The avi files from the D300s should play just fine in either QuickTime or preview (just hit spacebar at one of the files and it should play directly in a popup window). I haven't used Premiere Pro with the avi files, but iMovie does import the files beautifully and does an internal conversion to Apple Intermediate Codec if you want it to... just choose "optimize - full size" in the import movie dialogue and you're set. Good luck! Cheers, Martin
In case you still have problems opening the files, try using the MPEG Streamclip software (available on the net) to convert the files to MOV and Apple ProRes or AIC prior to importing in your video editing software. But for me it just works in FCP, iMovie and QT. :)
THe problem with D300s and D90 is that in D-MOVE, ISO and shutter is automatic. That's why camera chooses highest ISO resulting grainy footage and horizontal lines running accross.
IT is only a firmware fix nothing wrong with you're camera as I have the same problem with my D300s. IT is a way around it but is anoying ot do that every time.
Thanks for your explanation, Valonque! I'm fully aware though, of the shutter and ISO properties and the available workarounds. The vertical banding I'm experiencing is different, it's a sensor related issue apart from the usual rolling shutter/jello/horizontal banding at 50Hz lighting etc. I've got vertical banding that also appears ever so slightly at ISO3200 and up in still images, even in the RAW-data... it shows more easily in film because it's easily masked in the noise in stills...
If you want to shoot at low light just for testing you can place a strong light in front of the lens whiles you are in Live view mode. You can see the camera lowering the ISO to compensate and then hit the AFEFlock button to lock the exposure then you can compensate with the Fstop on the lens for more light. But you have to use manual lenses and not the VR because it doesn't have the fstop on the lens.
It would be great to have manual controls, but it's not bothering me too much. I use AE-L and tricking the D300s into lower gain when needed, but since I often shoot in very low light I need the highest gain, and I feel like the grain is very flimic, minus the vertical banding! :) Since I'm also a technician, I've filed a very thorough report on the issue to Nikon, waiting patiently for a response... You can see it if you look really close in this vid, but compression makes it very hard to see.
Canon 7D has sort it out that problem very easily. They have add it full manual control over video + it can shoot Full HD and slow motion in Quictime Movie H.264 which is native in CS4 and FCP.
Other wise D300s is a grate camera especially if you have manual lenses like I do. Shooting video with manual lenses you won't believe what kind of results you would have. If you had manual lenses like 50mm f1.4 and setting ISO at 100 it would look amassing. Professional movie making
I had another look here and the vertical banding is completely killed by the compression added by Youtube in the conversion. You would have to look at an original H.264 file to see the issue. Have you noticed anything like vertical banding (looks like irregularities in the image sensor's vertical matrix readouts, i.e. some rows appear lighter or darker than the adjacent rows) it's a permanent issue in my D300s and it shows in shadow areas at high ISO gain in D-movie mode. Thanks for ur comments!
I only get the banding with my camera when i shoot under florescent lighting, which is caused i think because of the rolling shutter. Because we cant dial in the ISO and the Shutter camera behaves like that. I shot stuff under controlled lighting when we shot on RED and to tell you the truth you can't tell the difference. I have been contacting Nikon ever since I bought the camera to find out when is the Firmware coming out but nothing yet so far. Lets wait and see.
Hey, thanks Valonque! Glad you liked the film. I was using the excellent 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens for this particular shoot. The lens is very fast and bright, but nevertheless I think the ISO gain went up in the 1600-3200 level because it was very dark. The D300s output is remarkably clean at higher ISO, but I do have some slight vertical banding that I keep bugging Nikon about, could be just my D300s or a faulty batch, or firmware issue. The bitrate is quite stunning from the D300s. Cheers /Martin
@popitn2nd - Yes the footage was recorded using a D300s with the Nikkor 70-200 VR lens, handheld at the time. Actually, iMovie 09 has the ability to convert the clips to its preferred "Apple Intermediate Codec" format while importing, just choose "optimize" and "full size" and the clips will end up all converted to QuickTime AIC files (virtually lossless) in the iMovie events folder. There is one catch, though...
did you have to convert the files from nikon d300s to a different format to edit them using the imovie 09? or was this transfer straight from nikon to imovie 09 edited?
Since the iMovie 09 timeline is not fully compatible with 24p footage like the Nikon D90 and D300s, there will be a slightest stutter every second because of the missing frame and the iMovie timeline running at a fixed 25fps. There are a few workarounds, luckily. Either you'll just go ahead and edit after the clips are imported, then export with "Export to QuickTime" and select H.264 and custom framerate 24p, AAC sound. That will give smooth video but slightly stuttering text and iMovie effects.
I prefer to take another route to smooth editing. If you could conform all of the D90/D300s clips to 25p prior to using them in iMovie you would have an all smooth looking result! This is the workflow I used in this video: Import clips into iMovie 09 using optimize (creating AIC files). Then exit iMovie. Perform a batch conform to 25p of the imported clips at their location (iMovie events folder) with a program called CinemaTools (installed along with Apple Final Cut Studio) then re-open iMovie
this footage was recorded with d300s nikon and straight edited with 09 imovie? did you have to convert the file to a different format? i believe the format file for d300s dmovie as well as the d90 are AVI File right?
Excellent work :-)
TheFragiled 1 year ago
Does anyone know how good the mic is as well the battery span ?
filiwian 2 years ago
this is probably a dumb question.
but how can I get the avi files from my d300s to play? they won't open in Premier Pro, iMoive '09 or in Quicktime.
I already downloaded the 5.6 Camera Raw update to fix the problem with the photos not being recognized.
Thanks.
EaguruGuru 2 years ago
The avi files from the D300s should play just fine in either QuickTime or preview (just hit spacebar at one of the files and it should play directly in a popup window). I haven't used Premiere Pro with the avi files, but iMovie does import the files beautifully and does an internal conversion to Apple Intermediate Codec if you want it to... just choose "optimize - full size" in the import movie dialogue and you're set. Good luck! Cheers, Martin
cablefreak76 2 years ago
In case you still have problems opening the files, try using the MPEG Streamclip software (available on the net) to convert the files to MOV and Apple ProRes or AIC prior to importing in your video editing software. But for me it just works in FCP, iMovie and QT. :)
cablefreak76 2 years ago
Martin !
THe problem with D300s and D90 is that in D-MOVE, ISO and shutter is automatic. That's why camera chooses highest ISO resulting grainy footage and horizontal lines running accross.
IT is only a firmware fix nothing wrong with you're camera as I have the same problem with my D300s. IT is a way around it but is anoying ot do that every time.
valonqe1 2 years ago
Thanks for your explanation, Valonque! I'm fully aware though, of the shutter and ISO properties and the available workarounds. The vertical banding I'm experiencing is different, it's a sensor related issue apart from the usual rolling shutter/jello/horizontal banding at 50Hz lighting etc. I've got vertical banding that also appears ever so slightly at ISO3200 and up in still images, even in the RAW-data... it shows more easily in film because it's easily masked in the noise in stills...
cablefreak76 2 years ago
If you want to shoot at low light just for testing you can place a strong light in front of the lens whiles you are in Live view mode. You can see the camera lowering the ISO to compensate and then hit the AFEFlock button to lock the exposure then you can compensate with the Fstop on the lens for more light. But you have to use manual lenses and not the VR because it doesn't have the fstop on the lens.
Regards
valonqe1 2 years ago
It would be great to have manual controls, but it's not bothering me too much. I use AE-L and tricking the D300s into lower gain when needed, but since I often shoot in very low light I need the highest gain, and I feel like the grain is very flimic, minus the vertical banding! :) Since I'm also a technician, I've filed a very thorough report on the issue to Nikon, waiting patiently for a response... You can see it if you look really close in this vid, but compression makes it very hard to see.
cablefreak76 2 years ago
Canon 7D has sort it out that problem very easily. They have add it full manual control over video + it can shoot Full HD and slow motion in Quictime Movie H.264 which is native in CS4 and FCP.
Other wise D300s is a grate camera especially if you have manual lenses like I do. Shooting video with manual lenses you won't believe what kind of results you would have. If you had manual lenses like 50mm f1.4 and setting ISO at 100 it would look amassing. Professional movie making
regards
valonqe1 2 years ago
I had another look here and the vertical banding is completely killed by the compression added by Youtube in the conversion. You would have to look at an original H.264 file to see the issue. Have you noticed anything like vertical banding (looks like irregularities in the image sensor's vertical matrix readouts, i.e. some rows appear lighter or darker than the adjacent rows) it's a permanent issue in my D300s and it shows in shadow areas at high ISO gain in D-movie mode. Thanks for ur comments!
cablefreak76 2 years ago
I only get the banding with my camera when i shoot under florescent lighting, which is caused i think because of the rolling shutter. Because we cant dial in the ISO and the Shutter camera behaves like that. I shot stuff under controlled lighting when we shot on RED and to tell you the truth you can't tell the difference. I have been contacting Nikon ever since I bought the camera to find out when is the Firmware coming out but nothing yet so far. Lets wait and see.
Regards
valonqe1 2 years ago
Beautiful video mate ! I Like the music very much, right choice for the visuals.
How did you mange to get the low ISO and shutter speed ?
Regards
Valonqe
valonqe1 2 years ago
Hey, thanks Valonque! Glad you liked the film. I was using the excellent 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens for this particular shoot. The lens is very fast and bright, but nevertheless I think the ISO gain went up in the 1600-3200 level because it was very dark. The D300s output is remarkably clean at higher ISO, but I do have some slight vertical banding that I keep bugging Nikon about, could be just my D300s or a faulty batch, or firmware issue. The bitrate is quite stunning from the D300s. Cheers /Martin
cablefreak76 2 years ago
nice work!
properatzi 2 years ago
Thanks a lot!
cablefreak76 2 years ago
Thanks for your comments!
@popitn2nd - Yes the footage was recorded using a D300s with the Nikkor 70-200 VR lens, handheld at the time. Actually, iMovie 09 has the ability to convert the clips to its preferred "Apple Intermediate Codec" format while importing, just choose "optimize" and "full size" and the clips will end up all converted to QuickTime AIC files (virtually lossless) in the iMovie events folder. There is one catch, though...
cablefreak76 2 years ago
did you have to convert the files from nikon d300s to a different format to edit them using the imovie 09? or was this transfer straight from nikon to imovie 09 edited?
popitn2nd 2 years ago
Since the iMovie 09 timeline is not fully compatible with 24p footage like the Nikon D90 and D300s, there will be a slightest stutter every second because of the missing frame and the iMovie timeline running at a fixed 25fps. There are a few workarounds, luckily. Either you'll just go ahead and edit after the clips are imported, then export with "Export to QuickTime" and select H.264 and custom framerate 24p, AAC sound. That will give smooth video but slightly stuttering text and iMovie effects.
cablefreak76 2 years ago
I prefer to take another route to smooth editing. If you could conform all of the D90/D300s clips to 25p prior to using them in iMovie you would have an all smooth looking result! This is the workflow I used in this video: Import clips into iMovie 09 using optimize (creating AIC files). Then exit iMovie. Perform a batch conform to 25p of the imported clips at their location (iMovie events folder) with a program called CinemaTools (installed along with Apple Final Cut Studio) then re-open iMovie
cablefreak76 2 years ago
And you're good to go. ;)
cablefreak76 2 years ago
this footage was recorded with d300s nikon and straight edited with 09 imovie? did you have to convert the file to a different format? i believe the format file for d300s dmovie as well as the d90 are AVI File right?
popitn2nd 2 years ago
very moving footage, as well as being very nice.
sillytechno 2 years ago
awesome
series25 2 years ago