D300S video test on Vimeo

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2. D300S video test

by Dave Stevenson

7 months ago

1. 500D test video

by Dave Stevenson

10 months ago

Filmed at the Banksy exhibition in Bristol.

Credits

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Lorand Toth 7 months ago

Dave, if this is in Bristol (50Hz lights), and you shot 24p, did you had manual control over shutter speed?
Dave Stevenson 7 months ago

Willing to be corrected but the D300S doesn't give you manual shutter control in video mode. You can set the aperture in A and M modes before shooting but not shutter. Framerate isn't adjustable either.

Big fan of this btw vimeo.com/5002592. What did you edit in?
James Klatt 7 months ago

Could you theoretically go into aperture priority, find an aperture that makes the shutter speed be at 50, THEN go into videomode and set that same aperture so that you could scientifically predict the shutter speed?
Dave Stevenson 7 months ago

Hi James - it doesn't seem to work like that. I've just tried it. You can set the aperture and see what the shutter speed does, but the D300S compensates to keep a picture correctly exposed. Point it through a window and then into a dark room, for instance, and it boosts the brightness. But the shutter value on the info LCD doesn't change, so I can only assume it's boosting exposure via sensor sensitivity or something like that.
Ron Adair 6 months ago

Dave -

I have had quite a bit of luck with the above mentioned method. It's not perfect, and I really hope Nikon releases a full manual firmware upgrade (with full shutter speed, aperture, AND ISO control). Still, I have been able to get a nice blur (aka ~1/50) by bumping the aperture way up, even as high as f/16.

I'm ordering some ND filters to allow me to continue to shoot wide open AND get the slower shutter when desired. Nothing different than what the real guys do in HW.

Here's a vid I shot before I really had control of the shutter speed:

vimeo.com/6141980
Bob Zimmerman 7 months ago

Dave did Nikon give you a D300s to use and then post the footage on the internet?
Dave Stevenson 7 months ago

I write about technology for a living. So the D300S, for instance, I reviewed for top UK tech site TechRadar - you can find the review here tinyurl.com/nqus6z
Mike L 7 months ago

wow... moving banksy art... quite troubling indeed.

BUT the footage looks good! too bad we still don't have manual control standard on these DSLRs yet. (C'mon Canon/Nikon!)
Dave Stevenson 7 months ago

You can set aperture before filming, but in my tests I didn't notice much difference. Best bet for narrow DoF is to use a longer lens.
Rob Harbour 4 months ago

I've got a 50mm f1.8 prime and it makes an enormous difference setting the aperture, giving great control over depth of field. However, to make it work, you have to go into LV, set the aperture and take a normal photograph (this fixes the aperture), then start recording video.

If you simply alter the aperture in Live View and don't use this method, the aperture is not set. Kinda silly really as you end up with a load of test stills!

It actually says this in a round-about way in the manual, it says it uses the last aperture you had set. I guess the aperture mechanism is attached to the trigger, rather than the video record button.
Gerard Griffin 7 months ago

Hi Dave,
have you seen/used the video features of the D90 and if so so you see much difference in video quality between the 2?
Dave Stevenson 7 months ago

Hi Gerard, I haven't used the D90 much, but I have used the D5000, which by most accounts is about the same. To my eyes there's not much difference in quality between D300s and D5000 video-wise. Both shoot at 720p, both create motion-JPEG files etc. What you're really paying for with the D300s is still speed (up to 8fps in my tests) and professional-level build quality.

One significant feature the D300s does have over the D5000 is a mic-in port, so you can use an external mic.
Gerard Griffin 7 months ago

Thanks for the reply Dave. I feared you might say this alright. Im currently a d90 owner waiting for an improvement to come.
Joey Bordelon 6 months ago

Do any of you use Final Cut and if so what is your workflow for getting the footage to be editable natively without having to render? Also any advice or maybe even settings to lower noise in video mode. I notice my images are very sharp but I see noise in the negative space. Thanks for your help.

I did find a "way" to control ISO to an extent....you can turn AUTO ISO on and set the maximum aperture to say 400 and it won't go above that in video mode. It may be a work around. I spoke with Nikon yesterday and they said a firmware update is in progress but no estimate on a release date. I leave for Africa in two weeks....they said it wouldnt be before then...:(

Thanks guys.
Benny Dubbs 6 months ago

no workaround yet for editing footage - always need to render best is to transfer to prores 422 (HQ) nikon seem unconcerned with movie mode - no codec, no firmware update - there is a method to keep blacks rich - you have to fool the camera to automatically use a low ISO then you lock it - called the "kholi method" - does teh trick but by no means scientific ... a few threads online of keeping low iso workarounds. do a search. i have gotten very rich blacks in low light situations.
Bjørn Erik Øvrelid 6 months ago

I saw someone else post this at another D300S test video.

"You need to use the AE-L button to lock the exposure. You can set the duration in the menu to keep it locked as long as you want."

Any idea if that helps with the constant lighting correction? It was far less noticable in this video then any of the others i've come across so far..
William Carnahan 5 months ago

Here is something i shot with the d90

vimeo.com/1803882

The concept of the AE-L we figured out right away. Been on a lot of student film shots where we are starting to USE nikons rather then cannon's dslr, just because we all have nikon prime lenses to use. We would take a gray card and light it with our lights then set the desired AE-lock to that then come back to the subject to shoot, kind of a hassle but it gets the job done. I hope Nikon comes out with something to give us more control!!!!