Rainy Day -- Nikon DSLR Video Shootout

Some people have been giving Nikons a bad rap for their video capability. I went out with a D300s and a D5000 (with a 50mm 1.4, 18-35mm 3.5, 170-500mm 5.0, 24-120mm 3.5, and an 18-105mm 3.5) to shoot this video, hopefully demonstrating what the cameras are capable of. Shots with audio were recorded from an external Rode Videomic.

There is little difference between the video from the D5000 and the D300s. During shooting, however, I noticed that the D5000 does have a bit more of an issue with rolling shutter. Also, watching the video on a larger monitor showed some stair-stepping and artifacting in the D5000 video that was less apparent in the D300s footage. All footage was uprezzed to 1080p upon export; this isn't so much cheating as it is a workaround.

Cameras are tools; the people behind them are what make the difference.

*Some focus pulls were a little sticky due to the nature of some of the lens' focusing rings.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• nikon
• canon
• 5d
• 7d
• d300s
• d90
• d5000
• video
• movie
• test
• comparison
• rode
• videomic
• 50mm
• f1.4
• short
• film
• color
• colour
• grading
• custom
• preset
• presets

[emmceeandrew]

Nicely done sir.

I'm currently shooting stills with a d700 but I'm itching to try my hand at firing some moving images.

Did you notice anything major in difference between the 300s and the 5000? (Other than price)

[AltF4Media]

@emmceeandrew Thanks!

The biggest differences I noticed between the 300s and the 5000 would be the better dynamic range of the 300s and the aliasing / "stair-stepping" in the 5000's footage. If you pause at 2:20 (fullscreen) and look at the arm of the excavator, you'll see the 'stair-stepping' or jagged edges that the 5000 suffers from.

At this point though I'd go for the D7000. It gives you full manual control over video and it shoots @ 1080p instead of 720p like these cameras do.

[FogHead5058]

great footage. Just upgraded from a d90 myself to a 7D. What camera support systems did you use in this video?

[AltF4Media]

@FogHead5058 by camera support do you mean tripods/rods/mattebox etc?

The cameras were barebones except for the D300s that had the Rode Videomic. Tripod was just some manfrotto legs with a simple videohead.

[TheFragiled]

Excellent work :-) very interesting, thanks x

[AltF4Media]

@TheFragiled Thanks!

[1973raggi]

Tell me a secret, im curius to know what editing softwere you are using.thanks

[1973raggi]

Thank you for a great video, you got what it takes, keep it up.......

[jujumcmuffin]

the quality's pretty good!!! i cant wait till i get one!!

[HoneyBunn159]

i love the music you used on here..what is it called?? and I think this is a really good quality for a digital camera

[supersamuelyt]

Any color grading involved? Also, how do you like the Rode VideoMic, would you recommend it at all?

[treveenos]

brill keep them coming.......