EX1 Tips and Tricks

[Doug Jensen]

Zsolt,

I hope you realize that zebras are for exposure and peaking is for focus. They have aboslutely nothing to do with each other, except that both of them are critical tools for any professional camera operator to understand and use.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Nathan Hudson

How do you think people who shoot film are able to get good pictures? So NO, they are not ESSENTIAL. You don't NEED them to be a good camera operator. It's just a helper that if you choose to use, then feel free. Zebras are not something to learn by, but use after you learn the camera and it's capabilities. If you just throw on such helpers and only rely on what they say for everything and adjusting accordingly, then what did you learn out of it?

Umm people who shoot film use light meters.... either way you still need to measure the light somehow.

Personally I have found that while zebras can vary slightly from one camera to another they are generally very accurate once you've established your working profile. On the other hand LCD screens and viewfinders can vary greatly from model to model and individual cameras - many even have a brightness and contrast controls. That is why it does pay to learn with zebras on, especially when you get a new camera, to familiarise yourself with the exact setup you need in bright sunlight, under studio lights, backlit situations etc.

I would turn around what you said and say "to be a professional cameraman who can use a range of broadcast and pro level cameras, you need to understand and be able to interpret zebras".

[Zsolt Gordos]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Zsolt,

I hope you realize that zebras are for exposure and peaking is for focus. They have aboslutely nothing to do with each other, except that both of them are critical tools for any professional camera operator to understand and use.

Doug, I am fully aware of that. While both zebras and peaking are displayed simultaneously zebras may disturb the screen in the extent that peaking renders useless thus no proper focusing possible. While assessing exposure is possible through this graphic meter thingy in the corner (not sure how they call it) or by judgement of the cameraman I would suggest switching off zebras for focus critical HD work. On the other hand CMOS sensors are less prone to overexposure vs CCD, therefore I cannot see any reason why to occupy my LCD with zebras.
Btw. being on the LCD screen is where they are interrelated, otherwise they really have nothing to do with each other.

[Doug Jensen]

When used properly, Zebras should only be visible in a very small percentage of the screen -- and sometimes not at all. If you're seeing so much zebra that it is interferring with your focusing ability, then you are not using zebras properly. Perhaps that is why some people don't like zebras, because they aren't using them right.

Zebras are not some new gimmick that Sony added to the EX cameras. Zebras have been part of every professional camera for at least the last 30 years and are an essential tool to setting the proper exposure unless you want to drag around a waveform monitor or light meter with you.

It doesn't matter to me whether someone chooses to use them or not, but it does matter to me when someone who does not understand them says they are useless. If ridiculous statements like the ones made on this thread go unchallenged, then other people, who do want to learn how to shoot professionally, might be left with the wrong impression.

Some of the posters on this thread completely contradict themselves. For example, in one post someone says "I tend to slightly underexpose my footage to be safe . . ." and then later they say "I still personally don't use them and all my footage comes out great!".

Well which is it?? You can't underexpose and have footage that comes out great.

I don't understand why people work so hard to avoid learning the proper way to use a camera.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

I fully agree with Doug; zebras are NOT to be seen by their very design (at least not over to much an area) - so how are they cluttering your view?

If they do, you're overexposing anyway!

[Ed Kukla]

Vewfinders are all over the place for judging levels, zebras are not. zebras are reliable measuring tools for setting exposure, LCD screens are not.
But I'm only speaking from 20+ years of experience shooting for fortune 500 companies and major broadcast and cable networks; what do I know?

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Ed Kukla

Vewfinders are all over the place for judging levels, zebras are not.

Exactly. I can't be the only EX1 user who has accidently knocked the stupidly placed LCD backlight brightness buttons up or down when the camera is in an awkward position and wondered why the image suddenly looked wrong!

[Adam Reuter]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

I fully agree with Doug; zebras are NOT to be seen by their very design (at least not over to much an area) - so how are they cluttering your view?

If they do, you're overexposing anyway!

This is an ignorant statement as well. So let's clarify for the newbies again!

Zebras can be set to various brightness ranges by percentage. IF SET TO 100 or above you should avoid seeing any zebras at all to avoid blowing out part of your picture. HOWEVER, if your zebra is set to a lower value (say, 70%) then you WILL see zebras as this is directly related to the brightness of that portion of the image.

This is why it's important to buy Doug's DVD and research/learn the tools before you use them for serious work. I would NEVER use a camera I haven't used before on a pro shoot. Know why? Because I've made that mistake before (luckily on a non-paid shoot) and as much as these cameras are the same they are different in nuanced ways. Those nuanced differences can cost you more money in the end.

On some cameras you can't change the Zebra setting. And if it's set to say 70 and you expose to not see any zebras your footage will be underexposed. So learn (Google it, darn it!) how to use zebra stripes, read the f'in manual and use the histogram while you're at it too!

Don't have time to watch Doug's DVD? Hopefully you've downloaded the manual for the camera and read through it cover to cover. Not skimmed it...

And about the filmmaker comment. Before light meters people used charts and calculated things based on exposure/f-stop and weather. Lots of trial and error and wasted film. Nowadays filmmakers use lightmeters so as to not play a guessing game. The light meter on a video camera? Zebra stripes/waveforms/histograms. If film cameras could have them built-in I bet they would! With that though...video dudes definitely use light meters "just in case." LOL!

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

When used properly, Zebras should only be visible in a very small percentage of the screen -- and sometimes not at all.

Adam,

I was referring to the above statement of Doug's; note the "When used properly" part.

Of course when you use and set Zebra 2 to 70% for Caucasian skin tone, it WILL show in all areas that lit at 60 to 80%. But, you only use it in interviews and such, so - apart from the interviewee's face whose lighting you want to control - there' s not much more in the viewfinder that might get "cluttered" with it.

Other than with interviewing, I almost exclusively use Zebra 1, and that is at 100% by design. So call me ignorant, but I'm standing by what I said.

[Adam Reuter]

I apologize for my ignorance about your reference. I took the "when used properly" part as "proper exposure."

And indeed if using Zebra 1 then your stripes will always reference 100IRE. Sorry for calling you out, I just don't want any new EX videographers such as the OP underexposing their footage if his menu options are set differently.

Having used a camera that did not have 100IRE as its base reference (you couldn't even change the setting, so without a manual you had no idea what it was reading) I have made this mistake before.

Simply stated, again for new videographers: Not all zebra stripes are created equal. Read the manual and check your menu settings. Or better yet watch/buy Doug's video...now.

[Leonard Levy]

You have a button to turn zebras off except when you need them for spot reference, so if its in the way of focusing your not using them correctly. Nice thing about the levels of the EX-1 zebra is that the skin tone (settable) zebra is very light in the viewfinder and you can function with it on. I've always hated 70% zebras before because they screwed up my focusing. Have the button to turn them off and having them very light in the first place makes them very useful.

[Jonathan Betz]

Thanks again everyone for all the great tips. I just got back from my shoot and it was a great success. I loved using the EX1 and I definitely benefited from taking a lot of your advice.

The best tips were to use peaking and expanded focus. I pretty much left peaking on all the time which helped a lot with focusing, and I also used expanded focus to aid focusing for almost every shot.

Just for the record, I had zebras set to 100% and only used them occasionally for a few seconds using the zebra button. I thought that 70% zebras conflicted too much with recognizing the peaking lines, and so I just used 200% zebras to make sure I wasn't blown out in some high contrast shots.

I did accidentally hit the Full Auto button once, and I knew to check that right away when I saw that things were acting a bit odd. So that was also a great tip.

I'm not sure what additional info Doug's DVD would provide, but I also read most of the manual on the plane ride to the shoot, and that (along with asking questions here) didn't cost me anything. $100 seems like a bit much, and I did fine without it.

Thanks again.

[Bruce Rawlings]

I think the $100 dollars for Doug's DVD is cheap for the info it gives. I was up and running with an EX1 for an important shoot in one day. It gave confidence and removed doubt that a potential cock up was not far away. The EX1 guide is also good as particular information is much more easy to find and is clearer to understand than Sonyspeak.

[Jonathan Betz]

To each his own I guess. I'm glad I saved the money.