The Sony a6300 has some of the most comprehensive video specs of a mass-market camera, so it seemed like a perfect excuse to embark on a video project. DPReview writer Richard Butler is a self-professed beginner when it comes to video, so he set out to see what he could do with the little Sony as he tested the camera's video features. Find out about the his exploration of videography in our updated Sony a6300 first impressions, or just watch the mini-documentary above he shot, produced and directed.
I tried out the A6300 at the store this weekend and spent 4 or 5 minutes using the 4K video. And wouldn't you know it, the the darn thing got HOT! Then it shut down and the manager said it would be unusable for a while. I thought only the video would be unusable, but I couldn't take pictures either! Worse yet, the manager said this is a known issue and then tried to tell me the camera is for stills not video. What a complete piece of (not a nice word).
Just checked on my UltraHD display (dubbed "4K" as it seems many people are confused).
Incredible sharpness and natural on static subjects, still any movement end up with blurring (as for so many action movies in HD that don't even have SD resolution on the action scenes!).
The more interesting thing for me is that it was filmed in natural available light, keeping the subject in it's context, and thus needing to crank up ISO on many scenes, still with great visual quality.
You know, documentary the old way, something understated, but much much more interesting for me, as a photographer and just a guy discovering the journey of a beer maker, without artifice.
It is interesting in so many ways. At the end of the day, I like what I have see, even if my Internet connection is a little slower for 4K (ouch!), great simple human story, awesome rendition that is natural, nothing "impressive" and that's that for me that is impressive! ;)
I was using a manually-specified AF point set on the far pump handle. Then, after starting the camera running, I pressed the centre button to activate AF point movement and used the four-way controller to nudge it across the frame (you can see the camera shake as I did so).
Then, when I hit the centre button again, the camera refocused across to the near one. You can set the movie AF speed to fast, normal or slow, depending on whether you're trying to do a slow focus pull like this or trying to keep a subject in focus as it moves.
Thanks for the explanation Richard. That's a rather creative makeshift approach! Did you try to do the same shot with manual focus through the fly-by-wire ring? Or in your experience that was significantly less appealing than the above-mentioned approach?
The way this focus by wire system works made it very difficult: you don't know how far you need to turn the focus ring (because it's speed sensitive).
You can also end up needing to turn the focus ring further than you can with a single hand's movement, so you risk wobbling the camera as you change hands.
Impressive quality on my 2304x1440 laptop, have to check it again on my UltraHD display, but the 6400ISO and the creative possibilities of a so little camera are awesome.
At least you will have an impressive out-of-the box HD quality (many small cameras that do HD video are deceiving), with good crop possibilities.
The lack of an AF-S mode (single focus, instead of continuous) in video seems strange, and seems to be consistent across most Sony cameras (RX, A7, etc.)
It can be a bit annoying, yes. On a7-series cams though, you can half press the shutter even in C-AF while filming to acquire focus, then hit the AF/MF toggle to lock it there. Couldn't seem to get that to work on the RX10M3 though.
When I watch YouTube videos, movements are not smooth. Maybe a charitable DPR reader can give me some help ? My monitor has a 1280x960 resolution. I set the movie resolution to 1280x720. Under Firefox with HTML5 reader, when watching this video the CPU usage is about 15-20%, not excellent but the CPU is far from being overloaded. The HTML5 player statistics says no dropped frames. So why is it not smooth ? With IE10 and Flash Player, the CPU usage is around 5-10% but movements are still a little bit jerky and the statistics show a frame rate oscillating between 23 and 26 fps, which is not stable. (Notes : Full HD H.264 videos play smoothly with MPC-HC at a 0-5% CPU usage. My internet throughput is a stable 18Mbits/s. I have a Nvidia video card with H.264 hardware decoding and Cuda.)
MPC might be doing something to smooth out the pull down judder but your browser doesn't. Depends on the frame rate of the video and the refresh rate of your screen.
Some screens can adjust their refresh rate if instructed to but the video player needs to be able to adjust the output refresh rate too. Some screens can add extra frames to smooth the motion out and some software does it too.
There's a lot of variables.
In an ideal world you want the video frame rate and the display panel to be synced at 1:1 pull down so with a 50p video the panel will refresh at 50hz or 100hz and display each frame twice, with a 30p video the panel will refresh at 60hz or 120hz and display each frame twice. With a 24p video the panel will be at 24hz or 48hz and display each frame twice etc. As long as each frame is displayed an equal amount of times you avoid judder.
If you have a 24p video and screen fixed at 50hz you get judder because each frame won't be displayed an equal amount of times.
Then sometimes despite there being a framerate/refresh rate mismatch either the software or the screen itself might create additional video frames in order to avoid pull down judder so with a 24p video and a 50hz panel an additional 26 interpolated frames would be added to make the video 50p and avoid judder.
Some television panels do this to a dramatic extent. For example a 200hz tv would take a 24p video and add 176 interpolated frames to smooth out the motion but this makes the video look artificial and is known as the "soap opera effect" it's much better to keep the original amount of frames and then if necessary repeat each frame in multiples of 1 rather than allow false information by way of interpolated frames to enter the equation.
Anyway, I'm rambling now and haven't helped your problem either lol
I have an analog CRT and I was able to set the refresh rate to 72.00Hz, an integer multiple of 24fps, and I cannot not see any reduction of the jerkiness. However I have found something interesting. By default, on my Windows 7 PC, the HTML5 player of Firefox loads webm YouTube videos. IE11 does not support webm thus the HTML5 player loads MP4 videos. My video card supports MP4 & H264 hardware decoding but does not support vp9 hardware decoding. The consequence is a near 0% CPU usage in IE11 and a 10-20% CPU usage in Firefox. I have found a way to disable webm support in Firefox and force the HTML5 player to load MP4 videos by setting the switch "media.webm.enabled" to false in the "about:config" page. Now Firefox plays YouTube videos with a very low CPU usage...
Thank you! I wanted to try to make a video that stood for more than just a demonstration of camera settings - I wanted to make something that represented the kinds of projects that keen stills photographers could embark on.
Maybe it was, but if people are worried about Sony not having enough lenses then Samsung is probably a bad choice. Have you seen their lens road map recently? Anyone would think they had pulled out of the market.
People need to stop nagging and nit picking .. This is not considered a pro camera but can deliver pro results with a talented photographer or videographer.... Every camera has its pros and cons .. Deal with it...
Nobody is forced to buy this $1,000 camera. If it doesn't sell well and competition does, Sony will react. I get its not perfect but it is VERY well rounded with few weaknesses.
Be happy. If you don't like it spend money elsewhere and don't troll on posts about it.
Thematic, could you please elaborate. I am planning to buy A6000, but need good lenses (tight budget). I was told that the one in kit 16-50 is horrible. Is there a good replacement? (I've heard 18-55 is better). Need at least zoom 5x and have about $500 for lenses. And someone said that Sony A mount is good for it (as for all Alphas), is it true? Please advise. I am new to SLR and mirrorless cams.
Yeah, that seems like a bit of a miss by Sony to make it without a touchscreen. If the thing didn't overheat when shooting video, the $1000 camera can only record 29 minute clips because of a tax circumvention. Seriously, look it up. Useless for concerts.
Two years late. The GH4 and NX1 and even the FZ1000 have been doing more with touch screen focus pulls and other features the A6300 lacks. The A6300 1080p video in all the examples looks like it came from a P&S too. Then there is the major overheating problem.
The biggest slap in the face though is Sony wanting $3000 for an F2.8 zoom
Siobhan A is the Self proven Mr "I feel so Insecure because Sony is launching some nice Cameras and Lenses that I feel an irresistible urge to comment on all Sony articles"
The "Short 2.8 Zoom" seems to imply that the other 2.8 Zooms are a lot longer. :-) Well they are not. "Stupidly Overpriced at $2400" - FYI - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1222774-REG/sony_sel2470gm_fe_24_70mm_f_2_8_gm.html. Please look at the bh listing for the new Sony 2470F28 Zoom. Surpirse, it is $2198. Oh and it is selling better than every other Mirrorless constant aperture Zoom lenses. "The Sony 70-200 is $3000" ;-) Lol unless you are some Sony Insider you have no clue what you are talking about. Sony has not revealed the pricing of the new FE70200F28 GM. So you are just using an imaginary cost. "not an option for sensible buyers." - Sony A6300 is now the best selling ILC in B&H Photo and the best Selling MILC on amazon.com. Wow so many non-sensible buyers.
Since both cameras significantly oversample the scene for 4K footage and are likely to use similar processors and codecs, the daylight footage is probably going to be very similar.
However, the a6300's much larger sensor should show its benefit in low light.
Video quality is very good! Sadly, the Canon 80D seems not to have the same video quality (i dont mean the video features ..). Richard, did you had problems with the (sensor) heat?
Looks like a wonderful little video making tool. Sure, the a6300 has it's limitations, but I don't think there is another camera out there this small that can take that kind of footage, especially in low light.
But, I value and give great credence to DP Review's reviews of cameras and have been anxiously awaiting its COMPLETE review on the a6300. WHEN are we going to see the full review instead of all these ancillary bits and pieces???
I appreciate that it's frustrating having to wait but I promise it's nearly ready.
However, the video performance of this camera is fundamental to the review, so I don't consider this ancillary.
The only question is whether we should publish this section now or publish nothing until the whole review is ready. Publishing this now hasn't slowed the review down.
I agree, it would be great if you could focus (no pun intended) on getting the complete review done. You always do a great job, but others are beating you to the punch on this.
The speed of the A6300 info has been just fine for me.. WE are less than a month from production sales release. But I already bought one and it has beat my expectations
@jeli - There is no i-r complete review nor DxO measurements yet so I assume that the "beating" others are bloggers concluding on image quality based on jpgs of back yard flowers, a brick wall down the street and the sleepy cat surprised at ISO 125 000.
Anything moving is so jittery that it is hard to watch. And before somebody mentions other brands, it is the same more or less for all consumer cameras used for video.
Hi - I am no video expert at all - and I do not know what to expect. But - if you look at the initial 8 seconds of down-panning I can see some flickering. I have no idea if this is usual for this kind of resolution.
Good job Richard, seriously. Now I've had stinging nettles once in my life and I'll never forget the experience. To think of drinking it down...wow! I know I know, they don't sting you on the inside, but just a thought.
Anywho, enjoyed the piece quite a bit. I like the simple and subdued nature of the video and think it looks good to me (but im not pro at video either), sometimes less is more!
You know you can eat stinging nettles? Raw. Quite nice. As a kid I used to munch on them straight outta the field. Trick is picking them without getting stung - You have to commit to grasping them quickly and firmly.
Ridiculously good quality! Also, nice feature on craft beer, it's a great way to showcase the camera's abilities while keeping things interesting. Kudos to Richard Butler (if he shot and directed this).
I did, so thank you. It's not without a few mistakes but, like many people I suspect, I'm just starting to get to grips with what cameras like this and the recent Panasonics will let you do.
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