Though I'd share a pic of my setup in use in the field. This is how I have the A6300 rigged up for my second angle camera. The second pic is showing my main cam and how I'm using an old cell phone as a monitor for the A6300. It worked really well. The camera stayed on the whole time, which requires using the external battery that you see mounted to the cage. The cell phone stays on the whole time as well. Both lasted for a full evening hunt with a little extra juice to spare. Just have to hit the record button on the cell phone so that will help with lessening my movement. I was fully setup in about 10 minutes on my first time out, so I'm pretty happy with my system at this point.
So I wanted to share this as kind of an update on running the A6500 as my hunting camera this fall. It has taken some getting used to, but overall I love this camera. I haven't put a kill down on camera yet, but it has been a fun fall of figuring out what settings to run in different conditions. This camera is a beast wrapped in a tiny package. So this video, quality wise is not the best ... BUT ... it answers the low light question that all hunters who are into video always ask first. I always video in 4K at 30 fps and 1/30 first thing in the morning and last at night. The rest of the time I generally film in 1080 at 60 sps and 1/125 mainly so that I can slow something down in post. Anyway, all year I have been continually impressed with how the camera can see what I cannot see in the first or last 10 critical minutes each day ... and sometimes what it can even see before or after legal time. During these low light situations I run a Sony 50 mm f/1.8 lens. That aperture really lets the light in and I am continually amazed at how well even AF works in such low light. So this particular morning, I heard a deer in a thicket a few minutes into legal time. It was very overcast and had been raining most of the night. It was literally as dark as a sack full of black cats that morning. I grunted a couple of times to get the deer's attention, not knowing anything more than that I thought it was a deer. Here it came ... by sound only as I could not see it. As it got closer, I could just make out a dark blob to the eye, so I knew it was a deer. It turned out to be a tall 9 that is one that I want to shoot, but to my eye I had no clue. He stopped at what I later ranged to be 25 yards, looking for the buck that he thought he heard. I had the camera locked on him, with center AF on. I looked at the buck on the camera LCD and could see his antlers and thought I knew what buck it was. Yet when I looked him over with my eyes, again it was simply a dark blob. There was no chance at an ethical shot even if I had wanted to take one. I couldn't wait to look a the footage on my computer because I knew that there was no way that any of my past video cameras would have captured this footage. This little camera continues to amaze me. In this footage, there is no editing. I simply took the 4K footage and dumped it into a 1080 timeline. The ClearImage Zoom was even used to zoom using a prime lens and the quality is amazing given how dark it was. Sadly, he walked on and never showed back up that morning. But he did come back the next afternoon where I filmed him on and off for 90 minutes while he tended to and ultimately bred a doe. The closest he got that afternoon was 65 yards, so no bow shot that day either.
I assume you are running in Auto ISO. Do you have a max ISO set? I am using my A6300 as a second angle and my PXW-X70 as my main camera. There's no doubt that the A6300 is far superior in low light conditions. I can turn the X70 down to 6fps and see something around legal shooting light or just before, but we know that would be useless footage. I just use the F3.5 of the 16-55mm kit lens with better results than my X70. I know it would be even better with a faster lens.
Yea, I should have said, that when I am videoing a hunt that I am running it in shutter priority mode. I am letting the camera adjust my f-stop and ISO. I want to control my shutter speed, which I never run below my frame rate even in low light as then the motion blur gets bad. Double the frame rate in good light. As to my ISO range ... I let it run from 200 minimum to 25600 maximum, which is probably where that video clip was running. I would have to go back to the original footage to confirm that value. 25600 is way high, but in that low of light I have no interest in noise free footage. 10 minutes later and there is little if any noise to deal with. That being said, if I was the cameraman for another experienced hunter, then I am running it in 100% manual mode. Even to the point that I have ND filters that I can add so that I can open the lens up even in bright light. But all of that is difficult in a self filmed situation.
I thought I would share a few updates. I never ended up killing a deer on video last fall. I killed a nice buck, but I broke out the gun and left the camera at home. Life got in the way the past few months and I really haven't worked on any video projects. But I have managed to get out and do some goose hunting here in Indiana. A week or so ago, I took the Sony A6500 along on a dark morning and shot a few Canadas. I broke it out again this past Saturday as well. I wanted to test the camera out on some birds in flight. The AF is sick when it comes to locking onto birds as they are coming in. I found ISO 400 with 1/800 shutter speeds to be pretty solid. I basically found that for birds in flight, running in shutter priority and fixing the ISO was the best approach. Then I watched my exposure relative to the shutter speed and made adjustments as I shot. It worked pretty well. I shot some photos with a 50mm f1.8 and others with the 18-105 f4.0. I need a few more trips out to keep playing with settings, but overall I am impressed. Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple shoots with this camera.
I'm considering a major upgrade to my setup and have some questions, yall seem like the right crowd to ask. Right now I'm using a simple Canon Vixia RF600. It's been good to me but I want to make a jump to the next level. I'm new to this so bear with me through some of the potential bad terminology lol. I am looking at the Sony a6300 to use for video as well as stills. I self film 99% of the time and would like to set it up with a remote control. Best Buy has some packages that look like a good deal but I don't want to get something that will prove to be useless down the road. This one comes with camera, 16-50mm & 55-210mm lenses. I am assuming these lenses wouldn't be functional with the remote control when it comes to zooming and all, is that right? What would you recommend if you were a beginner to these camera and want to use it for hunting videos as well as taking pictures? This is the package in question: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-a...55-210mm-lenses-black/6115901.p?skuId=6115901
The A6300 is an outstanding camera body. Skywalker here has one. It is very much the same camera as my A6500 without the in body stabilization and touch screen focus lock being the two primary features that the A6300 lacks. There are other minor differences as well. But it is a GREAT crop sensor mirrorless camera. Regarding the ability to use the Sony remote, I get away with using the remote to zoom in and out on my zoom lens because I have the 18-105 Power Zoom lens. This lets me zoom through the entire range of the lens. If I was using a non-PZ zoom lens, then it would not drive the zoom for the lens, as this is manual. HOWEVER, you can turn on the Clear Image Zoom feature in camera that gives you a 2X zoom factor and the remote will zoom up to 2X. But this still won't drive the full zoom on a lens. It only hits up to 2X whatever the current zoom setting is. So for example, on my 50mm prime lens it will drive it to 100mm. On say that 55-210mm zoom lens in that kit, it will take the 210mm to 420m, but it will not drive the full zoom range of the lens. It will only double wherever you are at manually in the lens. So if you have that 55-210mm lens sitting at say 100mm manually, then Clear Image Zoom will take it to 200mm tops. I hope that makes sense. The real power in the remote is seen when you add a PZ lens to your setup. Now the 16-50 in that kit is a PZ lens, so yea the remote will drive it through the full zoom range and more with CIZ turned on. With CIZ turned on and my 18-105 PZ lens, I can run from 18mm clear through 210mm and back again without touching the camera lens. This is HUGE for me. The Best Buy site lists the 55-210 as a PZ lens, but it is not. Sony does not make a PZ lens in that specific zoom range. As to that Best Buy deal, it is fine. It gets you a couple of kit lenses. I will say that those kit lenses will perform decent for you in good lighting. The problem is that they are slow lenses. What do I mean by slow? In camera lenses a fast lens has a wide aperture, meaning the f-stop value can go lower and generally the price goes higher ... I know ... clear as mud backwards logic ... LOL. But that is camera lingo ... LOL. Anyway, you need a lens that can hit a low f-stop value (or a wide aperture i.e. "fast") to get good images in low light. We as hunters are often in low light conditions; first and last 15 minutes, cloudy skies, back in dense timber, etc. So we need wide apertures. Think of aperture working like your eye or a cat's eye as a better example. Cats see in the dark because their pupil gets huge and lets in more light. A wide aperture lens basically allows the lens to have a huge pupil. Further, those two zoom lenses have variable apertures, meaning the further you zoom in the more limited you are on your light options. The 16-50 will be decent in low light at 16 (f3.5) and suck at 50 (f5.6). The 55-210 will be marginal in low light at 55 (f4.5) and suck at 210 (f6.3). In good day light, they will be fine. But there is even a catch in good light. What makes a lot of images beautiful to look at is subject separation from the background. To do this you need a wide aperture (low f-stop). This gives you the sharpness in your subject and the bokeh (blurry background). You will get some decent bokeh with the 16 at f3.5, a bit in the 55 f4.5, but not much beyond those positions. That doesn't mean that these are bad lenses, but you just have to understand what you are working with. Too many times people buy cameras and kit lenses and then are upset when they cannot match the images that they see others producing. All of these factors play into that. If it were me, I'd heavily consider the A6300 body and picking up a fast prime lens or for video invest in that 18-105 f4.0 PZ lens like I have. The only way that lens could be more perfect is if they made it to go to f2.8. But if they did that it would cost two to three times as much. No matter what you do though, that A6300 is a heck of a camera body.
That is what I assumed and why I wanted to ask. I didn't want to get a package deal and then have two lenses that I wouldn't really use much. I understand the smaller number f stop for more light thing, it seems backwards but makes sense lol.
The 16-50 Pz lens is a decent enough lens for landscape photography or interview videos, but you will want something with more reach for hunting. The 18-105 is a great lens and works well for deer within bow range. The ability to use the sony remote with those lenses is awesome. They also make an 18-200 PZ lens that gives you more zoom range, but at a cost. It's almost twice as expensive as the 18-105 and it's isn't a fixed f-stop like the 18-105. That means the further you zoom in with the lens, the less light it gathers and your image darkens which means you have to compensate with changes to the ISO or shutter speed. The A6300 is a great camera that provides amazing features for the price point. 4K video and 120 fps recording in 1080 is pretty amazing for a camera in that price range. Slow motion is pretty popular today and you can make 5X slow motion shots in camera using the HFR option. You can also purchase apps that install on the camera that lets you create timelapses in camera as well. The camera can also be controlled remotely by a cell phone which is how I use for my second angle camera. The Autofocus is pretty awesome as well. All that packed into a camera you can slide into your pocket! I would suggest getting a package with the A6300 and the 16-50 PZ which is going for $900 then adding the 18-105 which runs about $550. Save the $180 on that package because the 18-105 is a MUCH better lense than the 55-210.
Can you walk me through the settings that you're using for the a6500? Primarily the drive speed and responsiveness for the AF, as well as any other settings... thanks!! Great review. I agree that the A6500 is a dream for whitetail filming. Great depth of field and cinematic look on the video, as well as excellent low light capabilities and AF.
I have two modes that I generally run the A6500 in when filming. Either 4K at 30 fps or 1080 at 60 fps. I haven't played much with 1080 at 120 fps to be honest. Regardless, everything is generally the same in my settings with the exception of shutter speed. I love the look of 4K at 30 fps and if I had one thing I would change about the camera it would be 4K at 60 fps for slow mo reasons. But that appears to be coming in the soon to be released newest Sony crop sensor. Anyway ... I always edit in a 30 fps timeline because I like the look of 30 fps. I hate watching youtube videos at 60 fps ... it looks too true to life if that makes any sense. 30 fps feels more fluid to the eye, but not quite as artsy as 24 fps. So at 4K 30 fps the work flow in a 30 fps timeline is easy. 1080 at 60 fps is easy too in a 30 fps timeline because the software just drops every other frame. But that 60 fps can be slowed down 50% and be butter smooth slow mo or slowed to 25% and still give acceptable slow mo. If you ran the camera in 1080 at 120 fps then in a 30 fps timeline you could go super slow and grab some pretty solid still frames too. But again, I haven't worked with it mainly because as light drops then quality of footage actually drops off. Anyway, all of this is important to me in how I set the camera up. I generally self film, so I don't go full Manual controls because it is just too tough to constantly keep tabs on everything while self filming. When doing so, I generally run in Shutter Priority mode and Auto ISO. I can lock my shutter and then kind of let the camera take over making adjustments for the lighting. If running 4K at 30 fps I run my shutter speed at 1/60. If running 1080 @ 60 fps I run the shutter at 1/125. This follows the general rule of shutter speed being twice your frame rate. Now when light drops (first and last 15-20 minutes), I slow the shutter speed down to match the frame rate. This gives good smooth footage and allows more light per frame, but does increase motion blur. I never go lower than the frame rate though because then things look terrible. So I follow these rules to the letter every time I run video. As to other settings ... when I self film, I run AutoFocus. I learned too quickly that while the power of the AF is incredible for photos, it actually can be a detriment in a tree stand filming deer. It grabs any leaf, branch, or any item with a good contrast which is not good when you want to lock onto a deer. So what I found was I set the focus just to the center point. I try to keep the deer in the center of the frame and if he isn't since I am in a tree, the ground near the deer will generally be in focus, making the deer also in focus since they in theory are the same distance from the camera. Now this doesn't work as well filming a deer from the ground because the ground that the deer is walking on is now below the focal point. But in a tree it works well. When filming on the ground I use more of the center zone setting. For responsiveness, I have learned that slower is better. If not again the power of the Sony AF will constantly adjust which can lead to crazy results on an image that is dynamically changing. A slow response softens things out and gives you a nice feel. I shoot in a very flat color profile, I use Cine4 as my starting point, but I have tweaked the Gama and other settings based on the look that I like. This lets me do a lot in post to get the colors that I want. I use variations of LUTs in Premiere Pro depending on the look that I am going for. Not sure what else you want to know. If you have specific questions, please ask. The following are hunts shot on my A6500 using either my 18-105 f/4.0 lens or my 50 f/1.8 lens (or combinations there of). You can get a feel for what the settings do. This was shot in 1080 @ 60 fps in a 1080 30fps timeline. This was shot in 4K @ 30 fps in a 1080 30fps timeline. Another in 1080 @ 60 fps in a 1080 30fps timeline. Also has GoPro footage mixed in that was shot also at 1080 @ 60 fps.
DEC would you say the 50mm lens was a good choice for low light and bow hunting range? Or if you were to do it over again would you consider a different lens? Thanks!
The 50 f/1.8 is my go to lens when the light drops. It is excellent as a bow hunting lens. The only thing that is tough with it is any self interview stuff in the stand because it has too much reach. I actually bought a Sigma 19mm f/2.8 lens in early November that works awesome as a self interview lens. It is a pretty nice wide angle lens for low light. The two lenses are a perfect prime lens combination for this camera for bow hunting.
Awesome! I appreciate the input. I just picked up a A6300 and the 18-105. I’ll take a look at the sigma 19 as well. Can’t wait to do some filming this year!
I’ve noticed sigma has a lot of nice lenses. My only concern is having the 6300 doesn’t have any image stabilation like the 6500. So I think I’m going to try and stick to the Sony line up with the Optical stabilization in the lens.
