Surprise! Sony Alpha A6000 video mode huge improvement

[abds69]

Hello, guys thanks for all the tests. for myself, it's simply the best APS-C sensor for video, a 2014 brand new one helped with excellent electronic treatment from Bionz X. Order has been sent, receiving it tomorrow.

 

Apart from that, specialists from  french photo magazine (chasseurs d'images) tested it and this what they discovered from their lab :

 

-autofocus is fantastic , but fails at 12m when a 50km/h object approaches, compared to 4m for pro DSLR.

-noise reduction is set to high by sony, a balanced choice would be setting it to "LOW"

-till 3200 iso , fine textures are  well preserved

-sharpness 0 setting is under normal rating compared to other dslr, even +3 setting  stays under that they call 0 sharpness. So don't hesitate to be at max. They say, pictures are still extremelly crisp even at 0 sony setting, so post sharpening is recommended anyway AND possible.

-contrast is not perfect. Highlights are soft, greys are between soft and normal, and blacks are between normal and strong. so we have a problem with transition between grey and black. So use a profile to minimize that ?

-DRO mode seems to raise blacks although it should lower highlights, they advise to set to it OFF

 

Now regarding DXOmark, it's a pity to see that none of the sony lenses has got high MPix render. this baby shoud be tested with the sigma 50mm f1.4 HSM A or canon 35mm f2 to see what's in the belly.

[abds69]

reading the specs from sony a6000  movie mode :

Movie: xvYCC standard (x.v.Colorâ„¢ when connected via HDMI cable) Compatible with TRILUMINOSâ„¢ color

 

2 questions:

i don't see any differences between xvYCC and xvcolor !!??

So HDMI and AVCHD are 8bit 420 (422 ?) , and perhaps HDMI is not compressed in AVCHD, but not sure ?

 

secand, the workflow in editor ??

instead of the rec 709 16-235 values for luminance and color, sony gives you the 1-254 values possible for luminance and color.

that's why people say they recover data from highlights (and blacks too).

So in FCPX, Adobe premiere, AE, avid, is this extra gamut managed when importing your file ? Not sure and else, you have to tweak manually the curves !!! It is only for editing, because if you don't have a bravia (xvcolor), or if it is for internet, you'll have to export to SRGB.

 

I think the simplest is converting with 5DTORGB to PRORES or DNXHD with 601 import profile, so that the NLE can't confuse color space.

Even playing directly the avchd file on your computer can not be accurate. weird.

See this thread :

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[Ondřej Nevělík]

Hey guys, could you help me out? I'm looking for an upgrade from Canon 7D, started by mainly shooting climbing (stills) but at the moment leaning more towards video. 5DM3 is out of my league and as I already own bunch of L Canon glass I'm considering either Canon 6D or this Sony a6000 with metabones adapter. What would you recommend? Any other suggestion in this price range? video:stills = 2 : 1

[Pascal Garnier]

The Canon 6D is pretty bad for video (great for stills), so the Sony A6000 would be a much better bet (especially with the Metabones).  It's also smaller and will cost you less.

[abds69]

Someone must confirm , but with metabones on the a6000, AF in photo is slow, and not useable in video mode. Because of phase detection not compatible with canon lenses i think.

At contrary 6D is way better in photo mode particularly in low light mode and support to FF lenses , it's a FF,  but in video you are near a 5Dmk2 except the codec which is AVC intra. Expect moiré, aliasing, difficulty to focus.

http://www.focus-numerique.com/test-1566/reflex-canon-6d-mode-video-17.html

http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-A6000-versus-Canon-EOS-6D___942_836

[pablogrollan]

Someone must confirm , but with metabones on the a6000, AF in photo is slow, and not useable in video mode. Because of phase detection not compatible with canon lenses i think.

 

True, they even get to say that is not fit for pro use and disappointing for enthusiasts, but when it comes to video using autofocus is an oddity. Sure, the new autofocus systems for video will improve and become common use, but as of today I still have to witness a professional shooting environment where autofocus is even taken into consideration.

 

Ondrej, if you plan to are going to be video-centered, the a6000 makes more sense in my opinion. It'll just take a little time getting used to the small form factor coming from a 7D, but functions such as zebras and focus peaking make up for it.

[Ondřej Nevělík]

Thanks guys for your replies. Sold my 7D for a solid price but the buyer also wanted my 17-40 4L so I got rid of that as well as I decided to go with the a6000 and could really use image stabilization for video.

 

Now I have another question. What's the best all-around lens? Should I go with the Sony 16-70 f4 or some 3rd party alternatives? Using primes is mostly not an option for me (hanging on rope above a climber I don't have time to change the lenses often). 

 

Also I still have Canons 70-200mm and 50mm 1.4. Do you think it's worth it getting a Canon EF to Sony e-mount adapter and use them on the Sony a6000 or is it better to sell them and get sony counterparts?

[pablogrollan]

These seem to be the obvious choices for all-purpose lenses:

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/732292-REG/Sony_SEL18200_DT_18_200mm_f_3_5_6_3_Zoom.html

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1001011-REG/sony_selp18105g_18_105mm_f_4_g_lens.html

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/835058-REG/Tamron_AFB011_700_18_200mm_F_3_5_6_3_Di_III.html

 

I can't speak about their quality because I haven't used them (I mostly use Nikon primes) and they have mixed reviews, but I suppose they do the job and size/weight-wise are very light compared to Cannon L glass.

[abds69]

hello @nevelik, dxomark is your best friend :

http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Ratings

 

You will discover that e-mount lenses are not well rated.

You can use your canon lenses via metabones (~400$), but AF will be soso, and you'll lose some functionality.

You have also cheap adapter (~100$), but it's mainly for EF-S lenses, because there's no lens in it to get 1.16X crop factor from metabones.(you get a bonus 1 f also).

 

 

In digital photo, everyone should be aware that there's a strong link between sensor and lens. For example got a tamron 18-270, and with dxomark i'll discover that it's perceptual MPIX is below 6 MPIX in some focals, behind a 24 MPIX sensor !! hic, it's jam for pigs.

http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Tamron/AF-18-270mm-f-3.5-6.3-Di-II-VC-LD-Aspherical-IF-Macro-Canon-mounted-on-Canon-EOS-700D---Measurements__870

In video, we are talking of 2MPIX for 1080p, so even your grandpa zenith will be fine, even if sony seems to read all pixels and then scale down to 1080, so better lens, give better 1080.

[Andrew Reid]

DXOMark's lens ratings are flawed in my opinion because they depend on the megapixel count of the sensor.

 

Why introduce the sensor as a variable to your lens testing?

 

It doesn't make sense!

[abds69]

About the a6000, it supports also APP, if sony sdk let developpers touch curves and others, why not having log curve in picture effect in the future ? could be powerful like ML for Canon in somehow.

 

https://www.playmemoriescameraapps.com/portal/

[Inazuma]

The 50mm OSS is an absolutely gorgeous lens imo. Sharp and the bokeh is just delicious. Only thing is that the focus ring has like a million degree throw, so not suitable for manual focus at all.

[dstilio]

Regarding profiles:

 

I found these two old posts in eoshd for Nex 5N which I think continue to be valid also for the a6000:

http://www.eoshd.com/content/3878/nex-5n-easter-egg-found-to-increase-video-quality

and

http://www.eoshd.com/content/3995/optimising-the-sony-nex-5n-for-cinematic-video

 

These two profiles, portrait and sunset with manual white balance can give very nice results also in the a6000.

I tend to play also with custom colour filters from in-camera (this setting is together with custom white balance).

Using a normal colour filter in front of the lens would be nicer but honestly...I don't see much a difference.

Yellow is my favorite colour filter.

 

Question regarding your colour grading workflow:

Do you see a lot of differences in colour grading when transcoding to DNxHD or ProRes?

Can you give me an example of image colour differences when colour grading directly on the MTS files (Sony Vegas, Magix Video Pro, or other editing platforms) versus colour grading the transcoded footage?

Not necessary from footage from a6000.

[maxotics]

@OndÅ™ej NevÄ›lík  If you're climbing and need small/size weight for video than you should check out the GM1.  I don't like it for my use, but for yours I would probably love it death.  The video that comes out of the GM1/GX7, as Andrew has written about elsewhere, is phenomenal.  

[Quirky]

DXOMark's lens ratings are flawed in my opinion because they depend on the megapixel count of the sensor.

 

Your opinion doesn't matter to their target audience. Which apparently doesn't include you, and that's a good thing.

 

 

 

Why introduce the sensor as a variable to your lens testing?

 

It doesn't make sense!

 

Not commenting on the behalf of DXOMark, but in a way it might make sense.

 

Think of some fixed lens cameras where the sensor and the fixed lens have been tweaked into an optimum pair. Suppose that would be more obvious if, for example, Sony actually did come up with the rumoured curved sensor. Then not introducing the sensor would not make much sense, would it.

 

On the other hand, even back in the day, medium format lenses needed less resolution to do a sharp, good looking images, and I believe many lenses made for smaller formats like 35mm film would have better resolution, to cope with the smaller projection area.

 

Then there are the Olysonic mFT lenses, whose performance depends on the software tweaks, at least on the wider end of the focal length scale. Take away the sensor and the software tweaks, and they distort like glass cut off a bottom of an old Coke bottle. I don't know if DXOMark takes that into account but, in literal sense, the sensor would be a variable in that case, too.

 

But that's enough nit-picking, because the point was that DXOMark do have their own target audience who buy gadgets based mainly on their scores. This has nothing to do with the alleged or real performance of the a6000, though. I don't even know what the a6000 score is.

[abds69]

For myself, i use dxomark to confirm empiric tests made by people like those in this forum. Often tests are finally pretty accurate regarding facts from dxomark.

A digital cam is mainly based on his sensor + electronic treatment like cars are built around a motor + injection. Plus the lens. Dxomark rates all, perfect. it's an unified database. Practical.

@quirky, dxomark rates a6000 right where it should be : behind pro dslr (especially for low light) and leading hybride and amateur dslr.

You'll learn what it is twice sensitive in low light compared to the old eos 550D or the GX7. 1 EV better in dynamic range with the 2 old timers.

Definitly this a 2014 good sensor for APS-C, perhaps the best at the moment.

 

@dstilio, thanks for the info of using picture profil sunset, or portrait, though i'm not agree on lowering sharpness..

Concerning workflow, i've just received the baby yesterday, so tests are needed. But with sony AVCHD 2.0 xvYCC, you'll have to be sure your NLE understands it correctly. After, it's like in sound editor, or after effects, it's better to translate in 10bit if you're grading just to minimize treatment errors, and now that they introduce BT601, better to export to something universal and decoding yourself the full range. But simplier is better, if fcpx manages that full range in avchd let's feed it directly !!!

[sandro]

What kind of manual lenses can you put on this camera (mounts)? Does it play well with them or it works only with sony e-mount lenses?

[Pascal Garnier]

You can put EVERY lens ever made on a Sony A6000.

I use M42, Canon FD and Canon EF lenses.

But you can use Pentax, Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, ... on this camera with the right adapter.

[abds69]

Mechanically speaking, as there is no mirror, the flange focal distance is super short, so in consequence you can mount practically every lenses on the E-Mount EXCEPT those for small captors like 4/3 (crop factor > 1,6x) . CROP factor is 1,5X on sony, so expect little vignetting with APS-C lenses from others (1,6X), correct me ?

 

watch the TABS of this website :

http://sonyalphalab.com/sony-alpha-and-nex-technology-camera-and-lens-tutorial-guides/lens-adapters/

 

With a manual lens and adapter you lose,  powered zoom (although not on all sonys), information like distance on EVF, lens optical corrections, stabilization (except for some canon adapter ), Hybrid superfast AF,  BUT YOU KEEP peaking feature, exposure, infinite focus.

 

If your lense has an electric aperture, simple adapter or with manul iris integrated doesn't work correctly(you stay wide open or with the manual iris you are vignetting)

 

So , to sumarize best to gore !!

 

-E-mount (humm power zoom), hybrid AF, distance in EVF, optical correction...but these lens are certainly not the best on market (far from)

-A-mout lenses with adapter (humm G series), hybrid AF conserved

-canon EF with metabones , crop factor to 1,15X, 1F stop gain, exposure, slow AF (not in video)

-canon EF- EFS lenses with cheaper electronic adapter (starting at 100$), you keep, aperture, IS, slow AF, crop factor 1,5X, exposure

-full manual lenses (humm good ones inside) with manual iris, you have focus peaking to help, exposure.

-electronic controlled iris lenses...bad bad

-go to the site to see each particularities of each adapter

 

Keep with you 2 elastics, just to minimize light leaks at adapter junction, thanks to china incredible mechanic dispersion in most of the available adapters...mdr

[noone]

Mechanically speaking, as there is no mirror, the flange focal distance is super short, so in consequence you can mount practically every lenses on the E-Mount EXCEPT those for small captors like 4/3 (crop factor > 1,6x) . CROP factor is 1,5X on sony, so expect little vignetting with APS-C lenses from others (1,6X), correct me ?

 

Actually the E mount registration distance is shorter than m43 so if you can control the aperture you can use m43 lenses on the a6000.    Most m43 lenses and you would have no control of the aperture unless someone came up with an adapter with electronics which would seem pointless for the most part.

There are only a few lenses that would work ok and you would have vignetting but there are adapters available on EBAY.

 

I have never seen one the other way around though.