Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

Hi.. We do wedding cinematography story telling videos , very short and unique ones. We have been using 5D mark III for long now and are quite satisfied , but lately we have been getting requests for long videos from clients as well, who has long rituals. I dont want to tire my 5D Mark III sensor by using it as a dedicated video camera , so looking for a replacement, without compromising the quality and resolution.


After doing a bit of research of the same price range, I found Sony HXRNX5U to be somewhat similar in specs .

Full HD, Aperture widest at 1.6 , records to SDHC cards, HDMI output, external mic , AC power , auto focus, etc .

But Im looking for some real time footages taken with this product , or real time reviews from wedding videographers who use this model .

So let me know, if its performance and output matches 5D Mark III or excels it or not.

Also, if its the best replacement right now.

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

As far as I can tell you, the nx5 is not the best replacement for a 5d3. Don't get me wrong, I mean is an awesome camera with a quite perfect color rendition but I do see some limitations. At first the shallow dept of field, at second the latitude from the sensors and last the compression artifacts out of the 24 mbit data rate. Overall, it is a good camera for wedding and general events videography but picture quality won't match with the 5d3 because of the smaller sensor performance. If it was Iof the same price range I would have gone for a super 35mm camera but actually it isn't. It is up to what you want to achieve, I think. If you are going for a perfect match, than go for a larger sensor camera.

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

IMHO, the 'NX5U' is the best <$4,000.00 camcorder on the market for wedding or corporate video capture. With the excellent 20X G-Lens, multiple storage media options, and SDI out to either a monitor or an ancillary video recorder (like an ATOMOS Samurai) the end-product is hard to beat.

YMMV.

J.

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

I've been using the NX5 for about 2 years now and have been relatively pleased with it.

I've never tried to match it to a Canon DSLR, so I can't comment on that.

The best part for me is the dual recording feature, recording to the FMU and SD card at the same time for an instant back up.

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

+1
Here's my 2 cents: Camcorders are like tools, the 5D is unbelievable for getting really nice and shallow DOF but kind of sucks at run and gun as well as long recordings. The 5D also requires more set up than the Sony too. Running the both cameras you are able to obtain the best of both worlds and there for make your clients happy. The NX5 is no slouch, I think that you would be happy with it.

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

I have been using the NX5 for more than 2 years now, mainly for weddings and christenings. I am absolutely thrilled with this camera. My clients (especially the brides) are really happy with the product I give them, they couldn't care much about depth of field. after all I am not making a movies out of this camera, just event recordings.

stelios

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

at 3:32 you can see the difference between my HXR-NX5 and my EOS 5D Mk III

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

Personally, I like the look of the NX5U over the 5DmkIII.

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

I agree with Ed. NX5 shots look more "real".

stelios

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

Hi Stelios

Does the NX5 have Picture Profiles?? If it does then CineAbel have a line of profiles that can be used on the EA-50, FS100 and FS700 that give you a 5DIII "look" so that would be quite useful in matching the camera to 5D footage.

Chris

Re: Sony HXRNX5U for weddings ?
 

Yes the NX5U has the same Picture Profile settings. Do a search and there are a few posts on the settings. I use a modified PP3 on my NX5U. The NX5U uses earlier 3 chip Exmor sensors so settings will be different than the EA50. I too also agree the NX5U looks better than the 5D Mk 111 I think the 5D gamma is clearly different and is slightly over exposed. Could be the encoding for WEB though. The focus is VERY critical on the NX5U though and I take a lot of time to get the focus just right for the theatre shows I do and turning flicker reduction OFF and macro focus OFF in the menus is also important. In good light the auto focus is acceptable but in low light useless. I am normally shooting from 30M or more away from stage and just set the focus once for the show at about the 1/3 down the stage and the lens backfocus is good so will hold this focus while zooming. I of course set the focus at full zoom with expanded focus on. With this settings depth of field covers the stage. Lens ramps to f3.4 at full zoom so most of time I set to f3.4 as this gives nice picture and use gain ( all my shoots are indoors so its the dark not too much light I have a couple of times when auto gain has gone to -6 and iris at f5.6 I have switched in the ND filters though !!!) and this means I do not get into a ramping issue. I set gain switches based on the show and often use auto gain but then with AE shift or spotlight set and gain limit at 12db exposure setting to slow.

Ron Evans