I just finished a trailer from a wedding I did 2 Saturdays ago (video is below this longer post), I think I have decided where to use the ea50 and where not which is based on shooting solo. In the morning I used it all the time with my 24mm f1.4 and the stocklens during bride prep until the groom arrived. I started with the 24mm f1.4 as that is a great lens which goes wide enough and it can push a background nicely out of focus. I don't use it fully wide open but at around f2.0/2.4 just to get a softer background but focusing is not easy once people start moving around. I ended up using the stocklens after that because I can reframe much faster without moving in closer myself which is great to get some nice closeup without getting into people’s faces. The only thing I don't like about that lens is how slow it is once you start zooming, I often had to use 1600 iso even though it was not that dark which on a big screen shows grain.

When the groom arrived I had to take one continuous shot from inside to outside and there I switched the gain from 1600 to 400 (with the switch on the side) to compensate but I need to cut out a small part when I switched because I had to adjust the exposure as well which you can see in the image when I went from 1600 to 400 iso. I think if that would occur again it's better just to leave the camera in full auto because it can adjust much faster and more accurate in such a situation. Next time however I will just use my Sony cx730 for that part because the ea50 gets grainy quickly inside in those dark hallways and the cx730 stays very clean at high gain and can handle those very dark to very bright situations in one go much better.

The legal part in the town hall I did use one cx730 unmanned on a tripod and the ea50 with the stocklens handheld, here I will use my 2 cx730's next time, the cx730 footage looks sharper and they match perfectly, the ea50 I have to sharpen and cc a bit to get them right, again if I zoom in a lot the footage gets grainier. It’s not a big issue, just that the ea50 requires more work in post to correct.

Same remark for the church, will be using my 2 cx730's for that next time, here the stocklens struggled quite hard to maintain a clean image, putting on a prime is no option as I don't have the time to switch lenses all the time + once I am working handheld the primes are too much of a hassle to maintain your focus when working under pressure. The cx730's are much better all-round camera for this purpose. In church I used my 2 cx730’s and the ea50 but ended up using the cx730 footage most, I also used the cx730’s during the vows.

For the photoshoot the ea50 with the stocklens worked best for me, that’s usually outside, plenty of light and then the lens does shine, zoom a little and the background gets a bit blurry. I also zoom manually all the time, works very well. The larger zoomrange you have gives the possibility to quickly reframe. Here all is handheld.

Reception, from here it's all ea50 with primes (24 and 85mm f1.4) and one dslr with a 14mm f2.8 on a steadicam, what I like is that I can shoot handheld with a unstabilized 85mm prime and get much more stable footage then I ever could get with the dslr, during reception I could mingle in the crowd "trying" to get candid shots from a distance, easier said then done as I can see people get more uncomfortable quicker by the size of the camera compared to my tiny T2I.

The only time I used the cx730 at the venue was during speeches, they are much faster set up and often the persons giving the speech move around which would make focusing with a 85mm prime very difficult, I rather place one small camera between the guests on a small tripod which gives front to back sharpness. If I’m 100% sure the person doing the speech stays on one location I might use the ea50 with the 85mm next time and a cx730 for guest reactions.

I now don’t like the image my t2i outputs anymore, the ea50 is better and 50p is great for slowmotion which I only use in a trailer but I would like to have 50p on the steadicam, slowing down 25p dslr footage gets very jerky. 50p otoh slowed down from the ea50 looks just great, the ea50 also uses picture profiles that have a wider DR and allow colorcorrecting in post while retaining more detail, I have to use cinestyle preset on my dslr to get a somewhat matching image (when it gets dark) but that means quite a lot of CC in post and it just more difficult to match. Also the standard or normal picture profiles on the dslr are very contrasty with lot’s of saturation and I each time have to desaturate to get a matching image. I even was thinking of selling both my dslr’s and getting a vg30 instead.

In the trailer I used the JR45CINE2 abelcine picture profile and used color level -2 instead of Color Level -4, I did get some blown highlights and flat color but after CC’ing in Edius it was easy to get details back in those highlights and I just increased the chroma value a bit. I also crushed the white balance contrast (which got the detail back in the highlights) and did some minor yuv adjustment.

Sound is just awesome on the ea50, night and day difference compared to my dslr’s and the cx730. I used internal and a external mike simultaneously but next time will just use my at897 shotgun as primary sound source as that one gives the best sound. During the dancepart the dj’s music low and high tones where recorded well and even though the sound was on auto it didn’t clip anywhere. I also liked the fact that in the morning during bride prep I can get clear sound from people talking.

To give an idea which footage in the clip is from the ea50: from 00:30 to 00:53, 01:03 to 01:20, 01:28 to 01:43, 02:03 to 02:05, 02:09 to 02:30, 03:05 to 03:17

Timo + Liesbeth on Vimeo

Nice work, Noa!

Good stuff!

Hey Noa

Great footage !! Of course the cinematic style with de-saturated colours is not my way of shooting as my brides like bright colours but that still doesn't detract from the skillful way you have used the camera.

I guess your season will soon be in full swing while ours will be all over by early June (but back again in August!! no break for the wicked!!)

Keep up the good work!

Chris

Hey Noa

Great footage !! Of course the cinematic style with de-saturated colours is not my way of shooting as my brides like bright colours but that still doesn't detract from the skillful way you have used the camera.

I guess your season will soon be in full swing while ours will be all over by early June (but back again in August!! no break for the wicked!!)

Keep up the good work!

Chris

I filmed a small charity event the other day using the CineAble profile and had exactly the same comments. And was told it's too dark, you should be filming in a way it makes the colours pop.

So no more cineable for me! unfortunately. Not all clients like the dark tone, they prefer bright.

In terms of your video, I like it! looks really good. Shame the whole event wasn't done on a EA50.

Shame the whole event wasn't done on a EA50

My shootingstyle requires me to use more then one camera depending on what I need to shoot, Probably end of the wedding season I would like to sell my 2 dslr's and get one vg30 instead which could be used as a second unmanned camera or on the steadicam as it can do 50p. My cx730's are sharper and produce less noise but they also have more of a video look, that's why I don't like mixing other camera's, but my ea50 does mix better with my cx730,s then my dslr's do so I can use them together with some cc in post.

Here the weather is starting to get better but we have had some awe full weather the past weeks and I still have to do a wedding where there is glaring sun, I am very curious though to see how the camera will handle that.

Hi Guys

I think that the colours are actually correct for a cinematic style video .. if your samples have the same sort of feel then there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. My samples over the years are bright and vivid (my last wedding (Friday) was actually in the rain and the bride still expected bright TV style colour) Cinema style is a lot more subtle and mood creating (Noa has said many times that you can't make a cinematic production just buying a DSLR)

I have always shot doc style so cinematic to me looks "dull" but then again very creative too. I think if you made the colours pop then the whole feel would be destroyed. The bottom line is you need to create what the client needs and Noa's clients love his style. James? just be a little careful with some of the other profiles as they sometimes oversaturate!! I am sticking to PP3 at this stage with a saturation boost for outdoor footage.

Chris

Achieving a certain look is one of the most difficult things to do and I am not an expert in that, I do like that "flatter" look but am still searching for that ultimate look which for me should have balanced colors.
One of my favorite videos in terms of "look" is one shot with a simple Sony vg10 and a stocklens, only the maker has not shared what settings he used in post, too bad.
Random collisions on Vimeo

My shootingstyle requires me to use more then one camera depending on what I need to shoot, Probably end of the wedding season I would like to sell my 2 dslr's and get one vg30 instead which could be used as a second unmanned camera or on the steadicam as it can do 50p. My cx730's are sharper and produce less noise but they also have more of a video look, that's why I don't like mixing other camera's, but my ea50 does mix better with my cx730,s then my dslr's do so I can use them together with some cc in post.

Here the weather is starting to get better but we have had some awe full weather the past weeks and I still have to do a wedding where there is glaring sun, I am very curious though to see how the camera will handle that.

The EA50 is one of the most expensive things in my possession after my car, so I just felt a bit gutted that you couldn't produce a whole wedding film with just this camera.

But as you say, it's your style. You like to incorporate other cameras. So fair enough.

@Chris

I agree about the cinematic look having a certain grade of colour. Vivid colours would indeed destroy the look, although i'm sure if many shallow depth of field, macro shots were used then vivid colours wouldn't really effect it so much. Many documentaries on wildlife etc are bright and vivid without that dull colour, especially films about insects.

The EA50 is one of the most expensive things in my possession after my car, so I just felt a bit gutted that you couldn't produce a whole wedding film with just this camera.
But as you say, it's your style. You like to incorporate other cameras. So fair enough.


Not sure what you are trying to say James, what does 'gutted' mean?.

Hey James

Just because Noa decides to use different camera for weddings doesn't mean that the EA-50 cannot be used...I use both my EA-50's from start to finish at weddings and only with the stock lens on both cameras ...I have yet to have a problem and doubt whether I ever will either. The Sony's do a better job than my Panasonic's used to as well.

No reason at all to feel gutted!!

Chris

Ok, was too lazy to look it up yesterday but the oxford dictionary says: "bitterly disappointed or upset"
Why?

My ea50 was not intended to use at weddings, I did have a set up for that (2 handicams and 2 dslr's, all 4 costing less together then what my ea50 costed) but I mainly wanted to use it for the occasional company/corporate video where I couldn't show up with my handicam.

Then I decided to take it along at a wedding, just to see how it handled and performed and that's where I saw it outperformed my dslr's (canon t2i) in many ways, the image is a bit sharper, it has less moire, some picture profiles are more usable (and easier to adapt) and have a wider DR, it matches my sony cx730's better, I can shoot handheld with a unstabilised lens, the audio is much better, I can shoot continuously, focusing aids are much better, it can shoot 50p. Only formfactor can be positive or negative, easy to shoot handheld but big and bulky and I hate the fact that I can't select different iso values more quickly.

But I liked the output so much I decided to take it along as one of my main camera's every wedding and assured I had the right bag to transport it with all my other camera's.

The only reason why I don't use it throughout the day is that in at least 2 situations I work with 2 or sometimes 3 camera's, alone. Those situations are during the legal part in the town hall and in the church. Those are both tripod moments where I don't move around and I need a second angle, or third angle which makes it much easier in post. This also means running 1 or 2 camera's unmanned so I need something that performs well like that and my cx730's do, they are little wonders. I couldn't imagine doing those with one ea50 , I might use the ea50 and one cx730 but the two cx730's combined give me a better result, they match perfectly in post, they are sharper, cleaner and more idiot proof which helps in run and gun. So that's why a handicam are a better option if I need to secure good images under those conditions. My cx730's can give me a good image in a fingersnap, my large sensor camera's don't.

All the rest of the day I prefer to use a larger sensor camera because I have the time to set up right before I shoot, but the output is much nicer looking then my handicams, mainly because it doesn't have that video kind of look and the shallower dof which adds a very pleasing overall look that can be soft and sharp at the same time.

So you see it's not that I am spoiled with having too many camera's, they are a necessity for my way of shooting to secure good results. With the ea50 added to my gearbag my dslr's have the feel of becoming obsolete and I"m seriously considering, when funds allow, to sell one t2i body and add some for a vg30 body so I do have a replacing steadicam camera that does 50p. My wife needs a replacement photocamera too so she can have my second t2i. In that way I have a 2 perfect duo's to shoot different parts of the day as a solo shooter and that for a combining price that's less then one canon c100.

Noa,
Regardless of equipment, you are a talented videographer. Equipment is about 5% contribution to artistic output and plays little part in your work that you have been kind enough to show here. I suspect a better set of paint brushes would not have improved Rembrandt's work much, and thus it is with you.

I work at the factual industrial/training end of our business and your work has inspired me to shoot something artistic just for the challenge of it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Cheers!
Rod

Nah, I"m not talented, just been at it for 9 years now and I have hit a brick wall more times you can imagine but I never gave up trying. Everyone can move a camera on a slider or walk around with a steadicam, it's the experience that makes a big difference too. But I"m happy my sharing does help others. :)

I might of been a bit over dramatic ... but I understand where your coming from Noa. I was under the assumption you bought the EA50 as your main camera for everything including Weddings, but due to the camera's limitation you reluctantly had to stick to your handicams as well. But obviously this isn't the case after reading your explanation ...

No worries mate :) I have another wedding this weekend, a higher end one with a very nice venue, I only hope the weather will allow for outdoor shooting and that the couple will allow me to post the video. They have a falcon that will fly over the rings in church...:

Noa - what 85mm lens/adapter are you using? - As a solo shooter the though of faffing with lens changes is a bit daunting but offset against struggling with dark reception venues - 1.4 would be lovely!

I use a Kipon adapter, it doesn't communicate with the body.

Is it the Samyang lens?

Is this the adapter?

http://www.dl-kipon.com/en/articledetail.asp?id=56

No, the one I have is without any electronics and yes, it's for my samyang lenses.
this one: http://www.cameranu.nl/fotos/adapters/1321284765_891/kipon-lens-mount-adapter-canon-efeos-naar-sony-nex.jpg

Do you have the model number Noa? There seem to be a few EOS adapters on the Kipon website

I don't have the direct link anymore but on my orderpage when I bought the adapter it states: "Kipon Lens Mount Adapter (Canon EF/EOS to Sony NEX) "

Your wedding sample is nice Noa! - How do you use your CX750 cameras handheld? - do you use monopod/tripod/cage or simply hold in your palm? - Similar size to my TM900 cameras and I handheld one once as, like the CX750 they're good in low light, but I felt the size made me look like an uninvited guest rather than the paid videoguy!

Pete

Your wedding sample is nice Noa! - How do you use your CX750 cameras handheld? - do you use monopod/tripod/cage or simply hold in your palm? - Similar size to my TM900 cameras and I handheld one once as, like the CX750 they're good in low light, but I felt the size made me look like an uninvited guest rather than the paid videoguy!

Pete

Only reason I film with an EA50 rather than my VG20 which is more than capable of capturing a wedding.

I use the VG20 with 16mm f2.8 lens on my slider for bride prep/church type shots, and on my Steadicam Merlin for bride and groom stuff and first dance - it looks ok mounted on something lol!

do you use monopod/tripod/cage or simply hold in your palm?

Here you go, my mini shoulder mount handicam, it has a tripod plate on the bottom so slides easily on a tripod as well.

Private Video on Vimeo
password: test

Really neat Noa - looks more compact than my cage!

It's really easy to use and very lightwheight and stable (with the camera's magic eye :)), I can go fast from tripod to handheld and it's more stable then what I can get out of my ea50. The only thing I manually adjust is the exposure through that small button on front but let the camera handle focus in auto. When I have that loupe on the lcdscreen I can't access the touchscreen controlls but if I need to then that loupe also hangs around my neck with a strap so I could trow it off to have access to the screen.

Private Video on Vimeo psw...test

Hi, after 1 wedding, everything a little harder than my old canon xha1, wedding reportage is difficult to handle focus, shoulder pad and the lens kit with little light ... I put together a little clip ... what do you think ...
ottica kit
sel 35mm f1.8
I ordered sal 16-50 f2.8 with adapter ... what you think ...
thanks

Private Video on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/64410623) psw...test

Hi, after 1 wedding, everything a little harder than my old canon xha1, wedding reportage is difficult to handle focus, shoulder pad and the lens kit with little light ... I put together a little clip ... what do you think ...
ottica kit
sel 35mm f1.8
I ordered sal 16-50 f2.8 with adapter ... what you think ...
thanks

Videos not working unfortunately.

it works ... try again

it works ... try again

Looks good to me.

What is it that you find so difficult? Don't you think the shots where the background is slightly blurred raises the production value of what you give to your clients? it's something the XHA1 can't do.

is in fact why I bought it, is the management of wedding reportage in my case it is more difficult to hold and manage mainly focus ...

Hi Nino

The Auto Focus works pretty well for me for run 'n gun shooting and have you tried the spot focus at other times? It's very good indeed!!

I find the EA-50 way easier to manage than my old big Panasonics !!

Chris

This has been a really interesting read and I have lots I would like to say. I am only a cameraman though and no technician! With regard to weddings, I shoot with an EA50 as the main camera and a VG30 as the second camera. For the ceremony and speeches, it is the EA50 that I operate and the VG30 locked off wide. Admittedly, I have only shot 2 weddings in this way but I have shot hundreds using a Z1 as the main cam and a V1 as the locked off cam, so plenty of wedding experience. I have to say that I have my reservations about the EA50 for weddings. Firstly, the VG30 is simply superb and will definitely not be sold on. Image wise, it has the large sensor that the EA50 has along with all the available lenses and is tiny in comparison. Great for professional and family use, I think a very unique camera indeed. Okay it doesn't have the remarkable sound that the EA50 produces but for weddings I always record the ceremony and speeches on an external recorder anyway. It is also much smaller which I think people often appreciate at weddings. I agree with James' comments about using a handicam at a wedding but Noa's set up for his 730 transforms the look of the camera into something very professional looking. This brings me to the crux of my worries. Noa has said that he is shooting both the ceremony and the speeches with his 730 so why have an EA50 for the artistic stuff when the VG30 can do the visuals just as well? I would seriously like to know more about the 730 Noa as maybe it is genuinely better for shooting a ceremony speeches. Why? Because we all know that when shooting a ceremony, we need to be able to zoom and we need a fast lens that is going to be able to work in dimly lit situations (unless of course we are outside at a zoo, as Chris was lucky enough to be). In my experience on two weddings with the EA50, the power zoom 18-200 just does not cut it. I have been forced, particularly with the speeches to use my Sony 35mm 1.8 which is of course a superb lens and the first one anyone should buy for these cameras but is prime and only has the digital zoom which is good but not all the way in as it does pixellate. Presumably Noa, with the 730, you are able to zoom in for close ups without going to 18db etc, is the zoom a smooth zoom such as my beloved Z1 or one of these nasty jerky ones? Also what is the XLR set up you have on the bottom of the camera? Presumably the 730 has enough manual options to be able to control the exposure/gain.
I don't know, but in summary, it seems to me that if the 730 is better in low light and has a reliable zoom then why battle with the limitations of the interchangable lens on the EA50 for the ceremony/speeches. Then when outside and you want those awesome shots that the large sensor gives us, why bother with the larger more expensive EA50 when you can slip in your camera bag its little cousin - the truly remarkable thing of beauty that is the VG30! That's it, no doubt much more discussion to come.

This has been a really interesting read and I have lots I would like to say. I am only a cameraman though and no technician! With regard to weddings, I shoot with an EA50 as the main camera and a VG30 as the second camera. For the ceremony and speeches, it is the EA50 that I operate and the VG30 locked off wide. Admittedly, I have only shot 2 weddings in this way but I have shot hundreds using a Z1 as the main cam and a V1 as the locked off cam, so plenty of wedding experience. I have to say that I have my reservations about the EA50 for weddings. Firstly, the VG30 is simply superb and will definitely not be sold on. Image wise, it has the large sensor that the EA50 has along with all the available lenses and is tiny in comparison. Great for professional and family use, I think a very unique camera indeed. Okay it doesn't have the remarkable sound that the EA50 produces but for weddings I always record the ceremony and speeches on an external recorder anyway. It is also much smaller which I think people often appreciate at weddings. I agree with James' comments about using a handicam at a wedding but Noa's set up for his 730 transforms the look of the camera into something very professional looking. This brings me to the crux of my worries. Noa has said that he is shooting both the ceremony and the speeches with his 730 so why have an EA50 for the artistic stuff when the VG30 can do the visuals just as well? I would seriously like to know more about the 730 Noa as maybe it is genuinely better for shooting a ceremony speeches. Why? Because we all know that when shooting a ceremony, we need to be able to zoom and we need a fast lens that is going to be able to work in dimly lit situations (unless of course we are outside at a zoo, as Chris was lucky enough to be). In my experience on two weddings with the EA50, the power zoom 18-200 just does not cut it. I have been forced, particularly with the speeches to use my Sony 35mm 1.8 which is of course a superb lens and the first one anyone should buy for these cameras but is prime and only has the digital zoom which is good but not all the way in as it does pixellate. Presumably Noa, with the 730, you are able to zoom in for close ups without going to 18db etc, is the zoom a smooth zoom such as my beloved Z1 or one of these nasty jerky ones? Also what is the XLR set up you have on the bottom of the camera? Presumably the 730 has enough manual options to be able to control the exposure/gain.
I don't know, but in summary, it seems to me that if the 730 is better in low light and has a reliable zoom then why battle with the limitations of the interchangable lens on the EA50 for the ceremony/speeches. Then when outside and you want those awesome shots that the large sensor gives us, why bother with the larger more expensive EA50 when you can slip in your camera bag its little cousin - the truly remarkable thing of beauty that is the VG30! That's it, no doubt much more discussion to come.

Valid points.

But I bought my EA50 to compliment my VG20 purely because it looks like the bride & groom have paid for a professional and so their guests won't doubt me.

Living in London I do a handful of Asian weddings ... they definitely value bigger cameras to go with their flash wedding. With asian culture it's all about money from what I can tell. Who splashes out the most. How expensive the brides dress was ... the fleet of cars the groom arrived in etc.

So even down to the camera man, they have to somewhat look the part when they film at the function.

95% of Asian weddings are never discreet.

Something worth discussing about :)

Now I can say I bhought the ea50 as a replacement for my xh-a1 which has been sold now, I had two cx730, a xr520 and two t2i's but I couldn't see myself accepting a more "serious" job and arriving at a company with my handicams.

My experience at weddings is also based on working solo where you need to make certain choices to cope with the fast paced, "make it happen now and don't screw up", situations throughout a weddingday.

I toke the ea50 with me this Saturday again and now I"m pretty sure where I need to deploy it and why and when to use my other camera's instead, so here is my take on it:

My Sony cx730's:
They are simply brilliant little camera's but don't expect it's all gold that shines.

They image is sharper then my ea50,

They produce virtually no grain at gains up to 24db (cleaner then my ea50 at comparable gains). The image does get softer at those high gains but it's still acceptable.

They have a image stabilisation that is impressive and better then the ea50,

They have a very good autowhitebalance, in mixed light they pretty much nail it each time.

They have a very good autofocus, even in dim light.

The zoom can be butter smooth.

The wheel in front of the camera gives you access to one function like focus or exposure etc, but only one at a time.

You do have 3 preset touch buttons on the lcd screen. It has zebra's, peaking, expanded focus, about everything you would normally expect in a camera much more expensive.

It has a build in videolight.

The colors are not oversaturated like with many handicams, they are a bit flatter but still accurate and they allow to do some post colorcorrection, the lcd screen also gives a very good represenation of color like it will show up in your NLE afterwards.

It also got a realy wide wideangle lens (26,5mm)

In terms of operation the camera is very easy to use, I have exposure assigned to the wheel in front as I want that controlled manually all the time. Then I have whitebalance assigned to one of teh buttons on the lcd screen so I can quickly change between a preset or auto. I have focus assigned as well to switch between auto and manual where I controll the focus further on the lcd screen and I can switch the ois on or of as well with a preset button.

So, what's not good then? The image gets soft in the edges at certain focal lengths, it looks like it's out of focus but the image is still sharp in the centre, this out of focus area usually occurs on one side only. I have read reports from nx70 users they had the same problem so it's not a issue with my camera but something in teh design of the lens or whatever, my xr520 does not show this problem.

On a tripod you MUST turn of the OIS, this is standard procedure if you are working on a tripod but the ois from is cx730 is very sensitive and your image will bounce all over the place if you leave it on. This is not a camera flaw but something you need to be aware off.

The focus aids such as touch focus is not accurate, my cx520 is much faster and more precize, if I want to maintain focus while zoomed in I first frame a full object and let the camera focus and then switch to manual where I can adjust focus in increments with a plus/-button when needed.

On the front wheel you can press a button to select functions, to go from auto to manual, to assign the wheel to another function etc, only that button a very unresponsive sometimes, the button on the xr520 is much better.

The autofocus is very good but IF it looses focus it's completely lost and you need to either zoom out, point somewhere else, wait for it to recover or switch to manual and then change it. I do see a occasional hunting in dim situations but it's quite rare, if I doubt I switch to manual anyway.

The sound is ok"ish, not nearly as good as the ea50 but better then my dslr.

Eventhough the zoom can be butter smooth it requires a delicate touch, push a bit to much and your zoom will jump.

The exposure ramps very quickly, start zooming in and the gain goes through the roof to compensate, so during speeches I move the camera closer to the subject and leave it running unmanned, you can zoom ofcourse and there is no grain issue to be worried about, even at 24db gain, so you can stretch it a bit before it becomes a problem.

It is my first choice crashcam if I need to get a good professional looking image in a fingersnap when I have no time to think and get it right from the first time.

This is why I use these in during the legal marriage in the townhall (we have these before the church, they last about 15 minutes) and church, fast to set up and they produce an excellent image.

So where does the ea50 fit in? The major benefit I get from this camera is that I can shoot handheld with a fast 85mm lens that is not stabilised and this a big one for me, something I cannot do with my dslr's. Currently I shoot handheld during bride prep but I need to have a faster zoomlens, the stocklens is great as long as there is sufficient light but it fails miserably when that is not the case, at f6.5 even 3200 iso is not enough to compensate when it's too dark and you get a very noisy image.

At the photoshoot I use the stocklens, usually there is plenty of light and then it's a great performer and I need something that allows me to quickly reframe, don't have time there to change lenzes, I also use the zoom manually for quick reframing.

At receptions my main lenzes ar the 24 f1.4 and 85 f1.4 from samyang which I use handheld in a crowded reception room and I now use a monopod later on (when I use the 85mm) in the evening for talking heads.

I also love the sound quality, I now record to both internal mike ans shotgun so I can choose, I get much clearer sound from people talking.

So it does have a permanent place in my toolkit now, I only want to get rid of my 2 dslr's, I really need something that can do 50p so I can slow down footage on the steadicam and for that I was thinking to get a vg30 body, it would complement my ea50 perfectly but that's when I have sufficient funding. :)

A worthy response. Those 85 mm and 24mm lenses you talk about, presumably we need the adaptor to use those who do they go straight on to the E-mount?

Samyang lenzes come with emount as well, my 24mm is such a lens, my 85mm is for canon dslr's and requires an adapter for the ea50.

Noa how do you set the ea50 up to record both through the shotgun mic and internal mic? I didnt know you could do this. What happens in post? Is one recorder through the left channel and the other through the right and you just select the one you want to use?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I just followed the manual on how to set up for the shotgun mic only but wanted to do what you are doing. Still a novice with video cameras!

The CX730 looks great to me. I am curious though Noa as to the accessories that you have attached. Specifically what shoulder mount, audio box and LCD hood you have attached. Could you point me in the direction where I might purchase this set up?

I have a phantom power mike (a audio technica at897) plugged into input 1, on the side of the camera where you controll your audio I have "input 1" set to "mic+48v "and the switch set to "input 1" (instead of "internal mic") and below that I have "input 2" set to "mic" and beside that the switch is set to "int mic".

In Edius 6.5 I can drop this on a stereo track and just select channel 1 or 2.

audiobox is a beachtek dxa-5da (have you seen the video I made of it on page 2 of this thread?) Lcd hood is just a general cheap loupe with some own modifications to slide it over my lcd screen. The shouldermount was from filmcity, those Indian guyes that I got through ebay (payed around 100 dollars for it) which I did modify, I can't find it back anymore though so think it could have been discontinued.

edit: got it: http://proaimshop.ru/film_mini

Thanks Noa, yes saw the video of the basic set up of the camera but not one specifically referring to the audio set up.

I have a phantom power mike (a audio technica at897) plugged into input 1, on the side of the camera where you controll your audio I have "input 1" set to "mic+48v "and the switch set to "input 1" (instead of "internal mic") and below that I have "input 2" set to "mic" and beside that the switch is set to "int mic".

In Edius 6.5 I can drop this on a stereo track and just select channel 1 or 2.

Thanks Noa, all set up now!