Hi Guys.

I wanted to start by saying great site and it's certainly reassuring to have so many others finding their feet with the exact same camera model.

I've had the EA50 here in the UK for about 2 weeks and have so far been really disappointed with the camera. Actually let me rephrase that, I'm disappointed with the output I'm getting with the camera. A good percentage of this I'm sure is down to my lack of familiarity

The EA50 purchase was to assist me in developing my modest video business and try give me greater flexibility over my current EOS DSLRs.

I got to the point with my Canons whereby I felt that I was paying more and more money to work around the ergonomic issues of the DSLR body. The EA50 certainly is a good fit due to it's fairly good ergonomics and I liked the build quality.

However I've really struggled to get usable footage from it. The zoom lens capability is clunky and I have like others mentioned suffered from the jerk in the zoom, which Sony tells me is down to the torque of the zoom mechanism on the optics...mmmmm

I've also had other minor issues around moire, low light performance and also pixalation of footage when imported via Final Cut Pro X.

I'm giving serious thought to returning the camera, for me the original deciding factor was not one based on budget but more ergonomics. What are other peoples thoughts???

Also I wanted to shout out to Jerome for his kind message back to me following an email I'd sent him!

Matt

Having spent an hour or so looking at other people's footage on here, I just can't possibly see where I am going wrong.

My footage in comparison is very pixelated, soft and full of moire.

Can I ask how people have they're EA50's setup? I'm starting to think I may have a setting incorrect somehwere which would explain the difference in my cameras output.

One thing I have noticed is that within Final Cut Pro X, when i pause a clip it instantly sharpens up, then when i play it agin it goes very soft.

I'm starting to lean more on me possible being an idiot than the camera....so a simple setup masterclass would be massively appreciated????

My footage in comparison is very pixelated, soft and full of moire.

Can I ask how people have they're EA50's setup?.........

One thing I have noticed is that within Final Cut Pro X, when i pause a clip it instantly sharpens up, then when ...........
First thing to do is connect your camera directly to a decent TV and see what the footage looks like? Does it seem OK there?

If so (and I suspect the answer is it will), there is nothing wrong with your camera, and no issue with it - what you are seeing is an FCPX problem.......

Have you set it to a lower resolution somehow? Is FCPX using Proxy media?

Hi guys, as far as I can tell I'm filming at 1080p 60p.

I'll check the footage directly from the camera using a hdmi cable.

See if it's indeed an issue with FCPX....really frustrated. Having moved from my DSLR I knew there'd be a learning curve but I'm finding using the camcorder a real chore.

Out of interest what's the best setting, using my EOS I'd capture at 24/25fps. I was confused by the PS and FX settings.

Sadly the footage looks no better on my tv....mmm

Can someone possibly give me a setting up run through? I could then try a test shoot and upload my test?

Any help would be massively appreciated!

Matt

Matt

Can I ask who's footage you've been watching.

The majority of video's I have seen have been done with prime lenses, not stock. Which makes a significant difference if you ask me.

Especially Noa's short films.

I completely understand the moire problems your having. I done a wedding event the other day and 3 guys had stripey shirts on which had severe moire. I don't think they will pick up on it when I give them the final film but it stands out in my eyes.

I still wouldn't return the camera though. It is the only affordable (if you can call nearly £3000 affordable!) ENG style Cinematography Camcorder available in the market. And as you said the Ergonomics is very important.

I can imagine Sony coming out with an upgraded version next year rectifying these issues. An EA60 perhaps?

Hi Matt

The stock lens is also great of course, and Noa has done some cinematic stuff on the stock lens and was pleased with the results. I bought primes and resold them as I though the 18-200 was just as good and more convenient.

OK ...Just for now, shoot a bit of footage at either 1080 50i or 25P and take a look at it ...plenty systems struggle with raw double frame rate on playback.

Set your Picture Profile to PP3 ...other settings "off, PP1 and PP2" are quite saturated so they may appear soft and "PP4, 5 and 6" are also quite contrasty and cinematic so doing a check on PP3 is a good idea ... indoor footage will look great but outdoor in bright sun normally needs a saturation lift.

Like 99% of pro cameras, the settings are not really good "out of the box"

I would also suggest read the manual and read the forum posts before selling it..you will regret it!!

Chris

Can you place something you have shot on Vimeo and give the possibility to download the original file you have uploaded for us to check?
I would also expect that the stocklens is not better then my primes but I was very pleased with the image quality of my sahara video (which was shot with only the stocklens)
Sahara on Vimeo

My only problem with the stock lens is that it's too slow as I mostly work in rather dimly lit situations, so that shouldn't be the issue.
I also use FCPX which works just brilliantly.

Can't really think of a setting (other than recording in SD) that would wreak such havoc to the image.

Hi Guys, yesterday I went out and did a test shoot on location for a bleak drama I'm involved with.

It's a rather depressing location and I was told to not introduce any additional lighting if possible. So I went yesterday with the EA50 and did some simplistic shots of both the house and the road on which it's built.

Ignoring the motion of the shots which is down to me...I'm still struggling to get a better quality picture. This was all done using the servo powered kit lens.

As previously mentioned any help would be massively appreciated.

test 1 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w7jbN6sv49Y)

Here's a vimeo version also:

test 1 on Vimeo

It would help if you told us what you don't like about the shots in this video?

I just looked at the vimeo mov file that I downloaded and there are some issues I see:

Around 00:20 you are zooming out in that hallway, did you apply a stabilizer in FCPX to that shot? The image deformed in a way that is typical for software stabilizers.

You do zoom a lot, you have to know that if you would focus manually that this lens does not keep focus through the entire zoom range, so that might result in softer images if you don't check and adjust your focus accordingly. From what I saw in the video the focus was on auto as you could see the focus adjusting while you where zooming out, that can result in some rapid focus shifts as the camera is trying to adjust. This was best visible at 01:02 at that coffeepot and at 02:02 when you zoomed out you had a very bright kitchen window in the back which made the camera struggle to keep focus.

The shot at the stairs at 01:16 is a simple one, you zoomed in making the lens ramp to maybe around f6, that has to be compensated with gain and the combination of a slow lens and high gain results in excessive noise, here are 2 options, you use a light or a faster lens.

I did see some moire but there you can be sure it is a lot less then on canon t4i, 7d or 5d2 type of dslr's.
I have not tested it yet but it has been said that turning down the sharpness in camera and add sharpness in post would reduce moire. If you ever run into a severe kind of moire you can change your frame by zooming in a bit which will decrease the moire or don't pan at all, panning makes it worse.

All other images looked ok to me.

About that clunky lens, Alister Chapman also noticed it on his pre production model and it seems it is just a design issue that can't be fixed, but on the other hand, where can you find a motorized servo zoom lens with autofocus and smooth iris adjustment through the camera for large sensor camera at that price point? For it's price it's a great "all purpose" lens, even with it's disadvantages.

I have been shooting outdoor by adjusting my shutter to cope with the incoming light but I plan to get a variable nd filter this week to keep the shutter at 1.50th for a more natural "moving blur" on moving objects, it also could be if you are using very high shutter during a pan or a zoom that this could have side effects to your image as well.

What functions do you let the camera handle automatically and which do you adjust manual?

Hi Noa

Thanks for your comments really appreciated.

As I said this was a very quick and dirty test. Having come from using a Canon DSLR I'd imagine the servo zoom to be perhaps more useful than it is, hence why there's a fair bit in the footage as it's a new novelty for me.

You were right about the software stabilisation and the auto focus. Where I'm struggling I think is the gain functionality on the camera and also the PP modes.

Put simply I don't know which manual settings will work for the best. Having read the manual cover to cover I feel I'm no further forward....Perhaps I'm stuck in the mechanics of the DSLR....I knew the move would be challenging.

By the way I think your Sahara video is very nice, it's got a lovely colour palette and there are some excellent cinematic shots in there!

You have been using a dslr? Which one?

The ea50 works in the same way as a dslr really, I actually find it easier to work with then my canon 550d, since you have been working with a dslr (that has to be used in full manual mode to get the best of it), what do you see as a challenge when working with the ea50 compared to your dslr?

Hi Matt

Just a couple of tiny points... If you look at the kitchen window with you zooming out with the camera (or yourself) trying to expose in indoor shot left and right with a bright window in the centre, you will never win with any camera. You notice that most of your good shoots are your outdoor ones and also as Noa says you are zooming out down a long dark passage so the lens would start at only F6.3 at the top end and might need a gain/shutter adjustment and at full wide (F3.5) your depth of field would have been drastically different .... If you are shooting manual just bear in mind that most camcorder zooms are no parafocal!!

Were your shots done in manual or full auto??

As Noa has already shown it's a darn good camera but it cannot think like a human brain so it does need some owner assistance when faced with no ideallic scenarios. If I find a bit of footage that really sucks it's usually my fault where I have expected the camera to do something that it cannot.

Why don't you do TWO tests??? One with your DSLR and one with the EA-50 and describe where you think footage fails on the Sony but is perfect on the DSLR??

Chris

Noa and Chris

Thanks for your comments.

Noa I've used a 550D and 7D. In all truth I always got better results from the 550d ironically.

I always used to shoot fully manual. I think where I'm getting confused is around the terminology of certain things on the EA50 vs the Canon. I would setup my white balance with each shot, then use a combination of F stop and shutter speed.

I'm confused by the iris controls and that of the gain, when I hear others talk about the settings on the EA50 specifically around gain, I'm totally at a loss. I'm going to go out Thursday and try again. This time with everything on manual and try and document each change as I'm going.

As Chris has said some oddities with the camera not withstanding, I believe a lot of my issues are totally user error and an inexperience. I guess what's a bit frustrating is that I felt with the 550D I was actually doing well and it's been a kick in the confidence...

Hi Matt

Purely as a confidence booster, why don't you go out with the camera and leave it in full auto and just go and enjoy yourself... Full auto is remarkably good and then you can sit back and what the footage and make up your mind ... you just might be surprised and shooting auto is fairly accurate.

Getting the hang of having the right shutter and iris setting so your DOF is controlled is tricky ... You can always keep gain/iso in auto and let the camera decide how much gain is needed and keep aperture in manual if you want to?? If you are shooting manually I am assuming you have focus peaking and zebras tirned on too??

Chris

Noa I've used a 550D and 7D. In all truth I always got better results from the 550d ironically.


I"m still trying to figure out what you don't like about the ea50, I do have a 550d as well and the ea50 outputs a better image in my case, also in terms of operation both are basically the same with the only difference that it can be more difficult to change certain things on the 550d. The only thing I hate with the ea50 is that I can't quickly scroll through the different iso values like I can with the 550d meaning I have to assign 3 fixed values to the switch on the side. I do hope Sony will give us this functionality with a firmware update.

HI Guys...

I've been playing around a bit more and seem to be getting better results. Part of it is that I had an outstanding update for FCPX and this seems to have improved the image quality by a massive margin...It kept messing up my scrub image resolution which the update seems to have fixed but I've decided to chuck some more ram int here to improve transcoding.

I've been lighting a large Cathedral today but managed to make a mini short on the EA50 when i got in. It's all in AUTO as I was rushing to sort out our family dinner but it turned out nicely.

Here you go: http://youtu.be/QMhlhGNi3pY

The star of the short is my 5 year old son, he's very shy so I was amazed he was prepared to talk into the camera...

I get the message it's a private video?

Hi Matt

Video works for me fine with no problems... There you go! Nice footage and you will find it will only get better...read the manual and explore the features and especially the limitations and the EA-50 does a really great job...I found that auto is even really good!! These are the first camera I have had that do lightning fast WB changes in auto when you have both indoor and sunlight...I can film a room with lights on inside and swing over to the sun filled window and then back again and WB is perfect!! Very impressive!

Chris

Cheers Chris, Noa have you tried again?

I tihnk as confidence with the camera grows I'll be able to get more usable footage etc...As you say the manual needs to be read, re-read and then maybe tattooed to my arms..

Now I can see it, it does look ok to me.

Hey Matt

Just keep using it..I have already clocked up 70 hours on one of my cameras and still find stuff I didn't know about or neglected to find out about that makes my life easy.

You will get some really crappy footage now and again and when you do, remember the scenario and the lighting at the time and either avoid that sort of shot or tackle it from a difference angle. You will continue learning and the camera will continue to delight you once you discover the do's and dont's ... Just don't let the odd bad shot put you off..we all get them !!

Chris