Go There, See It, Get It
We had the chance to try the new Sony A9, so took it to the local beach at dusk to test its low light capability. Whilst it has many features aimed at professional photographers, the video quality is very good despite no log settings. There is no pixel binning, and the focus is pretty good on auto – and the low light performance is also
This was all hand held, with IS active, using a range of Sony lenses, recorded at 4k internally, and mastered to 4k with no colour correction added.
The OSMO is a nice tool for catching the action whilst out walking. The image quality when recording is pretty good when using 2k (the 4k video rate is too low). But the look can be a bit “electronic”. This is where Film Convert comes in, the plug-in we use with Adobe Premier. It adds a custom look and changes the feel of the final production. We used this setup for this short beach walk segment.
We had the chance to try the new lens with the Sony FS5, RAW, via an Atomos Shogun Inferno in 4K. This is a spectacular lens when using manual focus, and works quiet well on auto-focus, but with some strange effects. This short segment, using auto-focus shows both the strengths and weaknesses of this combination.
We tested the new Fijinon manual lens with the Sony FS5, taking the RAW output to the Atomos Shogun Inferno, recorded in 4k 50 fps.
This combination works really well, and creates excellent nice looking quality images. This sequence shows some of the segments we captured. Mastered to 4k with luts applied.
We took our Inspire 1 (the original version with X3 camera) for a flight at Belambi. We used the 2K video option, and D-cinelike settings and a ND filter to get the best results.
The video rate is too low for good 4k footage, 2k gives a much cleaner image. We also find that we get the best finished output by using the D-cinelike rather than D-log, and we master to HD with adjustments in Adobe Premiere to tidy the final production. The original Inspire still does very well.
We had a stormy evening, with strong southerlies and we took the Canon XF200 out on our heaviest tripod, plus the Rode VideoMic Pro. We kept the tripod low, yet despite this there was a bit of wind shake, which we corrected with the Adobe Premiere Warp Stabiliser and the Rode wind screen kept most of the noise away. But the main trick is to position the gear out of the wind. Even moving a few feet we found the odd place to shelter. The other trick is to use your body to provide protection to the camera. And like the birds, point into the wind!
It may not be 4k, or have variable ND, but our trusty Canon run-and-gun camera still packs a punch, with its 20x zoom, three ring controls and 10 bit codec. Here we took out for an evening spin at our local surfing spot on a bright evening, during golden hour.
Since I got the OSMO I have been shooting in full manual mode, in 2K, with a variable ND filter to achieve the best motion look – 100 ISO and 50 fps – double the frame rate (we are in a PAL region). The results are pretty good in a well lit situation, and with the preset white balance selected (sunny) , it means the shots show no colour variation during shooting.
But of course, especially when on the move, having to stop to adjust the ND is a real pain and the critical exposure readout is very small, though the zebra and wave form monitor does help. However, we found standard full auto created a weird look, mainly because the frame rate was too high, and the exposure varied uncontrollably.
So in this video we tried an experiment. First we set the ND to achieve the best look in manual, (ISO 100 and 50 fps). Then we switched to auto, leaving the ND the same. We found the auto sat around the same setting initially, but occasionally, as we moved around the ISO lifted a little, or the frame rate varied slightly. But the overall look worked quite well. So we will use this setting when we are recording on the move, though will revert to manual on more static shots. We kept the white balance on sunny.
The 2k setting provides the best possible mix between data rate and flexibility, allowing cropping-in in editing when needed, but still maintaining as much detail as possible. 4k data rate is just too low.
Finally, we continue to use the D-Cinelike setting, not D-log. We avoid the log colour setting as the trade off between slightly higher dynamic range and colour is not worth it if the shot is correctly exposed.
The OSMO handheld camera system is quite compact, despite adding the Z-Mount, external microphone and a sun cover for the monitor. We used this set-up for this video which was recorded on a stinking hot summer day at our local beach.
There is still a little wobble when walking, but its pretty manageable. We recorded in 2k cinema mode (the 4k bit rate is too slow) using manual settings and a variable ND filter. We mastered to HD, after adjusting the colour.
We have been testing the video capabilities of the new Sony, looking in particular at moire issues with the full frame sensor (which bins pixels when recording video). Recorded at 100 Mb/s to the internal card. We will post some additional material in sensor crop mode and also via external recording to a shogun. The moire is visible on the original recording, and was not created in post. Note also this video is mastered to 4K.