NEX5 video sample

[David Kilpatrick]

There are plenty of these on YouTube now. I've added mine, assembled mainly from clips shot during the end-of-launch dinner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSl3jN2sk7Q

I guess it shows the NEX as a very competent low-light video camera shooting without lights, but with the usual problems relating to wind noise outdoors.

David

[Winedarksea]

There are plenty of these on YouTube now. I've added mine, assembled mainly from clips shot during the end-of-launch dinner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSl3jN2sk7Q

I guess it shows the NEX as a very competent low-light video camera shooting without lights, but with the usual problems relating to wind noise outdoors.

David

well. at least I got the wind noise in stereo!

[pakodominguez]

There are plenty of these on YouTube now. I've added mine, assembled mainly from clips shot during the end-of-launch dinner:

Hello David,
What software did you use for editing the video? How slow was the rendering? did you need to install any special codec?

[David Kilpatrick]

iMovie 09 - pretty slow. Nothing will play the AVCHD files directly. They use a very complex file structure with several folders and a database on the camera card. I have had to find the video streaming component, and drag it on to QuickTime to get it to play - just pointing a video player at the enclosing directory does not locate the video.

But iMovie, if asked to import the directory, will find the videos. It failed twice, on two different clips, to import. Also for some reason it seems to have imported and rendered at 720p despite being asked to import at full size. So far, very clunky compared to Nikon or Canon, and a bit more complex.

David

[KevinBarrett]

Can an aperture be user-specified for a video clip? I'll venture a guess and say that it cannot be controlled during a video clip...


I'm having difficulty finding the answer to this question, and while it may be covered in recent discussion elsewhere, this would be a pertinent thread in which to restate it.

[David Kilpatrick]

The stepper motor used to control the aperture may be able to handle continuous aperture change. This is a major issue with Canon, that aperture shifts are 1/3rd stop and occur with variaable aperture zooms if you zoom - sudden brightness changes happen. Or, it may not. Changing the f/stop on the camera was my only way to test it and naturally it changes in steps, not continuously.

ISO can only be controlled in full steps manually, but when auto ISO is enabled, it changes in (recorded) 1/3 steps - however, it is possible that auto ISO, which is used in video by default, is actually continuous and will allow smooth lighting change compensation.

David

[KevinBarrett]

It is a very eloquent and detailed response, and certainly new information was given, but it did not address my question. You may or may not know the answer. Can you pick up the camera and record video in any kind of priority mode, most crucially, aperture priority?

[David Kilpatrick]

I can tell you for sure that setting S-AF and C-AF carried over into video. Exposure compensation is available on the fly during video shooting, and if you manually set WB or a Creative Style (colour/contrast/sharpness) these are used. The information is very coy about such things as actually USING the wide aperture potential for video, the claims made very carefully always refer only to stills.

Looks to me as if manual focus, and A-mount lenses, may be needed for creative control of video 'look' but for most routine purposes E-mount lenses will provide smooth AF and exposure changes. That definitely backs up what I found when making my few test clips.

David

[pakodominguez]

iMovie 09 - pretty slow. Nothing will play the AVCHD files directly.

Just "play? try VLC -free open source

But iMovie, if asked to import the directory, will find the videos. It failed twice, on two different clips, to import. Also for some reason it seems to have imported and rendered at 720p despite being asked to import at full size. So far, very clunky compared to Nikon or Canon, and a bit more complex.
David

I read somewhere Canon released a codec for their format for FinalCut. I hope Sony will do so, or install something helpful while installing PMB...

Regards

[KevinBarrett]

The administrator of Sony's new Sony Style Blog had this to say about aperture control and video shooting:

Posted: 5/15/2010 12:28 am

Happy to help clarify – thanks for asking about it.The NEX-3 and NEX-5 both offer full Aperture control in video and still modes. The term “background defocus” is used when in iAuto (Intelligent Auto) mode. This is a simple way of explaining what Aperture control does. The words ‘crisp’ and ‘defocused’ are used to describe how your background will appear. When in Aperture priority mode, the same function is used for the same result, however f-stop is shown instead of “crisp’ and ‘defocused’. When shooting video, the “background defocus” or Aperture can be set prior to shooting video as you would set it prior to shooting a still image. The “background defocus” or Aperture cannot be adjusted during recording, only before recording begins. These models give the benefit of being able to change your Aperture to get the same depth of filed in your videos as you would in your stills – another reason why I really want this camera I hope this info helps!

[David Kilpatrick]

The Background Defocus Control is 'not supported when using A-mount lenses'. In the brochure, there is an implication that Background Defocus only appears when you use the iAuto mode, which automatically applies scene selection, exposure adjustment. For reference, this control did not seem to appear when I was shooting video, but making the different controls appear was a bit of a random process.

Two modes which were not plugged at all at the press conference, and which I did not test, are Twilight Mofde and Anti Motion Blur mode, both of which use a burst of six shots combined in-camera to output a final low noise, sharp JPEG from night or party etc shots.

Also, I did not check the 1.1X to 10X digital zoom mode - and there is no indication whether any digital zoom can be used when shooting movies. The sensor has enough resolution in theory to do 2.3X digital zoom, but I bet this is not possible.

The brochure is very coy about DRO+ with movies too, it implies you can't use it.

I used Sunny mode for the LCD screen shots in my article. The brochure makes it clear this is an ultra bright mode, going beyond the auto brightness adjust normally set. I know I found this and other journalists failed to, thinking the auto setting would work. Also, the LCD has a hardened glass screen! But, they still sell a hard plastic cover and also clear adhesive film to protect the screen.

My local dealer told me at the weekend that the main cause for replacement cameras being bought is broken rear screens. Apparently women break most of the them by putting the cameras in handbags (what on EARTH do they carry in the bags which can break LCD screens?).

More info: there is an AC adaptor for shooting in the studio, appears to use a dummy battery pack like old Canon DSLRs.

David