Sony A6300 for video shooting

[milo-mcsenderson]

I recently picked up the Sony A6300 and am planning on using it to film some summer edits with some pals. I have only ever really shot stills and mostly of travel on my old 35mm SLR, so basic photography knowledge is there but it is not for filming...

I have been reading a few of the previous forum posts and I'm kind of getting my head around it, I'm just wondering what would be a good, go-to setting profile for filming skiing and general summer shit, like i've been reading stuff about doubling shutter speeds and sorting out the white balance both being important for ski filming but I'm feeling a bit lost at sea... any advice would be super helpful.

Got a SmallRig cage for it and going to get a handle for it imminently. Very excited to get it out and shooting

 

[eheath]

Shoot skiing at 1080p 60fps, for summer shoot anything you want slowmo'd 60fps but otherwise shoot 24fps.

doubling your frame rate for your shutter speed is a good guideline, but sometimes you have to go higher in bright situations, if you get an ND filter, you can usually stick to 1/125 at 60fps.

As for profiles, it depends on how much you want to color grade. If you wanna spend more time coloring than anything else, you can shoot a super flat profile, otherwise I would recommend setting up a profile that is "baked in" meaning you only have to do minimal correction. I couldn't tell you anything specific about the a6300, there is plenty of this info all over the internet tho.

Consider buying a tripod, if you can afford it, low end $300 and high end would be $1500.

Have you considered a mic as well? Rode Videomic Pro is really solid, worth the price.

 

[milo-mcsenderson]

Shoot skiing at 1080p 60fps, for summer shoot anything you want slowmo'd 60fps but otherwise shoot 24fps.

doubling your frame rate for your shutter speed is a good guideline, but sometimes you have to go higher in bright situations, if you get an ND filter, you can usually stick to 1/125 at 60fps.

As for profiles, it depends on how much you want to color grade. If you wanna spend more time coloring than anything else, you can shoot a super flat profile, otherwise I would recommend setting up a profile that is "baked in" meaning you only have to do minimal correction. I couldn't tell you anything specific about the a6300, there is plenty of this info all over the internet tho.

Consider buying a tripod, if you can afford it, low end $300 and high end would be $1500.

Have you considered a mic as well? Rode Videomic Pro is really solid, worth the price.

Thanks for the detail reply man!

What sort of ISO do you normally shoot at? I saw you mention in another thread about aiming to not overexpose the footage due to all the white of the snow. Would you recommend any exposure compensation for this or is that more what the ND filter is for?

I'm thinking of just getting a simple handle for the camera as the lens I have has built in stabilisation and they fit my budget. A microphone has definitely been considered and the price of the Rode Videmic Pro is pretty reasonable, I reckon if I shop second hand I could get a deal on it.

I will have a look at the colour grading as well, some research has pulled up some good looking ideas

 

[eheath]

Thanks for the detail reply man!

What sort of ISO do you normally shoot at? I saw you mention in another thread about aiming to not overexpose the footage due to all the white of the snow. Would you recommend any exposure compensation for this or is that more what the ND filter is for?

I'm thinking of just getting a simple handle for the camera as the lens I have has built in stabilisation and they fit my budget. A microphone has definitely been considered and the price of the Rode Videmic Pro is pretty reasonable, I reckon if I shop second hand I could get a deal on it.

I will have a look at the colour grading as well, some research has pulled up some good looking ideas

I shoot lowest ISO possible at all times, which is 200. Im not sure what the a6300 has for exposure meters, but I use zebra and a histogram to dial in my exposure.

 

[P-wurps]

Thanks for the detail reply man!

What sort of ISO do you normally shoot at? I saw you mention in another thread about aiming to not overexpose the footage due to all the white of the snow. Would you recommend any exposure compensation for this or is that more what the ND filter is for?

I'm thinking of just getting a simple handle for the camera as the lens I have has built in stabilisation and they fit my budget. A microphone has definitely been considered and the price of the Rode Videmic Pro is pretty reasonable, I reckon if I shop second hand I could get a deal on it.

I will have a look at the colour grading as well, some research has pulled up some good looking ideas

From a fellow a6300 shooter-

If you're just shooting in daylight (even in overcast) usually you can just leave the ISO at 100. If you're just starting out, I wouldn't worry too much about shutter speeds, shooting at 1/125 for 60fps or 1/60 for 24fps makes for more "professional" motion blur but I don't find that it ruins the footage if you shoot at other shutter speeds (not bad to keep it in mind once you get more experience though). The ND filter He's talking about is for this- keep in mind the exposure triangle (SS, ISO, aperture) if you want to shoot wide open (f/2 or something) and keep a 1/125 shutter speed with a low ISO you're going to get a super bright, blown out shot. An ND filter will darken it so you have a proper exposure. If you do plan on doing this, i'd recommend a variable ND filter. Lighting changes constantly on the hill so its handy to be able to change it quickly.

I've gone back and forth between picture profiles and really it just depends on if you want a certain look. It does help if you plan on shooting for a whole season and want all your footage to look similar when shooting across different lighting situations. Play around with some before you go out. Also helps to do some YouTube research, some of the profiles (pp7, pp8, pp9) are very flat and need to be shot at a bit different exposure.

Anyway, What I've found is handy is shooting in aperture or shutter speed priority video modes. you can set what aperture or ss you want and the camera will auto adjust other settings to compensate. I like to shoot wide open so I use aperture priority and let the camera decide the ss, continuously. This works unless you want to keep all your footage at exactly the same settings.

As for white balance, I usually bounce back and forth between like 4000K and 6000K depending on the day, but usually leave it at like 5000K for outdoor stuff.

Another tip- get a dead cat for whatever mic you pick up, they help block wind and will greatly help audio quality. Also doesn't hurt to grab a clear UV filter for whatever lens you plan on shooting with most, it will keep snow from getting on the front lens element so you don't ruin the coating on it.

This is getting long, but honestly just get out and shoot and play around with all the settings to find what you like. Don't worry about doing all of this stuff in one shoot, do one or two things different each time you shoot so you don't overwhelm yourself. Hope some of this helps.

 

[schoeski]

A6300 actually shoots 100fps in 1080.

I generally keep it on that so I have the flexibility to go as slow as I want, but always make sure you edit it in a 24fps timeline so it looks natural.

 

[milo-mcsenderson]

From a fellow a6300 shooter-

If you're just shooting in daylight (even in overcast) usually you can just leave the ISO at 100. If you're just starting out, I wouldn't worry too much about shutter speeds, shooting at 1/125 for 60fps or 1/60 for 24fps makes for more "professional" motion blur but I don't find that it ruins the footage if you shoot at other shutter speeds (not bad to keep it in mind once you get more experience though). The ND filter He's talking about is for this- keep in mind the exposure triangle (SS, ISO, aperture) if you want to shoot wide open (f/2 or something) and keep a 1/125 shutter speed with a low ISO you're going to get a super bright, blown out shot. An ND filter will darken it so you have a proper exposure. If you do plan on doing this, i'd recommend a variable ND filter. Lighting changes constantly on the hill so its handy to be able to change it quickly.

I've gone back and forth between picture profiles and really it just depends on if you want a certain look. It does help if you plan on shooting for a whole season and want all your footage to look similar when shooting across different lighting situations. Play around with some before you go out. Also helps to do some YouTube research, some of the profiles (pp7, pp8, pp9) are very flat and need to be shot at a bit different exposure.

Anyway, What I've found is handy is shooting in aperture or shutter speed priority video modes. you can set what aperture or ss you want and the camera will auto adjust other settings to compensate. I like to shoot wide open so I use aperture priority and let the camera decide the ss, continuously. This works unless you want to keep all your footage at exactly the same settings.

As for white balance, I usually bounce back and forth between like 4000K and 6000K depending on the day, but usually leave it at like 5000K for outdoor stuff.

Another tip- get a dead cat for whatever mic you pick up, they help block wind and will greatly help audio quality. Also doesn't hurt to grab a clear UV filter for whatever lens you plan on shooting with most, it will keep snow from getting on the front lens element so you don't ruin the coating on it.

This is getting long, but honestly just get out and shoot and play around with all the settings to find what you like. Don't worry about doing all of this stuff in one shoot, do one or two things different each time you shoot so you don't overwhelm yourself. Hope some of this helps.

Wow dude, this is an amazing answer and you've pretty much given me every bit of info I could possibly need.

Found a really cool, but possibly too cinematic colour profile online which I'm yet to try out. Just need to shoot, had a week just gone but didn't have ideal conditions to shoot and didn't manage to get any shots. Gonna try and snap some of my mates that skate today and get more done in a week or so. Cheers for the advice!