Sony NEX-7 Video Tips from Luminous Landscape

Sony NEX-7 with 50mm f/1.8 OSS Lens

Luminous Landscape posted their review of the NEX-7's video capabilities. They have an overall favorable review of the NEX-7. The article is very informative - read it.

Here is what they say about the NEX-7 as a video camera.

The Sony NEX-7 is a decent camera for shooting video. Like all DSLRs and CSCs it has its limitations, but it's not as bad as some. The scaling that Sony uses to go from 24MP down to about 2MP for video does produce some artifacts, but in many ways is better than the line skipping that Canon uses.
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The reality is that in its price range it's an excellent choice. There are the usual video DSLR problems of moire, aliasing and rolling shutter, but no worse than many, and better than some. Indeed the highly regarded Canon 5D MKII's video quality is, in my opinion, worse than that from the NEX-7 in many respects.

Here's a summary of tips we learned from Luminous Landscape NEX-7 the Video Camera Review:

• Set the NEX to 16:9 mode. The LCD preview will match the video for framing.
• Shoot in M (manual mode), set the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed desired, and then rotate the variable ND until you have the appropriate exposure.
• Equipment
• Sony E 18-200mm OSS for a general purpose video lens, for its silent AF and OSS.
• Sony 50mm f/1.8 OSS and Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 ZA Sonnar for speed and field of view.
• Turn of OSS when shooting video with the NEX on a tripod.
• For maximum malleability in color correction, set the NEX Creative Style to Natural and set Contrast, Saturation and Sharpness each to -3. Adjust color in your editing / grading software e.g. Final Cut Pro X.

Standard vs Natural Creative Style by Luminous Landscape

Serious about video?

consider the Sony FS100. It has a full raster sensor of 3.43 M pixels (2464 x 1394), which means that no scaling is required, reducing colour artifacting. The relatively large pixels also mean extreemly good low light sensitivity as well. It has a full range of cine oriented controls and features and is simply head and shoulders a better video camera than the NEX-7, or any video DSLR for the matter.

Read the complete NEX-7 Video Capabilities review with video samples at Luminous Landscape.

Thanks LuLa!