Sharpening at DVinfo.net

Peter Rush · April 23rd, 2013, 06:40 AM

I'm finding my EA50 footage a little less sharp than my other cameras (VG20/TM900) and have been digging around the picture profiles to try and sharpen it up - here is a description of the 'crispening' control in the 'detail' section of picture profiles. This explanation is for Sony XDCAM but I'm sure the same applies for the EA50 - although with the EA50 you can only have positive crispening - I haven't messed with it yet though.

Has anyone had success sharpening their image?

Picture Profiles – Crispening _ How to clean up your image. | XDCAM-USER.COM

Pete

James Manford · April 23rd, 2013, 08:13 AM

I find it sharper than my VG20? how weird is that. I'm filming with no picture profile.

Peter Rush · April 23rd, 2013, 08:54 AM

I'm very dubious about my EA50 kit lens - it seems to lose focus a little when I use the zoom - I've a wedding on Saturday and I'm going to film part of it using my VG20 kit lens and see the difference. The only time I miss my Z1 is when I'm fighting the focus of the EA50

Noa Put · April 23rd, 2013, 08:58 AM

Quote:

it seems to lose focus a little when I use the zoom

Is that when the lens is in auto or manual?

Peter Rush · April 23rd, 2013, 09:08 AM

Hi Noa - it seems to do it more when in manual mode - you only have to start moving the barrel to see it ever so slightly lose focus

Pete

Noa Put · April 23rd, 2013, 09:16 AM

Is this the issue you have?

Chris Medico · April 23rd, 2013, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

I'm very dubious about my EA50 kit lens - it seems to lose focus a little when I use the zoom - I've a wedding on Saturday and I'm going to film part of it using my VG20 kit lens and see the difference. The only time I miss my Z1 is when I'm fighting the focus of the EA50

The kit lens is not parfocal. It won't hold focus when zoomed.

Peter Rush · April 23rd, 2013, 09:37 AM

That's exactly what I get - I'm old school in that I zoom in, focus and then frame, i don't always use the expanded focus to assist - I'm not convinced it holds it's focus well when the zoom is used to reframe so I guess i should frame my shot and then use expanded focus more

Steven Digges · April 23rd, 2013, 11:54 AM

Hey Peter,

Here is the thread where we discussed this. My kit lens is tack sharp. Try expanded focus at 4x, not 8x.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nex...m-problem.html

Steve

Chris Medico · April 23rd, 2013, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

I'm very dubious about my EA50 kit lens - it seems to lose focus a little when I use the zoom - I've a wedding on Saturday and I'm going to film part of it using my VG20 kit lens and see the difference. The only time I miss my Z1 is when I'm fighting the focus of the EA50

I think the expectations are a bit high when looking at a large imager zoom lens in this price range. Having an expectation that a lens like this will perform the same as a lens costing 30x more in my opinion is a bit unfair. Not to mention that more expensive lens has no image stabilization and not auto anything.

At least that is the opinion after reading a number of complaints about this family of lenses.

Joel Corral · April 23rd, 2013, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Medico

The kit lens is not parfocal. It won't hold focus when zoomed.

thats not true. i have no focus issues when i zoom... i don't know what everyone is crying about over this...

Chris Medico · April 23rd, 2013, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joel Corral

thats not true. i have no focus issues when i zoom... i don't know what everyone is crying about over this...

The lens design itself is not to be parfocal. The fact that some are better than other only speaks to the variability in the manufacturing of the lens. That is to be expected at this price point.

If you have one that does perform better than average focus wise consider yourself lucky. That is not what the lens is designed to do.

Joel Corral · April 24th, 2013, 01:25 PM

So i guess I am 3x’s lucky? Perhaps the issue doesn't lie by luck. Perhaps USA models don't suffer from this issue? Or perhaps a particular manufacture date range doesn't suffer from the problem. I am certainly not a lucky guy in fact i am unlucky....

JC

Erik Wittbusch · April 26th, 2013, 02:59 AM

If you put the EA50 against one of the "real"cam videocameras with a dedicated videosensor, it's not very sharp. If you put it against a middleclass DSLR it's sharp.

I think the EA50 has a strong lowpass filter to avoid moiré and rolling shutter issues. Then it has a 16MPix sensor from the NEX fotocameras. It can't be tack sharp and it's not.

But it isn't unsharp either. I am just testing the output of the EA50. I tried several picture profiles and ended up using the JRE452 from Abelcine for generalfree use andit high contrast and Sony's PP3 for lowlightto and "quick'n dirty" work. Both get better with some color correction especially dealing with highlights. If you need more sharpness, the material accepts a good amount of post sharpening. Good for architecture and technical stuff.

The kit lens isn't bad at all. Together with the 2x digital zoom, it's a run'n gun option that doesn't exist in the S35 world and yet under 20.000 bucks! You have a 16xcinematic zoom lens which can be controlled via the zoom rocker. Not comparable with a ENG servo zoom lens, but it's there. You'll need enough light and the picture won't be to much cinematic, but you can use it!

As the kit lens is NOT parfocal, zooming during recording won't always work. But small zooms in the wide or mid range still work. Sometimes autofocus helps, too. It is possible to get a sharp zoom during recording, but it won't always work. Definitely not.

Erik Wittbusch · April 26th, 2013, 03:00 AM

If you put the EA50 against one of the "real"cam videocameras with a dedicated videosensor, it's not very sharp. If you put it against a middleclass DSLR it's sharp.

I think the EA50 has a strong lowpass filter to avoid moiré and rolling shutter issues. Then it has a 16MPix sensor from the NEX fotocameras. It can't be tack sharp and it's not.

But it isn't unsharp either. I am just testing the output of the EA50. I tried several picture profiles and ended up using the JRE452 from Abelcine for generalfree use andit high contrast and Sony's PP3 for lowlightto and "quick'n dirty" work. Both get better with some color correction especially dealing with highlights. If you need more sharpness, the material accepts a good amount of post sharpening. Good for architecture and technical stuff.

The kit lens isn't bad at all. Together with the 2x digital zoom, it's a run'n gun option that doesn't exist in the S35 world yet under 20.000 bucks! You have a 16x zoom lens which can be controlled via the zoom rocker. Not comparable with a ENG servo zoom lens, but it's there. You'll need enough light and the picture won't be to much cinematic, but you can use it!

As the kit lens is NOT parfocal, zooming during recording won't always work. But small zooms in the wide or mid range still work. Sometimes autofocus helps, too. It is possible to get a sharp zoom during recording, but it won't always work. Definitely not.

April 23rd, 2013, 06:40 AM	#1
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Sharpening I'm finding my EA50 footage a little less sharp than my other cameras (VG20/TM900) and have been digging around the picture profiles to try and sharpen it up - here is a description of the 'crispening' control in the 'detail' section of picture profiles. This explanation is for Sony XDCAM but I'm sure the same applies for the EA50 - although with the EA50 you can only have positive crispening - I haven't messed with it yet though. Has anyone had success sharpening their image? Picture Profiles – Crispening _ How to clean up your image. \| XDCAM-USER.COM Pete

April 23rd, 2013, 08:13 AM	#2
James Manford Trustee Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,393	Re: Sharpening I find it sharper than my VG20? how weird is that. I'm filming with no picture profile.

April 23rd, 2013, 08:54 AM	#3
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Re: Sharpening I'm very dubious about my EA50 kit lens - it seems to lose focus a little when I use the zoom - I've a wedding on Saturday and I'm going to film part of it using my VG20 kit lens and see the difference. The only time I miss my Z1 is when I'm fighting the focus of the EA50

April 23rd, 2013, 09:08 AM	#5
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Re: Sharpening Hi Noa - it seems to do it more when in manual mode - you only have to start moving the barrel to see it ever so slightly lose focus Pete

April 23rd, 2013, 09:16 AM	#6
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: Sharpening Is this the issue you have? Sony NEX-EA50 Horrible Lens Problem on Vimeo

April 23rd, 2013, 09:37 AM	#8
Peter Rush Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK/Yorkshire Posts: 2,069	Re: Sharpening That's exactly what I get - I'm old school in that I zoom in, focus and then frame, i don't always use the expanded focus to assist - I'm not convinced it holds it's focus well when the zoom is used to reframe so I guess i should frame my shot and then use expanded focus more

April 23rd, 2013, 11:54 AM	#9
Steven Digges Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,828	Re: Sharpening Hey Peter, Here is the thread where we discussed this. My kit lens is tack sharp. Try expanded focus at 4x, not 8x. http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-nex...m-problem.html Steve __________________ www.CorporateShow.com Been at this so long I'm rounding my years of experience down...not up!

April 24th, 2013, 01:25 PM	#13
Joel Corral Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Brea, CA Posts: 356	Re: Sharpening So i guess I am 3x’s lucky? Perhaps the issue doesn't lie by luck. Perhaps USA models don't suffer from this issue? Or perhaps a particular manufacture date range doesn't suffer from the problem. I am certainly not a lucky guy in fact i am unlucky.... JC

April 26th, 2013, 02:59 AM	#14
Erik Wittbusch Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Duisburg Posts: 93	Re: Sharpening If you put the EA50 against one of the "real"cam videocameras with a dedicated videosensor, it's not very sharp. If you put it against a middleclass DSLR it's sharp. I think the EA50 has a strong lowpass filter to avoid moiré and rolling shutter issues. Then it has a 16MPix sensor from the NEX fotocameras. It can't be tack sharp and it's not. But it isn't unsharp either. I am just testing the output of the EA50. I tried several picture profiles and ended up using the JRE452 from Abelcine for generalfree use andit high contrast and Sony's PP3 for lowlightto and "quick'n dirty" work. Both get better with some color correction especially dealing with highlights. If you need more sharpness, the material accepts a good amount of post sharpening. Good for architecture and technical stuff. The kit lens isn't bad at all. Together with the 2x digital zoom, it's a run'n gun option that doesn't exist in the S35 world and yet under 20.000 bucks! You have a 16xcinematic zoom lens which can be controlled via the zoom rocker. Not comparable with a ENG servo zoom lens, but it's there. You'll need enough light and the picture won't be to much cinematic, but you can use it! As the kit lens is NOT parfocal, zooming during recording won't always work. But small zooms in the wide or mid range still work. Sometimes autofocus helps, too. It is possible to get a sharp zoom during recording, but it won't always work. Definitely not.

April 26th, 2013, 03:00 AM	#15
Erik Wittbusch Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Duisburg Posts: 93	Re: Sharpening If you put the EA50 against one of the "real"cam videocameras with a dedicated videosensor, it's not very sharp. If you put it against a middleclass DSLR it's sharp. I think the EA50 has a strong lowpass filter to avoid moiré and rolling shutter issues. Then it has a 16MPix sensor from the NEX fotocameras. It can't be tack sharp and it's not. But it isn't unsharp either. I am just testing the output of the EA50. I tried several picture profiles and ended up using the JRE452 from Abelcine for generalfree use andit high contrast and Sony's PP3 for lowlightto and "quick'n dirty" work. Both get better with some color correction especially dealing with highlights. If you need more sharpness, the material accepts a good amount of post sharpening. Good for architecture and technical stuff. The kit lens isn't bad at all. Together with the 2x digital zoom, it's a run'n gun option that doesn't exist in the S35 world yet under 20.000 bucks! You have a 16x zoom lens which can be controlled via the zoom rocker. Not comparable with a ENG servo zoom lens, but it's there. You'll need enough light and the picture won't be to much cinematic, but you can use it! As the kit lens is NOT parfocal, zooming during recording won't always work. But small zooms in the wide or mid range still work. Sometimes autofocus helps, too. It is possible to get a sharp zoom during recording, but it won't always work. Definitely not.