Zoom rocker, a show stopper!!

[John Knight]

The active steadyshot is amazing. Walking shots look like steadycam and panning on wide looks like quality tripod footage. I'm not easily impressed, but it is VERY good.

[Ron Evans]

The active steadyshot on the little Sony's is really good. This a short test I did when I first got my CX700 just walking down the path near my house holding the camera out in front of me in both hands.

CX700 Walking down path, 60P, Active SteadyShot, handheld on Vimeo

On our ski holiday I skied down besides my grandsons and the video looks like I was on a track. Very good. If you shoot for a length of time the picture will occasionally re center itself but this is small price to pay for such a steady picture.

Ron Evans

[Mike Beckett]

The Panasonics seem to have a built-in automatic ND. My HMC41 certainly did, and I understand that a number of other models do.

As far as I am aware, there is no auto-ND in the NX70. There's certainly no user-selectable one, which is just about the only thing I would really, really want changed about the camera (assuming they fix the zoom rocker in firmware!). There probably isn't the space for it in a compact camera like this.

I'll have a peep down the lens tonight to see what actually happens, whether it is a proper iris control or an auto ND.

The Active Steadyshot is fantastic, I have posted one or two samples further down the forum here, and posted a raw file on my Vimeo page: Mike Beckett on Vimeo

As John said, A.S.S. (unfortunate acronym alert!) seems to be great for pans on wide angle, when I got some of my recent footage back home to edit it I couldn't believe how smooth it is, and how steady it is when not panning. I don't think there's any loss of quality when you turn active steadyshot on, certainly nothing I can see with my naked eye, or even with my glasses.

Regarding loss of wide angle - the NX70 is 26mm wide angle already, so you don't lose very much. I think the NX5 is around 30mm.

[Tom Hardwick]

Mike - if there's no manually selectable ND on the NX70 there there most certainly will be internal (undocumented) ND being applied. Sony won't want you filming at (actual) apertures smaller than about f/5.6.

[Mike Beckett]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

Sony won't want you filming at (actual) apertures smaller than about f/5.6.

You'd think so, wouldn't you!

NX70 - closeup of iris on Vimeo

Not my best video ever, it was taken with a Lumix stills camera, in poor light, using a Stanley LED torch to shine down the lens!

This shows the iris stopping right down to closed, in one of the shots you can see the readout on the LCD panel as well. I don't see any ND filter kicking in at any point, as I did with my Panasonic HMC41. Surely if there was an auto-ND, the iris would only close so far, then it would stay at a certain minimum setting rather than closing completely?

You can see the HMC's ND filter on Adam Wilt's review: ProVideo Coalition.com: HMC40 review

It would be good to get some feedback from people who are more knowledgable about this than I am.

The NX70 does produce some bad chromatic aberration when you get down to smaller apertures, and I presume that the picture gets less sharp as well. I use B+W ND filters on bright days, or up the shutter speed if I can get away with it.

I have to say, on auto (i.e. “stop Beckett fiddling with the manual settings to stuff everything up mode”) it seems to do a pretty good job normally.

[Warren Eagleton]

The sun light down here in New Zealand can be harsh with high UV. I was pleased to see the NX70 had a usable lens filter mounting thread, and that one was still able to fit the lens hood, not like my SONY HVR-A1P. So I have used my ND4 neutral density filter several times, this was something I used almost all the time in summer with my A1P and this camera will benefit in the same way. With an 'f' stop range of 1.8 to 9.6 I like to aim to keep it round midway. I just check the conditions by sliding the auto/manual switch to manual to show the aperture readout, and then go back to auto. The ND4 drops it back round 2 stops generally. The video quality I get is so good, but I still await the ZOOM ROCKER fix!!

[Tom Hardwick]

Mike - to avoid repeating myself I might suggest you pop over to

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-hvr...ml#post1675362

This thread will help explain what's going on inside all camcorders that don't sport manually operated ND filters. Of course all cams allow you to do what you've done on your little film - let you to manually stop down the lens until the iris blades close. In fact it's quite fun filming at f/45 or so (using slow shutter speeds) to show the diffraction losses horribly clearly.

So although you can manually close your iris, what happens if the camera's left to it's own devices? Do the same test at full tele - that way it's much easier to see the sliver of ND behind (chip-side) of the iris. I haven't tested the NX70 so can't confirm what I suspect, but it has pretty small 1/2.9" chips so needs to use ND at some point in its life. The EX1R has bigger chips and has lots of ND on hand.

tom.

[Mike Beckett]

Tom, I did the same thing at full tele, and there was no sign of an ND popping in behind the iris. I just couldn't get a clear shot of it with my other camera. It may be there, and I just couldn't see it.

I will have another look at it and try other settings... but to be honest, it isn't a big issue for me!

[Warren Eagleton]

Although we seem to be getting a little 'off subject' of this posting I draw your attention to this on HD Warrior HD Warrior Blog Archiv Sony’s NX70 Rocker Switch…”Taking the bull by the horns”
I hasten to add I did not write or present this article but you can see I am mentioned in the heading which I can only assume is a reference to this forum. As I always shoot hand held this is a big problem for me or anyone that is on the move when shooting. Let your local SONY pro tech rep know of your thoughts as I have. As it says in the HD Warrior page it would be nice to see some acknowledgement from SONY.

[Max Bettelle]

Originally Posted by Adam Palomer

Windows allows users to adjust the scroll speed of the mouse, why can't Sony include such a feature in the menu so that one can choose a zoom profile to their liking? That would be a nice feature.

Canon already does it since a while...

[Warren Eagleton]

Well guys this is the end of the road for me with this thread. Today I was informed by a highly placed member of SONY Oceania region that while SONY is aware of the problem and a fix is planned he could give no assurance on when that may be acted on. I have explored every avenue and I'm sorry to say that this is the best I have unearthed. Thanks for your responses and its over and out from me, cheers.

[Silton Buendia]

There is really an easy fix to this and worth more in the long run then using the actual zoom rocker, its the Manfrotto 521PROILANCAV

Now days going hand held palm style is worthless anyway its so much more effective to put these cameras on the shoulder rig, with the shoulder rig you can mount this LANC controller to the handle of the shoulder rig and get your smooth zoom, it makes for more effective shooting anyway, same with a tripod.

The rocker is not really a show stopper if you as me.

Also I've shot stuff as high as 12DB and it looks great, I don't even think twice about bumping it up if you need it.

[Ron Evans]

This Sony hand grip/mini tripod will also solve some peoples problems.

GP-AVT1 | Shooting Grip with Mini Tripod | Sony Canada

Ron Evans

[Mike Beckett]

I went for the Libec remote because (a) it was cheaper and (b) it doesn't have as many buttons. It's far too easy for me to press the wrong button when I am trying to use the Lanc control without looking at it!

[Jim Stamos]

any news on whether sony is doing anything about the zoom rocker on the 70