Sony NEX-EA50 hands-on footage and review

by Sebastian WöberOctober 18^th, 2012

The Sony EA50 was announced two months ago (LINK) and impressed us with its very interesting and ergonomic looking design, the zoom rocker functionality and a good price-point.

What we didn’t know was how it performed before we got a chance to see it and play with it (LINK)

Now Johnnie Behiri got a chance to test the Sony NEX-EA50 large sensor camera and shared these nice clips and some insightful thoughts with us.

In Johnnie Behiri’s own words:

I had the camera (pre-production model) for a day and wanted to come up with a small story as test footage. Though not earthshaking, I hope it can help anyone who might be interested in the camera to try it for him/herself when it’s available in the market.

Sony acknowledged the need for a modestly priced shoulder mount large sensor camera for the news/documentary/corporate/weeding film makers and wisely introduced the NEX-EA50.

The camera is very lightweight yet feels comfortable on the shoulder.
Lightweight means you can easily mount it on your existing HDSLR accessories like a slider or tripod.

Needless to say that by having a shoulder mount video camera the need for a rig and external audio device is eliminated.

The most striking weakness of this camera is the absent of a built-in ND filter.
I would love to go out with one of the camera engineers and film outdoor in normal lighting conditions and see his response to the footage while shooting without ND filter.

Picture quality is good for the price. Be aware that rolling shutter is severe, so plan your shots accordingly when possible.

Configuration for this video:
1080/25p “Cine 1” picture profile. Footage is NOT color corrected.

(The new power zoom lens was not available for test).

Strengths:
– APS-C sensor
– ENG type camera body with buttons positioned where you expect them to be
– Cost
– Sony E mount lens system (a very flexible one with the some adapters)
– 1080/50, 60p
– 2 channels XLR audio connectors
– Clean HDMI output
– 2 “Cine” picture profiles
– Aliasing and moiré are there but reduced from what we are normally seeing with most HDSLR’s
– LCD/viewfinder quality
– PAL-NTSC switchable

Weaknesses:
– No ND filter
– Severe rolling shutter