I have sent this today to Sony customer service in UK. I am surprised that all the raving reviews of the 'experts' have not noted those issues.
Hi there
I just bought this camera to replace my Sanyo Xacti. I am surprised that some basic features are lacking or are excluded from Movie mode:
1. Autofocus lock. This is an important movie feature when shooting on a tripod. As is the camera tries to focus on whatever is passing by. The only alternative is manual focus. This is really poor.
[-]2. Exposure Lock. There is no exposure lock in movie mode in P,A or S more the camera changes shutter speed and aperture whilst shooting. This is terrible for movies. You can lock an exposure in movie mode using M but that is a lot of work[/-]
3. Custom White balance set not present in Movie mode. So I need to put the camera in camera more to set the custom white balance and then change to video to recall it. This is awful ergonomics
4. Only tracking focus available in video mode. Why????
I used my Xacti for underwater videos and I am now concerned using this Sony. The continuous auto focus makes it sometimes unusable underwater. The lack of easy white balance makes it difficult to use. And without exposure lock the camera changes brightness of the footage.
Those are basic features that any camera worth £100 has. Why on earth this camera that costs nearly £500 does not have those????
---------- Post Merged on October 27th, 2012 at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous Post was on October 26th, 2012 at 11:06 AM ----------
Update I found the exposure lock buried in the function button set ups...!
We are left with AF Lock and Focus mode + White balance to work around
Hi there
I just bought this camera to replace my Sanyo Xacti. I am surprised that some basic features are lacking or are excluded from Movie mode:
1. Autofocus lock. This is an important movie feature when shooting on a tripod. As is the camera tries to focus on whatever is passing by. The only alternative is manual focus. This is really poor.
[-]2. Exposure Lock. There is no exposure lock in movie mode in P,A or S more the camera changes shutter speed and aperture whilst shooting. This is terrible for movies. You can lock an exposure in movie mode using M but that is a lot of work[/-]
3. Custom White balance set not present in Movie mode. So I need to put the camera in camera more to set the custom white balance and then change to video to recall it. This is awful ergonomics
4. Only tracking focus available in video mode. Why????
I used my Xacti for underwater videos and I am now concerned using this Sony. The continuous auto focus makes it sometimes unusable underwater. The lack of easy white balance makes it difficult to use. And without exposure lock the camera changes brightness of the footage.
Those are basic features that any camera worth £100 has. Why on earth this camera that costs nearly £500 does not have those????
---------- Post Merged on October 27th, 2012 at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous Post was on October 26th, 2012 at 11:06 AM ----------
Update I found the exposure lock buried in the function button set ups...!
We are left with AF Lock and Focus mode + White balance to work around
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