By Dan Chung
Dslrnewsshooter contributor Johnnie Behiri has been shooting with Sony’s new Alpha A65 SLT camera recently. Whilst we wouldn’t normally feature a music video it is interesting to see what Sony’s new mid level stills camera is capable of. This footage was originally published over on Cinema5D.
The A65 along with the A77 are Sony’s first video capable mid range stills cameras with full manual control of the video mode – the previous models only had automatic video modes. There is also an external 3.5mm mic jack but audio control it is still auto only apparently. SLT cameras also use a high resolution EVF and not a conventional viewfinder for both stills and video.
The major advance for video use on the A65 and A77 is the addition of fast autofocus in video mode as well as for stills. This is possible thanks to the single lens translucent (SLT) mirror system which remains in place directing light to it’s fast AF sensors the whole time. Other DSLRs like the Canon 5DmkII are forced to use the sluggish contrast detection system in video mode because the faster AF system behind the mirror that it uses for stills is disabled when filming.
Whether you think this is significant depends on how you shoot. Personally I still manual focus everything but I can see the point of being able to use a quick AF system for fast paced news events where just getting the shot in focus quickly is a priority. AF tracking of moving subjects is also offered on the new Sony’s – but it looks like this is limited to automatic exposure only.
For now I am seeing little that would tempt me to use Sony SLTs rather than Canon DSLRs for video – but it’s interesting to see where the technology is going.
“forever-a while”- Shot with Sony A-65 from Johnnie Behiri on Vimeo.
This is what Johnnie had to say –
“There is not much info about on the video quality of the new Sony cameras which are not out yet, so I felt it is time to make the effort and see what the A65 can do to start with. I had the Sony Alpha A65 for a day and I’m happy to share the footage with the community.
My aim was to test general picture quality and camera usability during “normal” production environment conditions.
The lovely Angel of Sona and her nice producer Ingo were quick to respond to my offer for shooting a no budget “instant” music clip.
The A65 I got was very close to the final production model. I have no doubt that after learning the camera inside out, better picture quality can be achieved.
Besides being curios seeing the overall picture quality, I wanted to experiment low light sensitivity, codec strength when color correcting and last but not least see if moiré and aliasing are controlled in an acceptable way.
The 3 lenses I got to work with are all widely available and very affordable Sony lenses.
Disclaimer: I do not work or got paid by Sony for doing this music clip
Gear used:
Sony Alpha A65
Sony 35mm f1.8
Sony 50mm f1.8
Sony 17-105 3.5-5.6
Sachtler DV 8SB
Lightcraft fader ND
Vocas rig
Cineroid Metal EVF
Cineroid mini LED lights
Kata bag, Bug 203
Music:
“forever- a while” by Angel of Sona
www.sonaofficial .com
Johnnie Behiri is a BBC freelance cameraman operating from Vienna, Austria.
When not working for the BBC, Johnnie films documentaries, commercials, music videos, and testimonial/marketing videos for other broadcasters and clients.
