Got My Three EA50's!
 

Just wanted to share that i got my EA50's today. 3 of them and 1 NX30. The EA50 so far, the little time i have had with them seem fantastic but that's not what i am the most excited/ impressed with. The NX30 is really the WOW for me. Such a tiny little cam with a HUGE punch!

The EA50's will be used for a multicam live event shoot that i produce weekly for broadcast. The NX30 will travel all over the world documenting world relief missions, Haiti in 2 weeks.... Zambia and South Africa (Soweto) in May.

http://drmichellecorral.com/other/jpeg/cams.jpg

JC

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Hi Joel

That's quite an arsenal of cameras there!! My second EA-50 arrives tomorrow ..I am most satisfied so far with the performance and functions.

Let us know your thoughts once they have had a few hours on them!!

Chris

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Great stuff! Congratulations. Got enough outlets to charge the batteries :)

Cheers.

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Wow, Sony overload! :)

Yeah, I"ve got the cx730 which has the same performance as the nx30 and it's a wonderful camera indeed with very good low light performance, as long as you don't zoom in. I"d be interested to know about your experiences when you do event shoots with the ea50.

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Damn ... Lovely collection!

That's one of the reasons I don't want to get rid of my VG20, small enough to take anywhere but also packs a punch like my EA50 does.

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Cool!
I'm dreaming of being able to afford even a Sony NEX-5 or something as a secondary camera...

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

I just dont have enough work coming in to justify owning more than 1 unit to be honest. And being a solo operator, unless I hire other people I hate leaving cameras un-manned.

As jealous as I am seeing people buying three units at a time, 1 is good enough for me :D

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

I will definitely post my thoughts after tonight's shoot. Coming off from the FX1 for the last 8 years i am inspired again and a little "gitty" about my work. Just hope my camera guys are ready!

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

You are already putting them into production? Did you spend sufficient time getting to know them? My cx730 I put into production one day after I got it but that was because I have a sony xr520 which has basically the same functionality, the ea50 however is the type of camera I use on several personal projects before I use it on a paid production, just that I know all it's strengths and weaknesses. It is not the same camera as your fx1.

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

yes, been working (practicing) with them all day! And yes very different camera than the FX1. Tonight's shoot is actually very simple. 2 of the EA50's will be mounted on a tripod centered to the subject/speaker, one tight & one wide. The third will be placed on a jib/crane. I am most concerned with the crane shot and how the flyby's will look. Never used a servo before. I am not going to use any picture profiles and keep it simple. match the iris, WB, gain and shutter and i should be ok....crossing fingers though.

JC

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Sorry, but when I read my comment again it almost looks if I"m implying you don't know what you are doing and that was not my intention :) I was just trying to say that the ea50 is different in many ways compared to your fx1 and for me at least, it takes some time getting used to that, especially when I"m doing non repeatable events with it. You also have to watch out when you lock focus and zoom in and out, it has been reported that the camera doesn't hold focus.
There also have been complaints about the powered zoom lens and I"m particularly interested how you feel it performs when filming a performance on a stage.

I have to film and stage performance of a gymnastic club next week and I"m a bit nervous as normally I use small handicams which perform fine but I like to add the ea50 to it as well, but because I probably will be filming alone I can't afford any mistakes. I can use the camera during rehearsals next week Friday so I can see how that works out.

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

That will also be an interesting one Noa!!

Are you using primes for that shoot or the stock lens?? I find the the stock lens in AF finds and corrects focus pretty darn fast. Let us know how it goes?

My second EA-50 arrived this afternoon too so I am doing an all Sony wedding on Saturday ...the Panasonics have now gone to their new owners ..I just have to build another bracket for the second cam so it will take two receivers behind the shoulder pad. We shall see how it goes this weekend!

Chris

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

I think best is to use the stocklens so I have enough zoom capability, I was planning to use 4 camera with 2 unmanned, the 2 unmanned (2 sony cx730 because they are closer to the stage and can shoot wide enough) will be focus locked but exposure and whitebalance will be in auto, one will be placed on the left, the other on the right and set to wide so they cover the whole stage.

I will be standing center with a sony xr520 and my ea50, those will be used for medium close and to follow the action, then I can set one of the 2 cams to a fixed position and follow the action with the other and I plan to take turns when using the camera's so I have footage from both. I am pretty close to the stage so I don't have to zoom in that much which is important as the stage is not so well lit, it's more some kind of "mood" they create, looks nice, but requires light sensitive camera's.

During the rehearsals I plan on trying the digital zoom vs the optical one as well to test, see what that gives.

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Same here - the footage from my VG20 edits in lovely with the footage from the EA50 - also the VG20 is better on my Steadicam Merlin :)

Re: Got My Three EA50's!
 

Joel,

Are you doing a live internet broadcast? I do a lot of them so I would be interested in hearing how you do it? What switcher are you using?

Chris, Congrats on the second. Don't forget to add it to the owners thread :)

Steve