Guides, Tips, And Tricks https://gimbalgarage.com Mon, 03 Feb 2020 13:36:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.15 https://gimbalgarage.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/cropped-fav-32x32.jpg Guides, Tips, And Tricks https://gimbalgarage.com 32 32 5 Easy Sony A6000 Tips And Tricks To Solve Common Problems! https://gimbalgarage.com/sony-a6000-tips-and-tricks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sony-a6000-tips-and-tricks Thu, 26 Dec 2019 14:44:54 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=3041 [the_ad id=”20″]Our regular readers will be aware that over the last six to seven months, we have published a whole bunch of articles based around the Sony a6000 due to seeing so many different people reaching out with various questions and asking for advice on camera accessory recommendations. Although we do usually try to stick to that kind of article where we focus on one single question or topic, today’s article is going to be a little different.

We often see people reaching out with various problems with their Sony a6000 and when you dig a little deeper, these issues usually stem from some commonly found problems with the a6000. Due to this, we have decided to publish this dedicated article covering some of these problems to try and help any of our readers who are having them. Our hope is that these quick and easy Sony a6000 tips and tricks will help ensure that you avoid these problems in the future while also making your life as easy as possible when using your camera too.

Thankfully, most of the problem fix that we will be covering in our article can be done at home without having to folk out and spend a whole bunch of cash. On top of this, many of them are very easy and can be done by anyone even if you are not a very technical person. We are huge believers in keeping things as simple and straight forward as possible so we have stuck to this train of through for these problems with the a6000 too.

Depending on what you are actually using your a6000 for, you may not be having all of these issues as some of them do tend to be specific to the niche you are working in. Due to this, some niches will rarely run into these issues where some niches, unfortunately, have them occurring on a very regular basis. As we work our way through the article we will be commenting on the various niches where each problem is common.

If you are a photographer using the a6000 as your go-to camera body of choice then luckily enough, the majority of the common issues with the camera will not affect you. That said though, on the flipside of this, if you are a videographer using the a6000 to capture your video footage then, unfortunately, some of these issues can happen often and become very annoying. Thankfully though, our fixes can help minimize the disruption they cause and even stop them completely in some cases.

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Prevent The Annoying LCD Screen Powerdown

One of the main annoying things about the Sony a6000, especially if you are using the camera for videography is that the LCD screen can power down if you hold the camera in certain positions due to the optical viewfinder sensor on the camera shown in the image above. The idea behind this is that when you brief your face up to the camera body to look through the viewfinder that it will power the LCD screen down to save battery and reduce the heat generated by the camera.

The problem is that when using the camera for videography or vlogging, you may be using it in positions where the sensor can trigger incorrectly and power down your LCD panel when you are actually using it to observe what you are capturing.  For example, you may hold your a6000 camera body close to your chest when recording and this will power your screen down and it can become annoying.

Thankfully though, there is a quick and easy little hack that you can implement to fix this problem and it is very cheap to implement and chances are, a large number of you will already have some Duct Tape in your house that you can use anyway. You are basically going to cover around two-thirds of the sensor on the camera with a small piece of Duct Tape as shown in the image below.

The logic behind doing this is that you cover two-thirds of the sensor and drastically limit the amount of light that is able to enter. This results in the sensor not being able to work as efficiently and workout if you do have your a6000 held up to your face or not and prevents your LCD screen from being powered down on a regular basis. If you are a vlogger or videographer then this quick and easy little hack can really be a godsend for you.

Additionally, you can quickly and easily remove the Duct Tape if needed to restore the normal function of the sensor making this a solid little hack for your Sony a6000 that you can still implement even if you are using your camera for photography too. If needed, you can easily add a few bits of duct tape to your camera accessory bag to allow you to cover the sensor again later in your session as required.

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Keep Your Camera Sensor Clean

This is without a doubt one of the most common issues that we see and although you would think that cleaning your a6000 sensor on a regular basis would be an obvious part of regular servicing, we see so many photographers and videographers report issues that have never gone through the process! Sony put some excellent camera rigs together and cleaning the sensor on your a6000 is extremely easy and if you are working outdoors on a regular basis as either a photographer or videographer it is probably worth considering cleaning your sensor at least once a month.

We have seen too many beautiful landscape photographs and videos spoiled due to having a tiny spec of dust on the camera sensor that is easy to remote. We know that in this day and ages it is relitivley easy to remove the dust in post-production but in our opinion, this is just lazy and enforced bad habits. We also know a few people who take their camera bodies to their local photography store to have them professionally cleaned but there really is no need unless you are working in an extreme niche, the process is cheap and easy as shown in the video below.

Although we know that many of our readers will already have a decent camera cleaning kit, good ones can be purchased for around $15 depending on the retailer if you are yet to add one to your collection of camera accessories. We would highly recommend that a particular cleaning kit as it is cheap, has everything that you need to clean the Sony a6000 efficiently, and has managed to earn itself an excellent reputation amongst the community over the years.

Deal With The Cameras Overheating Problems

Again, this is another area where you will get off lightly if you are using your a6000 for photography but if you are capturing video footage for any length of time you will likley run into a number of issues with overheating. There are a number of reasons why the a6000 has problems with heat generation and thankfully, come of them can be corrected with ease and for free or either extremely cheaply.

First up, we would highly recommend that you invest in some cheap spare NP-FW50 batteries to allow you to hot-swap a fresh, cool battery into your camera on a regular basis. Although this may seem like a total pain, hot-swapping a fresh battery into your camera is one of the quickest and easiest ways to deal with the overheating issues the a6000 has. The battery is without a doubt the highest heat source in the camera so swapping a warm battery out for a fresh cool one essentially resets the heat build-up and can allow you to keep recording for longer without interruption.

Now, depending on what you are actually doing with your a6000, the frequency that you switch out your batteries will change. If you are doing anything power-intensive like high definition video at super high frames per second, you may have to switch every fifteen minutes or so. Generally, though, you can usually get to around the thirty-minute mark and go from there without running into issues.

Next up, we will be dealing with the second-highest potential heat source on your a6000, your SD card. Thankfully, more and more people are starting to realize this issue so it is becoming less of a problem but slow SD cards can generate an absolute ton of heat! We would always recommend a minimum shooting speed of 90MB/s with a minimum tx speed of 170MB/s for the a6000. You can check the labels on the front of your current SD cards to see if they meet these minimum requirements and could potentially be part of the overheating problem.

If your current cards meet or beat the 90MB/s shooting speed then they can be kept and it is likley that the heat generation is coming from something else. If they fall short then we would highly recommend that you consider upgrading your SD card collection to cards more suitable for video. Thankfully, due to advancements in technology over the years, these faster cards are much cheaper than they used to be allowing you to upgrade without having to spend much of your hard-earned cash.

There are also a few free steps that you can take to help reduce the heat generated by your Sony a6000 during use too. The third highest source of heat on the camera is its LCD screen and it is surprising how much additional heat can be dissipated into the atmosphere by simply tilting the screen when possible as shown in the image above.

This essentially increases the airflow to the rear of the screen to dissipate the heat into the atmosphere that would otherwise be transferred to your camera body. Provided that your SD card is fast enough for video, making a change as simple as tilting your camera screen can actually be surprisingly efficient and help keep your recording your video footage for longer without any overheating warnings.

Some other free steps that we have seen people report having success with opening up the flash cover increase airflow as well as opening the battery door while keeping the battery in place with tape. Although we would not recommend the battery door method incase it catches something and breaks, people do seem to feel it has a positive effect on the heat dissipation from their a6000 battery and that it is well worth trying.

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Weatherproof Your A6000


Before we even thought of publishing a dedicated article going over our Sony a6000 tips and tricks for common issues with the camera we published our dedicated article going over how to weatherproof your a6000. Rather than typing the whole thing up again, we will just link to it and let you read the article in your own time if you feel that this could be an issue for your a6000.

Although often overlooked, a number of issues with modern cameras can stem from poor weatherproofing for use outside. On top of this, unlike some of the issues above, poor weatherproofing can have a negative effect on the level of image quality that you are able to capture for both photographers and videographers so it is definatley worth addressing and can be done easily and cheaply too.

Invest In Some Image Stabilization

The final point that we want to make is based around camera accessories that can provide your Sony a6000 with the image stabilization that it needs for optimal image quality, especially when capturing video footage. Although not essentially a problem with the camera itself, we have noticed a number of people reaching out and asking for advice on issues with image quality and it is often down to handheld shooting.

We have a bunch of articles going over a number of popular image stabilization sources for the a6000 that you can check out if you think this could be an issue for you. We have linked the full article as well as our actual primary recommend item below for anyone who just wants a quick solution without having to read the supplementary article. Our current articles going over the subject are as follows:-

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Why More And More Videographers Are Purchasing Glidecams! https://gimbalgarage.com/purchasing_glidecams/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=purchasing_glidecams Wed, 25 Dec 2019 23:39:43 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=3048 [the_ad id=”20″]There is no denying that motorized gimbals and manual Steadicam camera stabilizers like the Glidecam range are increasing in popularity with each passing month amongst various videography and cinematography niches. The increasingly competitive market is essentially forcing more and more people to invest in either a motorized gimbal or manual Glidecam to ensure that they are able to provide the very best image stabilization for their clients or risk being pushed out of the market completely.

Although there are a large number of people out there who have already published articles going over why so many people have chosen to invest in a motorized gimbal, very few people seem to be covering why almost as many people are investing in a manual stabilizer. Due to this, we have decided to make this the topic for today’s article as we are hoping to help as many of our readers who are trying to decide between a gimbal and a Glidecam as possible.

Outstanding Natural Performance

One of the main reasons that videographers and cinematographers choose to go with a Glidecam over a motorized gimbal is that they offer some of the best, natural-looking footage available at the time of writing. Although the more expensive and modern gimbals on the market such as the Zhiyun Weebill S do have modes to mimic the natural image stabilization of the Glidecam range as well as their other Steadicam style stabilizers, the vast majority of gimbals still have that slightly robotic feel to their footage.

Depending on the niche that you are planning to be working in this can be a major turn off. For example, a wedding videographer will often be panning left and right to capture the guests at the wedding and the smooth, natural panning of a Glidecam really does make the difference when compared to side by side footage captured via a Gimbal. This can help keep your footage in tone for the event and help keep your clients happy as you capture their special day.

In addition to this, the Glidecam range and the other leading Steadicam brands offer some excellent image stabilization as you would expect. They are suitable for the vast majority of videography niches and can be used in a large number of ways to ensure that you are getting the absolute best image quality possible when recording too.

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Massive Load Capacity

As the vast majority of Steadicam style stabilizers like the Glidecam range are based around a counterweight system instead of electronic motors like gimbals, they are able to easily support much higher load capacities with ease. For example, the Zhiyun Crane 3 gimbal can support unto and including 10.14 pounds of total payload weight while costing around $700 for the privilege. On the flip side of this, you can find Glidecams and Flycams that offer almost double the load capacity coming in at just under twenty pounds of total payload weight for half of the price.

This is due to the fact that gimbal motors still need a ton of power to stabilize the larger camera rigs and this technology is still very expensive. The counterweight system that Glidecam use is relatively cheap in comparison and ensures that brands can market their units at a lower price point while also offer larger maximum load capacities to their customers.

If you are using a super heavy DSLR camera rig or even a mirrorless camera setup with a ton of camera accessories this could definitely work to your advantage. The vast majority of professional-level videography niches will need a large number of camera accessories mounted to your camera during use and the majority of professional-level Glidecams can easily take the load capacity without issue. You can check out this article for more information on the best Glidecams for DSLR camera rigs if you do use a high payload setup for your sessions to get some specific advice for those heavier rigs.

No Battery

As we touched on earlier in the article, the Glidecam range is based around the Steadicam stabilizer design that uses a counterweight system and does not need power. This totally removes the reliance on a battery unit meaning that you can easily use your Glidecam for hours at a time without worrying about running out of battery life. If you are working in a videography or cinematography niche that often has long, extended recording sessions this can definitely work to your advantage.

On top of this, almost all of the videographers we know have made the mistake of either not recharging their gimbal battery or leaving their gimbal powered up at least once after a session. This can sometimes result in you turning up to a gig with a gimbal that has an empty battery whereas a Glidecam does not have this issue. You can literally grab your camera gear, head out the door, rock up to the set, and instantly start capturing video.

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Great Build Quality

Although Glidecam has not released a new product for a few years now, the technological advancements in the aluminum alloy space should ensure that their next range of manual stabilizers is as light yet robust as possible without having to hike their price tag up. Glidecam have always managed to keep their reputation of being the leading brand of manual stabilizer when it comes to the build quality of their range as they are put together extremely well.

If you are working in a videography or cinematography niche where you have to travel on a regular basis a stabilizer from the Glidecam range is the obvious option. The lightweight of their products ensures that you can quickly and easily take it with you when traveling via plane without going over your luggage allowance. On top of this, the robust build quality of the Glidecam stabilizers ensures that if they do take any knocks while being transported they will not break and will last you for many years to come.

Conclusion

Although the Glidecam range is a little stagnant, we are expecting at least one, possibly two new releases to their range come 2020 and we can’t wait to see what they release! A number of competing Steadicam brands have started to close the gap and gain market share away from Glidecam so we are expecting something big from them with their next-generation stabilizers. If they do deliver then we can see another massive spike in the sales of the manual stabilizer range as Glidecam propel themselves back to being the dominant manual stabilizer brand in the world.

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13 Ways To Stop Your Sony A6300 Overheating! https://gimbalgarage.com/stop-your-sony-a6300-overheating/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stop-your-sony-a6300-overheating Sat, 07 Dec 2019 17:12:15 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=2758 [the_ad id=”20″]The Sony Alpha range is constantly growing in popularity and although we have already published a number of articles going over various camera accessories that we would recommend our readers consider using with their Sony Alpha camera body, we have decided to go in a slightly different direction with today’s article. We have noticed more and more people reaching out for assistance over the last few weeks due to their Sony a63000 overheating in various situations.

Due to this, we have decided to dedicate today’s article to various things that you can implement to allow you to quickly and easily prevent your a6300 from overheating during use. Now, there is absolutely no need to try and implement all of these tips and tricks as some will be specific to certain niches while being useless in others. Additionally, depending on the niches you work in, some of these tips may be more useful for you than others to help keep your camera body as cool as possible.

We have also tried to include as many free steps as possible in the list too to ensure that any of our readers who are on a tight budget can also get some value from the article and potentially stop their Sony a6300 from overheating too. That said though, as, with most solutions, the paid solutions are much better than the free ones but the free options can provide some benefit if implemented.

Additionally, the actual task at hand will also come into play too as the vast majority of overheating problems with the a6300 tends to occur when capturing video footage rather than capturing photographs. If you exclusively use your a6300 for photographs then you can probably get away with only implementing the free options in the article and totally remove your overheating issues without having to spend a cent.

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Deal With Battery Heat

As you probably know, the main source of heat in your Sony a6300 is the camera’s battery and due to the very small and compact design of the a6300, this excessive heat really has no easy way to dissipate out of your cameras body so it just keeps building up. In our opinion, the cheapest and most effective way to prevent your a6300 from overheating is to invest in some cheap NP-FW50 batteries so you have spare sets available.

Now, simply having the spare batteries in your camera bag is useless, you will have to take an active approach to get the most out of this method but when done correctly, it can prove extremely effective with the lowest possible price tag. As we touched on earlier, your camera’s battery is the largest source of heat in your a63000 and much of that heat is held in the battery prior to transferring into your actual camera body.

The plan with this method is to switch out your active camera battery in your downtime as often as possible to remove the heat that has built up in your active battery. The frequency that you will be switching your camera battery out will change depending on what you are actually doing but people have reported having success with around fifteen-minute intervals for high frame per second, high definition video is optimal.

Essentially, when you get a chance you will just remove your current battery from your a6300 and place one of your cold spare batteries into the battery housing. Now only does this allow the hot battery to cool down quicker due to having better heat dissipation to the atmosphere but it will take time for the spare battery to heat up and start transferring heat into your camera body. This gives your camera a decent window to dissipate the heat that it is already holding from your hot battery while your spare battery is generating heat.

When done correctly, you can pretty much use this hot swapping method exclusively throughout the course of a session without running into any overheating issues at all. On top of this, you don’t have to folk out for the official Sony NP-FW50 version of the batteries, there is plenty of cheap third-party NP-FW50 options that you can use helping to keep your costs as low as possible.

Use An External Power Source

If you don’t like the idea of having to switch out your batteries on a regular basis for whatever reason another solid option is to totally switch over to using an external power source for your a6300. Although this does increase the costs, it also totally removes the need for you to switch your camera batteries while also being more efficient at preventing any overheating issues too.

You will have to pick up a decent NP-FW50 dummy battery that you will use to jack into your a6300 to actually power it. Depending on your situation, you can then plug it into a regular wall based power outlet or if you are out and about you can also add a high output USB power bank to your camera accessories to charge it on the go.

This will still power your camera as required allowing you to capture the videos and photographs that you need but as the primary power source is outside of the camera body, it quickly dissipates its heat into the atmosphere rather than your Sony a6300 camera body. Although this may sound difficult to do, the whole process is extremely smooth and easy.

Check Your SD Card Datarate

Although most people are usually aware that the primary heat source in any camera is the battery unit, many people are unaware that the second-highest heat source in your camera when capturing high definition or 4k footage is actually your SD card. This is often due to the SD card being used not having the correct data rate for the footage that you are capturing and resulting in excessive heat generation that can quickly cause your camera to overheat.

We would always recommend that our readers go with an SD card with a minimum of 90MB/s shooting speed and 170MB/s transfer speed if you are doing a large amount of HD or 4k video work. Thankfully, you can easily fault find this with your current SD cards as both data rates should clearly be visible on the label of your current cards. Chances are, if your current cards meet the recommended data rates above then they are fine and will not cause you any issues with overheating.

On the flip side of this though, if you are using a slow data rate card then we would highly recommend that you update at least one of your SD cards to something that at least meets the minimum transfer speed to test if this can help reduce your overheating issues. Now, keep in mind that the card linked to there is only the minimum recommended transfer speed so it may not totally correct your overheating issues but does have a solid chance of drastically increasing your recording time before you get your overheating warning light.

In our opinion, if you are primarily recording in 4k then you should really be looking at a 130MB/s recording, 250MB/s transferring speed card to minimize the heat generation while recording. Thankfully, the prices of these higher transfer speed SD cards has fallen drastically over the last few years meaning you can easily pick them up at similar price points to their slower counterparts.

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Switch To External Storage

Now, this next method essentially takes upgrading your SD card to higher transfer speed to the next level and switches you over to external data storage totally removing the heat from the SD card from your camera body. Although some people who work in a fixed studio swear by it, we wouldn’t actually recommend this just for overheating issues due to the cost of the gear as well as the fact that it is totally useless if you have to move around on a regular basis and switch back to fast SD cards.

Anyway, many people who use this method recommend the Blackmagic HyperDeck Shuttle 2 as their goto external storage solution. If you do work in a static location and need external storage for additional reasons other than just to deal with your overheating problems it may be worth looking into. In the grand scheme of things though, we would always recommend you go with upgrading your SD cards over this option anyway.

Increase Surface Area For Heat Dissipation

Although we have not tried this one ourselves, we have seen a number of reports from the community saying that housing their camera in something like a SmallRig a6300 case has helped increase the amount of recording time they have before getting an overheating warning light. This is due to the heat being transferred from your camera body to the camera cage than can then dissipate it into the atmosphere at a quick rate than your actual camera body can.

In all honesty, we would prioritize any of the methods above over adding a camera cage to your camera accessories just to prevent overheating but if you already have one it is well worth trying. Additionally, not only does using the camera cage help increase the robustness of your a6300 but also allows you to easily mount additional camera accessories to it during use with ease.

Thermal Paste And Thermal Pads

This is another suggestion that we have not actually tried ourselves and would not recommend that our readers use unless you know exactly what you are doing. Although both thermal paste and thermal pads can be extremely efficient at preventing overheating issues on some electronics, they usually have clearly marketed areas that tell you where you should be applying your thermal paste for optimum heat dissipation without putting your gear at risk of short-circuiting.

That said though, a large number of photographers, videographers, vloggers, and streamers do report using these items to easily reduce the heat in their camera bodies without having to shell out a ton of money. We have noticed that some photography stores have started offering these services for their customers and will provide you with a guarantee to cover their work so if your local photography store offers this then it is definatley worth looking into.

Although we would not recommend that you try this yourself unless you are confident in your abilities, the video below shows a user adding a thermal pad to their Sony a6300 and shows how to disassemble, fit, and re-assemble your camera.

Mini Umbrella

This next one can actually be surprisingly effective but it will depend on the weather of your local area more than anything else. Depending on where you live, heat from the sun’s rays can actually cause a higher build-up of heat in your camera body than both the heat generated from your camera battery and SD card combined. A quick and easy solution that many people have successfully implemented to prevent this is to add a mini umbrella to their collection of camera accessories.

Depending on the tripod that you use, you may actually be able to mount umbrellas directly to your tripod while you work. If you are in a very hot location and working in direct sunlight on a regular basis then this is well worth trying in our opinion as it has proven to be a very effective method with many other photographers and videographers in hotter locations around the world.

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Tilt The LCD Display

Moving on, we have our first totally free method of reducing the heat in your Sony a6300 and that is to simply tilt your LCD display panel away from the camera body as shown in the image above. For the vast majority of people who use the a6300, the heat generated from their LCD screen will be the third-highest source of heat behind their battery and SD card. If you leave your screen pressed up against your camera body this just increases the amount of heat in the camera and can lead to overheating.

Simply tilting your screen off the camera body increases the airflow for the screen and helps to keep it cool and ensure that the majority of the heat it generates is dissipated into the atmosphere rather than into your camera body. In our opinion, even if you are using a paid solution that we recommended above, you should also be tilting your screen when possible to help reduce the heat in your camera body without having to spend a cent.

Open The Battery Door


Our second free method is to open your battery door while using your camera to increase airflow to your primary heat source in your a6300, your battery. Now, this does present a number of its own problems as you may damage your battery door when doing this or your battery may accidentally fall out if not secured correctly.

In our opinion, picking up some spare batteries and using the trick we went through in our first point above or using a NP-FW50 dummy battery with a wall outlet or a USB power bank is a much better and safer solution but if you are on a budget this may be worth trying.

Open The Flash Housing

Although we have no data to back up how effective this next suggestion is, we do see it mentioned on a regular basis on social media and niche related forums. The theory is that opening the flash housing on your camera increases airflow to your camera body and helps to dissipate the heat. In all honesty, we have no idea if this is actually helpful or not but we thought that we would include it as we see so many people recommend it to other people with overheating issues.

Take Advantage Of Airplane Mode

One of the best free solutions to stop your Sony a6300 from having problems with overheating is to simply turn on airplane mode in your camera settings. Now, you have to realize that this will not fix your overheating issues but it can help to extend the amount of time that you are able to record without the overheating warning message showing up for you. This is due to airplane mode turning off a bunch of features in the camera that run in the background but may not even be being used for your session. This, in turn, reduced the energy draw of your camera from your battery and helps slightly reduce the heat that it will be generating to power your camera when airplane mode is turned on.

Check Your Frames Per Second

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This is another one that may not be possible if you are on a job where you have to record in the highest frames per second but some of our readers may be able to implement it and have some success. If you don’t have to use the maximum frames per second for your video resolution then don’t. Try and knock it down to the minimum usable standard as this will reduce the draw on your battery and help to reduce the heat the battery generates, especially if you are using 4k video footage. Now, this is similar to our airplane mode suggestion and is not a long term solution or a full fix but it can increase the time frame that you can record without having issues.

Update To Latest Firmware

Sony is great at pushing out firmware updates to try and correct the common issues that their cameras are using. Unfortunately, though, people who use Sony camera bodies are not usually as great at keeping their camera updated to the latest firmware build and you really should. Sony pushed out a new build for the a6300 back in 2016 that included the auto power-off feature in the camera settings seen in the image above.

Ensuring that you at least have this 2016 firmware build running on your camera rather than the default shipping one adds this option and may help prevent your Sony a6300 overheating during use. That said though, we have seen mixed reports about the effectiveness of the auto power-off setting with some people saying it helped them whereas others have said it did nothing.

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The Ultimate Carbon Fiber Vs Aluminum Tripod Comparison! https://gimbalgarage.com/carbon-fiber-vs-aluminum-tripods/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=carbon-fiber-vs-aluminum-tripods Mon, 02 Dec 2019 18:20:39 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=2661 [the_ad id=”20″]There has been an ongoing discussion in the photography and videography communities for years now regarding carbon fiber and aluminum tripods with people trying to put their point across that one type is universally better than the other. As we have seen a number of people reaching out for a dedicated article going over a comparison on carbon fiber vs aluminum tripods we have decided to make this the topic of today’s article and share out thoughts on it.

We are hoping that our article will help any of our readers who are looking to add a new tripod to their collection and hopefully offer some advice on the best option for you. We see an absolute ton of tripod-based questions across the board so we feel that it is pretty safe to say that a number of our readers are likely to be in this situation and may find value in our article.

Now, in all honesty, there really is not a straight answer to this as each type of tripod has its own advantages and disadvantages over the other with the best option coming down to your own personal circumstances more than anything else. For example, a decent, professional level carbon fiber tripod is usually seen as more of an investment that can potentially last you decades whereas a decent aluminum tripod can often be seen as more of a cost/consumable as it will probably need to be replaced every three to five years at best due to structural fatigue.

The most common situation that comes into play when deciding if you should be going with carbon fiber or aluminum is the level of photography or videography that you will be getting involved in. If you are working at a professional level and plan to be doing for over many years, at the time of writing, carbon fiber is almost always going to be a much better option. That said though, if you are more of a hobbyist photographer or if you just want to try your hand at photography or videography then the lower price tag of the aluminum variants can often be the better option.

Additionally, on top of this, so much more comes into play when deciding on your tripod. For example, a high end tripod like the aluminum Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 is a much better option than a low end tripod like the carbon fiber Zomei z699c even though it is made from aluminum. You can then add in the carbon fiber version of the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 and it blows the aluminum version out the water for any professional level photographer or videographer.

We just wanted to get those key points out of the way early in the article rather than waste any of our reader’s time who are in a hurry by having you read the full article only to make these points at the end. We feel that a large number of our readers, you will likely be able to make their minds up based on the information above and taking their own personal circumstances into account. For those of you who like to know as much as possible before making a decision, we will be taking a more in-depth look at the differences between aluminum and carbon fiber tripods below.

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A Real Life Example

As we mentioned above, a large number of tripod brands will release a carbon fiber and aluminum variant of the exact same tripod design so let’s take a quick look at a real-life example. In our opinion, the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 is one of the best tripods ever made for both photography and videography. When you factor in the performance, functionality, and image stabilization that you actually get for the price the tripod is in a league of its own against the competition.

Now, Manfrotto has released a carbon fiber version of the MT055CXPRO3 as well as an aluminum version of the MT055CXPRO3 and although they are both doing very well with the community and have managed to earn themselves excellent reputations that just keep on getting better, they come in at totally different price points.

The carbon fiber variant is around $320 whereas the aluminum variant is around $145 at the time of writing depending on the retailer that you purchase them from. This is a 120% increase in price for the carbon fiber variant over the aluminum variant of the tripod while being based on the exact same tripod design from the exact same tripod manufacturer so let’s move onto some of the main reasons why the carbon fiber tripod is so much more expensive than the aluminum tripod.

Build Quality

Now, when it comes to the actual build quality differences of aluminum vs carbon fiber, much of the difference in price actually comes down to the engineering standard rather than the actual properties of the material. Not only are Aluminum alloys cheaper and easier to source but large parts of the production process can also be automated to help keep costs as low as possible. When it comes to carbon fiber, the opposite is true and creating a carbon fiber tripod can take many hours of hands-on work to get it to the same standard of an automated aluminum tripod.

Now, both aluminum and carbon fiber can be produced to be as robust as each other but as carbon fiber is around forty percent lighter than aluminum per unit of volume as well as around ten times stronger, an aluminum tripod with the same robustness of a carbon fiber tripod is going to be insanely heavy. This is there are no ultra-robust aluminum tripods on the market whereas the vast majority of carbon fiber tripods are as tough and lightweight as they come by nature.

If you are in a photography, videography, or vlogging niche where you need to travel around by plane on a regular basis, are definatley the way to go. They tend to be smaller to their aluminum counterparts while also being much lighter while also being much tougher at the same time. Not only does this give you peace of mind that a carbon fiber tripod can easily take the bumps coming its way during use and while in transit but the lighter weight also makes it easier to pack it without going over your airline luggage restrictions.

Another area where carbon fiber blows aluminum out the water is that it is much easier to adjust different areas of the same unit to have different strengths and pressure points without having to increase the size and weight of that area. This allows tripod manufacturers to easily add additional strength to any potential weak points or load-bearing areas of the tripod without having to increase the weight by too much when using carbon fiber.

That said though, new technologies based around hydroforming the aluminum prior to casing the tripod can offer these same advantages. At the time of writing, the process is extremely expensive and would make the aluminum tripod cost more than the carbon fiber counterpart while still having the heavier weight of the aluminum making it pointless.

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As we touched on back at the start of the article, many photographers and videographers will put their camera accessory purchases into one of three groups. These are costs, consumables, and investments and just like many popular camera accessories, a tripod can actually fit into two groups depending on the material it is made from.

Carbon fiber has no shelf life determined by natural corrosion and can essentially last for decades while providing you with the same levels of support and image stabilization as the tripod did back when first purchased. Due to this, a professional level carbon fiber tripod will fit into the investment category of your purchases due to a single purchase potentially lasting you your whole career.

On the flip side of this, aluminum does fatigue over time and contrary to popular belief it does corrode essentially putting a shelf life on even the best professional-level aluminum tripods. Depending on the engineering quality of your aluminum tripod you can expect a warranty to cover the tripod for a shelf life of three to five years at best. As a photography or videography career can easily last much longer than this, an aluminum tripod will usually fit into the consumables category of your purchases and potentially need to be replaced every few years.

Now, we just want to quickly touch on the corrosion of aluminum tripods as even today, many people still think that the structural integrity of aluminum does not corrode over time from the elements but this is not true. Rather than showing more obvious signs of corrosion like rust for any steel products, aluminum produces a white dust like substance. If the substance is very fine with a consistency of cooking flour then the aluminum has years of life left in it but the closer the consistency becomes to sugar with actual grains being products the shorter the shelf life your tripod has left. If your aluminum tripod is starting to produce this substance with a sugar-like consistency then we would highly recommend that you upgrade in a new tripod as it’s not worth risking potentially thousands of dollars worth of camera gear on a potentially compromised tripod.

Moving onto actual damage and how each material reacts as well as how easy they are to correct. If your tripod takes a heavy bump then carbon fiber will simply crack with the benefit of the crack only extending along the individual damaged piece of your tripod. This can potentially make repairs much easier as you can often just do a one for one swap with the damaged component and replace it and your tripod is good to go again.

If an aluminum tripod takes a strong bump then it will usually dent or in more extreme cases bend. Depending on the part of your tripod where the damage occurs this can end up ruining more than one part of your tripod at once. For example, say your tripod is in your photography bag collapsed and a leg has something heavy land on it. Due to aluminum tending to bend rather than absorb the shock and crack, all of your extendable leg components may be bent and need replacing rather than just the main outer one that took the initial impact.

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High End Vs Low End

Another thing that we touched on earlier in the article is that the actual engineering process for a tripod also comes into play when trying to work out if aluminum or carbon fiber is the correct option for you. As we mentioned earlier, a high quality, well-engineered aluminum tripod like the aluminum Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 absolutely blows an entry-level, cheap carbon fiber tripod like the Zomei z699c out the water.

Although the Zomei z699c is a solid little tripod that actually outperforms large portions of its competition, it doesn’t even come close to the performance of the aluminum variant of the MT055CXPRO3 that has been designed for professional-level photographers and videographers. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to know the level of engineering quality on a tripod as the marketing departments for tripod brands will often use buzz words and phrases like “engineered to the highest possible standards”.

Although it is not a perfect measure, price is often one of the easiest ways to tell and chances are then a large number of carbon fiber tripods that cost less than an aluminum tripod will be lower quality and have a lower engineering standard. If you are planning to use this approach, just keep in mind that the actual feature list of the tripod comes into play on price too. For example, flip locks for a tripod’s legs usually cost more than twist locks due to the locking mechanism and the additional security once locked.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over our carbon fiber vs aluminum tripod comparison to an end. We know that we have not been able to give an exact answer but as we have mentioned and tried to explain, both materials are better for people in different situations. As a rule of thumb though, if you plan to be working in the photography or videography field for five years or more, going with a professional level carbon fiber tripod will almost always be the better option.

On the flip side of this, if you are just doing photography as a hobby or wanting to try your hand at it then the cheaper aluminum tripods can often be the better option. That said though, brands are heavily investing in research to try and make aluminum tripods have as many of the advantages of carbon fiber tripods due to aluminum tripods being so much easier to make but at the time of writing, this is potentially decades off so we expect carbon fiber tripods to reign supreme for the foreseeable future.

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How To Easily Stop Your Sony A5100 Overheating! https://gimbalgarage.com/sony-a5100-overheating/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sony-a5100-overheating Fri, 29 Nov 2019 14:31:00 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=2560 [the_ad id=”20″]The Sony a5100 is still an extremely popular camera body that is used by a large number of photographers, videographers, and vloggers all over the world due to its excellent image quality and low price tag. Unfortunately, the a5100 does have one major drawback and that is the fact that the camera can be prone to a number of overheating issues. We are constantly seeing people reaching out each month asking for ways to stop their Sony a5100 overheating so we have decided to publish this article to try and help as many of our readers as possible.

Now, chances are that your a5100 is usually overheating when capturing video rather than when using it for photography. On top of this, you can probably consider yourself lucky if you can record HD video for more than forty minutes or video at 60fps for more than ten minutes without the overheating warning flashing up.

This is due to the fact that the Sony a5100 is a photography camera that also does video rather than a camera that has been specifically designed for heavy video use. This means that Sony has skimped on the heat dissipation for the camera and the small size of the a5100 camera body also provides less surface area for it to shed the heat that builds up in it.

Thankfully though, there are a number of steps that you are able to take to try and help prevent your a5100 overheating so quickly when capturing video footage. On top of this, in most situations, the overheating icon is just a warning measure and you can probably continue recording video footage for a little while without issue although we would not recommend that you try it.

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Mini Umbrella

Depending on your location, direct sunlight can be one of the main heat sources for your Sony a5100 and increase its core temperature at a rapid pace resulting in the overheating warning showing within minutes. This is due to the a5100 being so small and not having the surface area required to be able to dissipate the heat from the sun quickly.

Thankfully though, if you do live in a warmer climate and use your a5100 outside on a regular basis you can pick up a cheap mini umbrella to prevent the suns rays from actually reaching your camera body and reduce the speed that your camera can end up overheating.

This is a quick, easy, and cheap fix for a relatively common issue and is well worth considering. Mini umbrellas can usually be mounted to most popular tripods allowing you to protect your camera body from the sun’s light without having an effect on your ability to do your job.

Deal With Battery Heat

The primary heat source for the vast majority of digital cameras including the Sony a5100 is the battery unit and the compact design of the a5100 offers no easy way for the heat to dissipate. This means that when capturing video footage with your camera, the heat generated from the battery working to meet the needs of your camera builds up and has nowhere to go.

As much of this generated heat is held in the battery, you are able to pick up some additional cheap NP-FW50 batteries for your camera and swap them out every so often. Although this is unlikely to help much when capturing 60fps video footage, you should be able to swap your batteries every fifteen minutes or so when recording in regular HD.

This will essentially remove the hot battery and replace it with a fresh cool one but you have to keep in mind that around half of the heat generated by the battery will transfer to the camera body. This means that your fresh battery will heat up quicker than your original one but can be a quick, easy, and cheap way to increase the amount of time you have to capture your HD video footage without having the overheating warning light.

Thankfully, if you do have a slightly higher budget available to remove the overheating issues from your a5100 there an even more effective solution available. You can purchase a NP-FW50 dummy battery and a USB power bank to totally remove the heat generated from a NP-FW50 battery.

This is probably the most effective solution that you are going to get for your a5100 as not only is your USB power bank outside of your a5100 camera body, the vast majority of modern USB power banks have some excellent heat dissipation too. This totally removes the primary heat source from your camera and can drastically increase the amount of time you can capture video footage without issue. Although the NP-FW50 dummy battery will transfer some heat to your camera body, it is at a much lower rate than what the internal battery transfers.

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Increase Heat Dissipation

As we have mentioned a few times above, the a5100 has some terrible heat dissipation and is one of the main reasons that it can overheat so quickly. Thankfully, picking up a SmallRig a5100 case can help you with this by quickly transferring heat away from your camera body and then dissipating it into the atmosphere for you.

Not only does use a camera cash increase the overall surface area of your camera meaning it takes more heat to cause any overheating issues but the metal material of the cage can dissipate the heat much easier than your camera body. Although we would always recommend that you go with the NP-FW50 dummy battery and USB power bank method that we covered above as it is much more effective, some Sony a5100 owners have posted saying they have had success by housing their camera in a cage.

Check Your SD Card Datarate

Although this is surprising for many photographers and videographers, the second-largest source of heat in your a5100 can potentially be your SD card. Older cards that have a slower data rate can generate a shocking amount of heat, especially when working overtime saving HD or 60fps video data and just like with your camera battery, the heat generated by your card has nowhere to go and just builds up in your camera body.

Thankfully, as technology has progressed, the price tags for decent, high data rate SD cards have fallen and are often at similar prices to their slower counterparts. If you are recording HD and 60fps video with your Sony a5100 then we would recommend that you check the transfer speed of your current SD cards and upgrade to a suitable SD card if they are below 90MB/s shooting speed or 170MB/s transfer speed.

This will allow your a5100 to write its data to your SD card as a quick speed and can potentially drastically reduce the heat generated from your card while recording HD and 60fps video footage. As you have removed the second-highest heat source in your camera body, this increases the amount of time you have available to capture your video footage free from any overheating warnings.

Switch To External Storage

Although we would always recommend that you just switch over to a higher data rate SD card over using an external storage solution, some photographers and videographers who use their a5100 in a studio or other static location have reported having success with using something like the Blackmagic HyperDeck Shuttle 2 to store their data.

It works in a similar way to using a USB power bank with a dummy battery by totally removing the second largest heat source in your a5100 from the camera body. On the flip side of this though, a modern SD card is much cheaper and can often provide you with very similar results while also being fully functional for dynamic a5100 who work in a number of different locations.

Try Thermal Paste

To be clear, we have not actually tried this one ourselves but have seen some people report that applying small amounts of a decent thermal paste to heat-sensitive areas of their camera has been able to help reduce the problems that they have had with their a5100 overheating.

Personally, we are not fans of using any type of thermal paste on any of our camera equipment as it can end up getting everywhere and there are no guides or tutorials available explaining where you should apply the paste for the a5100 either. We just wanted to include this in our list as some of our tech-savvy readers may already have some thermal paste on hand and have the knowledge of where to apply it for optimal results.

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Tilt The LCD Display

The third-largest source of heat on the Sony a5100 is actually the LCD screen but thankfully, there is a quick, easy, and free measure that you can take to help increase airflow and increase the dissipation of the heat that it generates. Simply keep the LCD screen of your a5100 tilted open when recording video and you essentially double the airflow available to the screen to help keep it as cool as possible.

Considering that this is so quick to do and totally free, we would highly recommend that you try to build up the habit of keeping your LCD panel tilted when recording video. Although your battery and SD card both produce the majority of the head in the camera body, taking this simple step can help extend the amount of time you can record without getting the overheating warning.

Open The Battery Door

Although hot swapping spare batteries or using a NP-FW50 dummy battery and USB power bank combo are much more efficient at reducing heat you can try simply opening the battery door on your a5100 during use. Use a little tape to protect your battery and keep it in place but if you are on a tight budget and are unable to purchase any of the additional camera accessories then this may be the only step you can take towards reducing the heat generated by your camera’s battery.

Open The Flash Housing

Although this one is based on theory rather than actual practice, we feel that if you are on a tight budget and are looking to take every step available to increase airflow and heat dissipation for your camera body then opening the flash cover is an obvious step to try. Although this will depend on the camera accessories that you have mounted to your a5100 as some will prevent the flash from being opened, it could be worth trying.

Take Advantage Of Airplane Mode

Airplane mode is a quick and easy way to instantly turn off all of the wireless technology available in your Sony a5100 that can end up requiring a surprising amount of power from your battery and thus generating more heat. We would imagine that the vast majority of a5100 users don’t actually use any of the wireless technology on the camera body while actually recording their video footage or taking photographs so just turn it off.

Although the power requirement is minimal compared to what your camera will need for capturing high definition video at 60fps, it is free, quick, and easy to do so if you are on a budget, it is well worth trying out in our opinion.

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Check Your Frames Per Second

As we have specifically mentioned a few times throughout the article, capturing your video footage at 60fps requires a large amount of power from your camera and can generate an absolute ton of heat. Although you may have to use the 60fps frames per second setting often, it may not be essential all of the time. If you can get away with using a lower fps setting on your a5100 then try it as it can reduce the heat generated from your battery and potentially increase your recording time before you get your overheating warning.

Update To Latest Firmware

Our final recommendation to prevent your Sony a5100 overheating is to ensure that you are running the latest version of the firmware. Depending on when your a5100 was initially shipped it may still have the original version of the firmware running on it and Sony have released a number of updates since then. Although we are unaware if any of the firmware updates for the a5100 are targeted towards helping with its overheating issues, two updates for the Sony a6000 were specifically released to help deal with overheating. Considering that updating your camera’s firmware is quick and free, we feel that it is well worth trying, especially if you are on a tight budget as it may be able to help.

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13 Nikon P900 Tips And Tricks For Optimal Image Quality! https://gimbalgarage.com/nikon-p900-tips-and-tricks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nikon-p900-tips-and-tricks Thu, 28 Nov 2019 16:17:04 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=2513 [the_ad id=”20″]So the Nikon p900 is a pretty unique camera and depending on what you are planning to do with it, it can handle unlike the majority of other popular camera bodies on the market right now. Due to this, we have noticed a number of people reaching out with various questions about the p900 recently so we have decided to publish this article full of tips and tricks for the p900 to help our readers.

It is essentially a list of some of the most commonly asked questions that we see from the community and our hope is that our article will be able to help any of our readers who other the p900 and are looking for some tips and tricks on how to use it. As many people have discovered, depending on the niche you are planning to use your p900 in and your level of experience in that niche, it can have a pretty steep learning curve so some of these Nikon P900 tips and tricks may be able to help make your time easier.

Now, please keep in mind that our article is designed to help as many of our readers as possible. Due to this, we have included as much information as possible to try and help everyone from a brand new p900 user all the way up to an advanced user. Due to this, some of these tips may not apply to you or seem pretty basic but just stick with us as you work your way through the list.

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Get Some Suitable Image Stabilization

The Nikon p900 is a unique camera set up and many regular tripods are simply not designed to work with a camera of its weight and dimensions, especially when you are using the camera at its higher zoom capabilities. The heavier weight and top-heavy nature of the camera, especially when zoomed in can present a tilting risk for many tripods that are ideal for smaller camera setups but can struggle with the p900.

We have seen countless p900 owners purchasing more suitable tripods and trying their luck with a more suitable head but these can be expensive and may not even fix the risk of your tripod tilting. Thankfully though, you can pick up a decent Telephoto Lens Support quite cheaply these days and we feel that they are an almost essential camera accessory for cameras like the p900.

Essentially, it allows you to offset the center of gravity for your p900 when mounting it to your current tripod. You can quickly and easily adjust the support within seconds too so if you need to zoom in or zoom out while doing some astrophotography you can quickly tweak the support to always offset the camera payload correctly. It tends to be much cheaper than forking out for a new tripod or head and can provide you with the excellent image stabilization you need for such a powerful camera.

The Manfrotto 293 support has an excellent reputation within the community and performs very well when used with both the Nikon p900 and p1000. Although the video below shows the Manfrotto 293 being used with the p1000, the process is exactly the same for your p900 and the video offers a good example of how easy the system is to set up as well as how effective it can be during use too.

Get Your Hands On Some Solid Reading Material

Although Nikon has undoubtedly produced an excellent camera in the p900, it is a pretty well-known fact within the community that they have done a poor job of covering the potential and capabilities of the p900 in the included user manual. Thankfully though, Alexander White ha taken the time to publish The Photographer's Guide to the Nikon Coolpix P900 that has essentially become the unofficial bible for Nikon p900 users since its release.

In our opinion, the book is essential reading for anyone who owns a p900 and it goes into so much detail on everything that the camera can do and how best to achieve your goals with it. In addition to this, the book has managed to quickly earn itself an excellent reputation amongst p900 users and earn a ton of glowing independent reviews from third-party P900 owners over the years.

If you do have a few minutes spare then we would strongly recommend that you skim over those reviews to see how highly the community regards the book and read how it has managed to help so many people. Additionally, the book is presented in a way where is can be extremely helpful for Nikon p900 owners of all levels of experience too making it a valuable asset for around $20 depending on the retailer you purchase it from.

Check Your Lengths

Although this may seem like more of an entry-level tip, we would highly recommend that all Nikon 900 owners spend some time playing with the shorter zoom lengths available with the camera. Ideally, something between the 800mm to 1400mm mark just to get the hang of how the camera performs and get a solid feel for how it can perform.

We see so many photographers purchase the p900, set it to maximum zoom levels without realizing the various little nuances of using a camera with such a powerful zoom. Even if you have been using your p900 for months it may still be worth playing around at its lower zoom lengths to build up some solid habits before stretching out its zoom capabilities to take advantage of everything the p900 has to offer.

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Practice Your Free Hand Technique

Good technique is essential for a photographer with a regular telephoto zoom lens never mind for a camera like the p900. So many people develop poor technique by rushing into using the p900 at its higher zoom ranges and these habits and techniques can be difficult to shift once the set in. One of our easiest ways to help you improve your image quality is to practice using good aiming technique with your p900, especially if you are planning to be using it in a niche where you will be doing a whole bunch of handheld photography.

Patients is going to be essential as every photographer has their own way to build up the ideal position for their body type and height. Some key factors to take into account are trying to tuck your elbows in when in the aim, experiment with the amount of camera contact on your eyebrow for stability, work on your breathing control, experiment with capturing the photograph after inhaling and after exhaling, and finally, work on slowly activating the shutter release with a roll technique rather than a pressing motion.

Spending some time trying out variations of the suggestions above can really help you improve the quality of the photographs that you are able to capture with your p900 within a relatively short period of time.

Invest In Lens Protection

Although not on a p900, the image above shows the importance of having some decent lens protection when using a camera like the p900. As you can see in the image, the UV filter mounted to the lens is destroyed but thankfully, the actual front element of the lens below the UV filter has been protected and is fully serviceable.

With a camera like the Nikon p900, any damage to the lens can result in a costly repair bill depending on the level of damage sustained. Thankfully, Nikon has put a 67mm lens filter thread on the lens of the p900 allowing you to quickly, easily, and cheaply add some additional protection to your p900 lens in the form of a decent UV filter.

Although any 67mm UV lens filter will be able to mount to your p900 and offer some protection, we would always recommend that you try to ensure that you are using a filter that uses Germany Schott glass that is ideally layered for the best possible protection for your lens element. We always recommend the  Gobe 3 peak UV filter range as it uses sixteen layer German Schott glass offering some of the best protection available at around half of the price of the more established filter brands such as Hoya and Tiffin. Depending on the retailer, you should be able to pick up a Gobe 67mm 3 peak UV filter for around $30-$40 but it can end up saving you hundreds of dollars in potential repair bills.

Manually Set Your Vibration Reduction

Although Nikon’s vibration reduction technology is great, it can have its drawbacks when wanting to capture crisp, sharp images with your p900. Although this may sound like a basic setting to tweak depending on your situation, we see so many people leave their vibration reduction on at all times and we feel that this is a mistake.

If you are using your Nikon p900 in freehand then have your vibration reduction technology turned on but ensure that you turn it off as soon as you mount it to a tripod, monopod, or gimbal. You should be getting all the image stabilization your require from your tripod preventing vibration but Nikon’s vibration reduction technology can try to correct for vibrations that are not there and potentially ruin your image quality for a few seconds.

The vibration reduction setting is easy to navigate to in your p900 camera settings so you can turn it off or on within seconds as required and it can potentially help improve the image quality that you can capture during use.

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Trust Your Auto Focus

Just like their vibration reduction technology, the Nikon autofocus technology on the p900 is excellent and does a great job. In our opinion, it is massively underrated, especially their target finding autofocus that is perfect if you are planning to use your p900 for birding or wildlife photography.

A number of prominent bird photographers have backed this up and said that the Nikon target finding autofocus has been able to set optimal focus for birds against the sky within seconds very accurately. Some estimations put it as high as a 75% success rate for birds in flight whereas the various other modes and manual focus can be much lower.

As you may only have a few seconds to capture that photo of a rare bird we would highly recommend that you test out the Nikon target finding autofocus technology in your local area with some common birds in flight to see how it performs for you. We feel that you may be pleasantly surprised at how good it actually is and hope that it can help you capture more photographs of those rare birds in your area due to the time it can save you.

Adjust Your F Stops

Now, this next one is definatley going to depend on the niches that you are working in as well as the zoom ranges that you are using but tweaking your F stops can make a massive difference in your image quality with the Nikon p900. As many p900 owners have discovered, the camera does not behave in the same way as a regular DSLR when it comes to its F stops, especially at its higher zoom ranges.

Although some photographers have put this down to the smaller image sensor on the camera, a number of people have done a little bit of testing to discover the optimal F stops. Now, keep in mind, the recommendations below are just general recommendations, tweak them as needed for your situation but they are a solid starting point.

  • 24mm – f2.8 / f8
  • 105mm – f4 / f8
  • 200mm – f4.5 / f8
  • 2000mm – f6.5 / f8

Even just experimenting with your F stops in your normal zoom ranges can help you discover the settings that you should be using for optimal image quality in your niche and is well worth doing. The task really doesn’t take too much of your time to do but can really make a difference in the image quality that you are able to capture.

Play With Shutter Speeds

This one is usually relevant for those using their Nikon p900 for bird photography or fast-moving wildlife but adjust your shutter speeds for your subject. In our experience, a faster shutter speed produces much better photographs of birds and wildlife with superior image quality than a slower shutter speed. If you are involved in astrophotography then a slower shutter speed can be ideal depending on the lighting and atmospherics in your location.

We see so many entry-level photographers sticking to the same shutter speed no matter what they are photographing and it is a nice easy thing that you can adjust quickly to improve your image quality with minimal effort required on your part.

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Check Your Settings

This one is going to be similar to our F stop recommendations. Optimal camera settings is going to depend on a number of different factors as well as the photography niche that you are working in as well as the lighting that you have available for your session. That said though, the following can serve as a solid starting point for you to tweak to meet your needs.

  • Image Quality – Fine
  • Image Size – 16M (4608 x 3456)
  • Picture Control – SD (Standard)
  • White Balance – Auto1 (Auto normal)
  • Continuous – Continuous H (high speed burst)
  • ISO Sensitivity – ISO Fixed Range Auto (100-400 outdoors) or (100-800 indoors)
  • Autofocus Mode – AF-F (full time)
  • Noise Reduction Filter – Low
  • Active D-Lighting – Normal
  • Zoom Memory – ON
  • Startup Zoom Position – 50mm
  • Vibration Reduction – Normal
  • AF Assist – Auto

We would highly recommend that you take note of your current camera settings before trying out recommendations out so you are able to quickly and easily switch back to your current set up if you prefer it.

Go Remote

This one is mainly for anyone using the Nikon p900 for astrophotography but a decent, cheap, wireless remote control compatible with the p900 is a great investment for your image quality. It allows you to remotely trigger your camera to capture your photographs without having to actually touch your camera rig.

Say you are working at the upper zoom capabilities of your p900, set everything up, have the subject that you want to photograph in focus and the slightest movement of pressing your shutter release on your camera body ruins your photograph. The wireless remote control prevents this as there is no risk of movement to your camera rig at all when capturing your photograph. Considering that you can pick up a decent remote control for around $10, we feel that it is a solid camera accessory to pick up if you are in the astrophotography niche.

Test Single Shot And Burst

Different photography niches seem to accept that using a single-shot or burst shot is optimal for the situation but you should really test this out. We have seen a number of people in niches where burst shot is regarded as the better option be able to improve their image quality by switching over to single shot. The best part is that you can quickly switch between single-shot and burst shot within seconds to see what is optimal for you and the image quality that you prefer.

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Get Out And Play With The Camera

This final point on our list of Nikon P900 tips and tricks is probably common sense to many but so many people like to read and watch YouTube videos that drastically limit the time they have available to actually get out and play. In our opinion, doing is the best way to learn so take note of our recommendations and get out and about and try things out and actually put your p900 through its paces to see what you prefer.

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How To Weatherproof Your Sony A6000 Easily! https://gimbalgarage.com/weatherproof-your-sony-a6000/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=weatherproof-your-sony-a6000 Tue, 26 Nov 2019 19:26:53 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=2450 [the_ad id=”20″]The Sony a6000 is without a doubt one of the most popular mirrorless camera bodies on the market right now and has an absolutely massive user base of both photographers and videographers who use it as their go-to camera of choice for a large number of tasks. The a6000 offers some excellent image quality for its users and has some of the best camera accessories available to it on the market to allow you to adapt it to pretty much any situation that you may need.

All that said and done though, the a6000 does have one potentially major flaw depending on what you are planning to be doing with your camera and that is the fact that it is not weatherproof. Although many a6000 owners have confirmed that they have been able to use their camera in light rain or snow without issue, Sony has confirmed that there is no proper weather sealing on the camera and using it in rain or snow can put your camera at risk.

We have seen a large number of people reaching out every single month about Sony a6000 weatherproof methods but there really is not much content out there for people in this position. Thankfully though, we have decided to make this the subject of today’s article and are going to be going over the three main methods that we feel are best for weatherproofing your a6000 and protecting it against the elements.

Now, we know that some photographers, videographers, and vloggers so choose to simply wrap a plastic ziplock back around their camera body but this is a very basic method that has some major flaws so we will be focusing on three excellent cases that all offer protection for your camera. We have our comparison table below going over the main features of these three weatherproof camera cases and then we will be taking a more in-depth look at them throughout the rest of the article to offer our thoughts on each of them.

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Comparison Table

Product
Best Option!
Neewer A6000 Housing
DiCAPac Camera Case
Peak Design Shell
Image
Neewer 40m 130ft Underwater PC Housing Camera Waterproof Case for Sony A6000 with 16-50mm Lens
DiCAPac WP-S3 High-End and Mirrorless Camera Series Waterproof Case
Peak Design Black Shell Small Form-Fitting Rain and Dust Cover
Prime Delivary
-
-
IPX8 Water Proof
Splash Proof
Snow Proof
Dust Proof
Sand Proof
Comments
Fully waterproof down to a depth of 40 meters and fully weather sealed for total protection.
Offers solid protection from the elements but is not as robust as the Neewer option.
A popular option but is not fully sealed but does protect your camera against the weather.
Independent Reviews
Click To Read
Click To Read
Click To Read
Our Rating
Price
Price not available
$118.59
$44.90
Buy Now
Buy on Amazon
Buy on Amazon
Buy on Amazon
Best Option!
Product
Neewer A6000 Housing
Image
Neewer 40m 130ft Underwater PC Housing Camera Waterproof Case for Sony A6000 with 16-50mm Lens
Prime Delivary
-
IPX8 Water Proof
Splash Proof
Snow Proof
Dust Proof
Sand Proof
Comments
Fully waterproof down to a depth of 40 meters and fully weather sealed for total protection.
Independent Reviews
Click To Read
Our Rating
Price
Price not available
Buy Now
Buy on Amazon
Product
DiCAPac Camera Case
Image
DiCAPac WP-S3 High-End and Mirrorless Camera Series Waterproof Case
Prime Delivary
-
IPX8 Water Proof
Splash Proof
Snow Proof
Dust Proof
Sand Proof
Comments
Offers solid protection from the elements but is not as robust as the Neewer option.
Independent Reviews
Click To Read
Our Rating
Price
$118.59
Buy Now
Buy on Amazon
Product
Peak Design Shell
Image
Peak Design Black Shell Small Form-Fitting Rain and Dust Cover
Prime Delivary
IPX8 Water Proof
Splash Proof
Snow Proof
Dust Proof
Sand Proof
Comments
A popular option but is not fully sealed but does protect your camera against the weather.
Independent Reviews
Click To Read
Our Rating
Price
$44.90
Buy Now
Buy on Amazon

Last update on 2022-08-11 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

As you can see from our comparison table above, two of the options offer full protection from the elements whereas the third option only offers some splash protection. Although it may seem a little excessive, in our opinion, the best option to take when looking to weatherproof a Sony A6000 is the Neewer A6000 Housing as it offers full protection, is very robust, and has one of the best reputations going amongst the community.

Next up we have the DiCAPac Waterproof Case and although it is a solid, more budget-friendly option that meets all IPX8 waterproof standards with a decent reputation it does have its flaws. It is not as robust as the Neewer option and can some times rip making it useless, additionally, we have seen some reports from A6000 owners saying that the seals have given way and let some water into the case during use.

The final option that we have is the Peak Design Shell and the usefulness of this suggestion is going to depend on the weather in your area and the levels of rain that you will be working in. Although the various Peak Design shells are very popular within both the photography and videography communities and have a solid reputation it is not fully waterproof. If you live in an area like California then it will probably meet your needs but if you are in a state with higher levels of rainfall like Louisiana or Mississippi then either of the options above will offer better protection.

Performance And Functionality

Although you may not need full IPX8 waterproofing for your a6000 but the Neewer case is fully sealed and provides you with protection down to a depth of forty meters or one hundred and thirty feet. Although this is more of a side benefit than the main feature if you just want some standard weatherproofing, it is nice to know that you can fully submerge your a6000 in water while in the Neewer case without issue. In addition to this, the case also offers its full waterproof protection while having a 16-50mm lens mounted to your camera.

Although the DiCAPac Camera Case is listed as also being fully waterproof to IPX8 standards, we would not trust it to protect a Sony a6000 when fully submerged. Although there are a large number of reports from people confirming that they have used the DiCAPac Case when snorkeling we have seen a few about the seals giving way or springing a leak during use. The Peak Design Shells are not marketed as being fully waterproof solutions for cameras so should never be used if you do need to submerge your a6000.

When it comes to rainfall and snow both the Neewer case and DiCAPac Case offers excellent protection even in heavy rainfall and can help to keep your a6000 safe and protected during use. Both cases have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to offering your a6000 protection from rain. The Neewer case offers the best possible protection but is limited to a 16-50mm lens at most whereas the protection from the DiCAPac Case is not as good as the Neewer case but you can use pretty much any lens with it.

The Peak Design case is not ideal for heavy rain but can offer some protection in light rain but in all honesty, we feel that it is simply overrated when it comes to weatherproofing. Depending on the retailer that you purchase these cases from, the DiCAPac option is only ten to twenty dollars more than the Peak Design option and offers much better protection.

Depending on the niches that you are working in you may or may not also require dust and sand protection for your a6000. As you can probably tell from our comparison table earlier in the article, both the Neewer and DiCAPac cases offer some great protection for your camera from sand and dust when housed correctly. If you do regular work on a beach or in other areas with large amounts of sand then you probably know that it can be a pain to deal with so getting a case with some decent protection for your camera is well worth it in our opinion.

Again, the Peak Design product does fall behind when it comes to protecting your a6000 from sand and dust to the other two cases and should not be relied on for optimal protection. If you are on a very tight budget though then it can help to offer some minimal levels of protection during use but again, we would not skim on the weatherproofing case for a mirrorless camera that costs hundreds of dollars.

Build Quality And Design

One of the main worries that we see from people when it comes to weatherproofing cases for their cameras is access to their camera controls. The image above shows the augmented interface system for your Sony a6000 on the Neewer A6000 Housing and as you can see, they really have put the time and effort in to ensure that you still have full control over your camera while mounted in the case and protected from the elements.

Not only does the Neewer case offer the best possible protection but its build quality is absolutely outstanding resulting in a lightweight yet very robust camera case. This means that you don’t have to worry about the case breaking or ripping while in transit to your location only to get on-site and discover that your case is unusable.

Considering the price point of the DiCAPac case, it actually has a surprisingly good build quality but as you would expect for this price bracket, it definatley does have its issues. Even with regular use, we feel that the seals on the DiCAPac case will wear down in a relatively short period of time causing the level of weatherproofing that the case can offer your a6000 to suffer.

Now, the Peak Design Shell has an excellent build quality as you would expect from something from Peak Design but its just a shame that it does not offer the best weatherproofing against the elements. As we have mentioned a few times throughout the article though, depending on your location and what you are going to be doing with your a6000, the Peak Design Shell may meet your needs.

Our Verdict

That brings our article on Sony a6000 weatherproofing to a close and in our opinion, the Neewer A6000 Housing is the best camera accessory that you can add to your collection to get the best possible protection from the weather for your camera. There is a reason that has so many excellent reviews from the community and for the level of protection that it offers you, we feel that it offers you some great protection and value for money.

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3 Ways To Help You Land Your First Paid Macro Videography Gig! https://gimbalgarage.com/macro-videography-gig/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=macro-videography-gig Tue, 06 Aug 2019 17:11:41 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=684 [the_ad id=”20″]Although one of the less popular types of videographer, we have noticed a few people on social media sites asking about how they are able to get involved in the macro videography industry. In all honesty, none of our team have any experience with working as a macro videographer and we only know one person who used to do it before moving over to sports videography.

Due to this, our list for getting your first paid gig in this videography niche is going to be much shorter than the other articles like that that we have published. That said, macro videographer is such a small niche that we would always recommend that you work within multiple niches to support yourself while working towards landing a solid, long term macro videography gig as they are few and far between and very specialist.

Additionally, the majority of camera accessories required by a macro videographer are usually unique to the niche too. This can make it a nightmare to invest in the gear required to work towards getting your very first macro videography gig. Unlike other niches where your lenses and video lights can be used for a number of different things, you end up nailing yourself down with macro videography.

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Shadow A More Established Videographer

Now, macro videographers are few and far between so this could be a difficult one to implement in your strategy. Additionally, the macro niche seems to be very clicky and protective of each other due to there being so little dedicated work available. On the offchance, you live in a large city and there are some macro videography studios near you, try to network with some of the staff there and offer to work for free provided you are able to shadow a more experienced and established videographer when possible.

Not only is this a great way to get some solid experience but you are also to network with your potential future peers to build connections for the future. Additionally, with a little bit of luck, you will also be able to put the groundwork in and get some macro footage for your portfolio so you are able to start working towards applying for paid macro jobs too.

If you prove that you are reliable, can be trusted, and work hard then there is also a chance that you may be offered a long term paid position at the studio too. As many of the larger macro videography studios essentially have a monopoly on all of the larger ticket macro gigs, this is one of the best bets to get your career off the ground.

Start Your Own YouTube Channel

 

Now, this may sound like common sense but as we mentioned earlier, we know one person who used to work in the macro videography niche doing some pretty high priced gigs and this is actually how he managed to land his very first paid macro gig as an entry-level videographer. He has two hobbies, videography and lego so he decided to merge the two and start his own YouTube channel where he would showcase his talent in both.

Essentially, his videos were based around his lego based creations and then he would use his macro videography skillset to record them with the best image quality possible. The channel grew quite a sizable following pretty quickly before he decided to shut it down. Anyway. his first paying macro client actually saw his channel and ended up coming to him rather than him having to go looking for paid work.

Think of any other hobbies that you have that you are able to blend with your passion for videography and see if you can use it to build a following on social media or YouTube.

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Team Up With Macro Photographers

Macro photographers tend to get a fair bit of work depending on the time of year. Additionally, due to the attention required to get the perfect macro photograph, many of them will purely focus on their photography services and not offer any video gis at all and this is where you can come in.

You essentially team up with an established macro photographer and trade on their good name to help get clients and then you deal with the video work. You pay the photographer a fee for referring the client to you and hopefully, it will end up becoming a long term gig.

Now, you may have to do the first few sessions for free to prove to the photographer that you will actually turn up and that you have the skillset and equipment required to produce some decent macro footage. But before long, you will be able to ask for a fee and start to work your way up.

Not only is this a decent way for you to land your first paid gig but it can also be great for networking and building up your own reputation within the niche. Additionally, you can also get some great portfolio footage when doing these kinds of jobs too!

Wrapping It All Up

As we said earlier in the article, the macro videography niche is very small and clicky so it will be a pain to get into without any connections. Expect to have to invest a whole bunch of time, effort, and money before you are even close to seeing any form of return on your investment.

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How To Balance DJI Ronin S Gimbals Quickly! https://gimbalgarage.com/how-to-balance-dji-ronin/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-balance-dji-ronin Tue, 06 Aug 2019 12:45:48 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=677 [the_ad id=”20″]Now, we have made a few posts around the quickest and easiest ways that you are able to balance your gimbal in the past and in the end, the feedback from our readers suggested they were hard to follow, even if we included a whole bunch of pictures in them. Due to this, we have decided to try a totally different method when it comes to balancing the DJI Ronin S and just share a video guide.

In our opinion, the video below offers the best information on how you are able to best balance your Ronin S in the shortest amount of time. It is very in-depth and helpful and we feel that it will be much easier to follow opposed to the texted based guides that we have tried in the past. Although the first few times you run through the process you may take a little longer after you have had a few chances to practice the balancing procedure, we are confident that most of our readers will be able to get it done within a minute or two.

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Our Quick And Easy Zhiyun Crane Setup Guide! https://gimbalgarage.com/zhiyun-crane-setup-guide/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=zhiyun-crane-setup-guide Mon, 05 Aug 2019 18:46:08 +0000 https://gimbalgarage.com/?p=662 [the_ad id=”20″]In this article, we are going to be going over our quick and easy Zhiyun Crane setup guide for any of our readers who are either looking for ways to set up their gimbal or ways to speed up their initial setup time. Thankfully, Zhiyun has done a great job of refining the initial setup of their Crane range with each subsequent generation of their gimbals.

This can actually help you save a bunch of time and effort each time you have to set up or balance your gimbal. We will be going through this post as if it is the very first time that you are doing your initial set up for your gimbal when getting it out the box for the very first time.

Charge Your Gimbal

Although many of the units from the Crane gimbal range will have a residual charge when you first order it from Zhiyun due to quality testing after production, we would always recommend that you initially charge your gimbal upon delivery. Although the Crane range is pretty large now, the gimbals are split between two main charging systems.

The earlier generations have removable batteries that need to be placed into an external charging unit whereas the modern Crane gimbals have a USB charger build in and you just plug the charging cable into the gimbal and let it charge up. The charging LED will remain solid when the gimbals batteries are fully charged and you can then move on to the next stage.

Balance Your Gimbal

The next stage is to balance your gimbal, now, this is much easier to show than to type so we would recommend that you watch the video above as it is much easier to understand than us typing it out. The majority of the traditional Zhiyun Crane designs are very similar to the one shown in the video above.

If you do have the Zhiyun Crane 3 with the new design then we would recommend that you check YouTube for a dedicated video on balancing that specific model. Although it may take a while to get the hang of it, once you have got the hand of the process, you can usually totally balance your gimbal in a minute or two.

Mount Your Camera Rig

The majority of the Zhiyun gimbal range use the Manfrotto quick release plate system like many commonly used tripods. Due to this, it is really easy to quickly and easily mount your camera to your gimbal directly from a tripod that uses the Manfrotto quick release plate system. That said, if you don’t already have a quick release plate fitted to your camera then it is really easy and straight forward to do.

Once your camera is mounted to your Zhiyun Crane you are good to go and play with your new toy to capture all the video footage you need.

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