Receiver Mount and Comments in General

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

I have been playing today and working but I'll shoot a Realty job with the camera tomorrow and a wedding on Saturday.

The receiver mount was stupidly easy..All my Azdens come with a plastic box and a cold shoe mount so I took off the cold shoe bit and drilled the hole out to 1/4" and it screws right into the shoulder pad..easy as that and no issues..(pic is below)

I shot some basic footage with the camera out of the box and found that the zoom default is digital ..funny also the iris refused to go any lower than F4.5 when digital zoom is applied to the rocker switch...In power zoom it has the full zoom and iris range. Now I decided to just do some bright footage outside and yes, an ND would be needed I think..Aperture goes to F16 in auto and shutter seems to not go any higher than 120th ....the images looked OK though.

One weird thing was if I swing the camera over to some deep shade and zoom in a bit, the iris drops to F5.6 and it exposes well but my display showed the camera had also applied 3db gain ???? Why would it add gain in bright conditions ..I'm figuring that it should only apply gain once the shutter bottoms out at 1/50th and the iris is full open at F3.5 ? Maybe there is still something to set up in full auto? Can anyone confirm this where gain is applied at apertures smaller than F3.5.

The zoom is really slow..I have mine on high and it's quite useable now (started on low)

Outside and also inside doing quite fast pans inside rooms shows no skewing of verticals and brick walls outside had no moire at all, however the house across the street had the good ole shimmer on the roof tiles so it doesn't seem to like roofs...That is no issue for me at all.

Chris

[Chip Thome]

I'll take a guess !!!

In the deep shade the camera probably sensed it needed more that f5.6 to brighten it up. Dropping to f4 or lower would have dropped your DOF too. So to keep your DOF consistent, it applied gain, maybe ???

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Chip

That's what I figured too! In other words F4.5 would have over-exposed and F5.6 would have under-exposed so the electronics simply goes for the F5.6 and adds a tiny bit of gain ... exposure looked deadly accurate. I'm not used to a camera that gives me a display of shutter, iris and gain..The Panasonics don't show shutter speed at all, just iris and gain is shown as "AGC" so you have no idea in low light if the camera has applied 3db gain or 30db ...with the Sony even in auto...everything is displayed which is great and new to me!!

Chris

[Don Bloom]

Chris, I can only assume that the receiver on the back helps with the balance and since my receiver is heavier than yours it will help even a bit more. Have you thought about making a small bracket to be able to move the receiver a little further back or are you comfortable with it where it is? I'm thinking of setting mine about the back edge of the should pad for both weight and the fact that my cables come out the bottom of my receiver so I need about an inch and a half to clear them.

In another post you mentioned battery's. Yeah I have both the real things and generics. I use the generics in my lights the real ones in the cameras so I think I should be OK for power. Damn you Sony!!!!! ;-0

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

.everything is displayed which is great and new to me!!Chris

Sometimes it's better not to know :D I also have seen some weird adjustments to shutter and iso even if there was enought light (in automode)
I do prefer keeping everything in manual though and only switch to all auto if I have no other choice. What I don't like and I am still looking if there is an easier way to do this is how you can select the iso.

With my dslr I always set my iris first, depending on how much shallow dof I want to have and then I adjust the iso so I get the right exposure, with the dslr that's quickly selected, push one button and turn a small wheel to go through the different values.

Only with this camera you need to assign the iso (or gain) to the switch on the side and then you are limited to 3, it is the same principle as on my xh-a1 which had 0, 3 and 6db assigned but for that camera those where the only gains I needed.

With the ea50 I actually could use all available iso's up to 3200 iso which are many but if I want to use any other then the assigned ones I have to go to the menu and assign other iso to the switch on the side which is not good at all.
If any owner out there knows another faster way to go through and select iso I would be happy to know.

Back on topic: Here some pictures how I managed to attach my azden and swit battery, I just used a old metal hotshoe adapter that was collecting dust, in one hotshoe I custommade and inserted a wooden small block that has the same size as the clamp from the swit batteryholder. Not sure how much wheight the extended shoulderpad can take but as long as it's on your shoulder it's no issue. It doesn't balance the camera on your shoulder but I was surprised how light (taken te size and accesoires into consideration) this set up is when shoulder mounted.

[Peter Rush]

Noa how does it rate for battery consumption? I'm moving from miniDV so I'm hoping for longer recording time as there's no tape transport

[Noa Put]

The swit battery is for the videolight...:)

edit: I see you changed the question, so just to clarify, the second battery on the back is to power the videolight but the 770 and 970 batteries should last several hours, have not tested yet but expect the supplied 770 to last at least 2,5 hours.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Noa

That looks really awesome!! I tried using the dual channel receivers and found the ones here just had no range ...I think due to size, the receivers on the new 300 series are non diversity and are hopeless..yours look like the 200 series and I think work well. I already had two 100ULT systems so I got another after selling the 300 and just mount two receivers on the back of my "A" cam. What is the Swit battery used for ? The video light?? If it is then that's clever..I might just run a cable from the light (it has a DC in) and use the battery at the back to get better balance. The manual says the pad can take 1kg

Don, no idea yet!!! I have a shoot in the morning so I decided to try the Sony and I needed a quickie fix for just one Azden ... My original was to have a plate at 45 degrees that threw even more weight backwards.
The L-Battery I played with all day and it got down to a mere 90% left ..Sony batteries seem to last forever..I use just one FP770 on my light and it lasts the entire wedding.

I compared some indoor footage tonight with the Panny's and the Sony seemed a bit contrasty and a bit"orange" and not true to colour so playing with the PP's I have found that PP3 seems to give the nicest overall colour and contrast. Any good hints and tips on profiles are always appreciated.

I'm still menu dabbling and also found the EVF tube tilts down (DOH!!!) I was taking it off!!! I love the multiple menu/scroll/exec wheels and buttons...very useful!!! I know it's lame but I do like the fact you can place a grid on the LCD to make sure you are level..my old Panasonics used to have markers but the newer models were discontinued. Shhoting at night in my rather dim office the Panasonic was full open at F1.8 and 18db gain and the slow stock lens was at F4 and 18db so I think an SEL50F18 will work very well at wedding receptions and 2X zoom (if ever needed) is always there if I have to use it.

One last question guys...On my Panny's I can set the time code so it resets to zero on each clip ..I cannot see if the Sony can do this yet ...any ideas???

We are making progress slowly on this side despite having weddings and realty shoots and edits!!

Chris

[Chris Harding]

Hi Peter

I have been playing with the camera all day and the battery went down to 90% left..the FP790 would last all night easily!!

Noa...thanks ..brilliant idea and much nicer weight distribution..I have several old chargers so I rip out the electronics and use them as a "battery carrier" on the back so the cam is less front heavy!!

Chris

[Noa Put]

The first photo I posted taken from behind the camera looks like that battleship cruiser in the first scene from star wars where it was chasing that tiny ship. It is a bit too big for my taste (that's what she said - sorry couldn't resist) but this set-up will come in handy when doing interviews.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

I compared some indoor footage tonight with the Panny's and the Sony seemed a bit contrasty and a bit"orange" and not true to colour so playing with the PP's I have found that PP3 seems to give the nicest overall colour and contrast. Any good hints and tips on profiles are always appreciated.

Is it the one with the ITU709 Gamma preset? I used the factory preset 3 on the casino video, it's as flat as a pancake but has much more dynamic range and gives much room for colorcorrection. By the end of the week it will get colder here and finally stay dry I hope all day and then I plan to go out to shoot some nicer outdoor stuff and collorcorrect, see how that turns out.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Noa

PP3 seems to be a "Natural Colour Tone with the ITU709 gamma" ...PP4 is the preset that is true to ITU709. PP3 didn't look flat to me indoors but switch the PP's to off and I found the colour definately a bit on the warm side and skin tones had much too much red in it. Indoors PP3 skin tone seemed the most "natural" ... I'm sure that some awesome customised PP's will emerge.

I'm assuming here that the FS100 and 700 also has PP's so I wonder (since they have been out longer) if some of their's are worth looking at??

Gosh you are lucky weather wise ... we have another day of humid hot weather ahead of us (40 C is forecast) and at 7am in the morning it is already 30C!!!

Chris

[Rod Pike]

Hi Chris,
found you! so you now have your 50. You seem to be enjoying it and I would love to hear about auto focus on long zoom performance ( your original issue with the panny 130(and everyone elses!!)).

I must visit here more often, as you say it is very active. Keep us informed of your further trials and tests- and a happy new year from NZ. (35degrees was our best but only for one day)
Cheers!
Rod

[Chris Harding]

Hi Rod

Awesome..this is a VERY active forum and you are unlikely to get ignored like others. Problems are solved quickly by lots of enthusiastic people.

Gosh, I'm really enjoying the EA-50!! It's got so much that the Panasonics are missing..even supid things like playing a tone when you hit record ....(it's easy to hit record twice and the cam will tell you so) Yeah focus is good but just remember the stock lens is only 11X!! not 23X ... It's so nice to have intelligently placed buttons like focus expand on the handgrip. The audio control is beyond awesome too!! You don't have just -40, -50 and -60db but can trim inbetween and audio quality is excellent too..no auto control on the AC-90 really threw me out. I love the fact that I can use a host of lenses too.

The form factor and weight is really good too..low profile much like the JCV 700's and not fat and short like the 130/160.... It was really a good move for me and about the same price as the 160 too AND shoulder mount!

Chris