Presets and auto exposure

[Peter C.]

I finished filming an outdoor event this weekend which I used my Sony A74. On the whole did a good job but I had a few things I struggled with.

The first was using the presets on the dial. Sony allows you store setups frequently used. I had one set to 60p, 30p and 24p. The frustrating part was every time you change the dial all the setting change even the ones you don't want. For example the white balance was set to indoors, to change it you have set it then go deep into the menu and save the preset then do the same for each preset, then I found being in bright light wanted to change the aperture to f8. But for every change you need to record it to all the presets otherwise when you switch between them it won't match.

Seemed like it might have been simpler leave it in manual mode and not use the presets.

The second issue was just dealing with exposure. The event had a large tent and people were both in and out of it. So every time moved between them exposure would need to be changed 4 stops. Despite liking to have full manual control it might again been smoother and quicker using auto exposure. I missed a few shots because I was fiddling constantly back and forth with the exposure. The other reason I was hesitant using auto was that I was filming in SLOG3. Didn't want to fool with that in the middle of an event not knowing what it would do.

 

[Doug Jensen]

IThe first was using the presets on the dial. Sony allows you store setups frequently used. I had one set to 60p, 30p and 24p. .

I gotta say it is pretty unusual to shoot 60p, 30p, and 24p on the same shoot. I'm curious what the reason for that was?
BTW, on my A1, I also have three presets. I use one for 24p 4K. I use another for 120 fps 4K. And I have a third programmed for stills. All other changes I just make on the fly. If you take the time to customize the buttons on your camera it is pretty easy to learn to work fast. There really aren't that many settings that need to be changed mid-stream during a shoot.

For indoor exposure changes on the A1, my iris would be wide open. My shutter speed would be determined by the frame-rate, and never changed. All my exposure changes are made by spinning the ISO up or down with my thumb on the rear dial. I watch the zebras and turn the wheel with my thumb. Couldn't be easier, and much better than auto. And the A1 is so clean that pushing the ISO or down a few stops will barely make a difference in noise.

 

[Peter C.]

I gotta say it is pretty unusual to shoot 60p, 30p, and 24p on the same shoot. I'm curious what the reason for that was?
BTW, on my A1, I also have three presets. I use one for 24p 4K. I use another for 120 fps 4K. And I have a third programmed for stills. All other changes I just make on the fly. If you take the time to customize the buttons on your camera it is pretty easy to learn to work fast. There really aren't that many settings that need to be changed mid-stream during a shoot.

For indoor exposure changes on the A1, my iris would be wide open. My shutter speed would be determined by the frame-rate, and never changed. All my exposure changes are made by spinning the ISO up or down with my thumb on the rear dial. I watch the zebras and turn the wheel with my thumb. Couldn't be easier, and much better than auto. And the A1 is so clean that pushing the ISO or down a few stops will barely make a difference in noise.

I ended up shooting in 30 and 60 for slowmo and stabilzation. This was for a reunion and I was initially planning to use it for two purposes sit down interviews and b roll of the party and go back and forth between them. But I changed my mind and opted for a camcorder at a dedicated station and use the mirrorless for ever thing else. There are a lot of setting that can get you. For example I found if your recording general audio with the built in mics a 20 level is good, but if you plug in external mics you need to set the level to 5 because the signal will clip. So Since there are no physical dials and it isn't clear that the signal is clipped it's a tricky to switch between two scenarios. In addition I was taking photos too.

In hindsight I could have left the camera at 60p and would have been fine but at the time I was concerned the camera might over heat in all day event out in the sun. I very rarely use the camera so I wanted to put it to work, but I tell you it's far from straight forward and I've been shoot video my entire life.

 

[Doug Jensen]

Ha, ha. Yeah, we're all in the same boat. I also feel like a fish out of water for an hour or two when I have to shoot video with the A1. There is no muscle memory and I have to stop and actually think about stuff that I would do automatically without even thinking about what I was doing with a camcorder. Whenever possible, I get the A1 out and shoot some stock or something that doesn't matter the day before just to kind of get in the groove. And having custom-programmed button/swtiches/knobs makes all the difference.

 

[Peter C.]

Ha, ha. Yeah, we're all in the same boat. I also feel like a fish out of water for an hour or two when I have to shoot video with the A1. There is no muscle memory and I have to stop and actually think about stuff that I would do automatically without even thinking about what I was doing with a camcorder. Whenever possible, I get the A1 out and shoot some stock or something that doesn't matter the day before just to kind of get in the groove. And having custom-programmed button/swtiches/knobs makes all the difference.

amen to that

 

[Imamacuser]

I had a shoot a couple years ago where the speaker was walking back and forth between shadow and window light, and I couldn't set up lights, so I enabled auto ISO, set the metering mode to multi, and adjusted the exposure compensation till I got good exposure on the skin.

Not an ideal solution, but the subtle exposure ramps were better than having the speaker constantly blown-out or under exposed. I shot Rec.709, due to it's lower noise floor, as the ISO was cranked fairly high with only the ceiling lights and window for illumination.

 

[NorBro]

It is almost impossible using a mirrorless in run-and-gun - constant changes in the environment - situations like that without programming the buttons/dials, which there are a wealth of, even more than some camcorders as usually a few have fixed commands on camcorders.

When I first came across the a6300 almost 8 years ago, I was so impressed with how many buttons/dials Sony allowed you to change and that continued on their mirrorless' for the next decade (Canon eventually caught up years later).

Once you know your camera well and have all of the buttons/dials programmed - and you're generally used to shooting video with a mirrorless - it's incredibly easy to change white balance, aperture, ISO, shutter speed, AF/MF toggling, L/R eye-tracking, zebra toggling, audio levels (I always use the down arrow/pad for this one), etc. etc. in seconds, sometimes even at the same time with your fingers if you're brain is trained right.

You'd rarely ever have to open up the menu for anything besides for some of the more sophisticated system changes.

 

[Doug Jensen]

You'd rarely ever have to open up the menu for anything besides for some of the more sophisticated system changes.

Taking the time to setup a custom User Menu (or whatever the mirrorless cameras call it) can also do a lot towards making changes faster and easier. I rarely have to dig any deeper than my custom User menu on any of my cameras.

 

[NorBro]

Definitely, and on those types of cameras (at least with some of them) I like to use the quick/function on-screen menus which can be on the screen at all times (if one wants that or could also toggle between something like that and a clear screen).

But also going into the menu and having one or two pages/tabs with everything you need just for you and nothing else is great, too.