Sony NX5/AX2000: steadyshot settings

[Ron Evans]

You can use the menu to set any of them permanently. I do not advise this though especially active steadyshot. IF you use a tripod turn steadyshot off. IF you are hand holding the camera then standard steady shot is fine. if you are in a crowd and will get pushed or want to walk fast with handholding the camera then use the active mode. That is why having it on a button is more useful as you will be able to see the mode you are in and change if you need to.

Ron Evans

[Adriano Moroni]

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I'm using for the first time Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo HX, can you tell me if every time I have transferred files from Memory stick to hard disk I have to format the Memory stick or it is sufficient to delete those files in the Memory stick?
Thanks

[Ron Evans]

You can just delete them but do so in the camera NOT the PC. I also only use the Content Management system to transfer files to the PC.

Ron Evans

[Tom Hardwick]

Yes, just delete the files using the camera. Current thinking is that you'll kill your flash memory card faster if you reformat each time.

[Adriano Moroni]

Can I delete all the files in the Memory by PC or do I have to make it by camera only?

[Tom Hardwick]

''Will Active Steadyshot deteriorate video quality? I have just made a test and I have a feeling there is less video quality (a little bit). I see less sharpness. Is it my feeling or reality?''

It an unavoidable reality - using Active SS 'zooms into' the image slightly to hide the cut off corners (that only occurs when you shake the camera pretty violently). So instead of recording 1920 x 1080, it records something like 1880 x 997 (I'm guessing here).

Easiest way to see this is to connect your NX5 to a good big TV using HDMI and use the TV as a giant viewfinder. Switch between SS off, SS and Active SS and note the loss of fine detail in the ASS setting.
Also note that you lose the 29.5 mm wide-angle - you're left with something like 32mm.

Sony are alone in having no on-screen display symbol visible when SS is turned on (I nearly said active!), and this shows their faith in the very near total transparency of the technology. All other makes warn you when you've got IS turned on and in the days of EIS this was an important warning.

However, I feel Sony should now change their tactic, and that's because in the old days SS was a fairly mild correction whereas now SS can now be softened or hardened considerably, and we should be warned. I have assign button 2 set up to toggle SS because I need the 'pip' on the button to find it quickly. Tripod pans shouldn't be attempted with SS on, even in the normal mode.

Next you say, 'When you you use a wide-converter (0.52x) the image degradation is acceptable? Is it Sony VCL-HG0872X?'

No, the 0872 does what it says - the 08 is a 0.8x and the 72 is a 72mm fitting. That lens is good, but it's big, heavy, expensive and just too feeble.

My 0.52x is made by Bolex in Switzerland and converts the 29.5 mm to 16mm. It's a single element, an aspheric, and it's pretty expensive. Being a single element it gives chromatic aberration and does indeed lose you corner sharpness - far more than when used on my Z1 for instance. Odd that.

But when you're using a 16 mm lens it's the perspective distortion you're using it for, and if the audience complain about corner sharpness you've really lost them. But it's wonderful inside huge cathedrals where all the pillars remain dead straight, regardless of where they are in the frame. And it still allows me a 15x zoom before the image blurs suddenly.

tom.

[Adriano Moroni]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

My 0.52x is made by Bolex in Switzerland and converts the 29.5 mm to 16mm. It's a single element, an aspheric, and it's pretty expensive. Being a single element it gives chromatic aberration and does indeed lose you corner sharpness

Tom, I have always used wide angle lens from Sony and Century Optics but I'm curious to use 0.52x made by Bolex. Could you give me your suggestions? I above all make my shots in the rainforest and inside huts of indigenous peoples, in your opinion could it be useful for me? How much sharpness it it at the center of lenses? Where can I buy it and how much it costs?
Thanks again.

[Victor Wilcox]

You should delete video files in the camcorder. The file structure needs to be updated on deletion.

I've also read in the card specs that their life time is affected by the number of times it's removed and reinserted in the slot. Maybe 10,000 cycles is too much to worry about. Especially when a 60 minute video transfers in 10 minutes in my laptop slot as compared to 20 by USB.

Oh well. Enough dribble.

BTW, I find active steady shots maintain enough quality to make it worth it when you can't shot with a tripod. But then, I'm a shaky old man.

[John Gayman]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

Yes, just delete the files using the camera. Current thinking is that you'll kill your flash memory card faster if you reformat each time.

I would think the guidelines are similar to those for still cameras that use flash memory. With still cameras it is much faster to simply reformat the cards in-camera after each use rather than deleting files. There is minimal chance that anyone is going to shorten the life of the cards using this method. My primary experience is with CF cards in still cameras but I have flash cards that are well over 5 years old which have been removed and formatted 5-6 times or more per week year round. The life cycle for these cards is many many thousands of cycles. You will likely not live long enough to "wear out" a flash card.

[Tom Hardwick]

Originally Posted by Adriano Moroni

Tom, I have always used wide angle lens from Sony and Century Optics but I'm curious to use 0.52x made by Bolex. Could you give me your suggestions? I above all make my shots in the rainforest and inside huts of indigenous peoples, in your opinion could it be useful for me? How much sharpness it it at the center of lenses? Where can I buy it and how much it costs?
Thanks again.

All the wideangle converters I've used (Century, Kenko, Raynox, Tecpro, Zunow and so on) have given me barrel distortion. If they don't then they're so mild (the Sony 0.8x comes to mind) they're not worth the hassle of lugging about, storing and fitting.

The aspherics made by Schneider

www.wittner-kinotechnik.de: Katalog

work beautifully but are - as far as I can see - uncoated, but maybe you should look here:

WVL , Widelens , Wide angle , Wideangle converter , professional lens , zoomlens , wideangle adapter , wideangle converter

But read up on the world's best wide-converter and talk to Bolex in Switzerland:

CHANGE THIS TO THE ITEM TITLE

tom.

[Adriano Moroni]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

All the wideangle converters I've used (Century, Kenko, Raynox, Tecpro, Zunow and so on) have given me barrel distortion. If they don't then they're so mild (the Sony 0.8x comes to mind) they're not worth the hassle of lugging about, storing and fitting.

Two years ago when I used a different camera I purchased a Century wide angle lens but I used it very little because it gave me a bad image quality. I can accept a little barrel distortion if the quality of image remains good (sharpness and colorimetry).
How much Bolex wide angle lens deteriorates the images?
thanks

[Tom Hardwick]

The Bolex Aspheron has been designed to fit the Vario Switar 12.5 - 100mm zoom. The fact that it works on a lot of other cameras (not the EX1 though, which was a major reason I went with the NX5) means there are compromises simply because it wasn't designed for anything else.

It's a single element with a very powerful -10 dioptre (approx) power, so there's chromatic aberration (CA)introduced due to the laws of optics, not the laws of Bolex. The Aspheron was sharpest on my VX2k, then slightly less sharp on the Z1 and fitted to the NX5 it's really not good enough for critical, stationery camera work.

Each camera in that chain gained a wider and wider wide-angle end to the zoom, such that when the Aspheron's fitted to the NX5 you have a very impressive 16mm (equiv) focal length. With no barrel distortion you can film anywhere, and horizons, tables, pictures, doors, telegraph poles all remain straight and true.

I have a lot of other wide-angles and some are zoom through, some are sharper, the multi-element ones have invisible CA but what do I shoot through? The Aspheron, every time. It's strikingly, frighteningly wide. As a single T* coated element there's very little flare introduced, but you have to have spotlessly clean elements when working at a focal length of 2.2mm.

tom.

[Adriano Moroni]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

As a single T* coated element there's very little flare introduced, but you have to have spotlessly clean elements when working at a focal length of 2.2mm.

Damn! I will use it in rainfores and it is very hard to get clean elements. In your opinion what other wide angle lens can I use on my AX2000? For me the most important things are: sharpness and less chromatic aberration. Even if it is not enough wide angle it is ok.
Thanks for your suggestions.

[Tom Hardwick]

As I say, you can use any wide-angle lens that will screw or bayonet on, but the compromise is feebleness and barrelling. But you should look at the Sony version, because it sounds like you'll need to use it with a good 16:9 hood.

[Conrad Kramer]

Just to clear things for me:

If I am using my cam on a tripod I want to see (Steadyshot) "off" on the display - is that right?

thanks
Kramer