AE Setting

HDR-AX2000 / HXR-NX5 (2010).
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GK2047-10B
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AE Setting

Post by GK2047-10B »

Facing quick changing lights with cloudy whether conditions, now I want to set the AE-4 to quickly adjust aperture when sun come in. Who can help me on basis of his/her experience in telling what is best practice?
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Doughie
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Re: AE Setting

Post by Doughie »

GK2047-10B wrote:Facing quick changing lights with cloudy whether conditions, now I want to set the AE-4 to quickly adjust aperture when sun come in. Who can help me on basis of his/her experience in telling what is best practice?
Well if you are using "AE shift" function at all, that indicates you are using Auto Exposure (AE Shift tells the camera to add or subtract Exposure values from whatever value it's light meter reads), then i wouldnt think you need to change your desired "AE shift" just because the light levels change, as the metered value will change automatically. All AE Shift does is tell the camera to modify it's metered exposure. You *would* need to adjust exposure if the ambient light changed, if you were on Manual exposure, but reading your post, I don't think you will be using manual exposure.

Generally speaking, with digital camera (still or video) the general rule is not to 'blow the highlights'. Digital is susceptible to not coping very well with highlights and once its 100% white, it will forever be 100% white, it cannot be dragged back. So the summary is in general its better to mildly underexpose than overexpose, and that's why its quite common for people to dial in an AE shift valued of -1, especially outdoors on sunny high-contrast shooting to prevent the highlights turning 100% white.

I hope that helps a bit.
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GK2047-10B
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Re: AE Setting

Post by GK2047-10B »

Great, that is the solution to my doubt now I do understand the function of AE Shift miuch better. I needed this little explanaition which is of great help, thanks
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GK2047-10B
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Re: AE Setting

Post by GK2047-10B »

Since I have just started to film with the AX2000E I am facing a great mixture of settings. Therefor I have made myself a "start-point reference" . When I start filming my AX2000E always shows the following settings and from here I make adjustments according to the situation on location:
operation=manual FX1080/50i; shutter speed 1/50 (EU); w.balance preset outdoor (corrections subject to in/out location and ambient light/colors); gain range M=0, L=-3 and H=+9; exposure is manual after iris check en ND setting; zebra = on; focus is manual after auto push and expansion control check; peaking and stabilizer if needed. To avoid waste of time I look forward to hearing some best practice advice on whether i am doing ok or not.
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Stephan
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Re: AE Setting

Post by Stephan »

This seems quite fine to me.

I have an FX7, really similar in settings. You can choose in the menu what is the function assigned to the front dial (wheel). Stay in auto exposure, assign the wheel to EXPOSURE (not IRIS). This way, you can switch to manual exposure with one single push on the button, instead of having to go through iris, shutter speed, and gain. It's faster.

I always activate stabilization. Stabilization can cause trouble if you do pans, but I avoid pans - or only very slow.
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GK2047-10B
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Re: AE Setting

Post by GK2047-10B »

Great Stephan,
Solution comes through your comments although I have separate Iris ring in combination with exposure and focus. The Iris button on the left does the trick when I am in manual support. The same time I found the best pratcie manual of the FX7 which leads me to the fields I have been looking for. Let's go and practice, thanks
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