John Lenihan
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Stephen,
With all these cameras you are testing, I hope you are going to post a comprehensive comparison for us. Kind of like Consumers Reports style.
John Lenihan
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
Brad,
The lower bit rate are the storage rate. The sensors take the information into a compressor chip. The compressor compresses it into avchd. However, it can limit the maximum bit rate during the compression. If it does, the good things are:1. Takes longer to fill up your storage.
2. Takes shorter to transfer to your computer.The bad things are:
1. You lose some details of the picture. Where there are sharp edges in the picture, it takes more bits per second to describe those details. If you lower the bits per second, then some of the sharp edges will be softer (or blurry).With as much work as it is to get the location, the lighting, the set, the focus, the subject all ready. I would never use lower than the highest possible bit rate.
Oh maybe one.
If you are stuck on a shoot that is going longer than you planned, have no way of dumping your storage, can’t get to a store to buy more storage, and the subject of your dreams is just around the corner and you either lower the bit rate or lose the shoot altogether.
John Lenihan
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
John,
I believe your issue is that the camera has variable manual settings.First step is to make sure you have your data display turned on. If not, you can do it in the menus.
If it is turned on, you will see three numbers on the bottom of the viewfinder.
iris/aperature Gain speed/time/exposureThese will each have a legitimite number on them, like 1.8 for aperature, 0db for gain, and 60 meaning 1/60 of a second.
Now, if you have the slide lever on the left side of the camera set to auto, then all three of these numbers will be prefixed with the letter A which means automatic.
If you switch the slide switch to the manual setting, then at first the three numbers will still be in automatic evidenced by the A.
If you tap the iris button, it will toggle to manual iris, removing the A, and enabling the iris ring. The gain and exposure will still say auto and will try and get the “best picture”given the manual iris.
If you tap the shutter speed button, the A will dissappear, and it will enable the roller wheel near the menu button. You can dial in the shutter speed you want. The camera will still try and get the best picture using the only option it has, which is gain.
If you tap the gain control button, the A is removed and the three positin gain swith is enabled for you to set the gain manually.
So, you can manually control 1, 2, or all three. But only by controlling all three can you keep it from trying to get the best picture by itself.
See if this helps.
John Lenihan
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
Yes,
I have seen this on my nx5u about 1 1/2 years ago on this forum.So, the sony support guy is correct, it is normal for this camera series.
I found the sensitivity along the top front of the handle and less the farther away from that point.
John
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
I receommend sending it to Sony for repair before you shoot any more.
Put your raw footage on a disk, and put this excerpt on a second disk.
John
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
Well, I was referring to post, however, it could have been in the camera also.
I am assuming you were shooting at the highest quality the camera allows. That would be 1920 by 1080 by 60i, or 30p. Within that, on the camera, under the recording format, there are three levels of quality, FX, FH, FG or something like that. FX is the highest and produces the highest number of bits and best image. The other ones less.
What setting is your camera on.
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
The red wall does not have graininess.
Graininess is smaller speckles.
This is demonstrating pixelation, usually from too low of a bit rate during compression.
John
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
Lynne,
I have never seen grain when the gain is at 0.
However, I have two thoughts.
1. If you have the auto/manual slide switch set to auto, it will overide the physical switch, even if that is set to zero. The best thing is to read what the gain setting is in the display. That is the real gain at that moment. If you cannot see the gain setting, go to the menu items and turn on the one that gets the settings to display.2. Shoot similar stuff, say daylight. If the gain in the window says anything less than +3db and you are still getting lots of graininess, I would send it to Sony repair right away while you can still get it fixed in warranty.
John
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
Jeremy,
First of all, I read into your request that you needed wireless.If you don’t, you can use a Shure SM58 and xlr cable for around $150 and get the same quality sound as the Sennheiser I recommended.
If this is only temporary, or is a hobby, or you don’t expect to use it much, that is what I would do.
One step less expensive, would be to use an xlr cable and remove the shotgun from the camera and plug in the cable. Use the shotgun as a handheld. That would cost around $25 for 25 foot xlr cord.
IF, you earn a living from these interviews, are frequently in a new venue, don’t want to manage a dangling wire for passers by to trip on, then I recommend the sennheiser G3100 family I mentioned. It has many of the features of Sennheiser wireless devices costing $3000 to $5000 but for only $600.
John
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com -
This Sennheiser is what I use on all my cameras.
First class.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618747-REG/Sennheiser_EW135PG3_A_EW135_p_G3_Camera_Mount.html
John
John Lenihan
LeniCam Video Productions
https://www.lenicamvideoproductions.com