Georgio publie depuis plusieurs jours sur Vimeo des vidéos réalisées avec le Sony A55. Il donne également ses impressions sur le boîtier translucent de la firme japonaise, de l’autofocus aux problèmes de surchauffe du boîtier.

« Here it is… raw not edited video. Sony 18-250 zoom lens in evening shadows of local creek. Most clips are taken at almost the end of the zoom (8-10x). It’s a little low light, sun was almost down. I made an AVCHD DVD-R and played on BlueRay Player, video was satisfactory vivid and sharp. On the computer it will be a bit more « greener » than it actually is.

This place is invaded by wild turkeys, and this is right before Thanksgiving 2010. Perfect – right « on time »… but local people returning home, are braking for them. Why? just go full throttle and take that fresh roadkill home.

You will see some Autofocus wandering sometimes. Why? looking for fattest bird? Ha-a-ha! And in the clip with turkeys sitting on the fence I turned Autofocus off. Unfortunately I didn’t noticed that I focused on the tree, instead of the turkey. I suspect, that video clips converted by me and later on, by vimeo will be not ideal quality. But if you are watching it in default vimeo window, it is pretty close of what you may see full screen on 50″ HDTV.

Some reflections: after handling HD camcorder for couple years it was always my dream to have a little bit more. Having this camera I see that it offers much more than the « regular stuff ». A55 HD video’s have more depth to it and overall impression is far more positive than from video taken by basic camcorder with super long focal length (this is not always a good thing, but in most cases it is!). This camera is adding more depth to video clips. And my feeling is that I do not have to worry too much about technological part of taking pic or video (camera delivering that) and finally to focus on creative, or artistic if you will, part of taking videos. I feel good about it. Also, it is super cool to have an option to decide — Oh, look, this is perfect for a still pic – « SNAP »! I got it! Then next time – HERE – this is a very nice moment for a video clip. And I start recording instantly. All this with the same camera, and in pretty decent quality!!

Just, I hope Sony will soon issue a firmware updates to support more lenses (like Sigma) and improve further HD video Autofocus, making Autofocus more robust, like in real time camcorders. Now it is super quick, it needs to « calm down » a bit and be more intelligent… this is my New Year wish! :) Sony camcorders have no problems there, why not learn from them? Huh? »

« Raw video converted to MP4 with Elgato TurboHD.264 to make one video clip. Lens: Sony 18-250. Couple clips are at max zoom (~14x).

Next day after Thanksgiving 2010. Colors are a bit oversaturated because of very nice light from setting sun. Also there was a haze from moisture and from local fog. Combination of these factors and low sun made a very nice lighting conditions. This place is like local Portofino….

Enjoy.

PS: I like this time of year. I’m getting my best pics around the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. 5-7 years back I wished I had better camera… but now I think, I do! :) Will keep « hunting » for great moments, with much better equipment. »

« I decided to test that infamous ‘overheating’ issue. And – yepp! I got the blinking temperature icon after 8.5 min. So, … what? You think, you will be filming longer than that? Then you have an issue. I don’t.

To me this A55 is creative camera for making dynamic semi-professional videos. This is not a webcam, which can go continually on for weeks or month. This is not a tool for bootlegging movies too :] And anyone who tried video making, and even got some education about it, will realize that you must take you video’s in multiple short 3-5 seconds clips. Max 10 sec. If you are following action or some object it can go bigger to 1, or even 2 min. When you are filming performers, like a song, or say you are in Waikiki and filming hula dancers – it can be done. Usually, songs are average 5 min. A55 can handle that. Longer that that – watching your video will be very annoying to your public. How annoying it could be? Watch THIS, 4min clip sample. Not get it first time? watch all thing again, you will be bored… :|

Still not persuaded? Then put camera on a tripod and turn off Image Stabilization. You can go on for ~30 min.
…………………………
- Lens Sony 18-250 (~14x zoom)
- Resoultion 1920×180 FH mode (highest)
- GSP Is OFF
- Image Stabilization is ON
- Total time 4 min 01 sec
- Original MTS file size is 493.69MB (roughly 500 MB, half GB) »