Hi all,

I've been so busy the past few months that I haven't really had a chance to properly get to know my EA50. I've got a few days off, so I decided to sit down with it and read through the manual.

Just a couple of things that are bugging me:

1. When I press the shutter speed button, nothing happens. I would expect it to highlight the shutter speed icon on the LCD so I can then use the SEL/PUSH dial to select. Any ideas?

2. Is it possible to select a custom WB without going into the menu? The manual says to select "MANU WB TEMP" in the menu, switch to PRESET, then I should be able to use the dial to scroll through the range. This isn't working.

3. What is everyones favourite Picture Profile for general documentary/news gathering work where grading needs to be kept to a minimum in post?

Any ideas appreciated :)

Hi Jody

You have to be in manual first otherwise you cannot change the shutter speed. Likewise touch focus needs the camera in manual too,

I don't think that you can adjust WB or temperature on the fly!! You can dial a temp in the menu of course. I tend to use AutoWB and it works well in 99% of cases... it tends to run blue in very bright conditions so I just warm that up in post.

The best profile is the million dollar question!! You find it and we will all use it!! So far because I'm shooting both inside and outside at weddings I need a profile that will do both so I use PP3 because IU709 also gives me an ISO range of 200-6400 against other profiles that have 160-5000 ...a little extra low light always helps.

I only so far have changed the colour level on PP3 as the saturation is very flat so I upped colour level 2 clicks. It's still a little low for outdoor shots but pretty much OK for indoor shots.

I fully intend to play with the profiles next month as Feb here is a quiet month as it's so hot!! Then the rush starts up again!

Chris

Thanks Chris. Yep, I'm in manual mode, that shutter button just doesn't seem to do anything. Hoping I don't have a faulty unit. I might give it a reset and see if that helps.

Thanks for the other info. I've been doing a bit of shooting on PP3 today and I do like the look of it.

Edit:
Well that's weird. I reset the camera (using the little recessed reset button) and it's fine now. Shutter button works, and I can also dial in custom white balance without going into the menu using the SEL wheel.

"When [FACE DETECTION] is set to [ON], you
cannot adjust shutter speed, etc. To adjust
shutter speed, etc., set [FACE DETECTION] to [OFF]

Oh my word Marlon,

You just made my day... I've been using the ea50 for over a year now, and only recently was playing around with face detection out of curiosity, but never correlated that with the fact that shutter speed sometimes wouldn't select. I was about to take it in for this problem.

Thank you.

Darryl

i did fall on the same trap a while... Michael Spanheimer showed me the light ;)

+1 Marlon

Jody, there is nothing wrong with your camera. Marlon beat me to the info, he is absolutely correct. When you reset it, face detection was turned off. Same with white balance, all is OK.

This camera is feature packed. That makes it complex. I can't claim to know everything in the manual but I do read it. And now I have the handbook thanks to you. Finding the quirks like face detection limitations is one of the reasons why. Eventually, after head scratching , or sometimes head banging, you can figure out why Sony did what they did.

I don't like face detection anyway, so I changed my preset button for it to touch focus. But that's me.

Sony made white balance too complicated for me to explain the whole thing here. I had to study it. But you can do a lot of it on the fly, including dialing in slight temperature adjustments.

The basic thinking behind this cameras functionality is auto means auto everything. It takes ALL control away from you. If you like some things to be in auto, but not all of them, you must operate in manual, then tell it what functions you want to be in auto. It is classic Sony.

Steve

Jody,

I just thought of one more thing for you. Did you upgrade your firmware when it was released several months ago? It is not an earth shattering upgrade at all. But, since you just hit your reset button this would be a good time to do it. When you do the upgrade you loose everything you have programmed into the camera like presets and custom button setting etc.

Its not a big deal, but your camera is set back to out of the box condition right now. Food for thought...

Steve

Jody,

I just thought of one more thing for you. Did you upgrade your firmware when it was released several months ago? It is not an earth shattering upgrade at all. But, since you just hit your reset button this would be a good time to do it. When you do the upgrade you loose everything you have programmed into the camera like presets and custom button setting etc.

Its not a big deal, but your camera is set back to out of the box condition right now. Food for thought...

Steve

Thanks for the info, Steven.

I did consider doing the firmware upgrade when I reset the camera, but a quick Google didn't turn anything up other than information about it.

Does anyone have a link to the file?

Cheers.

Sony | Micro Site NXCAM & AVCHD (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-nxcamsite/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-nxcam-downloads-nexeahohfirmwareupgrades.shtml)


I think this is the one I used. My camera is technicaly the NEX EA50UH

Steve

isn't some of this in the stuff in the booklet you posted Jody?

isn't some of this in the stuff in the booklet you posted Jody?

Hi Chris,

Yes, it is. I followed the steps in the booklet before I posted this thread, without any luck. As I mentioned above, resetting the camera to the factory settings solved the problems I was having.

Cheers :)

Oh ok that's great!

The best profile is the million dollar question!! You find it and we will all use it!! So far because I'm shooting both inside and outside at weddings I need a profile that will do both so I use PP3 because IU709 also gives me an ISO range of 200-6400 against other profiles that have 160-5000 ...a little extra low light always helps.


Just FYI...

I shot a real estate video today (first time with the EA50). When I got to the house, I realised that I hadn't planned what PP to shoot with. I quickly flicked through the list and decided on PP4 (I vaguely remembered reading that it was REC 709 compliant, not that it really matters for this type of work I suppose).

Anyway, very happy with the look. It produced a sharp, saturated image which is what I typically go for in post when I'm grading. Very little colour correction needed on my part.

On another note, I really could have used that Tokina 11-16 lens... adding it to my never ending "to buy" list :)

Hi Jody

You know? I have never used PP4 !! I think I just might try it!! It's also a 709 profile and PP3 is really very low in colour saturation. I have upped my colour level on PP3 up two notches and I still need to push saturation on external video in bright sunlight.

Yeah the Tokina is absolutely awesome for houses. I use it on my Nikons for property photos and then on my Sony for the video. Just set the iris wide open inside the house and lock the focus at 0.7 metres (between 2' and 3') and everything is sharp from less than 24" right up to about 60' at F2.8 You basically have a point and shoot camera!! I tried the EA-50 with the stock lens at 18mm and it found trouble trying to focus on white walls and white ceilings as there is zero contrast!! I bought a Sigma 19mm prime that was a e-mount and it also struggled with AF ....with the Tokina at 11mm and zone focus everything is sharp as a tack just left on manual. Works very well!!

Chris

Hi all,

Another question. I'll leave it here instead of starting a new thread:

I'm still getting used to shooting without ND filters. What's the most you can close down the iris (stock lens) without degrading the image?

I come from using small sensor cameras where F/5.6 is optimal, so I'm a bit hesitant about going much higher.. But I understand that large sensor cameras like the EA50 are a bit different in this respect?

Any info appreciated.

Hi Jody

I do weddings in bright sunshine and leave the camera in auto as the limo is arriving (auto cos everything is happening at once) and the cam will often choose a shutter of 1/6000 and stop the stock lens down to F16 and I cannot see any image degradation at all. In auto the camera seems to limit at F16 even in super bright light ... In Manual you can stop down to F29 but in auto it never closes more than F16 so maybe that's the practical limit for the iris without getting image degradation???

I bought really expensive ND's for the stock lens and all my footage went red!! I sold them after that. I might try some 4 x4 filters in the matte box and see if they work better.

You definitely can stop down to F16 with no ill effects I have found from practical experience

Chris

Thanks Chris.

I haven't yet used the camera in full auto mode, but I do quite often use auto iris. When auto iris is set, the camera will happily close the iris down to f29 if it needs to. So it's interesting that in full auto it's limited to f16. I did a real estate shoot a few weeks ago and most of the exterior shots were around f22, and I didn't notice any issues. But closing it down any further does worry me a bit.

I'm a bit hesitant about using anything other than 1/50 shutter (it's out of my comfort zone I guess). I'm shooting a marathon in a few weeks, so lots of fast pans/fast moving subjects. Would using a high shutter speed like 1/6000 not introduce stutter?

I realise these are all things I should test out for myself, but my schedule is crazy at the moment.. so I really appreciate the info :)

You can easily test it yourself, just start recording in a bright condition using a gradual nd filter so you have more control over the incoming light, shoot in 50p and 1/100 shutter and let the iris ramp from f3.5 all the way up to it's highest value (and while you do that say the f-stops out loud as reference when you import it in your nle) while keeping the image exposed properly, then after you have imported the footage export a frame for each f-stop and compare in a photoshop alike program, that should give you what you need to decide when the image becomes too soft.

Good idea. I'll do it tomorrow and post my findings.

I often, when I feel I"m not sure, do these kind of tests, even on a busy schedule. It's important to know the limitations of your camera before you mess it up on a paid shoot, only by looking at the testresults yourself you can decide whatever is a acceptable level for your purposes. The same applies for ISO, some people only are willing to go up to 800 iso while others are happy with iso 6400

Hi Jody

That's how I tested it earlier ...shutter on auto but iris on manual. I have filmed brides jumping out of limos at F16 and high shutter speeds and the footage looks quite normal BUT the big difference is I'm shooting at 50i not 50P ...I suspect you will get stutter in progressive with fast shutters.

However don't take my word for it ..do as Noa says and run some tests and satisfy yourself if you shoot progressive. I've shot close on 30 weddings now on my EA-50's and the only one that had issues (mainly pixellation on the girls face) was shot at 50P ...I shot all the others in 50i and it's hard to make it go wrong. The so-called huge quality difference I have yet to see even at 1920x1080 never mind SD DVD

However that's just me ...take a few hours off tomorrow and test the camera before the shoot!

Chris

i use a ND filter for outdoors, so i can keep 1/60 shutter and around f5.6 on the iris.

if too bright, can close the iris a bit, if darkens, i can bump the ISO a bit.

"When [FACE DETECTION] is set to [ON], you
cannot adjust shutter speed, etc. To adjust
shutter speed, etc., set [FACE DETECTION] to [OFF]


The best answer ever. I have struggled with this for ages. Thanks for the info. ")