Ken on the Nikon D90’s Movie Mode
[Update: Nikon D90 Movie-Mode examples can be found here thanks to Frigggo.]
Ken actually has some interesting things to say about the Nikon D90 movie mode:
…Nikon claims, probably correctly, that you’ll be getting much better results than an old-style camcorder because the sensor of the D90 is so much bigger…
…24 FPS means movies will look like movies, presuming you shoot at 1/50 shutter speed. In bright light, shorter exposures will make things look a bit jumpy, and movies at 24 PFS are never as smooth as real video, which is shot at 60 fields per second. The video of the D90 can look like movies, but will never have the smooth fluid motion of regular camcorders…
August 27th, 2008 at 12:54
ken is stupid as usual. film isn’t shot at 60fps, it’s at 24 fps
August 27th, 2008 at 13:07
I believe he says that though- film is 24, and video (high-end broadcast?) is at 60:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate
60i ~= 30 fps.
August 27th, 2008 at 16:21
Pro video is shot at 60i (interlaced, 60 fields or 30 frames per second) or 30p or 24p (non-interlaced). So the D90 at 24p should look fine. Here is a link to the Canon XL2 that explains frame rate: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=ModelFeaturesTabAct&fcategoryid=326&modelid=10350&pageno=1.
August 28th, 2008 at 00:59
Ken claims to have done broadcast industry engineering, I’m surprised he doesn’t know that one 60i frame will only give you a picture with every other line. The real comparison is 24fr vs 30 frames. Blu-Ray players and some flat screen TVs have a 24fr mode – this is supposed to make movies look better.
To me, the bigger issue is what is the workflow? In Sandisk SD cards, unless something new has been released very recently, the largest card in the Ultra II line is 16GB with a 32GB announced, but apparently not shipping yet. In the Extreme III line, the largest is only 8GB.
How big is the video buffer? Can the Ultra II keep up?
Even if that’s all okay, you transfer the video from the memory card to what? Your computer? And then transfer it to DVD? HD-DVD? Blu-Ray DVD? Does it require software? Etc.