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theQ

A6400 for photo/video or what else

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(edited)
1 hour ago, Morg said:

I just mounted this done a few jumps. Photos are great but im having some issues with the autofocus settings. I would love some one else to weigh in on this :)

try to set the camera to do the as little “thinking” as possible that way it’s only job is to focus on what you point it at. are you shooting in manual mode? I usually start around 800/thshutter, 3.2ish aperture and iso at 100. I’ll would take a few photos on the way up to check and adjust my settings.  where is your focus zone? I usually set a small focus zone in the center to keep the camera from hunting for a subject through the entire photo. what lens are you using? kit lens was too slow for my liking. prime lenses seemed to focus faster for me I tried a few but ended up with using a sony 20mm pancake lens with an ultra wide converter on it. 

 

Edit: i have a 6000 but its not far off from the 6400 and can probably use similar settings 

Edited by husslr187
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40 minutes ago, husslr187 said:

try to set the camera to do the as little “thinking” as possible that way it’s only job is to focus on what you point it at. are you shooting in manual mode? I usually start around 800/thshutter, 3.2ish aperture and iso at 100. I’ll would take a few photos on the way up to check and adjust my settings.  where is your focus zone? I usually set a small focus zone in the center to keep the camera from hunting for a subject through the entire photo. what lens are you using? kit lens was too slow for my liking. prime lenses seemed to focus faster for me I tried a few but ended up with using a sony 20mm pancake lens with an ultra wide converter on it. 

 

Edit: i have a 6000 but its not far off from the 6400 and can probably use similar settings 

Thanks mate yeah. I think whatever settings work for you should work for me! A600 and a6400 aint to different. Maybe if you have time to read the following and let me know exactly what AF settings you use :)?

 

I am using the 10-18mm sony f4 wich cost a pretty penny so im hoping I can make it work. On the ground the focus is lightning fast, I dont think the speed is the issue.  I think it is just having an issue choosing the point. 

I shoot shutter priority with 1/800 and end up with similar settings to what you mention. I like shutter priority because I like the exposure to change from being in the door to when we are in freefall, shooting tandem that is.

 

I have tried all the focus zones and haven't had much luck with any. I was hoping with the sony ( I switched from Olympus ) It would be smart enough that I didn't have to use a centre focus point, because I want to frame some of my shots so the subject is not always in the centre. Tandems it generally works with things in the centre but for other stuff, especially canopy flying its nice to frame the subject to one side. 

 

At the moment im using. The following settings.

 

Focus zone - Wide

AF-C

Prefocus - on 

Release priority - Balanced

AF with shutter - 0n

 

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47 minutes ago, Morg said:

Thanks mate yeah. I think whatever settings work for you should work for me! A600 and a6400 aint to different. Maybe if you have time to read the following and let me know exactly what AF settings you use :)?

 

I am using the 10-18mm sony f4 wich cost a pretty penny so im hoping I can make it work. On the ground the focus is lightning fast, I dont think the speed is the issue.  I think it is just having an issue choosing the point. 

I shoot shutter priority with 1/800 and end up with similar settings to what you mention. I like shutter priority because I like the exposure to change from being in the door to when we are in freefall, shooting tandem that is.

 

I have tried all the focus zones and haven't had much luck with any. I was hoping with the sony ( I switched from Olympus ) It would be smart enough that I didn't have to use a centre focus point, because I want to frame some of my shots so the subject is not always in the centre. Tandems it generally works with things in the centre but for other stuff, especially canopy flying its nice to frame the subject to one side. 

 

At the moment im using. The following settings.

 

Focus zone - Wide

AF-C

Prefocus - on 

Release priority - Balanced

AF with shutter - 0n

 

I had a few thoughts in no particular order I posted below. I would suggest trying these on a non paid jump if possible

 

with the shutter speed at 800 likely the only thing changing much is the iso with an F4 lens. what you could try is setting it to manual 1000s, f4 ap, and iso auto. i suggested the shutter to be a little faster that way the camera can adjust the iso up if the photo is too dark. aperture at f4 is as open as it gets and you could tweak that a little if you want. the difference from being setup outside the door and freefall isn’t much. if you do shooting of the tandem inside the plane you could keep your shutter priority settings the same then switch to manual before exit. if you do this I strongly suggest you keep the shutter at 800 or higher in case you forget to switch.

is your shutter switch on single or continuous? if continuous is the drive speed high, med, or low? if high or medium maybe bump the speed down to give the camera a little more time to work.

as far as focus zone if you can spare having the camera focus in a smaller area it would help but I understand the need to have it wide.  about the only thing i can think of is setting up a flexible point and widening the zone in the area you’re most likely to shoot but I can’t remember at the moment if flexible point is a setting on my A7iii only or if my 6000 could do the same

 

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15 hours ago, husslr187 said:

I had a few thoughts in no particular order I posted below. I would suggest trying these on a non paid jump if possible

 

with the shutter speed at 800 likely the only thing changing much is the iso with an F4 lens. what you could try is setting it to manual 1000s, f4 ap, and iso auto. i suggested the shutter to be a little faster that way the camera can adjust the iso up if the photo is too dark. aperture at f4 is as open as it gets and you could tweak that a little if you want. the difference from being setup outside the door and freefall isn’t much. if you do shooting of the tandem inside the plane you could keep your shutter priority settings the same then switch to manual before exit. if you do this I strongly suggest you keep the shutter at 800 or higher in case you forget to switch.

is your shutter switch on single or continuous? if continuous is the drive speed high, med, or low? if high or medium maybe bump the speed down to give the camera a little more time to work.

as far as focus zone if you can spare having the camera focus in a smaller area it would help but I understand the need to have it wide.  about the only thing i can think of is setting up a flexible point and widening the zone in the area you’re most likely to shoot but I can’t remember at the moment if flexible point is a setting on my A7iii only or if my 6000 could do the same

 

Thanks mate

I have been running it beside a gopro on stills to be able to test some settings. Had some better results with your suggestions, switching it to Low burst speed, still getting a couple out of focus on the exit though

Do you use release prioty AF? As in will your shutter release even when shots are out of focus? 

 

Cheers

Morgan 

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5 hours ago, Morg said:

Thanks mate

I have been running it beside a gopro on stills to be able to test some settings. Had some better results with your suggestions, switching it to Low burst speed, still getting a couple out of focus on the exit though

Do you use release prioty AF? As in will your shutter release even when shots are out of focus? 

 

Cheers

Morgan 

yes my shutter will release, even out of focus. sometimes I get one shot out of focus on exit but I have a faster lens and a smaller focus zone. might just have to be that you have to keep playing with your settings until you get something that works for you, the camera, and that lens. one thing that would be really helpful if you’re not familiar with cameras besides a gopro is use it on the ground after hours. play with it take pics of plants, people drinking, sunsets, naked women, sports activities, ect. learning how it acts on the ground might change how you act in the sky

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50 minutes ago, husslr187 said:

yes my shutter will release, even out of focus. sometimes I get one shot out of focus on exit but I have a faster lens and a smaller focus zone. might just have to be that you have to keep playing with your settings until you get something that works for you, the camera, and that lens. one thing that would be really helpful if you’re not familiar with cameras besides a gopro is use it on the ground after hours. play with it take pics of plants, people drinking, sunsets, naked women, sports activities, ect. learning how it acts on the ground might change how you act in the sky

Thanks Mate. 

Yeah that is the frustrating part the camera functions amazingly on the ground but struggles in the sky. By faster lens are you referring to the fact your lens has a wider aperture, does that effect focus speed? I would have thought shooting at a wider aperture would have made focus more critical due to the incredibly depth of field. 

 

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(edited)

wider aperture or lower fstop allows light in faster and the focus plane would be narrower but much easier for the camera to snap to it. for example I have a F1.4 50mm Sigma prime lens on my a7iii for shooting bands in dark bars. if there’s enough light for the auto focus to work it snaps to it rather quickly where my kit lens that starts around F3.6 struggles to find a subject if at all. the lens I use for jumping is is a sony 20mm F2.8 prime lens for the same reason. I don’t go all the way down to 2.8 but I jump between 3.2-4.2 depending on clouds, time of day, season, type of jump ect. it’s not really a set and forget type thing when in manual mode which is why i take test shots on the way up. if i have a chance to sit next to the door while its open i will. either way I wanted the range to go up or down as well

edit: generally prime lenses have less moving parts than zoom lenses and usually a lower fstop which is faster overall for the camera. also when speed counts getting a lens the same brand as the camera also helps it as sony camera work more efficiently with sony lenses

Edited by husslr187

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there’s is as much that can be learned about your camera as there is about skydiving and probably a lot more. you can dive into it as deep as your willing to get better pictures. years ago when I started shootings bands performances I started in auto and quickly found out the camera doesn’t always pick the best settings leaving me with extra grainy pictures. getting a basic idea of how the shutter speed, aperture, and iso effects each other will help you get a better understanding of why things work the way the way they do. I did plenty of youtube and reading for a long time but a page on youtube that helped me understand more was this one  https://youtube.com/c/TonyNorthrup

although they are kinda dry which I believe it just ends up being like that to prevent any kind of PR bs, they do have a lot of great content to learn from 

i also learned a bit about my camera in general from this page https://youtube.com/c/AlphaCreativeSkill you can get camera specific explanations about different settings depending on what video you click on. both pages are well worth looking at but i would suggest checking out the beginners guide page on the first link first.

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Im gonna get back into photography since a 'retired' my sony CX and cannon rebel xt setup many years ago.

Has anyone jumped the sony A6000 with Sigma 16mm lens? The lens is much bigger/heavier than the Sony pancake lens - but at 26oz not too much different than similar DSLR camera's like the SL1. Just wondering if the quality difference with the Sigma 16mm lens would be worth the weight/size difference. Also plan to fly with a GoPro for video. Was thinking the Tonfly 2.5x helmet might be a good choice - as long as I can use the pro mount link for quick detachment to fetch the card which is on the bottom of the A6000.

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