A33/A55 Manual video controls and Exposure Inheritance: Feature Request for Sony.

[troublecluster]

I've owned the A33 for a few weeks now and the video implementation is frustrating.

Both the Auto or A manual focus modes are frustrating because you have to start shooting before you can see what the exposure will resolve to. This is a really unfortunate oversight for a camera which has a sensor always capable of seeing what is coming through the lens. I understand that Sony wishes to conserve product features for more expensive products on the horizon but the following 2 features should have been present from the start:

1) Exposure locking (via AEL toggle) and inheritance prior to starting Movie recording in Auto mode.

* Not having this exposure inheritance is inexcusable. In the simplest fashion the exposure locked from Auto (via AEL toggle) should be inherited in Movie mode.

2) Full manual settings and inheritance prior to Movie recording while in M mode (with manual focus).

* Let the user set it up as they see fit Shutter/ISO/Aperture and shoot with those settings. Like M in still shooting if it looks wrong it is our fault. For a feature like this Auto Focus up to F4.5 (which ever f-number is the cut off for PD AF) or otherwise force Manual Focussing.

What does everyone think?

Cheers,

barry

[GreggLonewolf]

Hi Barry

I have just bought an NEX-5 and upgraded to the latest firmware (version 3) which promised :

Maintaining the aperture setting in the movie recording mode
HD video can now be shot while maintaining a constant aperture setting.

I thought this was going to solve the issue that you mentioned here and it was one of the reasons I bought the NEX series camera but alas :

I've tried shooting video but as I pan around light and dark areas of the room, the exposure appears to adjust automatically.

I am shooting in Manual mode (setting my ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture before shooting) and as I pan around the room everything seems to remain the same (as shown in the display at the bottom of the screen and in the image which remains constant).

However, as soon as I press the Movie button the camera automatically adjusts the exposure as I pan around bright and dark areas.

Unfortunately, as the display disappears during video recording there is no way to tell what is being adjusted (aperture, shutter speed or something else).

I have contacted Sony support and they say this feature only works in Aperture Priority mode !

I have patiently explained that whilst you can manually control the aperture in Aperture Priority mode (hence the name) you have no control over other factors (such as shutter speed) which the camera then adjusts automatically to give the best exposure (in the camera's opinion).

I assumed that in making a song and dance about being able to 'maintain the aperture setting in movie recording mode' Sony had addressed the issues raised by you, but alas they seem merely to have provided the functions you would already expect whilst shooting in Aperture Priority mode.

Go figure !

Maybe the next firmware update will say something along the lines of :

You can now maintain the Shutter Speed setting in Movie recording mode (but only whilst shooting in Shutter Priority Mode).

Perhaps we should ask them to clarify the distinction between Exposure, Aperture and Shutter Speed, so that we won't have unrealistic expectations from future firmware updates.

What are the chances ?