Sony rx10 sample footage from a wedding

I shot my first wedding of the season last week and had finally been able to put my Sony rx10 a bit more to use, I only used it during the photoshoot as I wanted a very light camera just to take some random handheld shots while the photog was working with the couple.

The sun made it difficult to use the lcd screen and the viewfinder but I was still able to expose right using the zebra's and histogram, I toggled between auto and manual focus often depending on what I was shooting, like the shot in the dandelion field I first zoomed in, pointed the camera at the couple, let the camera autofocus and then switched to manual so the focus would be locked and then made my sideways movement. I shot all in 50p and about the entire film is slowed down 50%.

At a wedding yesterday I used a eyecup from a sony fx1000 that I verlcotaped to the viewfinder of the rx10 and while it was not a perfect solution it made a hugh difference shooting in bright light outside as all incoming light was blocked by that eyecup.

As I use 4 different type's of camera's during a wedding day just to let you know which is used when;
from 00:00 to 00:28: Sony rx10 (outside/photoshoot footage)
00:29 to 00:49: Sony cx730 (when they meet, the legal marriage in the townhall and the priest in the church)
From 00:50 to 00:56: Sony rx10 (the groupsphoto, dinner)
from 00:57 to 01:45: sony cx730 (church)
after that it's simple, all steadicam footage is panasonic g6, all tripod footage panasonic gh3.

I know there where some people keen on seeing the rx10 in action at a wedding, so maybe this might be of help, even if it's a bit limited and doesn't show any ceremony footage. I am not planning to use that camera for that kind of recording anyway. If you have any questions, shoot. :)

edit: Maybe interesting to know; that shot at 01:00 just before the bride walks in the church with her dad was taken from the other end of the church at the altar handheld and fully zoomed in with the Sony cx730, try to do that with any other dslr camera :) Also bear in mind that this is a 720p upload which a is vimeo plus limitation I have with that account so the footage is softer then the 1080p native file.

Tina en Kristof on Vimeo

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Here is the autofocus issue I was refering to, it slowly lost focus, maybe because of the bright sky in the frame? Who knows, my nex-ea50 used to display that kind of behavior while I was shooting a oldtimer that was approaching me on a sunny day and it had a high gloss paint coating, when the car was near me the ea50 also turned all blurry and it was a error I could repeat afterwards by pointing again at that same car, there I also needed to lock the focus as the camera refused to recover focus again.

My Sony EA50 and VG-20 cameras do the same - glossy cream wedding cars on a sunny day - no chance will the autofocus work - it doesn't even hunt but just goes out of focus. The VG-20 has a 'touch to lock on focus' feature that I might try but I only really use this camera now for slider/steadicam shots. I use a CX730 for the last 10 minutes of the arrivals (the stabilizer is great for the bride/dad making their way to the church from the car - as good as my Merlin!!!) as my EA50 is filming alway on a tripod, and the CX730 finds no trouble keeping focus - maybe a Sony thing but the 730 skipped it :)

[Steve Bleasdale]

Hey Noa great work but i cant help feeling your work would be better with a DSLR, maybe a 6d or 5d... Your look is crying out for a filmic bokeh look. The rx10 just looks like camcorder footage, Your great eye and work would be much better with a different look. By the way i love your work. steve

[Noa Put]

There are a few shallower dof shots in there but the church footage is all handicam and the steadicam is a 12mm f2.0 but I try to increase the dof by keeping a bigger distance to my subject if I shoot wide open .

The thing is when shooting with a full frame dslr and fast lenses, there is no room for error and as a solo shooter operating 2 to sometimes 3 camera's simultaneously I"m ok with a slightly blurred background or in some non repeatable events sharp from front to back. My main goal is to get my basics as right as possible of which focus is one, you won't see any distracting focus hunting in my videos.

I like to play it safe and only start shooting with a much shallower dof when I have controll and the possibility to redo my shot like at the evening reception when I shoot talking heads with a 75mm at f1.8.

You can also say that everyone today is shooting with as shallow dof as they can, I "m one of the few that doesn't so I am doing something special, right? :b

[Peter Rush]

I'm with Noa here Steve - as a solo shooter I play it safe and only really have the opportunity to be creative during the reception when there's time to play around a little.

[Noa Put]

If I had a second shooter to work with I"d shoot dslr only, I agree with Steve that the dslr look is a more pleasing one but me shooting with a experienced shooter and someone my clients would pay for will never happen. You have to understand that this is not my only source of income and I don't need to build a business with several shooters, nor do I want to, to secure my income. That's why I have chosen to go the easy way, one that has proven it works to secure consistent high enough quality but it will never be exceptional like some that do work with 2 or more shooters.

There often have been times I got frustrated thinking, if I had a second shooter now he could shoot teh general ongoing stuff while I concentrate on all the eyecandy, or during ceremony where I would like to have a closeup from the brides face during the vows from a second camera but I can't so have to shoot wide with bride and groom in one frame. But some time ago I decided to let that all go and just do my best.

I showed below video in another thread but it's my favorite to date and contains quite a lot of rx10 footage, during the ceremony I was running 4 camera's, 2 unmanned handicams, a gh3 and a rx10, I was running around like crazy to get different cameraangles, repositioning or reframing my camera's but everything worked out great that day, my sound was clear, I managed to get some great moments on the fly with my rx10 shooting handheld, the location was awesome and for me, this is good as it gets. I only was totally wasted by the end of the day and needed 2 days to recover. I know if I was shooting dslr only the amount of stress and pressure to get all shots right would only be higher and most likely I would have a worse result because dslr's can be very unforgiving.

In the end it's all about getting the basics right and choosing the tools that will make this happen for you.

Helena + Valentin on Vimeo

[Noa Put]

And for those who would find this interesting, here's a pic of my setup during teh interviews you see at the end of above video (can be seen after the couples name appears.)

I used the gh3 with a dr60 feeding the sound directly into the camera and a backup into the dr60 itself. Although the weight distribution is quite off centre the dr60 and my azden wireless receiver are very light, my tripod doesn't even know they are there :) I love using that azden udr500, I got it second hand and until now I never had it loosing a signal, those 2 antennas sure have been doing their job right so far. If I have to shoot handheld with this setup I also would attach my varavon loupe which make me use it as a mini shouldercam.