Initial Comments - 50/1.8 for weddings

[Noa Put]

With a prime compared to your stocklens the low light performance becomes even more visible, when you would zoom in to 30mm the min f-stop might go to f4.0 so a 30mm prime at f2.8 will give you a much brighter image.
Also I don't use any hoods on my lenses as I need to attach a variable nd filter to it that I have to adjust during a shoot and this is something you cannot do with the hood attached.

Edit: not sure but you might be able to attach such a rubber hood that you can find on ebay and screw on your nd filter to that?

[James Manford]

I was just wondering do you guys actually use the zoom function on the EA50 kit lens ?

Im seriously considering putting the lens up for sale when I get my camera this week, im sure others are in the same boat ... plus it would help fund some of the prime lenses im after.

Im buying this EA50 mainly due to the 'look / form factor' or my VG20 would of sufficed.

And I already own a SEL18200 so im sure if I need a zoom I can just use THAT lens. Rather than the electronic one. I don't ever implement zooming in / out sequences in my edit anyway.

[Chris Harding]

Hi James

When the bride signs the register I do a tilt zoom down to the certificate and also during the cake cutting I tilt zoom down to the knife...apart from those two "motion zooms" all my zooms are purely for framing so there is never any intentional zoom in and zoom outs (the mark of a complete amateur!) However yes, I will use the zoom thruout the day BUT only to frame my shot.

If you do weddings and don't have/need to do the shots above and are happy physically repositioning yourself/camera/tripod for framing rather than using the zoom then there is no reason why you can totally dispense with the zoom and just use primes. I was brought up on video so I think during action, I think I would miss my zoom.

Chris

[Robert Moran]

Old Nikkors are awesome for this. I have a 24mm 2.8 that works wonderfully on the camera. You can get them on ebay pretty cheaply. It may not be as fast as the Zeiss but the image quality will be just as good.

[Peter Rush]

Chris did you have any issues with camera flashes at your wedding shoot? The last few weddings I've shot everything except the ceremony and speeches with a 5D Mk3 and photogs flashes really can screw up a shot - with the Z1 cameras you got a flash frame and it looked ok, but with the 5D you get these sort of half frame flashes that look awful - especially when a photog is really going for it and shooting a ton of frames!

My first wedding of the season is next month so it will be the first real test for my EA50 - expect a report

[Ron Evans]

This an earlier thread on the latest CMU that does correct for flashes. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nxc...-1-update.html I assume that the CMU that comes with the EA50 is this latest edition.

Ron Evans

[Chris Harding]

Hi Peter

I'm still a bit broke so at the moment I'm still using the Panasonic HMC as a main camera and then the Sony for cutaways and all the reception (except speeches) so it's doing 100% handheld stuff. I'm selling the second Panny to my mate who is getting into weddings and then using the Panny/Sony combo until I can afford the 2nd Sony.

I'm busy doing 3 edits at the moment and I'll check them as I go and see if I find anything untoward.

What exactly are you worried about? I must admit the first edit is done already I never noticed anything that jumped out at me... I my books if it doesn't worry me, then it shouldn't worry the bride.

I did notice a bit of moire on the chair back of the bride's chair during a cutaway but I know Noa would worry about it .... Nothing so far disturbing has been generated by the camera to give me concern which is great!!

Not overly sure about prime lenses at this stage ..It's nice to know that you could quite easily pull off a wedding just using the stock zoom if you needed to!

Chris

[Noa Put]

Not overly sure about prime lenses at this stage ..It's nice to know that you could quite easily pull off a wedding just using the stock zoom if you needed to!

Then I think you will never use the camera what it was build for, I see the stock lens as a bonus, a multipurpose lens that enables you to do most run and gun eng style of productions where low light is not a big issue and it will provide you with decent images, this I think is a zone where you feel most comfortable in as you always have worked with camera's that are good in "almost" anything.

But this camera allows you to step over those borders of being able to do "almost" anything and give you images your other cameras or the ea50 with stocklens are never able to provide and that can be in lowlight, shallow dof and lenschoices ranging from macro to fisheye to supertele. In my latest Casino video I have tried to utilize that strength by using just a few lenzes I have and it lifts your production imagewise to a higher level, something a stocklens could never do.

Each lens has often a very specific purpose and especially at weddings it's a hassle changing lenzes all the time just getting a macro shot from the rings, a fisheye view from a castle or a very shallow dof shot just fro creative purposes etc. but it's those single shots that make all the difference. If your filming style at weddings is strictly documentary then I think this is not the camera you should be using. I compare this a bit with buying a BMC and filming in prores because it's more convenient, this camera is build to film in raw which opens up a whole other level of possibilities and if you don't plan to use it, why buy the camera?

Also at weddings it is very important to choose the right lens for the right shot, if you choose wrong you are sc****d and in tricky situations the stocklens will always be the safest bet.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Noa

Before I start please realise that this post must be taken in the spirit that it's intended and I'm simply going to totally disagree with you, but only in a fun way because we all have different uses and different methods especially with wedding videos and run 'n gun shoots. I really do respect your creativity with the EA-50 but I didn't buy it for that. In my humble opinion if Sony wanted to sell it as a big DSLR they would have done so and left off the shoulder mount and certainly left off the zoom lens and all the "video camera" functions including all auto functions too. For your type of use, you don't want the lens, you want a manual camera, you don't need the form factor so in short you need a more ergonomic DSLR.

Now take me ... Apart from one camera on a tripod at ceremony and speeches, I shoot shoulder mount ALL the time so all my shoot apart from those two are handheld so voila, Sony gave me a shoulder mount camera...they also gave me a zoom lens, brilliant!! They also gave me auto controls when I need them (most of the time actually) and some really neat controls and good audio channels. Ok so I got a really good video camera that just happens to have a big APS-C sensor in it so IF I want to use primes I can and if I want to do stuff like Noa the option is there.

See? We all have different uses and different styles and I like the fact that if I do have a chance to do some creative stuff I have a camera that can do the job but for now I bought it as a shoulder mount video camera and it does exactly what I want it to with the stock lens.

Different strokes for different folks???

Chris

[Chris Harding]

Hi Peter

It seems to handle flash much like my Panasonics so I get a bar across maybe a 1/4 of the frame now and again ..I'm used to it and the brides never say anything either. Until cameras have a global shutter we have to live with flash bars... With weddings they tend to be accepted as the bride knows and sees the flash going off.

I have picked up one instance of moire so far, a little bit on the bride's chair back during a speeches cutaway ...the last three weddings BTW had lots of patterned brick work and the camera handles that with no issues.

Chris

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Different strokes for different folks???

that I cannot argue about :)

I"m just saying this because I have seen other people complain about the fact that the stock lens is too slow on autofocus or that the zoom is too slow as well or that it doesn't hold focus zoomed in and then out again and I know for sure those people do not have a dslr background.

If you have a dslr background this camera only improves on several limitations we all had to deal with so far so I exactly knew what to expect from the camera. I only wished it had no moire and aliasing issues and a bit less noise and ND's but you get what you pay for I guess.

I think there will be more people dissapointed about the camera that expect it to act like any other 1/3 inch fixed lens camera but it's not fair to expect that.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Peter

It seems to handle flash much like my Panasonics so I get a bar across maybe a 1/4 of the frame now and again ..I'm used to it and the brides never say anything either. Until cameras have a global shutter we have to live with flash bars... With weddings they tend to be accepted as the bride knows and sees the flash going off.
Chris

Chris if you use the CMU V2.1 it will remove the partial flash effect on transfer. At least it does on my NX5U so no reason it wouldn't for the EA50.

Ron Evans

[Steven Digges]

James,

I understand money matters. With that said I still think it would be a shame to sell the kit lens. We all know it is not perfect, we have beat the pros and cons to death here, but it is a GOOD lens. It was designed for this camera and it is a very versatile tool to have in your quiver.

Steve

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Peter

It seems to handle flash much like my Panasonics so I get a bar across maybe a 1/4 of the frame now and again ..I'm used to it and the brides never say anything either. Until cameras have a global shutter we have to live with flash bars... With weddings they tend to be accepted as the bride knows and sees the flash going off.

I have picked up one instance of moire so far, a little bit on the bride's chair back during a speeches cutaway ...the last three weddings BTW had lots of patterned brick work and the camera handles that with no issues.

Chris

That's exactly what I got - with my old Z1 the worst I got was flash/overexposed frame which was OK as somehow it's what your eyes see but with the 5D (and I'm hoping not with the EA50) I get an overexposed bar covering about a half of the screen which just looks strange - the last wedding i shot with the 5d the photog shot everything in multiples so his flash was going off like a strobe all the time - very annoying!

[Chris Harding]

Hi Steve

Exactly! I really cannot see any point in paying for the complete camera and then just keeping the body..I find the kit lens is nice and sharp..with the big sensor at F3.5 I get the sort of DOF that I like, not over done at all but just right with a decent, but not all, especially the background, out of focus. I don't think brides would be too happy with half the wedding party in focus and half out. I can see a prime being of great value during a photoshoot if it's done the conventional way ..I do the entire photoshoot on stedicam so I have to rely on AF and a reasonably large DOF at that point.

What would be the advantage of owning a body only EA-50 used as a DSLR only with prime lenses, compared to the far better sensor and lenses of something like a 5D III???? I think if I was going to shoot that way and not use the useful features on the EA-50 and shoot using it as a full DSLR then surely just buy a proper DSLR like the Canon??

Chris