Eric Pensenstadler
Forum Replies Created
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Hey folks, thought I’d post back on how the shoot went.
In short, everything went good and the cameras worked great.
After considering all your feedback here’s what I ended up doing:
Put hand warmers on back of LCD screen and wrapped with aluminum foil. The hand warmers require air to keep them warm and you need to shake them occasionally. Although the screen seemed to work fine I don’t think the hand warmers did much because the foil prevented fresh air from getting to them. Sure I could have taken the foil off occasionally but I never did.
Did wrap the cameras in a cloth. An expensive rain jacket would have been ideal, but I don’t have one (plus we had 3 cameras) so what I did was bought size XL doggy jackets at Target. I experimented with a couple different things and this worked best. What was so great about these jackets was that they weren’t like doggy sweaters with legs. They opened completely and had large velcro straps on the bottom. Plus, they were shaped as such that when placed over the camera they were almost form fitted around the lens and viewfinder! I can’t explain it very well here but it worked perfectly.
I also tried keeping a hand warmer under the camera cover/blanket as well.
I did end up taking the cameras inside between shoots. I really debated whether to or not, but I felt that they were getting too cold. I did, however, take them back outside about 20 minutes before the second shoot. Inside temp was only about 55 to 60 farenheight, so that helped not being 80 degrees inside.
If you’d like to see the video go to YouTube and search “Overly’s flash mob”. If you look real close you can see me and the other camera operator in some of the shots amongst the crowd. It’s a little dark and nighttime so it’s hard to tell.
Thank you all again for your input. Very helpful!
Eric -
I’ll add my two cents here…
From my experience and research, IF YOU ARE EDITING WITH FINAL CUT PRO DO NOT SHOOT SD WITH THESE CAMERAS.
I can’t explain the exact details, but FCP does not like the SD files the NX5U creates. I learned this only AFTER shooting 4 weddings in SD mode with the NX5Us and it took a lot extra time in post and DVD creation to try to make the footage acceptable. The interlacing is horendous and for some reason the export is not exactly 720×480. It gets compressed vertically a little. I can’t explain it and I don’t know why, just take my word for it.
If you have any other questions about it post back and I will do my best to help. If you’re not using FCP then I don’t think you need to worry about it.
Hope that helps avoid some headaches!
Eric -
John and Gary, GREAT advice! Thank you.
Gary, great idea about the hand warmers on the back of the LCD screen. I will do that.
In between shoots I think I will sort of do a compromise. I will wrap the cameras in plastic as Gary suggested. I can’t hurt. But when I take them indoors I will put them in an area of the building which is still fairly cold (it’s a barn, so that shouldn’t be too hard to do).
I will also keep the cameras powered on between shoots which is a great idea.
You guys are awesome. Thanks so much!
Stephen, good luck with your purchase, wish I could be more help there.
Happy warm shooting,
Eric -
The first thing is to know, understand, and work within the limitations of the equipment you’re using.
HD cameras need a lot more light than normal to produce clear sharp images.
Your gain settings play a very important role as well. It is my understanding that in Sony cameras, particularly the NX series, 0db is not really 0. 0db will be noiser (or more grainy) than actual “no gain”. Keep the camera in -3 or -6db and adjust your lighting accordinly.
Hope that helps.
Eric -
Thanks for sharing Michael.
What have you noticed with these settings compared to factory default? Since I typically always edit my own shoots, I’ve gotten into the (perhaps bad) habit of shooting with the most basic default settings, then making all my adjustments in post. But on occassion I’ve seen other people’s work that has a wonderful look to it, and when I ask what filters they used they say none, it’s all camera settings!
Since I have 2 NX5Us I plan to do a side by side test of my settings compared to yours. I’ll report back if/when I do it.
Thanks again, very kind of you.
Eric -
Maybe a moot point now, when doing the media dump and pressing the “stop” button for a few seconds, remember that the camera must be plugged into an outlet and not running on battery.
Michael… yup. Me too now!
Eric
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Richard,
I’ve personally never heard of that particular situation, however, my best suggestion would be to invest in the attachable fash drive unit.
Hope that helps.
Eric -
Hey, just wanted to add a post here regarding the NX5U shutting off. It just happened to me again. I do use class 10 cards and haven’t had this problem in months, but the other day I was shooting an interview and at the end when I pressed the record button to stop recording the screen went blank and then it said “retrieving data” and then “cannot retrieve data” (or something to that effect). The footage I just shot was not on the memory card even after attempting the repair image option, however, it WAS still on the external flash memory unit no problem. So…. I HIGHLY recommend the flash unit even though the chances are losing footage is minimal, when it does happen you will be so glad you have the flash unit.
Hope it helps,
Eric -
Richard,
I hope someone else can explain the reasoning better than I, but in short, that is normal and to be expected with 24fps and progressive.
When shooting in 24fps and/or progressive you MUST make your cameras moves slow and steady.
Google search the question online and you’ll probably find a good technical explanation, but know that this is normal and not a fault of the camera and you literally just have to deal with it when planning your shots.
Hope that helps.
Eric -
That’s great advice Michael gave. I suggest following it.
The only thing I’d add is to be very cautious gaining up. I’ve done extensive research and testing with this and even at 0db the image has grain. Gaining up severly increases the grain, moreso than SD tape-based cameras. With the NX5u (and from my experience, all 1/3″ and 1/2″ chip HD cameras) you have to shoot in -3db or -6db to get good results (ie, no or less grain).
Eric