Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Guys

These guys make a nice adapter plate on the EA-50 which allows you to hang a counter balance behind the shoulder pad.

Weight attachment plate for Sony NEX-EA50 | Vocas Systems

Don Bloom might be interested in this and I was also thinking if you made your own plate a tad bit longer you could put not only a counter balance but also a nice bracket for radio receivers at the end. It's quite a neat idea!!

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

If you use Anton/bauer and if you dont mind the shoulder mount being out all the time I bet you could mount a anton bauer plate on the back. Giving you power and a counter weight.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

I'm in the process of designing a bracket for my AT receiver which should compensate for at least some of the weight. Once I( have the camera in my hot little hands I'll be able to finalize the design and manufacture the bracket. I'm also working on a way to use my DVTec ENG rig which has rails and a sprung rod for carrying the weight up front. I used it with many different Sony and JVC full size cameras and I think I can modify it to work with the NEX-EA50.
We shall see but I'm not ordering until I get back from vaca so that will be around the first of Feb.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

I bought this shoulder bracket from Dynamic Motion Video for my Z7U Dynamic Motion Video
It works better with the 50's view finder. There is a weight welded to the rear (6.5 lbs) that counter balances the camera very well. The whole rig is a bit heavy, kind of like a full shoulder mount camera.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

I had one of those a few years ago. Didn't work for me. Too heavy overall and the balance was still off. I sold it soon there after.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Lee

That looks pretty nicely balanced with over 6lbs on the back end. One of the plus ideas about the EA-50 compared to my HMC82's was the fact that it weighs around 2lbs less which doesn't affect a fit and strapping guy like yourself but myself (and probably Don too) are getting on and camera weight after a 12 hour wedding is an issue ....Hmmm maybe for me just an aluminium plate running from behind the pad and angled downwards at 45 degrees is what I need to mount my receivers and then I'll make sure I have enough room under for a counterbalance weight ... Don will look at that sort of stuff when he returns from his vacation relaxed and ready for action.

My current cams have the receivers on the side but I think on the back end might be nicer? They, themselves will provide almost no counter-balance weight but then at least the facility is there to add a weight if I make back mount plates

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Six pounds is not all that attractive to me either, but I don't do weddings or long events where I have to hand hold the camera. The longest I might have to hold a camera is under an hour. 12 hour weddings! I feel your pain with any camera rig (-:

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hey Lee

I'm on site for 12 hours but certainly not shooting for 12 hours...you have plenty of slack time in-between events ..speeches are on tripod on one cam and then cutaways on the other so your actual camera on shoulder is really short...maybe 10 minutes non-stop at the most...however it does feel heavier and heavier as the evening progresses. On a full wedding I probably film at the most 3 hours of actual footage so it's not that bad if you look at actually camera holding time!

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Don

My original rig for the ENG rod was really simple and I think I still have it..basically just two plates joined with 1/2" aluminium tube about 3" apart...one side went under the camera into the tripod screw and the other had the ball head and socket for the sprung rod. My B-Cam is usually never on a tripod so the rig just stays there whenever I need the extra support but I did have to take it off to put the camera on the stedicam which was only a minor inconvenience....rig frame off and quick release on and viceversa after the photoshoot. That's really all you need

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Yeah, I've spent a few minutes firguring out my design for the ENG rig and I think it'll work. Won't know for sure until I have the cam but it seems like it should work out. I'm not going to divulge until I have it made and on the cam then I'll post pics of that and the receiver bracket. One other thing I'm working out about the ENG rig is I want to have my QR plate on the cam at all times as I do now.
Anyway once I get the gear and MFG the parts I'll show you!

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Don

My current rig on the Panasonics does exactly that! I have a 1/4" plate on top of the rods that goes into the camera and then (slightly offset so you can get to the camera tripod screw) I have an identical plate under the rods with a 1/4" thread tapped into it so I can screw the QR onto it ...that way nothing needs to be removed and the cam can go from shoulder to tripod to stedicam instantly.

When does the cruise begin?? Bet you need the break?

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Chris,
I'm basically taking the month of Januaray off which is something I do every year. We'll leave from home on the 18th and board ship on the 20th and you'd better believe I need a break! ;-) I am truely at the point of chucking it all but I get like that every year at this time. :-)

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

I think the Vocas solution is not helping that much, it will only add weight onto your shoulder but not counterbalance it enough to take some weight from your hands, it just doesn't extend enough to the back. The Dynamic Motion rig I have here as well, bought it for my xh-a1 longer time ago and that works well and balances like a true shoulder camera, only like pointed out, it's very heavy camera included, but that's the amount of weight you need to get the camera balanced like a shoulder camera.

I think I rather use that extended shoulderpad to attach a wireless audio system or the swit battery for my video light.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Noa

I will also make my own! That way you can extend backwards as far as you need to..the further back you go the better the counterbalance and the less weight you need.

I was just thinking mainly of an aluminium plate a little narrower than the pad extending backwards on the same plane and then bend it at 45 degrees and mount the receiver on that and if required put a weight under the receiver mount(s)

I guess those that need a mod here will post photos? Dunno about yours but I suspect my first camera will be here around this time next week (have to allow for all these public holidays)

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

you already have a delivery date? I don't even have a clue, I only hope mine is not assembled in the same place where they build the black magic camera :D

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Noa

Obviously Sony Australia have plenty of stock! I ordered on the 26th and despite it being a public holiday here they gave me a receipt and today (28th) I was emailed my tracking number indicating it has shipped. The supplier is on the East Coast (we are the West Coast) so our usual snail paced National Parcel service will take around 6 days to get it across the country...I'm thinking Friday but cos Tuesday is a holiday that might throw a few spanners in the works. I will let you know anyway when it's here and my comments too.

Price from my suppliers was AUS$4040 and they gave me free shipping too. Bear in mind that us Aussies also get slugged with Sales Tax at 10% which has to be included in the price so the base peice was actually AUS$ 3678.00.

Hope yours comes soon? I would give them a friendly nudge at least with a request for an "estimated shipping date"

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Sales tax is 21% here, about estimated shipping dates, they didn't know and I don't worry about it too much, I"ll see it when it gets here. I"ll be most interested in some real life moire and aliasing examples so if you could shine your light on those that would be perfect. :)

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Noa

That's really harsh! 21% must hike up the price quite a bit.

Ok no problem on moire examples...Just for interest what scenes at weddings do you find are most troublesome with moire and aliasing??? On my first wedding that's available I'm going to tandem shoot with the EA-50 so it's footage doesn't really matter to the bride. I just want standard wedding footage as a test. I always feel it's silly to test the camera in your backyard and then find that the results don't compare to an actual shoot.

If you can give me a quick note of what scenes you need to see how the 50 handles then I can make sure they are included.

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Moire really acts up with a wide angle and buildings with small bricks or rooftiles, other then that it's not much of an issue unless someone would be wearing a shirt with very small horizontal stripes. Aliasing is less of a problem with my dslr at weddings (it's there but I hardly notice it) but after seeing this video ("https://vimeo.com/55999539") I got a bit worried, just check that building at 00:14 which seems like some nasty aliasing. Thing is you don't know how it was shot, edited and converted for Vimeo, you can mess up your footage if you are doing it wrong.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hey Noa

I still think we get over technical..even on that link they are no way on earth a bride would even see that!!

Now just to make you happier, if the light and angle is right both small CCD and CMOS chips are great at displaying moire..Even with my HMC70 which had CCD's I once had the limo arrive with a huge face brick wall in the background and the camera went crazy....My attitude would be if I cannot see the moire in the EVF then it's really too minor to worry about.

In Australia we have insect screens on all our windows (either metal or plastic fine mesh) and when the light is right you can get moire with your naked eye purely from light refraction.

The bottom line is that I never saw moire on any of my footage until someone started talking about it and now I often see bits and pieces at weddings and that's on 1/4" CMOS chips.

I will of course shoot a fair amount of "side" footage as soon as the EA-50 arrives so I can see if there are any issues we need to avoid...I have a wedding on the 5th and technically the camera should arrive on the 4th (with our parcel service it could be the 7th or 8th!!) If it does I will take it along to the wedding otherwise I'll run the extra footage on my wedding on the 12th

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Chris,
I am extremely interested to hear how this camera stacks up in low light vs a AG-HMC150 or your 80s. please let us know:)

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Randy

Me too!!! IF it arrives here before Friday 4th I'm taking it along with the HMC82's to my wedding on 5th so that will be a perfect test as I can shoot the wedding with the 82's and duplicate the footage on the 50.

Based on the fact that the base ISO of the 80 is 40 and the EA-50 is 160 that's already a 2 stop advantage or in low light a 12db gain so it the camera at 12db can duplicate the 80 at 24db gain which is real noisy on the HMC, I'm pretty happy. You naturally still have the option of grabbing another 2 or 3 stops advantage by using a 50mm prime at F1.4 or F1.8

With our Parcel courier and New Year's Day being a holiday it might not make it by Friday so then the test will have to wait until my wedding on 12th January.

I will keep everyone up to date

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Have you seen how moire looks like on a the first generation Canon DSLR's? Not pretty at all, I don't plan to use this camera much at weddings but more for producing video for a small business so then it has to perform better then my Canon 550d.

From what I read it has the same sensitivity then the pmw200 and 1,5 stop slower then the fs100, it appears to have usable video up to 5000 iso and if you combine that with a fast prime lens (the stock lens is quite slow) you have got a camera that can deal with any situation at a wedding without using extra light.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Noa

Yesterday's wedding I had the couple doing congrats outside he Church which was a nicely patterned face brick wall so I'm sure that would have caused major issues with a big sensor...The HMC chips handled it well but the thumnails in Vegas showed the wall full of moire!! If I had been using the EA-50 yesterday I would have simply moved the couple to a different location ...sorta prevention is better than cure....during January I'll see what backgrounds it doesn't like and then we know to avoid them!!

My photog yesterday was showing me video previews on his 5D with a 50mm F1.4 prime and anything over ISO2500 the hilights were blown out so it's nice to know that we can go to 5000 if needed.

In you opinion would a 50mm prime be OK for reception work?? That's equivalent to 75mm (35mm equivalent) .... I was playing on the Panasonic with zoom and I found that even up to 3X zoom (which is about 120mm equivalent) it was quite easy to use....35mm might be better but you can get a nice 50mm for half the price you will pay for a 35mm the same speed!! Pity Sony don't make a 50mm F1.4

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Not sure what the cropfactor on the nex ea50 is but if it's around 1.6 like on my dslr my favorite lenzes are the 85mm which are perfect to film guests when during receptions or when they are sitting at a table, I can keep my distance and get natural reactions. The 35mm I use for detail shots during bride prep or for any other close up with shallow dof but I do use that lens also for medium wides during a reception. And then I have teh 14mm that is used for the entrance of the couple, first dance, establishing shots, just about anything that requires a much deeper dof and a very wide angle.

I have a 50mm nikon nikkor here as well that I don't use anymore, if I would I would be using it for close ups only.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Gentleman,
When considering weights, form factor and fit I have a question that is very important to me. I am a south paw. I am pretty sure I am going to place an order for the EA50 this week. Being a new model I have not had in my hands yet, the viewfinder concerns me. Most cameras with this type of design just barely extend the viewfinder out enough for us lefties to use it. I went through the entire Canon XL series of cameras and they worked with no room to spare. On the EA50 my biggest concern is the buttons and controls that I may have my face against, or not. It is hard to tell from pictures. And it looks like a fixed viewfinder with no sliding adjustment like many other cameras have. Can anyone let me know if the viewfinder, with diopter attached, works for us guys that must use our left eye?
Steve

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

The VF isn't really a VF as those of us who used the "old model" full sized cameras remember. this is a tube with a diopter adjustment that is fitted to the LCD screen ala the EX3 so while there maybe some adjustment fore and aft (maybe) there doesn't appear to be any side to side adjustablity. I
ve read thru the manual (at least glanced at it anyway) and didn't see anything at all about adjuments to the "viewfinder".

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Steven

That's a very sad point actually!! I wonder if manufacturers have ever thought of lefties??? Just for interest how do you hold the camera and on which shoulder ?? I would have thought that the design of any SM camera would make it difficult to use it anyway else. Now the loupe does physically unclip from the LCD unlike an ENG camera where the LCD is inside the EVF tube. Maybe the fact that it CAN be removed might mean that it can be modified to make using it easier for lefties.

However I'm still having trouble trying to figure out how you would hold it as a left handed person??

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hey Don,
Does model numbers like Sony PVW-637 ring a bell to you? That’s where I started. Then it was up through the Beta 600 and 700’s. Today we still use D50s in the corporate show side of things. Full studio kits for I-Mag, Triax cable and CCU’s. Much of corporate America has still not embraced HD for meeting work.

It used to be Beta or nothing for professional video. Then some of us rejoiced when Canon put DV in the XL1 so we had a camera that was suitable for some things and the weight on our shoulder was the equivalent of the battery (or less) for the Beta Cam’s!

Chris,
I hold all cameras on my right shoulder just like everyone else. But I am big time left eye dominant. Pro shoulder cams have the EVF on sliding rails so we lefties can move it away from the camera body and still use it. The EA50 will be my first experience with a diopter mounted on a LCD screen. And being a guy that learned to shoot with electronic viewfinders I still like my eye in the cup instead of back looking at the screen in most situations.

Steve

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Hi Steven

Ok, that's interesting...I of course use my right eye for the camera and my left to see where I'm going...with you guys using your left eye isn't your right a bit blocked by the EVF bits and pieces?

Yeah, I do see the issue now as my Panasonics have a slider for the EVF which works fine but the Sony is simply an LCD with a loupe and cup over it so it's static. Can you actually use your right eye?? I must admit I have never tried using the "wrong eye"

I'm much the same and rarely use the flip up portion of my EVF ...I'm just comfortable using the eyecup for everything.

Chris

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Steven...Ding Ding Ding to all. Yep, just did a show last month using D50s-IMO one of the best rigs ever. Not that I'd want to lug one around all day. :-)

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

Chris,

Yes it is a little awkward sometimes but I have never seen a camera I could not make work. I think about ten percent of males are left handed but the world is made for righties. That's OK, we just compensate. I started in this business as a still photographer in 1987. I have seen many cool things in my life through a viewfinder while the shutter fired and I saw everything with flashes of black mixed in.


Not having a clear view with my free eye can be a disadvantage. When you watch a sporting event that allows credentialed photographers on the sidelines you can see who gets the shot and who doesn't when it happens with athletes coming right at them. Some guys duck or run and others keep shooting. I have been run over by a snowmobile, a mountain biker, and a U S Ski Team member just to name a few. Not to mention Rusty Wallace tried to run me over in a NASCAR garage just for fun. It was fun for him but it scared the hell out of me! He was laughing his but off. We had just finished an interview with him. He is a pretty cool guy but you have probably never heard of him in Australia? I guess I am just to dumb to duck and run.

Re: Neat Counterweight
 

I'm also left handed but there are so many things I do strictly with my right hand. I can't write worth a damn right handed but then my writing with my left leaves a lot to be desired as well. I found out when I was in the service back in the 60s that I'm right eye dominate. At the shooting range firing a trusty old M-14 I couldn't hit anything. The instructor asked me which eye was stronger, left or right. I told him I didn't know, so he told me to try shooting right handed. I did and it opened up a whole new world for me. when I got out and began my career as a still photog, I tried focusing with my left eye and couldn't. Switched to my right eye and BAM! Clear and sharp.
Yep, been run over at basketball games, football games. Never at NASCAR since I did robotic cameras and we were situated pretty far off the track. ;-0.
I did meet Rusty once when I went up to the race control booth to pull our camera after the race and he was coming down. Stopped and chattd for a couple of minutes. Pretty nice guy,