ea50 wedding footage
 

I just finished a trailer from a wedding I did 2 Saturdays ago (video is below this longer post), I think I have decided where to use the ea50 and where not which is based on shooting solo. In the morning I used it all the time with my 24mm f1.4 and the stocklens during bride prep until the groom arrived. I started with the 24mm f1.4 as that is a great lens which goes wide enough and it can push a background nicely out of focus. I don't use it fully wide open but at around f2.0/2.4 just to get a softer background but focusing is not easy once people start moving around. I ended up using the stocklens after that because I can reframe much faster without moving in closer myself which is great to get some nice closeup without getting into people’s faces. The only thing I don't like about that lens is how slow it is once you start zooming, I often had to use 1600 iso even though it was not that dark which on a big screen shows grain.

When the groom arrived I had to take one continuous shot from inside to outside and there I switched the gain from 1600 to 400 (with the switch on the side) to compensate but I need to cut out a small part when I switched because I had to adjust the exposure as well which you can see in the image when I went from 1600 to 400 iso. I think if that would occur again it's better just to leave the camera in full auto because it can adjust much faster and more accurate in such a situation. Next time however I will just use my Sony cx730 for that part because the ea50 gets grainy quickly inside in those dark hallways and the cx730 stays very clean at high gain and can handle those very dark to very bright situations in one go much better.

The legal part in the town hall I did use one cx730 unmanned on a tripod and the ea50 with the stocklens handheld, here I will use my 2 cx730's next time, the cx730 footage looks sharper and they match perfectly, the ea50 I have to sharpen and cc a bit to get them right, again if I zoom in a lot the footage gets grainier. It’s not a big issue, just that the ea50 requires more work in post to correct.

Same remark for the church, will be using my 2 cx730's for that next time, here the stocklens struggled quite hard to maintain a clean image, putting on a prime is no option as I don't have the time to switch lenses all the time + once I am working handheld the primes are too much of a hassle to maintain your focus when working under pressure. The cx730's are much better all-round camera for this purpose. In church I used my 2 cx730’s and the ea50 but ended up using the cx730 footage most, I also used the cx730’s during the vows.

For the photoshoot the ea50 with the stocklens worked best for me, that’s usually outside, plenty of light and then the lens does shine, zoom a little and the background gets a bit blurry. I also zoom manually all the time, works very well. The larger zoomrange you have gives the possibility to quickly reframe. Here all is handheld.

Reception, from here it's all ea50 with primes (24 and 85mm f1.4) and one dslr with a 14mm f2.8 on a steadicam, what I like is that I can shoot handheld with a unstabilized 85mm prime and get much more stable footage then I ever could get with the dslr, during reception I could mingle in the crowd "trying" to get candid shots from a distance, easier said then done as I can see people get more uncomfortable quicker by the size of the camera compared to my tiny T2I.

The only time I used the cx730 at the venue was during speeches, they are much faster set up and often the persons giving the speech move around which would make focusing with a 85mm prime very difficult, I rather place one small camera between the guests on a small tripod which gives front to back sharpness. If I’m 100% sure the person doing the speech stays on one location I might use the ea50 with the 85mm next time and a cx730 for guest reactions.

I now don’t like the image my t2i outputs anymore, the ea50 is better and 50p is great for slowmotion which I only use in a trailer but I would like to have 50p on the steadicam, slowing down 25p dslr footage gets very jerky. 50p otoh slowed down from the ea50 looks just great, the ea50 also uses picture profiles that have a wider DR and allow colorcorrecting in post while retaining more detail, I have to use cinestyle preset on my dslr to get a somewhat matching image (when it gets dark) but that means quite a lot of CC in post and it just more difficult to match. Also the standard or normal picture profiles on the dslr are very contrasty with lot’s of saturation and I each time have to desaturate to get a matching image. I even was thinking of selling both my dslr’s and getting a vg30 instead.

In the trailer I used the JR45CINE2 abelcine picture profile and used color level -2 instead of Color Level -4, I did get some blown highlights and flat color but after CC’ing in Edius it was easy to get details back in those highlights and I just increased the chroma value a bit. I also crushed the white balance contrast (which got the detail back in the highlights) and did some minor yuv adjustment.

Sound is just awesome on the ea50, night and day difference compared to my dslr’s and the cx730. I used internal and a external mike simultaneously but next time will just use my at897 shotgun as primary sound source as that one gives the best sound. During the dancepart the dj’s music low and high tones where recorded well and even though the sound was on auto it didn’t clip anywhere. I also liked the fact that in the morning during bride prep I can get clear sound from people talking.

To give an idea which footage in the clip is from the ea50: from 00:30 to 00:53, 01:03 to 01:20, 01:28 to 01:43, 02:03 to 02:05, 02:09 to 02:30, 03:05 to 03:17

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Nice work, Noa!

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Good stuff!

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Hey Noa

Great footage !! Of course the cinematic style with de-saturated colours is not my way of shooting as my brides like bright colours but that still doesn't detract from the skillful way you have used the camera.

I guess your season will soon be in full swing while ours will be all over by early June (but back again in August!! no break for the wicked!!)

Keep up the good work!

Chris

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

I filmed a small charity event the other day using the CineAble profile and had exactly the same comments. And was told it's too dark, you should be filming in a way it makes the colours pop.

So no more cineable for me! unfortunately. Not all clients like the dark tone, they prefer bright.

In terms of your video, I like it! looks really good. Shame the whole event wasn't done on a EA50.

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

My shootingstyle requires me to use more then one camera depending on what I need to shoot, Probably end of the wedding season I would like to sell my 2 dslr's and get one vg30 instead which could be used as a second unmanned camera or on the steadicam as it can do 50p. My cx730's are sharper and produce less noise but they also have more of a video look, that's why I don't like mixing other camera's, but my ea50 does mix better with my cx730,s then my dslr's do so I can use them together with some cc in post.

Here the weather is starting to get better but we have had some awe full weather the past weeks and I still have to do a wedding where there is glaring sun, I am very curious though to see how the camera will handle that.

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Hi Guys

I think that the colours are actually correct for a cinematic style video .. if your samples have the same sort of feel then there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. My samples over the years are bright and vivid (my last wedding (Friday) was actually in the rain and the bride still expected bright TV style colour) Cinema style is a lot more subtle and mood creating (Noa has said many times that you can't make a cinematic production just buying a DSLR)

I have always shot doc style so cinematic to me looks "dull" but then again very creative too. I think if you made the colours pop then the whole feel would be destroyed. The bottom line is you need to create what the client needs and Noa's clients love his style. James? just be a little careful with some of the other profiles as they sometimes oversaturate!! I am sticking to PP3 at this stage with a saturation boost for outdoor footage.

Chris

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Achieving a certain look is one of the most difficult things to do and I am not an expert in that, I do like that "flatter" look but am still searching for that ultimate look which for me should have balanced colors.
One of my favorite videos in terms of "look" is one shot with a simple Sony vg10 and a stocklens, only the maker has not shared what settings he used in post, too bad.

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

The EA50 is one of the most expensive things in my possession after my car, so I just felt a bit gutted that you couldn't produce a whole wedding film with just this camera.

But as you say, it's your style. You like to incorporate other cameras. So fair enough.

@Chris

I agree about the cinematic look having a certain grade of colour. Vivid colours would indeed destroy the look, although i'm sure if many shallow depth of field, macro shots were used then vivid colours wouldn't really effect it so much. Many documentaries on wildlife etc are bright and vivid without that dull colour, especially films about insects.

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Not sure what you are trying to say James, what does 'gutted' mean?.

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Hey James

Just because Noa decides to use different camera for weddings doesn't mean that the EA-50 cannot be used...I use both my EA-50's from start to finish at weddings and only with the stock lens on both cameras ...I have yet to have a problem and doubt whether I ever will either. The Sony's do a better job than my Panasonic's used to as well.

No reason at all to feel gutted!!

Chris

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Ok, was too lazy to look it up yesterday but the oxford dictionary says: "bitterly disappointed or upset"
Why?

My ea50 was not intended to use at weddings, I did have a set up for that (2 handicams and 2 dslr's, all 4 costing less together then what my ea50 costed) but I mainly wanted to use it for the occasional company/corporate video where I couldn't show up with my handicam.

Then I decided to take it along at a wedding, just to see how it handled and performed and that's where I saw it outperformed my dslr's (canon t2i) in many ways, the image is a bit sharper, it has less moire, some picture profiles are more usable (and easier to adapt) and have a wider DR, it matches my sony cx730's better, I can shoot handheld with a unstabilised lens, the audio is much better, I can shoot continuously, focusing aids are much better, it can shoot 50p. Only formfactor can be positive or negative, easy to shoot handheld but big and bulky and I hate the fact that I can't select different iso values more quickly.

But I liked the output so much I decided to take it along as one of my main camera's every wedding and assured I had the right bag to transport it with all my other camera's.

The only reason why I don't use it throughout the day is that in at least 2 situations I work with 2 or sometimes 3 camera's, alone. Those situations are during the legal part in the town hall and in the church. Those are both tripod moments where I don't move around and I need a second angle, or third angle which makes it much easier in post. This also means running 1 or 2 camera's unmanned so I need something that performs well like that and my cx730's do, they are little wonders. I couldn't imagine doing those with one ea50 , I might use the ea50 and one cx730 but the two cx730's combined give me a better result, they match perfectly in post, they are sharper, cleaner and more idiot proof which helps in run and gun. So that's why a handicam are a better option if I need to secure good images under those conditions. My cx730's can give me a good image in a fingersnap, my large sensor camera's don't.

All the rest of the day I prefer to use a larger sensor camera because I have the time to set up right before I shoot, but the output is much nicer looking then my handicams, mainly because it doesn't have that video kind of look and the shallower dof which adds a very pleasing overall look that can be soft and sharp at the same time.

So you see it's not that I am spoiled with having too many camera's, they are a necessity for my way of shooting to secure good results. With the ea50 added to my gearbag my dslr's have the feel of becoming obsolete and I"m seriously considering, when funds allow, to sell one t2i body and add some for a vg30 body so I do have a replacing steadicam camera that does 50p. My wife needs a replacement photocamera too so she can have my second t2i. In that way I have a 2 perfect duo's to shoot different parts of the day as a solo shooter and that for a combining price that's less then one canon c100.

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Noa,
Regardless of equipment, you are a talented videographer. Equipment is about 5% contribution to artistic output and plays little part in your work that you have been kind enough to show here. I suspect a better set of paint brushes would not have improved Rembrandt's work much, and thus it is with you.

I work at the factual industrial/training end of our business and your work has inspired me to shoot something artistic just for the challenge of it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Cheers!
Rod

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

Nah, I"m not talented, just been at it for 9 years now and I have hit a brick wall more times you can imagine but I never gave up trying. Everyone can move a camera on a slider or walk around with a steadicam, it's the experience that makes a big difference too. But I"m happy my sharing does help others. :)

Re: ea50 wedding footage
 

I might of been a bit over dramatic ... but I understand where your coming from Noa. I was under the assumption you bought the EA50 as your main camera for everything including Weddings, but due to the camera's limitation you reluctantly had to stick to your handicams as well. But obviously this isn't the case after reading your explanation ...