Lens help

[the dane]

Hi guys was going to buy a gopro to take on holiday with the sony A6000! But after seeing a lot of youtube videos with people using the A6000 as a video i might look into this, i have never videod on the a6000. I have 2 lenses that came with the kit. My wife wants to do a blogging/facebook daily update as well. Plus normal sightseeing video! Example = start off in a cafe (wife will talk where we are or going to see blah blah) then a short video of what we are seeing!
So my questions to you guys, do i need another lens like a Prime? 50 or 80?
Or stick with what we have.
Cheers

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[arthurking83]

....
Or stick with what we have.
....

:th3:
best option.

(except!!) if you have lots of $s to burn:
What I'd suggest you get tho(if you want a higher quality video) is a remote mic or high quality connected mic of some type.
The audio you capture has the ability to turn a 99% high quality video, into a 1% dreadful experience.

You can get good quality shotgun types for OK money. you mount it to the camera and it 'pinpoints' the sound coming from the subject. It'll have good noise cancelling features(wind/camera handling/etc) and it'll disable the onboard mic(s).

If you're handling the camera, and lets say you zoom a little in or out, there's a strong chance that your zooming action will get captured by the onboard mic(s)
If the camera AFs during the shooting(most likely), the noise of the lens focusing will be captured by the onboard mic(s).


So, what could(I reckon will!) happen is, your wife will be saying ... "We're having a nice coffee here in ... ZZZZZZZ(lens focusing here) .... and we're going to see ... BZZZZZTPGTLTBLRP!(more focusing and a bit of zooming here) .. and we're having a great time"

And the viewer will be thinking .. where R U? .. where U going?

;)

Shotgun mics can be had for about $200 and up(they have many strong points).

Alternative is a remote mic, or capture device.
This would be kept on the person speaking(if this is important).
You can get remote systems where you plug a reciever into the audio jack port(hopefully you have one in the A6000!) and your wife will have one of those tiny discreet lapel mics .. it all works off a wireless system.

Otherwise you get a audio capture device where you add the captured sound after the fact. If you're going to capture and upload immediately .. this is not a good idea tho! This system requires editing, so is slow and tedious for todays shoot and upload mindset.


Basically, my advice is to forget about lenses. You're capturing about 1/5th of the still image resolution, so the (imaging)quality of the lens isn't so important.
And if you'd be happy enough with a GoPro, then you'd be happy enough with an A6000+ kit lens.
The only advantage of getting yourself another lens is if it's AF and zooming offered quieter operation if you choose to use the built in mic(s)

Sorry for turning you lens thread into a sound thread! :p

SOUND! .. bugger up the sound and you buggered up the video!

[the dane]

Cheers mate. I will google it tonight.

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[arthurking83]

FWIW: I say this because a mate of mine wanted some advice on getting a GoPro type action cam.

I read some reviews about differences for operational comparisons, and then .. then I watched some sample videos.

The sound they capture is demonic in its incapability!

OK if all you do is capture action video and don't concern yourself with voice quality, but if voice quality is important AND you want the ability to instantly share .. sound is imperative.

If you edit or process the videos before you share .. then you can easily just add sound later on in post.

So in your example you want your wife to say(stuff) ..

1. if you instantly share, then voice quality(ie. separation from background noise) is important because you'll share what you captured.

2. if you go back to the hotel, load video onto the laptop, play with it in a a simple video editor, cut/splice/add effect/and other stuff, you could easily just get your wife to do another voice over(eg. using a smart phone or any simple device) and then add that voice over onto the timeline. You'll then render the entire video to a smaller file size but with better quality. So in this situation the sound captured at the source is less imperative(still important tho) as you're taking the time to make the video.

Oh! and be wary of cheap shotgun mics. They're cheap for a reason!


maybe do a search for 'shotgun mic comparison' or something like that.

[the dane]

Cheers guys, but the wife has said no to talking into a microphone! And is there a good free or buy software that i can use on my phone or tablet to make these photo/videos? Have tried a few but when putting on FB or similar it has the brand and advertising! I know i can purchase photo shop types for computer but not sure for Android, was hoping to leave the laptop at home! Cheers guys

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[Steve Axford]

Zoom lenses are good with video - it gives you quick options. Use a tripod. It's amazing how bad hand held video can look.

[arthurking83]

.... It's amazing how bad hand held video can look.

And how fast image stabilisation can deplete the battery!
First off, the video capture itself is killing the battery, then (most likely) so is AF and metering, so to have IS on as well just compounds the problem even further.

My D800E killed three batteries in a day(two fully and one to less than 20% capacity) and that day involved about 2 hours of actual work which consisted of only 20-ish 2-5min snippets.

Not being prepared for the video shoot(it was sprung on me 30 sec after I arrived!) I didn't have time to arrange a proper microphone.
I have a cheapie shotgun mic that would have at least helped, but had I known days/weeks beforehand I would have acquired both a better quality shot gun mic AND a remote wireless type too(and used whatever was appropriate for the conditions).

Video was basically a walk around with a TV presenter talking/interviewing. The format was supposed to be small 2-5min snippets (of and for the relevant and interested parties).
Of all the issues I had(ie. not being prepared) the sound issue(in that my only option was the onboard sound capture) was the only one I regretted. Hell of a time trying to clean it up in post.

[Steve Axford]

Getting good Video is much more complicated than getting good still pictures. Sound is a world iny itself and radio mics are the only way to do a walk around presentation. Radio mics are not cheap and they can take a bit of skill to operate effectively - eg the placement of the mic so it doesn't rub against things. And they use batteries quickly, particularly if you forget to switch them off.
For beginners, I'd suggest you practice with your mobile phone, as it is a lot easier than using a more sophisticated camera and can take some quite good and simple to edit video. It can all be done with phone apps. That would allow you to get the video content right without getting lost in technical detail. Editing professional quality video takes professional quality software like Adobe Premier. Phone Apps are much cheaper and easier.
Most of the pros I know do use Sony cameras, usually the A7S2, which is excellent, but is expensive and takes some skill.