Best Handheld Camera for Flight Videos

[Alpha]

Bajora, for those reading along, would "Frame Rate" be a good indicator of the speed at which a camera can autofocus? You mentioned it briefly in your post above.

[Bajora]

Sorry, MAYBE a poor choice of words on my part and/or a shoddy explanation. The A6000 can rip off up to eleven photos in a second, while the A7 only manages up to four per second max. I think that spec is somewhat related to the speed with which each can achieve focus. I cannot find the focus spec on the A7 but the A6000 is listed at 0.06 seconds! AND my real world experience shooting cameras both tells me that the A6000 is indeed quite fast on the focus. Lots of photography folks are a bit underwhelmed with the focus performance of the A7 series. I have tried several times to shoot in-flight stills with it and always roll back to the A6000 for that part of the media.

[Alpha]

Yes, that makes sense from my novice perspective, that if Camera A is rated to take more still photos per second than Camera B, then I would assume that Camera A has a faster Autofocus than Camera B. Since, I would hope that from the manufacturer's point of view, blurry photos don't count (?)

[Alpha]

I found this article and its comparative photos very helpful to visualize what "Rolling Shutter" is. Given that the majority of digital cameras these days at the price ranges we're talking about use CMOS sensors which by their definition will have Rolling Shutter (unlike CCD), it's important to understand this fact of life:

http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/global-rolling-shutter

Here also is a list comparing the rolling shutter of many popular cameras. The lower the number the better. Credit to dvxuser.com and dpreview.com:
"The easy winner was the [Samsung] NX1. It is pretty bad with 4K, but for 1080p, it is better than everything else but film.
RESULTS:
NX1 1080p -------- 7.9 ms (7.7-8.0-8.1-7.8)
GH4 1080p ------- 13.7 ms (13.7-13.5-13.1-14.0-13.9-13.5-13.5-13.9)
RX10 ------------ 14.8 ms (14.5-14.8-15.0)
RX100 IV 1080p -- 15.4 ms (15.2-15.6)
GH3 ------------- 15.5 ms (15.4-15.7-15.4)
BMPCC ----------- 17.8 ms (17.7-17.7-20.0-20.0)
a7s APS-C 1080p - 19.5 ms (20.3-18.4-19.5-19.5)
a7R II 4K FF ---- 19.9 ms (19.3-19.6-19.4-21.2)
5D3 ------------- 20.5 ms (20.7-20.5-20.4)
D5200 ----------- 22.4 ms (22.5-22.1-22.6)
GH4 4K/UHD ------ 22.5 ms (23.2-22.3-22.7-22.7-22.4-21.8-22.4-22.8-22.6)
BMC ------------- 25.0 ms (26.7-24.8-23.5)
5D2 ------------- 25.9 ms (25.5-26.4-25.8)
5Dsr ------------ 27.7 ms (27.5-27.9-27.6)
NEX-5N ---------- 29.4 ms (28.8-29.6-28.9-29.8-29.8-29.1-29.7)
a7s FF 1080p ---- 30.5 ms (30.1-32.0-30.5-30.3-29.2-30.9)
NX1 4K ---------- 30.9 ms (30.6-31.6-31.4-30.7-30.2)
NX1 UHD --------- 32.6 ms (32.9-32.0-32.9-32.5)
a7R II 4K S35 --- 34.0 ms (35.6-32.2-32.8-35.3)
RX100 IV 4K ----- 34.2 ms (34.0-34.4)
OTHER NUMBERS, MOST OF THEM FOUND BY SQUIG SOMEWHERE ON THE WEB:
Film ------------- 5 ms? (here)
Scarlet --------- 14 ms
F65 ------------- 14 ms
AF100 ----------- 14.85 ms
FS100 ----------- 15 ms
FS7 ------------- 15 ms (here)
C300 ------------ 16 ms
Red One MX ------ 16.6 ms
7D -------------- 21 ms
5D MKII --------- 25 ms
GH1 ------------- 25 ms
D90 ------------- 33 ms"




Here is the link to their complete review which describes their method.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread...-on-this-issue!

[Alpha]

Comparing the Sony A6000 and the Samsung NX1 isn't really fair, since the Samsung NX1 costs 3X as much as the Sony 6000, but still for those curious about what that extra $1000 (body only) buys besides less rolling shutter, more focus points, and a touchscreen, here's a detailed comparison:

http://cameradecision.com/compare/Samsung-NX1-vs-Sony-Alpha-a6000

[jagdpanther9]

there is some good info in here and it seems a step in the right direction from cheap camcorders. i always wanted a good camera for recording flight video but never had the money to put into it. i started with a samsung HMX-F80 1280x720 and found out that if we very carefully used the zoom that it could be used to some extent. audio is very good for a cheap camera and the 720p was good for uploading video to my you tube channel as my internet streaming generally sucks.
we got by with this cheap camera and still favor it over my cannon vixia HF R60 which the auto focus is horrible and the audio is very poor without a aux. speaker. the vixia has some cool features and with some thought preset and skill does take usable video. it takes great stills for a cheap camcorder but buying it was an afterthought as it was on sale @ breast buy and i was taken by a moment of vulnerability.(trying to be funny).
most of my videos on my channel are taken with my mobius action cam 1080p mounted on my hat or head gear. for a 70 dollar camera i have managed to get usable video with great audio for a very cheap price. the slight fish eye/gopro look to the stills and video is sort of a bother but still for the price and ease of use i am very pleased with it. here is and example of the mobius camera quality mounted on my head gear. remember that i am just a 1 man show usually and without a camera man this is typical of what i get.
Dynam Corsair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWAJSCilE0s

this video was taken with the sony HMX-F80 zoom quality with a camera man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdC-n-EH0l0

i see the A6000 is around 450 dollars new maybe 350 used does anyone have any examples of flight video with the A6000 camera or with cameras in this price range ?

[Alpha]

Jagdpanther9, today was my first day trying out my recently purchased Sony A6000. It will take me some time to edit videos worth publishing, but in the meantime I can say with confidence that in reviewing the raw footage tonight I am very impressed with the results. The autofocus, image clarity, color, and sound are much more than I expected, in both the video and still photo modes. The kit 55-210mm lens is more than adequate for the casual pilot's videoing needs. I haven't encountered anything else under $500 which can come close, so far. It isn't a $2k+ setup, but it certainly does the job for YouTube and sharing with your friends or on forums such as Hobbysquawk!

[jagdpanther9]

sounds very promising alpha, even if the vid is just for fun/test it will be interesting.

[Bajora]

C'mon Alpha, show us a little something from your first A6000 outing! :)

[xplaneguy]

Alpha was working that new camera like a part-time job yesterday. :D He'll have a bunch of stuff to share soon. ;)

[Alpha]

We cranked through another 20 flights today, even in the 15-25mph winds. AceMigKiller and Corsair Nut came out to fly as well. I filmed Corsair Nut's night flight, very fun.

Note to find someone to edit all this footage? Pass!

[xplaneguy]

One of those rare cases where the wind is stronger at the basin than here in the high desert. I was flying my UMX B-17 this evening in 2-4mph wind. Looking forward to all the footage. :)

[Alpha]

Videos will take a while to edit and render. But most of your flights came out really great, Xplaneguy! Your A-6 flight is going to make a nice video for your blog.

In the meantime, here are a few examples of the stills shot with the Sony A6000 yesterday. Using the factory kit lens, 55-210mm. Most of these shots are at full zoom, to test the limit of the lens. The settings were full Auto. I'm nowhere near an advanced user, not even an intermediate user. I literally just pointed and pressed the button. I think it's a good start.

I'll experiment with different settings in the coming days as I familiarize myself with the camera. Bajora mentioned Aperture Priority and there are a couple other things I'd like to try. The lighting conditions were different in each of these shots, and the subjects were at different speeds. In time I'll push the limits of what this camera can do, but so far as I said earlier I'm highly positive. The video footage is crisp, the colors are bright, and the sound is excellent even without an external mic.

[Alpha]

The camera's performance in low light, a few minutes after sunset, was better than I expected. Full Auto settings, stock lens, fully zoomed in. Keep in mind that it was much darker in real life than the photos suggest. I could mostly just see a dark profile of the plane and the rest was a blur of LED lights! This is Corsair Nut's Freewing twin 80mm F-14, whizzing by on a full throttle low pass.

The original files are 6-8Mb, so I've resized them to meet the 2Mb limit on Hobbysquawk.

[xplaneguy]

The images look amazing...nice job! Love the B-17s....ready for another mission. :)

[Bajora]

Indeed good stuff there Alpha! Nice job for your first time out with the the A6000. It is a really nice camera with a lot of features IMO. I really like that shot of Brent's F14! Very cool. Time lapse is another neat way to grab some unique B roll clips. I bought a Syrp Genie motion controller but have not played with it as much as I would have liked to.

You should also have a look at the apps available for the A6000 through the Sony PlayMemories app. You can actually add extra functionality to the Sony cameras with aftermarket apps, some free, some a few bucks.

[crxmanpat]

The runway at Apollo is looking nice! I need to get over there for the event in April.

[jagdpanther9]

very nice stills Alpha, the low light light shots look great. that is another place where my cheap cameras fail.

[Alpha]

I'm really liking this camera, the Sony A6000. I'm still using the stock kit lens and mostly full Auto settings. It does more than I need it to do.

[Bajora]

VERY nice Alpha! I especally like the FW-190 shot. Crisp!