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The D90 Conundrum

H

Howard Shaw

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I'm looking at this camera as a "starter" for DSMC work and demo work, its cheap, the pictures are very, very good. Notwithstanding the jello roll deal, you can lock exposure of this camera. Check out this beautiful very casual reel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6qaoiTCZw&feature=fvw

Very impressive, nice easy workflow, Nikon lenses etc. Any thoughts? I think they have it on Canon.
 
Thats funny. I like still images that move.
 
I have a D90 but rarely use it for video. Very hard to focus on the small LCD and the images get grainy quickly in low light.

I did use it on a run-and-gun doco and got some lovely results, but also some messy ones.

Yeah, the Nikon lenses are fantastic, as are the Zeiss ZFs. There is a very good adapter to fit them to a Canon 5D mark2, which I'm thinking is a better option.
 
Buy it if you need a still camera. Don't buy it just for the video.
I must admit being tempted by the HDSLR's. Then I look again at the clip of Izzy, and the shots of the cocker spaniel and the Oakley Time Tank taken with the 2/3" Scarlet prototype. The video of a 5DII, D90, or GH1 looks more like 480p than 1080p when compared with the Scarlet.
We have two Nikon DSLR's now and I don't need another still camera. For me the compromises in video quality and functional ergonomics of the current HDSLR's make them less interesting as motion cameras. I prefer save the available budget for Scarlet.
But knock yourself out if it fits your needs and budget for now.
 
HOLY CRAP! that is the UGLIESTTTTT rolling shutter I have ever seen!

why would anyone use this camera for video????

I can see its uses if you get pulled over by a cop and need quick video evidence of police brutality... but film making... ehhh no
 
The rolling shutter in that video was just awful. Really really bad. I've heard it's a great stills camera tho. If you want to use the video it shoots for anything but disgusting your audience you need to shoot static frames from the tripod to avoid the rolling shutter issue, and that isn't cool at all. Both Canon 5dMII and the Pentax K-7 should handle the rolling shutter issue a lot better, but in comparison to what RED will offer us it's still poop.
 
Nice looking footage. The rolling shutter effect can be removed (or decreased) afterwards. There was a thread here somewhere with a new program that did a great job.
 
JanneJansson said:
Nice looking footage. The rolling shutter effect can be removed (or decreased) afterwards. There was a thread here somewhere with a new program that did a great job.
Click to expand...

I have a D90, and it is a wonderful stills camera for it's price.

As far as the video goes, i rarely use the feature: i rather shoot with my small HV20. Or, for jobs that require it, rent a "real" camera of course. This said, i could see myself using D90 as the 2nd or 3rd camera on some shoots, especially if the result is to be shown in SD television.

I'm not as worried about the rolling shutter artifacts as most: my shooting style is pretty calm anyway, i rarely spray with the camera handheld. To me the main turnoffs for D90 video are moiré and aliasing caused by skipping pixels, and the poor compression. Also, living in a PAL country, 24p is far from optimal frame rate, 25p would have been much nicer.
 
If you want a low priced DSLR with video capabilities (these cameras out now aren't worth being called DSMCs) I'd suggest the Canon T1i. The rolling shutter is a lot better on it, its great in low light and if you want to have it in 24p there is an easy way to do it in Final Cut.

I shot this with the T1i not too long ago. It'd be nicer if I had the 5D Mark II because of 1080p and manual controls, but for 720p and no manual controls with a Nikon adapter it worked pretty well.

http://www.poptent.net/media/12840
 
My suggestion on your causal reel is to underexpose perhaps a stop more than you currently are, perhaps with an ND filter or a Polarizer.

Otherwise, I can't deal with the jello shutter. Not something I could use anywhere.

IBloom
 
I have to agree with what some others have said here, the jello effect is not so good for a professional demo reel. If you are just looking to show off your sort of style with a bit of motion for entry level work, then it may suffice.
For personal video, I say why not? (until Scarlet- mwah ha haha)
 
I got the D90 the first week it came out. I've made a lot of money with it shooting stills. As for the movie mode you can forget about it. If you purchase it for filmmaking you would be investing your money as if you were putting your money on the Madoff fund, totally waste it. It has many more problems than just the awful rolling shutter madness. But, unfortunetely you warn people about it and they just go out and purchase it anyway, to soon find out the truth. Go figure.
 
I've had my D90 for almost a year now. Here's the best results we got from the camera which was mainly post processing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYo1GWcMgec&fmt=22

The only advantage Dmovie has over the competition is 24p. Otherwise it overheats, has terrible compression and essentially no audio. If you really want to play with Dmovie mode get a D5000. Otherwise all of the the other VDSLRs have better quality video at 30p.
 
I'm a Nikon guy but one play with video on the D90 turned me off it completely. It's hard to fathom why Nikon, Canon et al seem totally unable to grasp the whole motion thing. As Jim says, Ray Charles could see the need but nobody else would do it right, so he had to - and thank the lord he did!
 
Forget the horrible rolling shutter, bad moire, aliasing and compression artifacts. What really turned me off from that test is the aperture flickering between constantly and causing an incredibly annoying strobing effect.

There is no conundrum. You would be better off with just about any other 1080p camera.
 
LOL. Thanks all. I bought one anyway, because I take a lot of stills and love the camera for that alone. Here's a link to some video I shot yesterday. You can see some of the aforementioned inherent problems, but I'm still quite impressed. You can lock the exposure and trick this camera quite easily, you'll see a tilt up where I forgot to lock exposure, the step gain is very annoying. I'm happy, its quite a good toy and quite appropriate for some of the lower end work I do, ie web based. Feel free to comment. Again thanks

http://www.cr8tvmedia.com/cr8tvmedia/D90test.html
 
Howard Shaw said:
LOL. Thanks all. I bought one anyway, because I take a lot of stills and love the camera for that alone. Here's a link to some video I shot yesterday. You can see some of the aforementioned inherent problems, but I'm still quite impressed. You can lock the exposure and trick this camera quite easily, you'll see a tilt up where I forgot to lock exposure, the step gain is very annoying. I'm happy, its quite a good toy and quite appropriate for some of the lower end work I do, ie web based. Feel free to comment. Again thanks

http://www.cr8tvmedia.com/cr8tvmedia/D90test.html
Click to expand...

Hi Howard, horses for courses, if it works for you that's all that matters.

As for that video... not to be rude, but my iPhone takes comparable images
and it looked just like a PHONE CAM to me... but maybe it was the compression?
 
Umm...yes. A 1gb file down to 37 megs. You guys crack me up.
 
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