Letting Go of Control

Spoiler alert: I prepared this a few months ago, as you can tell from the images and clips (we are in winter here in Canada). Things have changed a bit in terms of the equipment used since this was prepared but the message is the same. Read on to the end to find out…

One of the things I have always found a bit ironic in photography is that as you become more and more proficient in the craft, you might seek out better equipment typically, and then, also typically, you TURN OFF all of the advanced automatic features of that better equipment and go “full manual”. I’ve never really understood that. Why would anyone do that?

I decided to try a totally different approach with an area of activity that is growing for me: vlogging. Instead of turning everything off, I’ve put together a basic but decent rig and turned ON all of the automatic functions I could find. I’m doing nothing manually. I think it’s working really well so far. Read on to see what I’ve done. I’ve included a few video clips as well for your entertainment.

As with all things photographic, the most important feature in camera gear for me at this stage of my life is convenience. That relates primarily to the size and weight of the gear, but also to the comfort in carrying/holding the gear and the ease with which I can obtain the results I am looking for.

When it comes to vlogging, there are several different considerations that are not present in still photography: are you sitting still or walking around, do you need footage of only your face, or will you be pointing the camera at other things, and will the lighting environment be uniform or will it be changing with each scene/clip? And of course, there is also audio, so ease of setup to capture clean, crisp sound is at the top of the priority list too.

All that said, vlogging is a companion element to my photography, not a main or money making activity. So the last thing I wanted was to spend thousands of dollars on any of the range of cameras now emerging for that purpose. Instead, I settled on what is described as an “entry level” camera that is 3 years old – the Sony ZV-1. Why? It meets the criteria for small and light. I don’t have to worry about switching lenses. And I can attach it to a compatible bluetooth grip to give me a relatively easy to hold rig with fingertip controls.

There are lots of stories about the pros and cons of this camera, and I did have to deal with the cons by enclosing the camera in a SmallRig cage to provide better access to top and bottom, getting SEVERAL extra batteries, and most recently, attaching a magnifying front element lens to give me a wider field of view so that I don’t have to hold my arm at full arm’s length. It is now fully tricked out and perfect for handholding in this older vlogger’s hand.

That left decisions about the settings I should use. I first did try full manual control, with frame rates, shutter, aperture, ISO, white balance and autofocus method all set manually. I tried turning off the stabilization and finding other ways to get stable footage, since stabilizing for this camera means cropping. I tried turning off the face and eye tracking. I tried different colour profiles. The results were frankly crap.

So to the subject of this post. I then tried going to full automatic movie making, with every automatic feature turned on that I could turn on. The Sony line of vlogging cameras, including this entry level one, has wonderful features like face and eye tracking, like concentrating on the human in the shot and always ensuring they are properly exposed no matter how conditions change, like background defocus, which adjusts aperture automatically for the best bokeh, and product showcase, that allows me to hold an object in front of me and have automatic, clear focus on it. I also have let Sony choose the colour rendition, even though I have 10 different profiles built in and can colour grade afterward. And its wonderful skin smoothing feature helps me look young again. Thank you Sony!

I do select the video quality and frame rate, but make no choices about aperture, shutter speed, white balance and ISO. I let the camera handle that for me. And I decided to go with the built in microphone. Don’t need to worry about sound attenuation, directionality or background interference. Again, thank you, Sony!

It is true that there are situations where more control by the creator is needed, wanted and appropriate. Mine is no Hollywood production with multiple moving characters. I just want a result that meets my personal sense of quality and my desire to help like-minded people enjoy the hobby of photography. And, surprisingly, fully automatic settings, with a 3 year old beginner camera, is giving me what I need right now. Cameras have advanced so far, and have become so smart, that “full control” can actually now happen in different ways. If you test an automatic feature and it gives you what you need without you having to spin a dial, embrace it. I now have.

All that said, I will still argue that you need to know how to execute something manually if needed. You need to understand what effect works for what situation. You also need to have a basic standard for image and sound quality. Too many beginners pay no attention to that at all. There is nothing worse than a shaky image with tin can sound. But once you understand what you should accept as a standard, go for whatever method gets you there with the least effort and least amount of time. I’m not perfect yet with this model, but I’m getting there. And it is a lot more fun than worrying about a setting.

Spoiler alert: Surprisingly, I have now replaced this Sony rig with something even more “automatic”, the DJI OSMO Pocket 3. It has a real built-in gimbal for smooth footage without a crop, a separate but synced mike that you turn on and go, lots of built-in automatic creative options and is even smaller than the Sony rig. And also can run almost all day on one charge. While the new gear is different than the Sony gear featured here, the premise isn’t – you should take full advantage of the automatic capabilities of your gear. You might be surprised.