CX6 Footage

[Paul Joy]

I recently decided to pick up a small camcorder for family stuff where taking along a bigger camera seemed overkill.

Being more concerned with practicality and wanting a small, easy to use camera that the whole family can play with I went for a Sony CX6. The camera turned up yesterday and I haven't been able to put it down, it's a lovely gadget for anyone that appreciates quality feeling kit!

I threw in an 8Gb MS Duo Pro which offers an hour of recording at the maximum quality, given that the battery lasts around the same amount of time this will probably be all we need, we'll be offloading to a macbook pro as required for holidays etc.

Using the footage was surprisingly easy, I started by connecting the camera to my mac, and then once it appeared on the desktop I duplicated the whole thing so that a direct copy is created as a folder on the desktop. 2.5 Gb of footage took around 2 - 3 minutes to copy.

In final cut it's simply a matter of using the 'Log & Transfer' window to select the folder on the desktop, once that's done all the clips appear and you can start importing footage as required which is converted to the AIC format for editing. You can of course just do the same directly from the camera bit this way the camera can be switched off and the folder is available for archiving to DVD afterwards too.

I've uploaded a short sample from the cx6's first day out with the family, I'm quite surprised by the quality of images this little camera produces. As I'm used to larger camera with manual controls I did struggle a bit with not being able to easily set focus and exposure, but it is possible to do in the menu's if required.

The clip below has not been colour corrected etc, I thought it would be more useful to show the images as captured from the camera. It has of course been de-interlaced and resized though.

http://www.olikai.com/beach/cx6-day1.mov

[Paul Joy]

Here's another short clip, this time all footage shot in the dark. The footage has had some Magic Bullet effects applied.

http://www.olikai.com/cx6-dark

Paul.

[Zack Andrews]

Paul Joy: thanks for the sample footage from the cx6! Very nice. Does the CX6 have the 3-second slow-motion feature as does the CX7? If so would you mind posting some slow-mo samples? I'd love to see that.

Thanks!

[Wayne Harwood]

That was really nice. Great video. When I shoot video in low light with my CX7 (your CX6), I get a lot of grain. How did you manage to get such sharp video in low light?

[Paul Joy]

Originally Posted by Zack Andrews

Does the CX6 have the 3-second slow-motion feature as does the CX7? If so would you mind posting some slow-mo samples? I'd love to see that.

It does, but you need a really bright situation to keep it well exposed and the quality of the video is quite low. I don't have any examples to hand but will post any that I do in the future.

Originally Posted by Wayne Harwood

That was really nice. Great video. When I shoot video in low light with my CX7 (your CX6), I get a lot of grain. How did you manage to get such sharp video in low light?

The thing I always think about when shooting in lower lighting conditions is to try and create equal or less brightness in the picture than what your eyes see. On auto, the camera will boost gain in an attempt to make a dark situation look light, so you need to engage manual exposure and reduce it until you get the results you're looking for. It's quite easy if you have control over light sources or there are bright objects in the frame (such as when shooting lights) but in a dark from with no controllable lighting it's always going to be tricky to get usable footage.

The example I shot of my dog was done using a single dedolight in a dark room so that's fairly easy to achieve. The shot of my son with the camera panning around was done with only the room lights, hence there is more grain in that shot so I have helped cover it slightly using a Magic Bullet effect that under exposes everything except his face.

I find that I can see the grain appearing in the CX6'sLCD as gain is applied so it was quite easy to see when there is going to be a problem with exposure in low light.

[Wayne Harwood]

Originally Posted by Paul Joy

The thing I always think about when shooting in lower lighting conditions is to try and create equal or less brightness in the picture than what your eyes see. On auto, the camera will boost gain in an attempt to make a dark situation look light, so you need to engage manual exposure and reduce it until you get the results you're looking for. It's quite easy if you have control over light sources or there are bright objects in the frame (such as when shooting lights) but in a dark from with no controllable lighting it's always going to be tricky to get usable footage.

The example I shot of my dog was done using a single dedolight in a dark room so that's fairly easy to achieve. The shot of my son with the camera panning around was done with only the room lights, hence there is more grain in that shot so I have helped cover it slightly using a Magic Bullet effect that under exposes everything except his face.

I find that I can see the grain appearing in the CX6'sLCD as gain is applied so it was quite easy to see when there is going to be a problem with exposure in low light.

Hi Paul

You've peaked my interest here. It appears that I have a lot to learn about video. First regarding the shot of your dog. Did you use manual exposure on him, or did you use one of the presets like candle light etc.? I'm guessing that you are using manual exposure based on what you said regarding that type of exposure. What is a dedolight? Please excuse my lack of knowledge here. I liked the footage you did of your son. Very nice effect. You mentioned that you used a magic bullet effect. That, I assume is something within the software that you are using. Now regarding the software; What are you using? I was thinking of going with Vegas (platinum edition). Trying to find the least expensive package that will do the job...somewhat beyond the basics if you know what I mean. The software that comes with the camcorder (Picture Motion Browser) is not very usefull at all. I don't like the way it links the clips together...slight pausing after each clip. That would drive your audience crazy having to sit through that sort of video presentation. Thank you for your help Paul.

Wayne

[Paul Joy]

Originally Posted by Wayne Harwood

First regarding the shot of your dog. Did you use manual exposure on him, or did you use one of the presets like candle light etc.? I'm guessing that you are using manual exposure based on what you said regarding that type of exposure.

That's correct, I just dialed the exposure down manually. I haven't tried any of the CX6 presets yet.

What is a dedolight? Please excuse my lack of knowledge here.

No probs, we all start somewhere. A dedolight is just a small video light, the kind of light that would be used on a stand.

Now regarding the software; What are you using?

I use Apple Final Cut Pro, which is only available on the mac. I know vegas is very popular amongst PC users so that would probably be a good choice. Magic Bullet Looks is the software I use for grading (colour & lens effects), it is a suite of effects available for most editing packages.

I hope this helps, good luck with your video projects.

regards

Paul.

[Ben Galloper]

The video was shoot @ Fuerteventura with the Sony CX6 camecorder :
http://proshow-slideshow-picturestoe...cx6-fuerte.wmv