I'm going to compare EA50U and EA50M

[Steven Digges]

Randy,

The 18-105 G lens does not work on all Sony cameras. On the FS series cameras it has a pin cushion effect that is well known. The EA50 and other NEX cameras electronically fix the issue. Maybe thats what you are referring to?

Steve

[Michael Liebergot]

Actually Steve these guys seem to have a filter for just that purpose.
I emailed them today asking about the possibility of producing one for the Sony cameras such as the EA50.

Mosaic Engineering Home

[Steven Digges]

That is awesome Michael. Maybe there is hope for this problem. Let us know what their reply is. I would encourage you to read Alister's article I posted above, it helped me understand it better.

[Michael Liebergot]

Actually I did and it made perfect sense. I meant to post this before but forgot to.
Also I'm very familiar with Alister through Glidetrack and such. Of course I have followed some of his posts here over the years.

I have been a long time forum member but only recently migrated back into these forums.

[Randy Johnson]

Gear Review: Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens with the FS700/FS100 - YouTube

heres the review I saw its like a bending effect but I dont know if it happens on the EA-50 or not.

[Jerome Cloninger]

Originally Posted by Michael Liebergot

Actually Steve these guys seem to have a filter for just that purpose.
I emailed them today asking about the possibility of producing one for the Sony cameras such as the EA50.

Mosaic Engineering Home

Be sure to ask them to look at my emails AGAIN where I gave them very precise dimensions of the sensor area. They were going to send me a few samples to play with, but never did. I guess they didn't see the demand..................

[Chris Harding]

Thanks for all the effort Steve!

So after basic testing would you say the sensor IS different or have they put the same ole sensor back in and just supplied the camera with a different lens?

It might be an idea to again use both cameras with the same lens and get a low light shot inside the house and get the lights low enough in auto so the camera is running at firstly 21db and then at 24db .... I know that on my cameras, 21db gives a clean noise free image but 24db is decidedly noisy regardless of the lens. If the M sensor is better it should instantly need a loss less gain in a given light situation compared to the original model and even if they are the same maybe the new sensor has a cleaner image at the same gain?

I too have very few issues with moire but I did have a wedding where the MC was wearing a checked shirt ( probably with squares on it around 1" or so) and I noticed that most items of clothing you selected had very fine patterns .... maybe find someone with very bold pinstripes or squares?? Sadly we have no control over what wedding guests wear so we have to accept an moire if it occurs. Gosh, I quite often see moire patterns on broadcast TV here (in a studio too!) with big expensive cameras so my attitude is if the national broadcasters don't worry why should I???

Chris

[Steven Digges]

Hey Randy,

Yes, that is an issue I was aware of and have been very critical of this lens for that reason. It does work on the EA50 without that problem. That is why they bundled it together. If your an EA50 shooter and don't plan on getting a FS 100 or 700 you will be fine.

I have said in other threads I think it is ridiculous that Sony put their "G" badge on this lens. Sony says a "G" designation means "they stand shoulder to shoulder with the Zeiss series". Canon would never put a "L" designation on any lens that was not the best they can make.

Now, with that said, what do I think of it now that I have one? It is a big step up from the original kit lens. You give up 95MM but you get F4 all the way through. If you shoot in manual most of the time like I do a constant aperture is critical. As mentioned the old kit lens is only 3.5 at 18mm and ramps up very fast. The zoom on the new lens is fast and responds the way it should. The zoom and focus rings are usable, it is a servo lens so they are not good but much better than the other lens. The zoom ring works well enough to make quick compositional changes without the rocker. The build quality is obviously far better. I can honestly say it does not seem to be a kit lens. On the other hand I think Sony did themselves a disservice by placing it in their top category. But, that is probably why none of the Sony broadcast cameras I work with have a Sony lens on them. In that category it is always a Canon or Fujinon lens on them. I will take the new shorter lens over the old kit lens hands down. Even though I shoot most of the time with my Canon lenses I wont be selling any of them. They all have a place and time in my kit even though they are dreadfully slow.

Chris, I have not gotten around to low light testing yet. But I know my previous limit for a clean image was 18db. At 21db there is noise. At 24db it is very noisy and unusable unless you are forced to go there. If your clean at 21db something is wrong with my camera?

Steve

[Noa Put]

Steve, other then the moire issue you noticed, did you see any noticeable improvements in lowlight performance, does it produce less noise and how about aliasing?

[Steven Digges]

Hey Noa,

Have not tried low light yet. But interestingly enough I shot a bunch of roof tiles just like you did and neither camera failed so I did not put it in the video. I am trying to make them fail and so far all I have come up with is moire on one weird shirt. I shot a lot more fabrics than I put in the video too, they all looked good. It is new, I will ring it out, not enough time yet.

Steve

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Steve

No rush but I figured that IF the sensor is better it will show up in a low light situation. I find that 21db is very useable and both my cameras are locked to never go higher. I have honestly never pixel peeped the 21db footage as to my eye it looks pretty good but yes, 24db is very noisy ... Doing weddings we do have situations where no lights are allowed so low light shoots would easily make the camera go to 24db but I would rather have an image that's clean at 21db even if it's slightly under exposed.

I haven't seen any M models here as yet!! The EA-50H (that's what I have) are still current at $3750 not the much lower B&H prices.

Chris

[Michael Liebergot]

Chris I'm still waiting on my EA50M to be delivered (coming today) so I don;t know sensitivity of the new sensor yet.

But back on page 1 Steve answered my question about if the settings were identical on both cameras (mainly I was asking about if the detail settings were the same). But I also made an observation that all of the images from the EA50M were brighter than the EA50H. He said that the settings and lenses were the same on both cameras, but the new sensor was the difference, and it was definitely more sensitive.

So you would figure with this info that the new lens should function better in low light. And couple that with a constant 4.0 lens, then the overall image with a stock lens should be dramatic, compared to the EA50H's stock lens.

Now slap a 1.4 or 1.8 lens on that bad boy and it should do wonders in low light.
Personally I'm looking forward to this as I shoot a lot of low light weddings, and even though I use off camera lighting, I still find myself needing on camera lighting for that extra punch. If I can get away with no on camera fill light then I will be estatic.

[David Banner]

Thank you very much for all your work so far.

After shooting with them, how comfortable do you feel using the M and U models for 2 camera shoots, regarding image matching without post work needed?

On a lot of shots I seem to see them matching up well besides the brightness difference and moire toward the end.

[Steven Digges]

Hey Guys,

I still have a lot of questions myself because I have been too busy to shoot with them much. I do think it is a"different sensor" and it is more sensitive. But for all I know that could be just a processor tweak. The factory defaults for the profile presets are the same on both cameras. In day light they seem to match, as soon as thing start getting dim they don't. But I am not sure about anything yet, too soon.

One thing I know for sure is that the viewfinder LCD IS WEIRD. I was right when I said it is not a what you see is what you get screen. And it always look different than the 50U. I am not sure I like it. During the day it looks saturated and ritch. When things get dark it looks darker that the image you shoot. I am not sure whats going on yet.

Michael, Chris is good in low light with his. I think he shoots weddings with no on camera light anymore. He will tell you about it.

I have some footage I have not looked at yet. I will soon. I am fighting with Adobe on a new editor. I shot some night time stuff in PS mode to get maximum data. It imports into Adobe Premier without audio. It is a known bug in Premier but the fix is different for different systems. Any suggestions? So far it is a PITA for me. Maybe I will just convert it to something else but for test footage I like to look at original files.

Steve

Steve

[Ron Evans]

Do you use Content Management Utility 2.1 Sony Creative Software - Content Management Utility or are you on a Mac.

I expect Catalyst Browse would also transfer files to the PC too. The just use files in Premiere.

Ron Evans