HDSLR NS Action from Bethlehem, Pa. on December 22, 2011

Hi all, I decided to do a little railfanning and experimentation with HD Video using my Nikon D7000, Rode VideoMic Pro, and a Velbon DV-7000 fluid Head Tripod at trackside in Bethlehem, Pa. on December 22, 2011 at CP-Bethlehem.

Although not my best work, and not my Pro rig, turns out the Nikon D7000 HDSLR can shoot some really nice HD video. Footage was shot at 720/30fps HD. I used a 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikkor Lens @ f/5.6, ISO 640, EV -.00. Focus was set on auto, AE was locked.

I used a Rode VideoMic Pro mounted on the hot shoe of the camera. The whole unit was mounted on a Velbon DV-7000 Fluid Head Tripod.

I must say I don't think I did bad, however I know now that I have to experiment more with all the settings. Focus was a particular problem and there are some areas that are soft. Audio I need to adjust a bit. I had the D7000 at the medium #2 setting and that was too much. Need to go to Low #1 next time. The rode VideoMic Pro was set at normal and I should have set it to the High Pass cut. I also need to set the mic switch to -10db down. In some sections the audio was "cooked" on levels. I will fix that next time out.

There was more "Moiré" than I would have liked. Moiré is the diagonal flickering you can see from time to tiime. In a few spots, some of the video has a considerable high amount of moray effect. I hope to figure that out too.

The raw video is first transcoded to Apple ProRes422 using Apple Compressor, then imported into Apple Final Cut Pro for editing. Final video exported as a H.264 10.3Mbps.mov. video file.

So here is what I shot:

NS-68Q: EB Ethanol (Loaded)
NS #6795
BNSF #4924
BNSF #4415

NS-19G: WB Manifest
NS #9585
NS #7517
NS #1704 (SD45-2)
CSX #8743

NS-11J: WB AutoRack
NS #9698
NS #9304

NS-21M: WB Intermodal
NS #9739
NS #9818
NS #9378

OK that's it from here.. Happy Holiday's all..

Enjoy...Steve...

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• +HDSLR
• +Nikon
• +D7000
• +Rode
• VideoMic
• Pro
• +NS
• Lehigh
• Line
• +CP-Bethlehem
• +Railroad
• Norfolk Southern Railway
• Camera
• Trains

[hdskullfire2]

@CSX6000 Thanks.. Lighting was interesting. Started out nice and sunny, then went fully overcast. Good grey day for colors.. Happy Holiday's.. Steve

[hdskullfire2]

@21stCenturyLtd Thanks. A bit of a challenge compared to my JVC ProHD rig.. Results are pretty good.. Happy Holiday's.. Steve

[CSX6000]

Awesome Steve! The colors are very vivid.

[21stCenturyLtd]

Nice video Steve