Sunset w/Fresh Snow, Sony a5000

[VidThreeNorth]

The last couple of years have been a log-jam for me. I did not spend a huge amount of money, but I did wind up with more cameras than I expected, and I could not get around to using them all in the ways I wanted to. One in particular -- my Sony a5000 got some fairly good use as a "still" camera, but I had bought it with the intention of using it, roughly equally, for video. But with the purchase of my Canon R70 and Sony CX405 camcorders, and the Yi-M1's 4K video capability (and the Yi's rapidly changing firmware through 2018) I ended up not using the a5000 for video. This is a pity because aside from the lack of 4K, it is actually the best interchangeable lens "camcorder" I have. The 4K in the Yi-M1 does not have the basic controls for contrast, sharpness and saturation, which means that I have to have conditions close to ideal for its use. The Sony a5000 has all this, and even a 24 mbps "FX" quality at 1080p at 24 fps. The CX405 camcorder goes further, supporting 50 mbps @ 30 fps, 1080p using the XAVC-S codec, but again, it also lacks the basic controls for contrast, sharpness and saturation.

So after all these years (over two) having the a5000, I was looking at the possibility of a project which needed the versatility of the a5000. In fact, at this point, I also have the Olympus OM-D EM10, which also has these abilities, but it does not have the quality of the a5000. At 30fps - 1080p (its maximum capability) the Olympus only records about ~17-18 mbps.

Anyway, I took the Sony a5000 and made my adjustments and tried a few test clips. When I brought the clips back and tried them, it seems I will be able to do this project. I do not however, know if it will get done, because I am currently too busy, but it is still nice to know that it is within the range of things I can do.

The Settings:

Sony a5000, lens 16 - 50 f/3.5 - 5.6 power zoom

AVCHD 1920 x 1080, 60i FX (24 mbps)

Clips 0005.MTS [test clip, not final settings]
"Camera Settings"
"Menu 4"
"Creative Style"
"Sunset"
"contrast = -2"

Processed Image:

Smart Photo Fix
Brightness
Overall -3
Shadow 30
Highlights -5
Saturation 23
Focus 0 [recommended 8]
White balance No
Blacks = 10
White = 0

Looking at the final version, it is still a bit over-sharpened, so that I will probably reduce sharpening to -3, and reduce contrast all the way down to -3. I like the orange/brown colour of the leaves on the nearby tree, and the blue sky cleaned up a bit thanks to a bit of saturation. The Sunset "custom style" seems to have retained the warmth of the situation.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

I was lucky to have roughly the lighting conditions that I wanted and had the a5000 set up the way I thought should be best for this project:

Creative Style:
Sunset
Contrast -3, Sharp -3
- 24 fps FX (24 mbps)

"00006.MTS"

I captured a frame and processed it with Corel Paint Shop Pro X9.

Unprocessed frame: "01-2020-02-13-17h59m02s788.jpg"

Processed frame: "01-2020-02-13-17h59m02s788-SmartFix.jpg"

Smart Photo Fix
Brightness
Overall 8
Shadows 20
Highlights -10
Saturation 26
Focus 26
White Balance [no]
Blacks 6
White 0

Results were soft but acceptable. The processed frame has a typical amount of sharpening. In the context of a processed video, it will look good. I think I can raise sharpening a bit without problems. I consider this clip a keeper and in my mind, this part of this project is "done".

After this recording (for next time) I changed to Sunset w/

Contrast = -3 and Sharpening = -2

If I get the right weather conditions again, I would also like to try the "Dynamic Range Optimizer" (DRO) setting and the "High Dynamic Range" (HDR) settings, but everything after today is just for curiosity, and the odd chance that another setting might get me an even better clip. . . .