A6500: Destination Cuba, because we need more travel videos shared here?

R

ReelFilmGeek

Well-known member
Went to Cuba for last months on a 10 day shoot doing stills and video. Learned a lot (like hey stop bringing so much gear) and got to really test out the Sony A6500 (TL:DR, its nice and fixed a lot of the issues I had with the A6300, still sold it though because I got a good deal on the A7R II).

Shot with the A6500, Sony 18-105mm (probably the lens I used 70-80% of the time I was there) and Nikon AIS 50mm 1.8 and 28mm F2.8 on a metabones speedbooster. Also brought the Zhiyun Crane to put to the test as I got it a week before the trip. (also brought some speedlights and a Tamron 90mm macro which never left the bag).

https://vimeo.com/203910784
 
Very Nice portrayal. Good use of crane shots, and you did a great job on the editing. Thanks for the slice of Cuban life.
 
Very nice, now you have to tell us if you shot in SLog or baked in a picture profile, and what you graded with!
 
Very nice!

(My guess is that there are some shots with slog, but most of them are something else, like cine2)
 
Woops I knew I forgot something haha. Shot everything in Cinegama 1 except for a few shots in the dark which are at Cinegamma 4. Cinema colorspace.

As for grading it was all done in premiere starting with film convert using either Kodak P400 Ptra, Fuji Ast 100, or rarely Kodak 5207 V3. I then cranked down the film color to arround 70% then add in some hand corrections with film convert or lumetri, adjusting shadows and color, and masking. I need to get back to Davinci but had other paying work on my plate and wanted to finish this video up.

Didn't shoot in slog as it was so bright out and the 800 native ISO was a pain to deal with when jumping between shooting stills and video. I would shoot in silent shutter mode as picture profiles are disabled in that mode. This allowed a standard or landscape picture style to be applied to my photos but the moment I hit record while in manual mode, it would switch to video which disabled the silent shutter thus applying the picture profile (Cinegamma 1). I then also had the dedicated video mode set up so that when I switched the dial to it, it would be in 120 FPS mode. This helped a lot without having to dig through menus while shooting on the go.
 
Agree with all 3 comments above. Really like the time lapse stuff too. And while I'm assuming some of my favorite shots were done on the primes, this is the first use of that new Sony lens that makes me think it's a player.
All shot internally to card?
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
Woops I knew I forgot something haha. Shot everything in Cinegama 1 except for a few shots in the dark which are at Cinegamma 4. Cinema colorspace.

As for grading it was all done in premiere starting with film convert using either Kodak P400 Ptra, Fuji Ast 100, or rarely Kodak 5207 V3. I then cranked down the film color to arround 70% then add in some hand corrections with film convert or lumetri, adjusting shadows and color, and masking. I need to get back to Davinci but had other paying work on my plate and wanted to finish this video up.

Didn't shoot in slog as it was so bright out and the 800 native ISO was a pain to deal with when jumping between shooting stills and video. I would shoot in silent shutter mode as picture profiles are disabled in that mode. This allowed a standard or landscape picture style to be applied to my photos but the moment I hit record while in manual mode, it would switch to video which disabled the silent shutter thus applying the picture profile (Cinegamma 1). I then also had the dedicated video mode set up so that when I switched the dial to it, it would be in 120 FPS mode. This helped a lot without having to dig through menus while shooting on the go.
Click to expand...

That's a great short film.

I've got a holiday planned to India this year and I want to have a go at making a short film as well. I have the A6300 but was thinking of upgrading to the A6500 or A7RII as well as the price should come down even more in a few months time. I like the fact your gear list was ridiculously small ... a few lenses in a bag and the camera handheld. Wow. As I have the A6300 I was thinking of taking a monopod as well when I pull out my manual lenses ... but I guess there would be no need with the A6500 / A7RII

What would you do differently for your next holiday video ?
 
If we're talking gear for holiday videos... I'm going to Japan this summer, my plan is:
- video: RX100 IV on the zhiyun crane, 49mm ND filters, end of list
- stills: a6000 with samyang 12mm f2.0, sigma 19mm f/2.8, and sony FE 50mm f/1.8 (the sigma may stay at the hotel relatively often)
I'll be shooting the video, my GF will be shooting the stills, hopefully it's good enough and light enough! (we did something similar in Indonesia a couple of years ago, but with a7S for video and NEX-5N for stills)
 
markfpv said:
Agree with all 3 comments above. Really like the time lapse stuff too. And while I'm assuming some of my favorite shots were done on the primes, this is the first use of that new Sony lens that makes me think it's a player.
All shot internally to card?
Click to expand...

He said he used the 18-105mm, which is the old one.
 
For my next travel video I'll travel even lighter. I only switched to the A7Rii because half my paid work is still life photography were I find the mp helpful as I can crop rather than focus stack. Otherwise I'd probably stay with the A6500, it's lighter, full he 120 fps rather than 730p, and a better menu system.

Probably stick to a 18-105mm f4 and a 50mm prime and 28mm. Now that I'm full frame I'll probably move to native Sony glass to make it lighter so I don't have to use the speedbooster and replace the 18-105mm with the 24-70mm. The zhiyun crane is great just need to find a better bag for everything as if now I'm using a lowepro bag which is great but I can't fit the crane without taking the handle apart.

I'll hopefully be doing a week shoot for a band tour doc this summer and plan on going with the same kit plus Sony wireless lav and rode pro mic and one flex light/light wand. Oh and black and white shirts for bounce and beg fill
 
<even more offtopic>
I always store my zhiyun crane with the handle apart; given that you have to store it without batteries inside (otherwise you risk it going on by accident and then dying from its own heat) taking the handle apart is just a minor extra step that saves a lot of space
 
True! Though I will say the paint job isn't the best and mine looks battle tested after a few days in Cuba. Still a lovely gimbal
 
Is this mostly shot in 4K or 1080HD? it looks like you didn't use a variable ND.

Thank's

I'm setting up a friend with the a6500 and the 18-105 for a shoot in Egypt, and Israel, and want the Cine 1 and Cine 2 set up in camera for daytime and nighttime shooting. How much auto focus did you use, as well a exposure.


Broatch
 
Everything was shot in 4k except the few 120 fps clips which are at 120 fps. There were a few clips that I zoomed into and some was post stabilized.

As for the ND filter, you are right, I only used it at certain times due to the quick nature of things and switching between stills and video; along with the fact that I need a new varrible ND filter as mine is not in great shape. I remember seeing a while back someone made a lens step up ring with a magnet in it so you could just snap on filters, I will be looking into that for the future as that would help speed things up when switching between gear.

As for Auto exposure this was all done manual though I messed up on exposure a few times due to the screen dimming in 4k mode which made it somewhat hard to read in the bright sun (plus no proper exposure tools dont help). As for Auto Focus I would say a good majority was on auto focus, it's really impressive on the A6500 (went to the A7R II now and its a noticeable difference just how good the A6500 is).
 
Good video –*the only thing that irks me a bit technically is the high shutter speed and accompanying stutter, since there is a lot of dynamic movement. What were the shutter speed values?
 
DavidAC said:
Good video –*the only thing that irks me a bit technically is the high shutter speed and accompanying stutter, since there is a lot of dynamic movement. What were the shutter speed values?
Click to expand...

The shutter moved around a bit. Due to the nature of shooting both stills and video run n gun, sometimes it was either crank up the shutter or miss the shot. Looking into those quick attachable ND filters for the future for sure.
 
I was impressed with the functions in the a6500 that menu is a pain in the aXX, I suppose you could set up some custom settings. I did not have enough time to get deep into the menu system and needed to get a friend ready for his trip with the camera, at least for exposure it has the selectable zebra, so I just set that up for 95%. I did notice that the camera got hot during going through the menus and setting it up, and the battery life was short. Great little image coming from this camera that's for sure.
 
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