EA50 - B camera ideas

[James Hollingsworth]

Still working on that Noa but will post once I have satisfactory results. I have dabbled with your JR45 Cine profile but am finding it too contrasty and a little red, so continuing some tests.

[Chris Harding]

Hi James

Peter and I shot last weekend's weddings on the PP3 profile with colour level lifted from zero to +4 and I must say I really like the result!! Pete will also be posting his results later too! It's worth a shot?

Chris

[James Hollingsworth]

Originally Posted by Craig Marshall

James, why don't you simply use a filter thread adapter on your lens? (ie: 49mm>67mm) I use them all the time as one of my Heliopan Skylights is 67mm and I adapt it to the 40.5 thread on the SEL16-50mm motor zoom.

Of course Craig, thanks I will give that a try.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by James Hollingsworth

Still working on that Noa but will post once I have satisfactory results. I have dabbled with your JR45 Cine profile but am finding it too contrasty and a little red

They are not my preset, I just copied it as well from another source :) But you are right that the reds are more pronounced but I don't find it contrasty, it's actually quite flat.

[Steven Digges]

Hi James,

The match for the loaned VG20 I was using with my EA50 was just PP1 or off (i see little difference between those two anyway). I was shooting corporate meeting lectures so the match was great. I do not have to get real fussy with those shoots. I was using my Canon lenses and everything looked good. For you guys that are tweaking every last pixel of perfection out of it you might not be as happy as I was.

I am now shopping for a VG 20 or 30 on E-bay. I have never purchased a used camera of any type before. Or a new one from E-bay. I get most of my stuff from B&H. In this case, for a cheap "B" cam and fly cam the E-Bay prices are about half and it is not a big investment so I will probably pick one up pretty soon. I will let you know if I still think it is that great after I put more time in on it. I still believe it is a good "B" cam for the EA50. But you are correct that is not true once you start utilizing the versatility that the EA50 comes with.

Are you happy with your VG30? Does the cine profile match PP5 on the EA50 by any chance? I did not get a chance to compare them.

Steve

[James Hollingsworth]

To be honest I have been struggling with the new cameras. The ea50 can achieve some amazing stuff particularly with the focus transition tool, perhaps worth buying the camera for alone, I wish the vg30 had that function. The ea50 is fine when you have all day to set up a shot but for weddings it is quite cumbersome in too many ways to list them all and the LCD is far inferior to that on the vg30, next to useless if you ask me and with no viewfinder, you need to have done a lot of testing before. But I have the camera now so will stick with it. Am probably going to get a canon xa20 to use alongside the other two, I miss my fast long zoom and desperately want it back!

[Noa Put]

Realy? Why do you find the lcd of the ea50 useless? Combined with the focus aids you get like peaking, magnification and spotfocus during record I find it the best lcd I have used so far on any camera I had in the past. I can understand the lcd of the vg30 to be superior from what I have read about it but useless?

Also watch out with combining footage from a xa20, the sharpness difference between the 2 camera will make matching images difficult, I allready have this with my cx730 and those are not as pin sharp as some camera's out there.

[Craig Marshall]

The Vg30 has a high resolution O-LED viewfinder and this is a big upgrade from the Vg20. (an O'LED viewfinder is a $350+ option for an NEX-5!) Both VG20/30 cameras have silly little swing-out LCDs and IMO, the only thing they are good for is setting up the menu prior to a shoot. I would not use the LCD as any form of reference during a shoot.

[Steven Digges]

James,

The EA50 is designed to be an event camera. Weddings, corporate events, and run and gun are its strength. It is not a cinema cam. Focus Transition is on the bottom of my list of features this camera offers. Maybe your trying to over think it? I would like to hear more about what your doing with it. Maybe we can help?

Steve

[Chris Harding]

Hi James

Am I right in saying that you are the one who doesn't use the viewing tube either?? I trust the focus peaking on the camera in manual and that's all I use ..I certainly wouldn't try to focus without peaking!!

As for focus transition if you are shooting manual focus anyway wouldn't it be a lot easier just to do a manual shift ..that's how it was done in the old days!!

I use my viewing tube PLUS a 52mm CU lens (+2 dioptre) screwed into the top and it makes a huge difference to me ...maybe that's worth a try. After using 260K LCD's on my Panasonics the EA-50 to me is amazing resolution but I still wouldn't use just the image on an LCD for focussing anyway

Chris

[James Hollingsworth]

All I know is that focusing without peaking was much easier with my z1, obviously smaller chip so bound to be but it is the LCD in bright sunshine that I find to be the problem and I don't like the viewing tube. I would never have used focus transition in the past but I do find it to be useful on this camera with its larger sensor. Must be me but I still have my reservations about this camera for weddings.

[Chris Harding]

Well, so far I have been really delighted with the cameras (I have two of them) at weddings but then again I had Panny HMC82's previously so the Sony's should be better. Even shooting weddings with the stock lenses have been great..with run 'n gun handheld the big sensor takes a little time on AF but nothing that causes any issues. My season is over now but I did the last 16 weddings of the season all on the EA-50's and brides are happy. The only extra's I have are a Tammy 17-50 F2.8 constant for low light Churches and also a Tokina 11-16 F2.8 for stuff when I just want to point and shoot like guest interviews

I've used both the stock 18-200 and the 17-50 at weddings as even with the 18-200 I run in manual ...The 18-200 using AF on the stedicam also does a great job.

Different strokes for different folks but I found the transition from 1/4" chips to big sensor painless ..yep I certainly wouldn't attempt to use the LCD without the tube even if you use the shroud part of the tube in bright sunlight. Focus Peaking is always on with both cameras!

Chris

[James Hollingsworth]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Realy? Why do you find the lcd of the ea50 useless? Combined with the focus aids you get like peaking, magnification and spotfocus during record I find it the best lcd I have used so far on any camera I had in the past. I can understand the lcd of the vg30 to be superior from what I have read about it but useless?

Also watch out with combining footage from a xa20, the sharpness difference between the 2 camera will make matching images difficult, I allready have this with my cx730 and those are not as pin sharp as some camera's out there.

I agree this might be a problem and I now also have the same 730 as you, but having now shot 4 weddings with the ea50 and its 10x zoom, I just feel I want to be able to get closer to the action without standing any nearer. The xa20 offers 1080 50p and a 20x zoom, unmatched as far as Sony are concerned, why that is, you would have to ask sony!

[Steven Digges]

James please let me ask a question. Are you relatively new to shooting weddings? The reason I ask is because the EA50 is a wedding camera and some very picky veterans here are quite happy with it in that environment. I am trying to figure out how I can offer assistance, as you say you are struggling with it. I have been in this business 20 years, commercial, not weddings. My point is, that kind of longevity meant we had to learn how to shoot first and foremost. The cameras did not do anything for us. I am wondering if it is technology you are disappointed in, not the specific camera. Some guys get so caught up in the technology their expectations from the camera become unrealistic.

I bring this up with all due respect. I know nothing about you. The EA50 is a general utility type camera designed with weddings and events in mind. It does a very good job of that. I am trying to figure out why you are struggling with it so I may offer assistance.

[Noa Put]

I am trying to figure out how I can offer assistance, as you say you are struggling with it.

My opinion is that the ea50 is not for everyone, it's not an easy camera to work with as you need to blindly know where all the controls are outside the camera while you are shooting and that only comes with a lot of practice. I still find changing exposure manually with that small wheel not handy, you often need to turn it a lot to make bigger exposure changes, the manual focus on the stock lens is also difficult in run and gun, since it's electronically and not very accurate it makes correct focusing not that easy and the stabilization is not "that" good. I don't find the reach of the stocklens zoom not sufficient, for me it's plenty at weddings but useless nonetheless as the lens ramps too quickly making you push the iso way above 1600 before you know it.

Those are all things that make the camera difficult to handle in run and gun when you use the stocklens, you could let it all in auto if you are afraid you might mess it up yourself when it goes too fast but the risk of letting your camera mess up is bigger as well.