To the NEX gurus:

[kit laughlin]

Is there ANY way of getting a 1:1 aspect ratio?

I have been taking to using the LH side of the 3:2 frame, but it's not the same—the capacity to see and compose by a square frame in the EVF is completely different to cropping in post: I want to be limited in the best way by this choice when I am shooting.

Just a dream, I suppose, but putting it out there!

I check a moment ago over at FM; Ken.vs.ryu posted this reply:

Change the grid to square to give you 1:1 framing. Crop in post.

It does work, and practise will improve this way of seeing, too, I imagine.

 

[pegelli]

Use your rear LCD, masked left and right with ducktape and crop in post. For the experience of a 2 eye reflex flap out the LCD at 90 degrees and look at it from above while holding the camera at waist level.

If you like DIY you could open up the body and do the same with the EVF, but that's a lot more complicated

 

[Godfrey]

Dunno on the NEX. Probably have to do like what I've been doing with the M9: just visualize and have Lightroom auto-crop to square for me.

The E-PL1 I bought cheap has not been taken out of square mode since I bought it... ;-)

G

 

[Vivek]

Use your rear LCD, masked left and right with ducktape and crop in post. For the experience of a 2 eye reflex flap out the LCD at 90 degrees and look at it from above while holding the camera at waist level.

If you like DIY you could open up the body and do the same with the EVF, but that's a lot more complicated

Kit,

Don't do any of those.

The LCD's outer areas has a sensor for auto brightness. No point in blinding that.

The EVF optics are plastic and the EVF led display is very delicate and fragile and any attempts to tinker with it will kill it and hence the whole camera.

 

[kit laughlin]

Vivek, thanks for your input; always valuable to me.

I am using ken.vs.ryu's idea in the meantime; it's helping me to "see" 1:1 more directly.

I was hoping that somewhere out there, a crazy hacker (like Vitaly, of the GH video hack fame) might have worked out how to add this aspect choice to the menu...

Is there a NEX firmware wish list anywhere that you know of? Cheers, kl

 

[npeters]

Hi Kit - Are you still shooting with the Voigtlaner lens you bought from me for your GRX? I see you have a Nex 6 now, I just took the plunge for one too, a great tool. Instead of worrying about the square format in-camera, why not shoot using the centre portion only for the subject, and then using the (Windows-only) Atrise Golden Section software crop it in post? It costs about $50 and is just about the best composition tool for post in existence.
Cheers, Norman Peters

 

[kit laughlin]

npeters, thanks for that suggestion, but I am an Apple person, and that software is Windows-only, as you note. cheers, kL

 

[Godfrey]

npeters, thanks for that suggestion, but I am an Apple person, and that software is Windows-only, as you note. cheers, kL

Hi Kit,

With my Olympus cameras, when I set it to format square, it images in the viewfinder that way and the raws image the same. HOWEVER, I can tweak the EXIF data and have LR change to the whole raw image.

Many times, with cameras that don't crop the raw files, I just shoot centered and automatically apply a square crop in Lightroom. Doesn't help shooting visualization, but it gets the job done.

G

Olympus E-PL1 + 15mm f/8 body cap lens​

 

[kit laughlin]

As it happens, I have sold both my NEX 6 bodies; working with the NEX video (AVCHD), as a videographer (and photographer) is problematic: all you see on the SD card is "PRIVATE", no matter how many clips are contained therein.

In my experimenting, I have found that the Nikon 1 V1 makes truly lovely video, allows full manual control, and it records separate H.264 clips in a MOV wrapper—which Final Cut Studio can edit without transcoding, so a major time-saver.

The still images are not as good as the 6's, but are still very good, so I am using a pair of these for my daily work. Who knows what's around the corner....