Sony nex ea50eh Deserted coalmine

[Noa Put]

So I thought enough complaining about what is not that good about the camera and go out and try to shoot some nice stuff with it and make the footage look as good as I could. I decided not to take any prime lens with me because I have not been able to shoot any decent outdoor footage with the stocklens yet as it has been raining constantly here the past weeks and my prayers have been answered, it was sunny today :)
Therefore I decided just to take the stock lens with me and see how it performs in sunny conditions, a next shoot I plan to do will be with my primes.

I had to apply some very high shutterspeeds because I haven't got a nd filter yet but because there is so little movement that doesn't notice, I was between 1/400 and 1/600 almost all the time.

I shot with the flattest factory preset and applied a lut curve in Edius to bring back contrast and color, I"m very satisfied with what I managed to get out of the camera. The camera has sufficient dynamic range, handles highlights well and is sharp enough. The bazooka loupe performed well and made focusing (using the 8x mangifying option) and setting the exposure a breeze.

It was a bit misty so shots zoomed in completely at the far horizon are not that sharp and lack a bit contrast and saturation. Just check out that zoom range at 01:03, first you see the windmills, the shot after that is zoomed out (windmills in the right upper corner) and the 3rd shot is even further zoomed out (you can see the water-tower as well that appears in the second shot on the left)

You can download the video at Vimeo to get a bit better impression of the sharpness etc. The original footage does look very sharp on a big screen, the vimeo compression takes away the sharpness a bit.

What I really like about the footage is that it does not scream "VIDEO" :) Looks quite "cinematic" to me, what do you guys think?

Sony nex ea50eh Deserted Coalmine on Vimeo

[Rod Pike]

Hi Noa,
Lovely tonal ranges and fabulous subject matter! I just love derelict building and industrial sites and that is a real cracker. The camera and your shot scenes produce a very slick result-

You asked for feedback: Regarding filmic or video look, I watched carfully and the composition was so enticingly engaging in fact, that I can't say that I noticed ! (this has to be good!) From an artistic point of view however I felt I was left waiting for some camera movement shots- it did seem like a series of stills to me. Only my opinion of course and I wish I could visit!
By the way, what was the music? Do you use copyright free libraries? So much of it sounds characterless and the piece you chose captured the pathos and despair of dereliction very well. Thanks for sharing.
Rod

[Steven Digges]

Noa,

Thank you again for sharing your great work. I absolutely loved it. The first time I watched it I did not critique it because I enjoyed it. I believe you intended that piece to almost look like a series of stills as the style for that short piece. The camera and you both did great work. I will watch it several more times for camera evaluation alone.

As a small business owner that often has to use freelance talent to make up my crews I am going to say this. I primarily use guys I know, but sometimes you have to try someone new. It has been my experience that some young guys come out of school or often a certificate program for video and they think they know everything. They are technological wizards, that is all they talk about because the technology is their world. That is what we need, right? Not quite. There is sometimes a major piece missing. A small thing called photography. They know the tech inside and out but it blows me away that they can't compose a basic shot to save their life. Your short video is a study in photographic composition and of course exposure and everything else is there too. A good example of making things work for you that others may have found problematic was the weeds and bushes. You built them into your composition and made it work. Great stuff!!!

I am not picking on young guys. The same holds true for many video shooters these days. The art of photography gets lost in the technology. Just my not so humble opinion. Off the soap box now. Thank you for sharing.

Steve

[Don Bloom]

Noa,
Very nice look. I like the way the camera handled the scenes but as you said no really movement in them but it is a great place to start.
Perhaps when you go out with your primes you might be able to find something that has some movement like a crowd of people walking down the street or some cars passing by on the road jst so we could get a true "picture" of what the camera can do in those situations.
Again I did like what you put out on this one, all the tehcnical aspects were right on. enjoyable piece.

[Steven Digges]

OK, I do not know Noa, but I wish I could hire him for some of my shoots. I guessed the slide show style of the mine shoot was intentional. Yes. I went to Vimeo to watch it again. While there I checked out two of his wedding shorts and a corporate clip. If you want to see movement in his work take a look. It is there in camera and post. It is not a surprise that you are booked for your nine month wedding season Noa. Good work.

Steve

[Noa Put]

Thx guys for the nice words :)

I guessed the slide show style of the mine shoot was intentional.

Yes, I intentionally shot it like a "slideshow" so I and you could get a good look at the detail, color and dynamic range the camera would produce. The vimeo compression doesn't do the real resolution any good because the raw files look very good on a big screen. (it was shot at 1080p 50p) It's not like looking through a window kind of sharp but it has some kind of organic look to it which I find very pleasing and kinda "filmic" and makes the camera "feel" professional, it has a totally different look as opposed to what my Sony cx730 would produce, I like the look of those small handicams as well but for different purposes.

Normally I don't like shooting like this as it looks like a series of photo's, that's why I was glad a bird decided to cross my image once :) If there is movement in a frame, like people walking or cars moving then a still shot is ok but otherwise I always to prefer to do at least a slider shot. But because I had to drag my camera and tripod up that small mountain I decided to travel light and focus on nice framing, good exposure so the images would speak for itself. Also, I noticed that with those small bricks I did experience moire and panning made it worse so I moved position, or zoomed in a bit untill the moire dissapeared, like I said before, I was trying to make the camera look as good as I could and work around it's shortcomings.

The music is from a Dutch guy who offers his music for free for non profit productions and he has some great songs on there, just follow the link on the vimeo page, he's making his own website to most likely start selling his music but currently I saw him encouraging a user to just rip the music from youtube (which was what I did as there seems to be no other download option right now) and use it, as long as you are not making a profit from it it's ok for him. But I think it's best to contact him directly anyway before you use anything from him. I placed this movie on youtube as well and going to inform him about it.

Edit: with the stock lens at least the 2x digital zoom is worthless to me, I"ll try to post a image later on from it but I got some very pixelated footage when using it when the lens was zoomed in.

[Rod Pike]

Noa, thankyou for that. As I said the shots were quite captivating and I am with Steven on his praise for the photographic structure for sure.
In 1967 I was still trying to master Hasselblad and Bronica medium format ( mainly BW), and composition and form is what changes something from a clinical record to an emotional interpretation. Cartier Bresson knew this and has never been matched . ( in my extremely selective opinion of course!).Then I went in parallel to industrial video- another story!.

The mine is a video opportunity that most of us would beg to have, so please, go back , stuff the camera performance,you have shown it is clearly capable- I would love to see more of your work. I will also follow up the music link.
(I like this forum!)

Cheers!
Rod

[Chris Harding]

Hey Noa

Nice images indeed and very "mood capturing" You are a true artist.

I have just got back from down South so I will post some sample run 'n gun footage a little later..I think Don is interested in seeing people and movement as well.

Chris

[Steven Digges]

Add me to the interested list.....

Steve

PS. As I make unfounded assumptions about people I am communicating with on forums (I am only active on two) I learned this week I was completely wrong about Chis and Noa. For some unknown reason, to me, I thought both of you guys were much younger than me (I am 53). I thought both of you were young guns out there on the edge of technology. Instead of that, I now know your both about my age or older. So...I now commend you both for being young and on the edge of technology. My hat is off to you too Don. I tip one to us experienced guys!!!

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Rod Pike

stuff the camera performance

haha :) When I bought my Sony cx730 I threw it into a paid assignment right away, that was because I had experience with the xr520 which are basically the same camera in terms of operation. So that Tiny Sony I trusted right away. The EA50 is another kind of wild animal and needs to be tamed before I ride it in public :) It''s the type of camera I need to know what it will do under which circumstances and how to do it right. Better to find out now then after a paid shoot.

What has been said about composing a shot I can relate to very much, I think in my case it has to do with my background, I got my very first photocamera at the age of 12 ( a Practica LTL) and have been photographing very extensively with it until I was 16. I come from a time where you had to think before you shoot since film was much more expensive and I bhought a filmroll of 24 each time or if my parents where generous I could shoot 36 photo's :) (not exactly sure about those numbers but I think I"m close, it wasn't much)

Then I had to make a choice of buying a more professional Canon camera (if I remember right it was the Canon ae1) or to buy me a motorcycle and I got the motorcycle :)
After that I got preoccupied with riding the bike with my friends, chasing girls and drinking beer and the photography part didn't get much attention anymore.

At the age of 16 I went to a art/architecture school which I didn't finish and at 17 I started working in the coalmines. Architecture in general has always interested me a lot and I love hanging around these deserted sites, preferably all by myself, it gives me some kind of peaceful feeling, the same feeling I got when I was standing alone on that 150 meter mountain with that great view.

I think my photography history and my interest in arts and architecture in general make me think more about not only what but how I shoot it, at weddings when shooting solo you often have no time to think how to shoot but just are happy to be able to capture the highlights. But when I have the time I like to look at how my shots are composed as it can make so much difference.

[Don Bloom]

Steven,
Chris and I are so old that Mr. Sony came to us and asked us about making a moving picture camera. Before that, we were carving pictures into the rocks that Fred Flintstone gave us! Noa was too young to be trusted with a sharp rock so we had him look for great images to carve!

O|O
\--/

[Steven Digges]

Now that's funny stuff, I don't care who you are! I hired a kid two months ago who would have been confounded for hours if you handed him the rock. He would still be trying to figure out where the batteries go!

[Steven Digges]

Noa,

Thanks for sharing your story. I believe there is great value in our history for those of us old enough to have studied photography before electronics were prevalent. To master a camera, you had to master photography. My first real 35mm still camera was a Pentax K-1000. I loved it.

You can see some of my stills here:

Flickr: PHXPHOTOGRAPHER's Photostream

One of the things I learned about auto racing is the best seat in the house is in the flag stand. It is pretty cool to be there when 42 950HP cars hit the gas at the same time.

[Chris Harding]

Hey Grandpa Don

Not so much of the old stuff please! I can still sprint up stairs (well maybe a brisk walk) and at saturday's wedding there were more of them than I ever imagined so I'd rather forget.

Yeah Steve I had a K1000 too..nice cameras ...technology was rampant then and the manual lens even had a little needle which, as long as it was in the middle, took care of exposure.

We might as well all wish Don a great vacation on the end of this week as he boards the cruise ship moving steadily up the gangway with his walker firmly in front of him.

Chris

[Steven Digges]

Great Vacation to ya Don!!! And I bet I know why you are waiting until you get back to make the purchase. You might miss some relaxation and fun times if you were to be distracted with a new camera and the real paper manual. For the last week it was hard for me to get things done because the EA50 is sitting here calling out to me. I have hardly had time to touch the thing and it's killing me. That comes from a guy who said he needed a jolt of enthusiasm after all these years. I found it! I hope you have a great time and come back rejuvenated!!!

Steve