First Thoughts

[Peter Rush]

Ok so I used my EA50 yesterday for my first wedding shoot of the season - here are my thoughts so far...

The quality of image is great - way nicer than my Z1/FX1 cameras - the stock lens is OK but (as has been mentioned) the zoom is slow. It also has a little 'bump' as the servo starts to zoom and then again at the end - this may be a fault so I'll investigate further. Also seemed to loose focus during a zoom and then get it back again - but not all the time - again it may be a fault.

Copes well with low light (for the reception the gain was 24-30 as it was a pretty dark room) and even though the gain was up it's easy enough on the eye to be usable (preferable to wandering around with a light on my camera anyway) I set PP to 'off' and thought (as Chris has mentioned) that indoors the colours looked a little over-saturated (especially when the gain was up) - the shots near the windows where there was lots of natural light looked nice - and the outdoor shots looked great!

I haven't used it enough for the controls to be second nature but I very quickly was using the WB shift to adjust colour temperature on the fly as I moved around the reception room (mixed daylight/artificial) - I used this a lot on the Z1.

The focusing latency is not good but I may get used to it - or get a better lens! The build is a little plasticky compared to the Z1/FX1 and it marks real easy - i think my EA50 may look old before it's time.

Overall I like it - the quality of image it produces make it a worthy upgrade from my older cameras and along with my VG20 and TM900 cameras I'm ready for the season!

[James Manford]

Completely agree about the build quality. Feels like a £1000 camera rather than a £3000 one.

It will definitely look old in no time. I just hope it lasts.

[Chris Harding]

Hey Pete

Nice to get some comments back from another wedding guy! I honestly haven't had a issue with the build at all ..Now my Panasonic HMC82's had good build quality but the newer AC-130's looked like they were made in China rather than Japan (probably were!!) and very plasticky!! The EA-50 isn't bad at all for a "new age" camera .... Go outside and feel the steel thickness of your car then go feel Grandpa's car ...lean on your car roof and you have a dent ... it's the way manufacture is going.

Now, my wedding was in a Church ...a bit dim too and I used default "OFF" profile and it was terrible..in Sony Vegas I have got Gamma adjusted up to 1.222 and Saturation down to 0.970 ... Yes PP3 standard setting works great for indoor shots but is sadly wishywashy for outdoor shots. I'm still looking for a decent outdoor preset that will handle from sun to deep shade well

The audio on the camera is really good ...I had an issue as the priest decided to do his homily not in front of the couple or from the lectern that I had already miced, but from way behind the altar...so the only audio that worked was the Church PA and the quality from the groom's lav mic was much the same as the on-cam mic.

It would really be neat to be able to use the touch focus facility!! I think I will see how good it is at the next Church ceremony where flipping down the EVF is practical (wedding on Friday is outdoors!!)

As with you, so far so good!! Just got to play with some outdoor settings now

Chris

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by James Manford

It will definitely look old in no time. I just hope it lasts.

It does seem some very durable and rigid plastic (or whatever it's made from) but it could be it's a bit more sensitive to scratches though mine still looks new after having it used in some not so ideal conditions. It does easily transfer handling noise if you use the internal mike only so that you need to be aware of.
I guess time will tell but I don't expect it to fall apart. :)

[Peter Rush]

Hi Guys - regarding the build - I don't think it's going to fall apart any time soon, it just seems to mark easy. I'm definitely going to experiment with picture profiles over the next few shoots - I'll post my thoughts

Chris - yes I think the audio is really good but that cable really gets in the way! I'm still going to look into using my Rode shotgun mic with the cable sensibly routed. I also have one of my presets to AE shift - it's really useful

A little off topic but can anyone recommend a short zoom - something akin to my canon 24-105 that i might look into - also I'd like something a little faster than the kit lens 3.5 - Another think I noticed is that the kit lens ramps very quickly, My Z1 used to ramp only towards the extent of the zoom - I'm nit-picking now though, the kit lens is very usable

Pete

[Chris Harding]

Hi Pete

Something like 14mm-55mm would be perfect for me and F2.8 all the way through!! My photog has a Nikon lense that is short (about 4X or 5X) and is F2.8 end to end which would be awesome but I'm not sure if the adaptors out there will control aperture with non Sony primes as some primes simply don't have an aperture ring at all.

Chris

[Peter Rush]

Chris have you tried the digital zoom on your Sigma 19mm F2.8? Looking at other posts the digital zoom is pretty good on a quality prime - effectively making in this case for a 19-38mm

Pete

[Chris Harding]

Hi Pete

Sadly I have tossed out both my 50mmF1.8 prime and my 19mm F2.8 Sigma ...I really need zoom to work ..I use it 99% of the time just to frame shots. However I did try the 19mm with 2X zoom and visually it seemed quite good..Technically you have a good chance of amplifying artifacts and moire drastically that might not have shown up before the zoom happened. I think it's the same effect you get when you try to zoom/crop interlaced footage in an NLE and get jaggies everywhere!! IF the shot is indeed free of moire especially then it will look fine but a slight shimmer at 19mm (which you can get away with) will be amplified double if you digitally zoom and it will look awful.

I sure this was addressed a while back by Noa and he mentioned that the big issue was amplifying moire with digital zoom.....I still think a nice optical zoom would be better ... something like the GH series use like 14mm to 42mm ...That way you get a wider angle if you need it and 42mm is often plenty tele enough for most shots. I think a 3X optical would give less hassle than 2X digital!

Chris

[Noa Put]

I sure this was addressed a while back by Noa and he mentioned that the big issue was amplifying moire with digital zoom.....

Not only that but also magnifies aliasing if present and it softens the image, this issue has been reported by other users, it can work for certain shots though but you need to check the viewfinder and use the magnifying button to be sure if you don't want the artifacts to mess up your shot, just like I did here as a test:

Vimeo

[Peter Rush]

This Lens from Sony looks interesting but again only f3.5

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/892390-REG/Sony_selp1650_16_50mm_F_3_5_5_6_Power_Zoom.html