Sony NX5 Weekend Review

Over the weekend just past I booked out a Sony NX5 camera and Mafretto tripod to play with and gain experience. With no clear idea of what I was going to do with this equipment, I found myself panning and spinning the camera, aimlessly and then dismounting from the tripod to track my cat around the house. The weather outside was frightful, and I couldn’t find much else to film. I practiced messing around with focus and zoom on bottles to create a depth of field. Next time I book out equipment I intend to have a clearer plan as to what to use it for or just simply brave it an venture outside to see what I can find. I will also be looking for company on my travels so that I can show you guys some pictures of me on my travels as I learn, since this is a journey I want you to take with me.

Sony Nx5

In a bid to improve my own technical skills, I have began just booking out equipment and watching video tutorials and teaching myself as I advance through the first year of my course, as you can probably tell from my previous tutorial video posts. Its been difficult but rewarding, and I am continuing it this Friday having booked out a Sony NX5 coupled with a heavy duty tripod and a paglight. I’ll be posting up regarding my advancements with this piece of technology, but for now here is the tutorial video I intend to start off on.

Shoulder Mount and Camera Work

I took to Birmingham with my filming equipment this weekend past to practice my camera skills at ‘ The Prosthetics Event’ as it had been quite some time since I had done so myself (longer than I care to mention!) and I had come to the realisation that to better my technical skills would take a more pro-active approach. I had wanted to take small steps at first and so booked out a simple to use Sony HDR-PJ200E Video Camera along side a Shoulder Mount for that on the move shooting style. I also had a Zoom H1 audio recorder which I trusted my friend to operate for me on my que to try and capture a better quality of sound.

Sony HDR-PJ200E Video Camera
I booked out this particular camera for several reasons real, firstly it is very simple to use especially since I have had previous experience of using it, it is a simple open and click. Its small size as well is ideal for shooting on the move as I thought I would be for the majority of the event, it seemed like the most obvious choice. On reflection now I would like to advance further and experiment with a better quality of camera. The small size of it didn’t particularly lend itself to the professional appearance that I am chasing and its image wasn’t as clear and crisp as I had wanted. I also quickly ran out of space on my memory card and had to resort to hastily deleting footage I felt wasn’t going to be a good as the event picked up pace near the end, in hindsight I will be taking a spare memory card and a fully charged laptop ready to unload footage during breaks between shooting.
Shoulder Mount
This was my first time using a Shoulder Mount having booked it out on my tutors recommendation to help steady my camera work better, especially whilst one the move. I could certainly see the appeal of such a piece of equipment, it presents itself as sturdy and professional and has the obvious advantage of mobility over a standard tripod. However, I found that my hands were not too steady, my knees were wobbly and neither was my shoulder which presented me with a few moments of shakiness. It is important to note however that for a lot of shots I was actually sat down in a lecture theatre for hours at the far reaches of the room meaning that I had to be almost fully zoomed at most times, in hindsight  a small tripod might have been better for this situation.
Zoom H1
I had not yet used this piece of equipment either however I found it rather simple to use, a rather straight forward point and click with a few bits of advice picked up from a friend of mine who did Sound Technology at university thrown in for good measure. It did capture a lot better sound than the camera as you would expect, however being so far back meant that it really didn’t capture as well as I had hoped, and there was a lot of surround sound interference from the audience.