmware of the a6300, yes, it does extend the time you can record before overheating, but it also dims the screen even further. An a6300 with the old firmware has a brighter screen than an a6500 with the default firmware.

The af of the a6300 / a6500 with a lens like the SEL 50mm f/1.8 OSS is good for both stills and video. Here is an a6300 shot at 1080p 24fps on a Zhiyun crane with the 50mm f/1.8 OSS. The DOF isn't super shallow so maybe it won't give you too much of an idea of the AF, but it was shot at twilight and I was chasing around my son who was kind of unpredictable.

Thanks for posting.

Can you:

1) Post a short clip on youtube, and / or

2) Post a short clip to dropbox and share it so we can download and take a look at it?

What program are you looking at it?

To me, it looks like whatever program you are using is sharpening it very much.

@webrunner5

The rolling shutter on the a6300 / a6500 that if it were a whip pan - even in slow motion - the trees would be horizontal instead of vertical. Hey, wait a minute, maybe that's the answer to the rolling shutter problem; shoot in portrait mode and pan...

Yes, that was a good video. He makes many interesting / helpful videos.

@IronFilm

Thanks for the clarification.

I was confused by @cantsin post above talking about having a camera with a line in port.

QUESTION:

Where does the line out from the H1 go into the D5500?

Is there a line in jack on the D5500?

Does it plug into the mic jack?

Somewhere else?

9 hours ago, DBounce said:

A couple days ago I decided to do some test with the Canon C200 and Panasonic GH5S. I set up the two cameras next to one another and ran the C200 at 200 ISO vs the base 800 ISO of the GH5S. I then progressively increased the ISO of the Canon until it matched the GH5S, at which point I matched the same setting on both cameras. ISO 200 is the cleanest on the Canon. Both are quite clean at 6400 ISO. And this is good, as I almost never shoot higher than that. 

The real surprise came when I started to edit the footage in DaVinci Resolve 15 Beta. I'm using the free version as I see little point in paying for the full version since it comes bundled with the BMP4k. Well, as luck would have it, the free version has limitations. It cannot output at DCI 4k. The max output resolution is UHD. These days I tend to prefer Cinema Scope as it is wider and works well on high-end mobile devices with widescreen aspect ratios. With this in mind I selected DCI 2k Scope 2.39. Strangely, when I rendered out the footage... to my eyes it looked every bit as detailed as the 4k render from the GH5S. I checked to make certain I had rendered the Panasonic footage correctly. Sure enough, it was 4k. I am now left wondering if there is any reason to deliver anything in 4k given that DCI 2k looks so nice when down sampled.

Have any of you here experienced anything similar?

Just so I understand, both the footage from the C200 and the footage from the GH5s were rendered out as DCI 2K Scope 2.39 right???

And both were shot 4K DCI, right?

Or am I missing something???

1,100 clips is a LOT of clips.

Maybe first start with a piece of paper and a pencil. sit down with your favorite beverage and just write down what you remember from the vacation as being great moments.

Then maybe try to search for those particular clips that have those great moments.

Then of course you will want some B roll.

A wise man once said, if you don't have a destination, then all the roads are the right road. So I think working backwards like this might be a good start.

I know myself that I wouldn't be able to just start scrubbing through 1,100 clips and saying, "Is this a good clip or not?" I would just give up.

17 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

but 4k on the 6300/6500 is no aliasing?

I don't see it.

2 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

Man, I wish I could. I unfortunately just can't make that $$ jump currently, and I have gig's piling up.

Luckily for you, the a7 III is sold out for at least the next three months

Again, if you have a stabilizer and a monitor (I think you said you do), then the a6300 might work. Stabilized lenses help with rolling shutter.

Oh... almost forgot... meditation. If shooting handheld, meditation helps with rolling shutter, too.

SIDE NOTE: I have been shooting stills with my a6500 for a long time now, and the other day I was trying to shoot with my D750. Now, a lot of people say the touch screen on the a6500 isn't worth it since it isn't all that accurate, is a bit laggy, and you can't swipe through menus with it. But I will tell you, after using a camera with a touch screen, you shure don't want to go back to one without (like my D750).

It's kind of like the tilty screens in general. Once you get used to a tilty screen you never want to go back to a flat screen.

So with stabilized lenses and a gimbal = a6300

Non-stabilized lenses but with a gimbal = a6500 or a6300

Non-stabilized lenses and no gimbal = a6500

Or get an original a7s.

Also, be sure to get EOSHD procolor no matter what you do if you get an a6300 / a6500

Final tip: I found (for my tastes) 1080p on the a6300 / a6500 is usable with very shallow DOF. Otherwise, it is aliasing city.

@BTM_Pix

One other option that "seems" to work ok is to pick up the Sony LA-EA1 adapter (about $50 used) and put sony A mount lenses on it. It works OK-ish...

Here's the thing though:

There are probably only three reasons that you would want / need an a6500 over a GH5 or a G85, and one of those main reasons is the excellent autofocus (the other being an edge in low light and having more detailed 4K). Otherwise, the GH5 / G85 makes a lot more sense than the a6500 (and this is coming from someone who shoots with an a6500).

So if you giving up the excellent autofocus advantage by using adapted lenses... well... not a whole lot of reasons left to use the a6500 over the Panasonic cameras...

14 hours ago, Rodolfo Fernandes said:

Used a D850 i think i also used a Tamron 24-70 with VC and its perfect for shooting handheld, just get used to holding your breath.

This was the first video we did, it lacks movement so i don't like that much. But in this setup he brought his mic which we plugged to the recorder, same with the guitar. The thing is, we prefer to do it without the mic to look even more acoustic than it already is. Also it was my second day with the Mavic Pro and flew it between some trees and didnt crash it so i got that going for me
 

 

I like his singing. Sounds a little bit like Keane on Somewhere Only We Know.

Since you would prefer to NOT have the mic in the shot, then you should definitely think about recording the music in a studio-like setting, and then just shooting him while he is lip syncing.

@DanielVranic Where I live (just north of San Francisco), a used a7 II sells for about $950. That might be the high end you could sell it for yourself.

I haven't used an a7 II nor an a7R II. I do own an a6500 and have also shot with an a6300 and an a6000 and an a5100.

Are your lenses stabilized? If so you might look into the a6300 which is a few hundred less than the a6500 (if money is really tight). Same AF as a6500 and same video performance. Just a6500 has ibis (not needed if you are using stabilized lenses on a gimbal, IMHO), and a touch screen. The touch screen is pretty meh though. The a6300 used to overheat very easily but recent firmware allows it to shoot longer now. It is improved, but not "fixed" IMHO.

The screen on the a6300 and the a6500 dims significantly when recording 4K. You get a mic jack on the a6500 / a6300, but no headphone jack. Not so much of a problem if yo are using an HDMI monitor.

You asked about the a7R II, and as far as I have researched (meaning I haven't shot with one), the negatives of the a7R II are the same as on the a6500, namely both have bad battery life, dim screens, bad rolling shutter... I believe the a7R II is supposed to be better in super 35 / aps-c mode than in full frame mode, isn't it?

Do you have to shoot in 4K??? The original a7 S is supposed to have very sharp and clean 1080p. They sell used for around $1K around here as well. So if you could live with good 1080p, maybe keep your a7 II for stills and pick up a used a7S for video?

a6500 is a really good stills camera (I make my living shooting stills with one).

But if you are looking to stay in the Sony world, i think the best options for hybrid cameras are the a7R III and the a7 III

4 minutes ago, Rodolfo Fernandes said:

All handheld, both him and me are just doing this for fun so we try to make it simple, and thanks!

Thanks for the note. What camera are you using? Again, I like it be cause it looks stable but not too stable. I think my sony a6500 might have a bit of rolling shutter when I hold it handheld like you are doing in your video.

On 5/29/2018 at 1:54 AM, Rodolfo Fernandes said:

I am not an audio guy, i am completly ignorant in that department. I did a couple of videos of a friend of myne playing guitar in the middle of trees and i just used a Zoom H4n Pro to record it, its not perfect but it works!

Nice video. Thanks for posting.

Starting at about 2:05, were you just handholding the camera? Shoulder Rig? Gimbal? I like the natural movement of the camera. It is not OVER stabilized like on a gimbal.

11 hours ago, Don Kotlos said:

Did you use an SC7 cable or any other TRS to TRRS adapter? Cause the provided cable from the videomicro is not compatible with the phone mic plug. If the phone can provide the plug in power to the videomicro then I doubt you will notice a difference between recording with a quality app on your phone and a dedicated recorder. 

 

Just to confirm your comments - and the comments of others in previous threads - I basically wasted $80 when I bought a zoom H1???

On 5/17/2018 at 12:44 PM, OliKMIA said:

Don't forget the traditional "whaaaaat's up guyyyyyys" at the beginning of each video, along with "SUSCRIBE" with your hands pointing down toward the button...

You left out the obligatory, "It's your boy..."

Coming from a stills background, and working with untrained models, it is often helpful to have them imagine a glass box around their head.

The box is about an inch or two in front of their nose and and inch or two behind the back of their head, and about an inch or two to each side and on top.

Now let them know that they shouldn't bump in to the glass when they are moving their head.

Another tip that comes from shooting headshots when people are standing - and this may only work in limited situations - is to have them stand up behind a chair with their hands on the back of the chair, so that you limit their movement that way. Also helps them from leaning too far forward at the waist or leaning too far back.

Be clear to the actors about what the lens actually sees when telling them about the shot. If it is a head and shoulders shot, let them know that. If it is waist up, let them know that. You get the idea.

Also, maybe encourage them to practice in front of a smartphone (while filming themselves) instead of practicing in front of a mirror???

Hope this helps.

QUESTION: Does the g7 have the 29-minute record limit in the US?

My limited input is basically just a recap of wolfcrow's hour-long video on slog 2 exposure (which is well worth watching):

In a nutshell, use spot metering and expose whatever you consider important at 40 IRE or above, and set your zebras to 70 IRE for your skin tones (for Caucasian folks).

He cautioned against the generic "expose two stops over" or the generic "expose to the right" because you might have inconsistent skin tones (and he was assuming that is what most filmmakers would care about), and with inconsistent skin tones one would have to do more work to match skin tones from scene to scene.

That kind of makes sense to me. Say you have a shot with someone with darker skin and a not overly bright sky, and you just expose two stops over (or you expose to the right using multi-segment metering). Then your next shot features a lighter-skinned actor and a bright sky, and again you decide to expose to the right. The overall exposure is lower than the scene with the darker skinned actor and the dark sky, and the skin tones will be off.

He mentioned that slog 2 was designed to have a filmic look when handling highlights / over exposure

Anyway, I have watched it like three times and that seems to be the main gist of it. The info also seems to jibe with the information from the article by Allister Chapman that you linked to here:

http://www.xdcam-user.com/2017/09/why-is-exposing-log-brightly-beneficial/