Tagged with sony - Personal View Talks

Official Sony a57 topic

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:03:07 +0000

Short specs

APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) , 16.7 megapixels
1920 x 1080 (60p, 24p), 1440 x 1080 (30p), 640 x 480 (30 fps) (in PAL models 25p instead of 30p)
EVF 1.44Mp
Tilted LCD 921Kp
Mic input

Information and previews:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/13/sony-alpha-a57-official/#continued
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/03/13/Sony-SLT-A57-HVL-LE1
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sonyslta57/
http://www.thephoblographer.com/2012/03/13/sony-presents-new-%CE%B157-slt-which-does-almost-all-the-thinking-for-you/

Reviews:

http://www.photoreview.com.au/reviews/dslr-cameras/entry-level/sony-slt-a57#Full_review http://www.trustedreviews.com/sony-alpha-a77_Digital-Camera_review

Videos:

Orders:

SONY DRO in Movie Mode - Drawbacks? How it is done?

richg101 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:15:45 +0000

Hey Guys.

This forum seems to be full of technical minded people, I'll post my query here.

I am interested in the DRO mode which applies processing to both still images and during video mode within Sony Alpha/ Nex cameras. From tests it seems to lower the contrast of the captured data meaning sky is less beached out and darker areas are more exposed. The result is a flatter profile (even flatter than setting your picture profile to flat -3-3-3).

The camera has 6 DRO modes from 'off' to 'level 1' through to 'level 5'. meaning you can adjust the amount of processing / exposure swing the camera applies to the captured footage.

Does anyone actually know how this process is working? Is the camera changing the ISO of different parts of the sensor in order to lower sensitivity in the brighter areas of the frame, and raising the iso to get better exposure in the darker areas? In still photography mode the resultant image when looked at in playback mode is brighter than it looked when you actually take the image, but the change is clearly visible in realtime while recording which would suggest to me that there is not a post processing type process going on during movie recording mode. - what you see on the monitor during recording is the same as what you see when you play it back.

Could it be that it is the camera ramping or lowering ISO depending on the brightness of the details in the frame or is it more likely to be similar to the processing a picture profile would be imparting on the picture?

I want to get some theories so I can start to look at ways to make best use of this process. EOSHD sstate that DRO adds a lot of noise/colour artifacts to the picture in movie mode, but could this be that if the camera were set to iso 800, the DRO might be ramping things right up to 3200iso in the darker areas? If i set the camera to iso100, it will mean the DRO wont ramp to as high ISO (assuming the DRO is playing with ISO.

Some clips about the process:-

I think this feature is yet to be properly understood and up until recently i thought it were just a feature available in still mode. If it is applying at sensor ISO level this could be something Sony havn't thought to advertise as a benefit to using their consumer grade products like NEX5n within indi film making.

Thoughts???

ENG Camera Hacks

jjavelar_25 — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:38:19 +0000

Does anyone know any hacks for any traditional cameras? I would be really interested in getting a hack for my Sony NX5U that would increase the bit rate of my footage. Currently it records 24mbps MTS (AVCHD) files, I would really like if I can get that bit rate up higher. Intra or something that will give me a stable bit rate would be awesome.

2 or 4 GB Geforce 680 card for accelerated editing in Vegas?

EspenB — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:07:20 +0000

I want to upgrade my computer with a Geforce 680 card to speed up rendering/previeviewing with the GPU. The performance increase seems to be significant. I'm using Sony Vegas Movie Studio. My question is in regard to how much ram the card should have; 2 or 4 GB?

Consolidated Specs for Cinema Cameras with RAW

thepalalias — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 05:29:39 +0000

I went through the list of topics in Raw Cameras and did not see a list like this, so since I had been compiling some for the blog I posted today at http://www.pasadenapulse.net, I thought I would put them here so that others can add to it (and correct any errors that are statistically likely to have been added. :)

These cameras all have (or are slated to have soon) RAW recording capability in some form.

Max Horizontal Resolution

BMCC: 2.4K
Arri Alexa: 2.88K max horizontal resolution.
Sony FS-700: 4K expandable with 1.92K at release.
Sony F55: 4K max horizontal resolution (4096x2160).
Canon C500: 4K max horizontal resolution (4096x2960 RAW max).
Sony F65: Greater than 4K.*
Red One/Red One MX: 4.5K max horizontal resolution.
Red Scarlet: 5K max horizontal resolution (but 4K max horizontal resolution at 24/25/30P).
Red Epic: 5K max horizontal resolution.
Red Dragon: 6K max horizontal resolution. Unreleased.

*As for the Sony F65, I don't want to get into that can of worms. With it's 20MP sensor, let's just say "easily 4K, probably more in the future" but not get too far into it other than to say that the current recording format is 4K.

Cameras with Global Shutter

Sony F55

Max Framerates at 4K and Highest Resolution (with the color depth recorded)

BMCC: Cannot do 4K. Max 30P 12-bit log at 2.5K.
Arri Alexa: Cannot do 4K. Max 60P 12-bit log at 2.88K in 16x9 mode.
Red One MX: 30P 12-bit at both 4.5K and 4K.
Canon C500: 60P 10-bit at 4K.
Sony FS-700: Upcoming 60P at unspecified RAW bit-depth in 4K.
Sony F55: 60P 16-bit linear 4K.
Sony F65: 120P 16-bit linear 4K.
CMV12000: 90P 12-bit or 150P 10-bit at 4K.
Red Scarlet: 30P 16-bit at 4K. 12P at 5K.
Red Epic: 150P 16-bit at 4K. 120P 16-bit at 5K.
Red Dragon: Unknown 4K (expected to meet or exceed Red Epic at all framerates but guaranteed 120P at 5K). At least 85P 16-bit at 6K. Unreleased.

Native DR

Sony FS-700: Untested in RAW.
Red One (not MX): 11.3 stops official.
Canon C500: 12 stops official. (Though the highlight roll-off has been garnering praise)
BMCC: 13 stops official.
Red MX (as used in MX/Scarlet/Epic): 13.5 official. (Some sources measured at under 12 but I'm not invested in one measurement over the other).
Arri Alexa: 14 stops official.
Sony F55: 14 stops official.
Sony F65: 14 stops official.
Red Dragon: Over 15 stops official. Unreleased.

And of course, the Red Scarlet, Epic (and upcoming Dragon) support the HDRx mode that some people like and others do not, which is officially specified as increasing dynamic range to 18 stops (with a lot of caveats to go along with it).

Gh2 to 5DtoRGB just gives me audio files in Vegas 12

Loganm187 — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:11:09 +0000

I am editing a short film with hacked gh2 files and it keeps crashing so I decided to convert and no matter if I convert to apple pro res or DNXHD when i carry over to vegas 11 or 12 is just brings the audio over. VLC player will play the files fine with video and audio. Any help guys?

Anyone ever considered a Sony NEX-5N Hack?!

Jonesy91 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:01:56 +0000

I'm a long time GH1/GH2 hacked user. I viewed the Christmas Shootout videos from Phillip Bloom, and I realized that the DSLR with the most cinematic potential aside from the GH2 is the NEX 5N. If someone could hack the NEX 5N to a higher bitrate, it could probably gain all the advantages of the GH2, while keeping or improving what it already does better. A list for perspective:

GH2 (Hacked): -Better Resolution -Higher ISO values -More native lenses -External Mic Jack -Swivel out LCD

NEX5N: -Better Low light Capability -Sensor has better crop factor -60p!( better Full HD slow motion potential) -Flatter Pictures Profiles

...and I sure I'm missing something for both, but it would be helpful if anyone could add anything else they know. I don't know which one has better AF/AF tracking for its lenses. Just thought that the Sony NEX 5N may, if hacked, have everything we have in the GH2, and more (of course with no mic jack). SOMEONE PLEASE HACK THE SONY NEX 5N, PLEASE!!!!

Free Color Grading Presets for Sony Vegas

CRFilms — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:42:54 +0000

A lot of people use Adobe or Final cut plus magic bullet and this and that. Once you start adding it all up, it' can easily go over $1000 of software. I don't have that kind of cash right now so I use Sony Vegas Studio 10, now just upgraded to 11 cause I'm poor AND cheap. For those of you like me and would like some free color grading options I've found these.

http://eugenia.queru.com/2008/10/03/sony-vegas-color-grading-presets/

http://eugenia.queru.com/2010/12/27/vintage-look-with-sony-vegas/

http://krotoflik.com/#/sony-vegas-presets/4549215749

If you don't know how to use Presets, the first two links have instructions and links to the preset manager software download. The Presets work with Vegas Pro or Studio.

EDIT: In the third link, looks like some of the presets don't work right since they were designed for Vegas Pro and some of the preset plug in chains are missing since they're not in Vegas Studio. The first two links were created with Studio in mind, however and should work in both.

FS: GH2 Body, Genus Matte Box, Nikon AI-S lenses, Canon HF200, Sekonic L758 Cine Meter, etc

ikoniq — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:19:58 +0000

Clearing shelf space for new equipment!

All equipment listed is in good working order and actually surplus or rarely used, actual pics (note some items sold):

Canon Vixia HF200 HD camcorder with battery and charger - SOLD
Genus Wide Matte Box Deluxe with 15mm rails and 77mm adapter (original box) - $400
Sony PCM-M10 Recorder (original box) - SOLD
Sekonic L 758 Cine Light Meter L758 - SOLD
Panasonic Lumix GH2 Body, battery and charger (original box) - SOLD
Fostex FR2-LE with Porta Brace - SOLD
Nikon AI-S 24mm f2.0 - SOLD
Nikon Ai-S 35mm f1.4 - SOLD
Nikon Ai-S 105mm f2.8 Micro / Macro - SOLD

Would prefer to sell locally in NY for cash but willing to ship if buyers pays via Paypal plus shipping. Feel free to send questions or offers to me at ikoniq gmail com. This is all surplus equipment for me so looking for new homes for them.

Thanks, Kevin

Linda + Joacim: A wedding without guests

oscillian — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 12:44:26 +0000

When Linda approached me with filming her wedding this autumn I was struck by the fact that there were to be no guests! They recently had gone through some difficult times and felt that a party was inappropriate. So instead of a church full of people there were only six of us: the couple, a priest, a girl by the piano, the photographer and me. Never the less I must say Linda was more than capable to fill that church with joy!

Solo shooter: 2 GH2s with @Driftwood Cluster 6 Drewnet 25/50p, Mostly shot on SLRMagic 12mm and Voigtlander 25mm. Panny 20mm, Canon FD 35-105 and Sony RX100 for the ceremony. Benro AF2 sticks, Manfrotto 561BHDV-1 (best tool I ever got!) and a modified Steadicam Smoothee.

Edit in Sony Vegas. CC with mostly curves and a little Magic Bullet Cosmo for a few close ups.

Music courtesy of www.themusicbed.com

Sony Vegas Pro 11 topic

sethdp — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 18:14:35 +0000

i wanted to see if anybody else has gotten this when trying to render a project. last night i finish up a rough edit of a 10 minute short, just touching up sound and adding some amibent music. wanted to get the ok before grading. i select render in 1080p mp4 so i could load it to youtube for easy viewing for the director and when i clicked start a message comes up saying an error occurred while creating the media file. the reason for the error could not be determine. anybody ever get this? is the footage lost thanks seth

Hot: Sony announcements

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 22:45:01 +0000

To not bump many topics, I'll make small reference here

Each topic below have extensive references to all available previews, videos, preorder locations.

HDSLRs and lenses:

A99 Full Frame SLT : http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4193/sony-a99-official-topic

RX1 rich mans camera: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4522/sony-rx1-full-frame-mirrorless

NEX-6 : http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4312/sony-nex-6-topic

Small powerzoom: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4546/16-50mm-sony-powerzoom-lens

Wide zoom with OIS: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4548/10-18mm-sony-lens

35mm lens : http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4549/35mm-f1.8-sony-lens

Pro and semi-pro cameras:

Full frame VG900 : http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4349/sony-nex-vg900-full-frame-camera-topic

APS-C VG30 : http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4486/sony-nex-vg30-camera-topic

Please use specific topics for comments about products, use this one for general remarks only.

Rendering settings

johnnygh2 — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:12:10 +0000

Hi all,

Can you tell me your sony vegas rendering settings for vimeo I don't get to get my footage come out nice. It drives me crazy!

This is what I do: sony vegas pro 10 and render as sony AVC picture Video format: AVC profile: high 1920x1080 Entropy coding: CABAC Framerate: 23,976 Field order: None (Progressive) Pixel aspect ratio: 1.000 Bit rate(bsp) 20.000.000

Hope you can help me out!

Sony Excellence Professional MiniDV Tapes for Sale

questech — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 17:27:29 +0000

If You Want to Feel Confident About Your Video Projects, Don't Settle for Anything Less Than Sony Excellence!

Come On... If you use Tape, You can't find any Better for Less!

I purchased 600 of these tapes for a film project a few years ago, and have 33 of them left.

They are brand new (have been stored in a climate controlled location since purchased) and still in their protective wrappers... They Were Never Opened!

They come in 5 packs and the boxes they come in are unopened as well, except for the 1 box out of 7 that only has 3 (unopened) tapes out of the 5.

These tapes are durable and have never let me down. Before I use to use a lower quality tape and I had all kinds of problems, like drop outs in the middle of a good take :-(

But these Sony tapes gave me the confidence to trust my equipment, and it saved me a lot of stress AND money.

I no longer have any tape based equipment so they are up for bid.

BTW The MSRP on these is something like $23.99 Each, and they are selling at retail for around $11.99 - $16.99 Each (you can probably find them for $8.00 each, or maybe less, if you look hard enough but they are hard to find).

I'm selling them for $128 or Best Offer.

Contact me if you are interested... Anthony

Matching Picture Profiles with the Sony NEX Fs100

casey — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 05:44:01 +0000

I just got my FS100 and trying to match some picture profiles with GoPro and Nikon D7000. Any help or comments?

Sony-NEX VG10 and NEX cameras Firmware Hack

Anima3D — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:01:13 +0000

mr Vitaliy Kiselev. Can you Hack Sony NEX-VG10 Firmware?
I know plenty of people that wishes this....
you can see at Vimeo Here http://vimeo.com/groups/nexvg10/forumthread:231466
I 'm sure that you already know this....

Look CLIFFLIX post:
"Seriously,...how many people would throw in $200 each for this guy (Vitaly Kiselev) to enable peaking, zebras, 24p and maybe NEX5 type monitor focus zoom? That's easily worth it to me! 20 to 50 people or more here on this board at $200 bucks each? That's nice bank! no?

My God,...that stuff enabled would actually make the VG10 almost a "PRO" camera!"

Do something for us..... We will support you for sure

Sony PMW-100

agoltz — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 07:18:21 +0000

Sony introduces the full-featured yet light and compact PMW-100 handheld camcorder.

The PMW-100 joins the ever popular XDCAM HD422 line-up – making it the smallest and lightest camcorder in the XDCAM family.

Advancement in digital imaging technology has enabled professional journalists and videographers to cover stories by using portable devices such as mobile phones, DSLRs and consumer camcorders. However, when compared to main-stream shoulder mount camcorders, there is still a significant gap in image quality, ease of editing and data management. The PMW-100 achieves the best of both worlds, by recording full broadcast quality MPEG HD422 video within a hand-held form factor.

Equipped with a newly developed 1/2.9-inch "Exmor" CMOS sensor, it delivers excellent picture performance and also achieves the minimum illumination of 0.08lx. Featuring a 5.4-54mm (40-400mm in 35mm equivalent) zoom lens, the versatile PMW-100 allow users to work in virtually any production environment where mobility and flexibility is highly valued.

"The PMW-100 combines exceptional picture quality with portability and outstanding manoeuvrability based on the proven XDCAM workflow, taking professional users to a whole new level of productivity. The development of the PMW-100 is a natural step in the progression of the XDCAM range and is a direct response to our customers requirements. Long-time XDCAM users requested a light and compact camcorder that will not only work seamlessly on its own, but also alongside other XDCAM cameras such as the acclaimed PMW-500," said Bill Drummond, Strategic Marketing Manager, Sony Europe.

The PMW-100 supports full-HD video at 1080i, 1080p and 720p up to 50 Mbps MXF recording and playback based on the MPEG HD422 codec using the standard MPEG HD422 Long GOP compression technology. It is also switchable to MPEG HD420 35/25Mbps or DVCAM 25Mbps. The PMW-100 can also record high quality 24-bit four-channel audio at an uncompressed 48kHz.

It offers utmost flexibility of using a variety of recording media including the high speed SxS memory card as well as Memory Stick, SD card and XQD as the emergency secondly media. The new "SxS Memory Card Management Utility"* software will provide additional operational convenience with SxS memory card, such as the data back-up function and the lifetime indication of the card in use.

Focusing on your subject and reviewing recorded footage is a breeze with the full colour 3.5-inch WVGA (852x480) LCD. The Slow & Quick Motion function enables users to create artistic fast and slow-motion footage from 1fps to 60fps in 720p mode and from 1fps to 30fps in 1080p mode.

The camera also incorporates HD/SD-SDI output, Composite output, Genlock input, time code input/output, i.LINK (HDV/DV) input/output, and A/V output.

The PMW-100 will start shipping in May 2012.

H.264 to self-contained Quicktime file?

bostonmike — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:14:24 +0000

After all the help I got with converting HD to SD and formatting it on a DVD, the film festival I'm taking part in decides to change the guidelines just days before the start of it. They are now accepting HD and will take a USB flashdrive as long as it conforms to the following guidelines:

A self-contained Quicktime file - codecs for HD: Apple Intermediate Codec, DVCProHD, HDV, Motion JPEG-A, Apple Pro-Res 4.2.2 (not HQ, LT, or 4.4.4), or H.264 (with a data rate of at least 16Mbps)

So I'm using my GH2 on a PC, rendering in Vegas Movie Studio HD 11.0, shooting 1080p 24fps

This is going to be shown a full-sized movie theater screen, so I want to maintain as much quality as possible. I wonder if there is any way of doing this without buying Quicktime Pro?

Thanks

SONY HX9V topic

GOODEMPIRE — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:57:50 +0000

Some people are really impressed with it. Anyone has that experience?

Sony and Panasonic shares

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:07:47 +0000

Sony and Panasonic shares plunged to their lowest levels in more than three decades on Friday as investors fretted about the future prospects for two of Japan's most iconic firms amid massive losses.

Sony, which reported a record $5.7 billion annual loss Thursday, dived 6.43 percent to 1,135 yen, while Panasonic closed down 1.55 percent at 570 yen shortly before posting a record $9.67 billion annual loss on Friday.

The firms' shares stood at their lowest level since at least 1980, taking into account previous stock splits, according to the online edition of the Nikkei business daily.

Via: http://news.yahoo.com/sony-panasonic-shares-plunge-30-lows-043559428.html

Sony NEX 5N or Panasonic GH2?

acuriousman — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:49:30 +0000

Hello!

I'm very new to DSLR's and I'm looking at these two cameras to shoot video with. The subjects I record will be very close to the lens (a few inches away) so I will need something that can take jaw dropping footage.

The Sony is a bit less expensive than the GH2 but which would you guys recommend and why?

Thank you!

Sony NEX vs Panasonic G series (GF1,GF2, etc..)

AlbertZ — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:49:44 +0000

I have a GH1 (hacked), however I'm very interested in a little camera for my travels. Good video quality is important to me. I've seen that you can get old sony nex cameras (sony nex 3 and 5) and 18-55 kit lens for cheap..about 300 $. Both models cannot allow full manual controls in video (you can't set ISO), however videos on vimeo looks pretty good. Of course nex camera and gf1/2 have different sensor , crop factor etc...so a comparison is not "fair", however I would be curious to know what (little) camera you can suggest for video quality: gf2/1 or sony nex 3-5?

gh2 Low Light Shots

bostonmike — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:45:22 +0000

Testing out my gh2 with Terraquake hack around the house in low light. Settings---- Smooth, -2, -2, -2, -2. 24H Motion Picture Mode, ISO 160, 14-140mm kit lens. Sony Vegas Home Studio HD 11. No color correction, just a few contrast adjustments. Had a nice soundtrack to it, but somehow still can't seem to upload sound on Vimeo yet.

People getting Sony NEX 7 cameras.

Shield — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:05:01 +0000

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-alpha-NEX-7-24-3-MP-Digital-Camera-Black-Body-Only-/270874898995?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item3f1166f233

Body only, and it's at $1825 already. Geesh people.

Here's some raw video footage. I see LOTS of moire in the daylight shots.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex7/page24.asp

Shawn

Sony CLM V-55 Monitor

marks — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:40:15 +0000

I recently bought one and thought I would share my experience with it.
Main purpose in buying was for my 2nd cam person. She had been having trouble focusing our FX1's and now with GH2's I was worried. I had looked at the offerings from Small HD and others but just couldn't get my head around the cost....especially since my primary goal was focus assist. When the Sony model came out I looked at it a while then finally decided to buy it. I got it from Amazon for $399....figuring I could return it if it was junk or keep it if it was nice. Turns out it was a little of both.
First thing to note is that it does not come with any means to power it. You're on your own. I went to Batteries Plus and bought a 3000 mAh battery and charger for about $50. I have run the monitor for as long as 4-5 hours and have not had it die. I haven't tested to see how long it will run.
It arrived the same day I had a dance recital so my first test was also a working test.
First thing I noticed as I was setting it up was the colors. They looked amazing on the monitor.....except for the reds. The stage curtains were that nice deep shade of red.....but on the monitor they were brown. No manner of adjustment could make them red. I spent an hour or more tinkering with it before giving up and adjusting it so all the colors but the reds looked good.
Peaking worked really well.....and there is also a pixel magnification function that zooms in on the picture to help with focus. I haven't really used that function as the peaking works very well.
The fold up lens hood is also nice. Works well in most outdoor situations....though if you get the sun to your back forget it. The screen is reflective so that is a small problem outdoors....but not a deal breaker.
After some reading on the internet concerning the reds, I decided to return it for a new one. The couple of reviews that were out seemed to not have a problem with the reds. One nice thing about the return was the price was now lower....$322.00!
The new one arrived and I had the opportunity to use it again at the same venue. The reds were MUCH better....though still slightly leaning towards brown. The consensus of those I have talked to seems to be that you can't expect perfection at that price.
All in all I am happy with it. My 2nd shooter doesn't have any problems with focus now, and that is the main reason I bought it. If you need critical color I don't think I would recommend it. If you need focus assist and just want to have something bigger to look at then it works.
Would I buy one again?? Matter of fact I did. I liked it so much I bought another for my cam.

Mark

GH2 versus Arri Alexa and F3 (real world testing)

JDN — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:46:47 +0000

Recently directed a two week block of a nature doc where the gh2 was side by side with an F3 and then an Alexa. Overall, everyone was impressed with how well the gh2 stood up -- so much so I take back what I said about the F3 on another forum. I now believe the hacked gh2 may look better than any camera under $20K, even if those cameras are fitted with external recorders.

In no particular order, here’s some observations for those who are interested:

SPECS:
Sony F3 with RED 17-50mm zoom outputting nanoflash at psf 140mbps I frame
Arrix Alexa with a variety of canon bayonet mount lenses shooting to prores HQ 422
GH2 with kae 3GOP hack with 14, 25 mm (panasonic) and 50mm (FD) primes
All shooting was done at 23.98 with black frost 1/8th and schiender tru polas

GH2 versus F3

OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE
We started off shooting the F3 at 100 mbps long GOP and almost barfed when we reviewed the results in the hotel room that night -- the high bit rate did not take away from the very “video” look, and the sensor had no ability whatsoever to handle blowouts -- the sun had disgusting fringy bands around it (although to be fair, this could have been the lens). Switching to I frame improved the “film” though the gh2 still somehow had better cadence -- our DoP, who is much more experienced than me, commented that he always thought panasonic’s cadence at 24 frames was better than other manufacturers and some of that knowledge could have gone into the gh2.

Much like how the gh2 trumps the canon SLRS in terms of aliasing and moire, it maintained a slight edge over the f3 with nano in these categories as well -- we were shooting a lot in forested areas at the aliased fringing on foliage was less noticeable with the gh2 than with the f3.
Colour Rendition. Although we did not have much time to play with custom colour profiles on the f3, the general impression was that the f3 handled reds better and the gh2 handled greens better. Overall, the F3’s look was much more like the richness you’d get off a 5D, while the gh2 (at -2,-2,0,-2) had a slightly drained film look while still rending beautiful green tones. Obviously, for nature documentary, greens are more important than reds, so once again the Gh2 was the winner.

INDOOR PERFORMANCE
We were unable to test the gh2 and f3 with only available light, but with a controlled lighting setup, the two stacked up very well. We used the f3 to cover wides and mediums and the gh2 with 50 mm fd to cover the headshot. Overall, the cameras were comparable -- they both handled blacks very well, exhibited minimal noise (in both cases, when there was noise, it was quite pleasing) and experienced no aliasing around the edge of the interview subject, even with a back and top light.

The gh2 did show a noticeable red shift in low light -- I had to click the +G up about four spots on the colour balance and go a few 100 K cooler than the F3; even then we will be doing some colour correct to bring down the red a bit.
Overall, for a sit down interview, I’d say the F3 was the winner with more accurate colour rendition, more detail and perhaps a half stop more of latitude. That said, one is a $1200 setup, the other (counting the nanoflash & lens) is nearly a $30,000 setup.

BUILD QUALITY
The placement of the F3’s viewfinder was even more inconvenient than an slrs and as such was rarely used -- forcing us to rely on the f3’s viewfinder, which is actually worse (and less accurate) than the GH2s. As the F3 lacks false colour of a red or an alexa, you’re basically shooting with a histogram and zebras, just like a gh2, so neither has the upper hand.

We were not impressed with the build quality of the f3 -- it felt very plasticky, even more so than the gh2, and we were constantly worried we would break the thing. I could not, in good confidence, rely on it as a A-cam in a situation where I was far away from a gear house; one mistake and I think you’d shut down production. Same goes for the gh2 -- I’m sure its lack of weather sealing will one day cause me grief; thankfully, its low price tag will allow me to keep backups on hand.

SIZE AND PRICE
- With incredible progress of the hack, we often overlook how important the GH2’s form factor is, but I really saw it on this shoot:
One of our DPs, who has done a lot of work in warzones, saw the gh2s and its results and immediately commented, “these are going to be the Leica’s of video.” And I realize I’ve started to use it that way: like the stereotypical war photographic with three or four leica’s and primes around his neck, I just carry around two gh2s (and may get a third) — usually keep the 14mm on one (sometimes mounted on a glidecam hd), and the second one armed with either the 50mm f1.4 leica or a 100 mm f1.4 fd -- you get the visual characteristics of primes without having to stop to change them, and also quickly become a much better shooter.

In a doc setting, it is incredible how much you can get done when you are not tied to a heavy camera and sticks (nor crippled by the 12 minute run time of canon slrs). It was too rainy/windy/sandy at one location to risk the F3 and nano so we just pulled out the gh2s and ended up getting way more coverage than we would have ever got with the f3 (an interesting point on most of the new cameras, F3 included, is that they are not really designed to be shoulder held, so you end up killing 5 minutes to build a rig whenever you go from sticks to hand held).

WINNER: GH2

GH2 versus Arri Alexa
The above comments about the maneuverability of the GH2 apply even moreso comparison to the Alexa -- with lens, it weighs 30 - 35 pounds and can only be operated shoulder mounted with the assistance of a custom built easy rig.

Indoor Performace
The Alexa is absolutely incredible when shooting indoors with natural light only. It is mind-blowingly good -- in many situations we were able to shoot with a single 1x1 light panel as fill/key. The tonality of the colours is breathtaking (especially at 10 bit) but the real secret is the 14 stops of latitude -- whereas normally you’d have to light to keep your subject from disapearing into your background, and your background bright enough to not drop into shadow, with the Arri there is no need to do this. We shot some quick and dirty recon in an old train car and I felt like I was looking at a major motion picture (in the past, you had to spend hours rigging lights so the setting would look like it was naturally lit -- with the arri, you just use natural light).

In situations that are lit, the contrast between the arri and gh2 falls off a little -- we did a dinner where everyone had their own dedo as a key (to simulate light coming off a practical (oil lamp) on the table), with backlight coming from a fire and various practical and fill from a light panel. In this environment, the gh2’s red shift actually sold the oil lamp light very convincingly, and it’s lack of latitude was not a detriment as we were going for a dramatic look (this is not to say that it was better than the arri, however, as the arri files could also be crunched later to achieve a similar effect -- it was just that the lack of latitude as compared to the arri was not detrimental in this situation). I should say, however, there is something about the gh2 cadence that is still impressive -- for part of the shoot, we had the gh2 on a konova slider and the alexa on a microdolly (the standard dolly from an out of focus silhouette to reveal a table full of diners) and I gotta say, in some cases I preferred the cadence of the gh2 but overall the quality, lattitude and 10 bit colour of the alexa was a sight to behold.

OUTDOOR PERFORMACE
In run and gun situations outdoors, the arri showed some of its limits -- you really needed a good dp (which thankfully we had) who could put the sticks in the right place the first time because it just wasn’t the easiest camera to move around. Even moreso than other large cameras I’ve shot with (like the f800, which is about half the weight) the weight of the arri did limit some options and increase setup time. But, given the spectacular colours, it was worth it.

OTHER ISSUES
- The weight, and the fact that it chews through a 32 gig SxS card in 20 minutes, means you’re not running this thing for long without an assistant. We were constantly dumping cards, backing them up and reformating them (and that was with 7 cards). But if you can afford a $80,000 camera body, you can probably afford an assistant.

WINNER: ARRI ALEXA (what’d you expect?). I would say, however, the form factor of the alexa means that any doc shoot will require the highest quality, most maneuverable B camera to go with it, or you’re going to miss out on certainly angles and opportunities -- so far, the gh2 and Alexa seem a pretty good match in that respect, though we won’t really find out until we get them in the edit together).

ONE FINAL NOTE:
My biggest realization from these two weeks of side-by side comparisons (and a week earlier with the f800 as a cam) is that there really is “a gh2 look” -- something about the cadence, rendering of greens, slightly drained colour palate, and ability to handle dramatic lighting (from blacks to blowouts) makes it unique. As people once spoke of a Leica look, I think the more we play with the hacked gh2, the more we’ll realize it has something all its own. I can’t yet put my finger on what that is yet, but I can say that, much like film, there is something about its footage, which when shot right, gives you a real-but-unreal feeling; it is real because it has incredible detail and lack of video give aways (aliasing, moire, fringing/banding etc), yet is is unreal because the cadence contributes to suspension of disbelief, while its love of being at least one stop underexposed (and usually two) naturally leads to more dramatic tonality of colours and shadows than you’d experience with your own eyes).

Good Deals: Sony NEX-VG10 for $1299

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:03:59 +0000

VG10 with 18-200 lens.

http://www.adorama.com/SONEXVG10.html (add item to cart!)

Sony A77, NEX-7, VG announcment info, reviews links and talks

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 01:52:20 +0000

Special thanks for http://sonyalpharumors.com for providing information.

Previews and Reviews

A77 preview at Hardwarezone.

HOT! Sony NEX-7 preview with video on Engadget.

Sony NEX-5N video preview by Engadget.

HOT!Sony A77 hands-on preview and video on Engadget.

First VG-20 video preview on youtube.

HOT! Sony NEX 5N preview at ThePhoBlographer.

HOT! Very first Sony A77 preview on Dpreview (Click here).

Sony NEX-5N preview at Dpreview.

Sony A77 preview at videoacademy (german).

Sony A65 preview at Dpreview.

HOT!!! You can see an A77 video here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mL6KZXE96MW1/?tag=rumors0a-20!!!

HOT!!! And here is the NEX-7 video: http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m6QSS5UVQ2CB2/?tag=rumors0a-20

See the A77 specs graph via Amazon (Click here).

Image samples

Dpreview A77 image gallery.

Youtube-Vimeo

First videos taken with the A77 on Engadget!

First VG-20 video preview on youtube.

Sony Alpha 77- First look review by swissvideoacademy on youtube.

Sony A77 presentation on youtube.

Highlights

Engadget says: “We love the 24.3 megapixel sensor, but the camera’s OLED viewfinder is the star of the show.”

Links to Press release

A77 and A65 at the suisee magazine fotointern.

Sony announcement at Digitalcamerainfo.

A65 and A77 at Digitalcamerareview.

Sony NEX-7 at Dpreview.

Sony NEX-5N at Dpreview.

The new Sony A and E-mount lenses at Dpreview.

Sony A77 announced on Dpreview!

A picture of the press release on US Today (Click here).

Social Media (and reactions)

Live Sony event tweets by JVS on Twitter.

SAR group on Google+ and Facebook

Specialized topics:

A77 - http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/733/official-sony-a77-topic
NEX-7 - http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/749/official-sony-nex-7-topic
VG20 - http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/748/official-sony-vg20-topic

Sony NEX 5N Problem with settings reset upon battery change

bannedindv — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:43:30 +0000

Does your Nex 5N have trouble retaining Picture profile, iso, and autofocus, among other setup settings when you change the battery?

Two US models both purchased in California from best buy seem to exhibit this problem - never seen this problem on any other DSLR or pro/amateur compact camera.

Try setting your color profile, then changing the battery - or autofocus modes for instance.

When you start the camera back up, all the settings went back to default.

WTF!?!

Sony sensors presentation

Vitaliy_Kiselev — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:51:58 +0000