Hi all,

I have recently started to record with the Nikon D800E to the NanoFlash, and used the same quality and setting as for the Sony Z7.
The cable I use is the same, except that I had to stick a Belkin HDMI mini adapter on it to give me mini(male) to mini(male). The quality setting on the NanoFlash is the same used for both devices, the Sony and the Nikon: 1080p LGOP 100 mb/s. When used with the Nikon I receive the info that the card is too slow. The cards I use are Transcend 32 and 64GB/400x, and they never gave me that problem with the Sony HVR-Z7. I suspect the Belkin adaptor causes that problem, but could not find any mini (C) to mini (C) HDMI cables on offer anywhere. There is no further info on the packaging of the Belkin adapter.
Another problem - but that concerns the Nikon section of this forum - set at 1080i, some short images that were recorded before being cut off, came in 720i. Camera and Nano-Flash were set at 1080i/p
Info re any clues or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Gerd

Dear Gerd,

Please ensure that you remove the SD and CompactFlash memory cards from the Nikon D800 before attempting to record.

The Nikon D800 will output 720p instead of 1080p when a memory card is inserted.

Also, please be certain to setup the Nikon D800 for clean HDMI output.

... D800 Menu: Wrench|HDMI|Advanced|Live View On Screen Display to Off

To prevent clipping in the White and Dark Areas:

... D800 Menu: Wrench|HDMI|Advanced|Output Range to Limited

-------------------------

And assuming that you want to record 1080p:

And Set the HDMI Output Resolution to Auto to achieve 1080p.

... D800 Menu: Wrench|HDMI|Output Resolution to Auto

On the nanoFlash, if you are desiring 1080p, please set:

Video|Record PSF > Prog(ressive) to checked.


I believe these are the correct settings. I do not have a Nikon D800 at my location.

Please feel free to correct my post if I have anything wrong.

Respectfully,

Dear Dan,

Thank you so much for your input, so setting up the Nikon with the NanoFlash requires different prerequisites than the HVR-Z7, interesting.
Will follow your suggestions at the earliest convenience.
Thank you.

Cheers,

Gerd

Comprehensive Cable HD CC18INST Mini Hdmi TO Mini Hdmi Cabl Cabl 1 5ft High | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Comprehensive-Cable-HD-CC18INST-Mini-Hdmi-To-Mini-Hdmi-Cabl-Cabl-1-5ft-High-/330965503418?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d0f14cdba)

There ya go... there's plenty on eB*y

Just go to advanced and search mini hdmi to mini hdmi, then choose exact words, exact order.. should come up with a bunch in your location

Thanks for that, John.
Cheers, Gerd

BTW Gerd - I had no problem recording my D800 with the Nano. I was recording 1080i50 and did not have to remove the internal cards...so not sure what that is about. Did have to change some internal settings tho..

Hi John,

Meanwhile I made it work, but sometimes the D800/NanoF. combination behaves strangely. When I power up the Nano F. after setting Lv on the D800, Lv shuts down, so I have to press it again.
Before receiving the info from Dan, the D800 reacted just like he said. With FC in the D800, itt recorded 720 with a 1080 setting.
However, at the moment it's working for me.
Thank you for the input.

Cheers,

Gerd

Have managed the recording part with the Nano Flash/D800 combo, but there is still a problem to overcome.
The shot footage is surrounded by a black border, and therefore not suitable to combine with footage from the HVR-Z7, as the border shows in FCP. I have thoroughly studied the instructions, the image area is set for FX (100%), DX crop is off, and that would happen automatically anyway, as I use an FX lens (AF-S Nikkor 24-70 2.8 G ED).

Anyone who grappled with this problem before, please be kind enough to drop me a line.

Thank You,

Gerd

You've done something wrong then - did you follow Dan's instructions to the letter? I don't have my D800 with me today so I'll check tonight if you don't sort it.

Have a look at this list on Thom Hogan's site for a complete rundown - I think this is the one I used (I hope this doesn't break any rules!):

Capturing HDMI Video on Nikon D4 and D800 cameras (http://www.bythom.com/hdmivideo.htm)

As I said you do not have to remove the cards to record clean HDMI video but Thom explains why maybe it is good practice to do so.

Please - before you record check the output of the Nano with a monitor. That way you know before you record if you have a problem.

PS I think Dan missed one step...

You need to turn HDMI/Advanced/Live view on-screen display to Off and HDMI/Advance/Output display size to 100%. These are not the defaults!

Thank you so much John,

Will look into it again and check out your provided link, I'm off now to shoot wildlife. Dan's input and yours are a great help to me in an otherwise seemingly helpless situation.

Gerd

I wonder if the Nanoflash can deal with 29.97 and 25fps output. See threat:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/convergent-design-odyssey/506384-new-nikons-nanoflash.html

Convergent Design never got back to the last question in that thread and I am not sure if the promised firmware upgrade has ever been delivered.

New D800 tester here, noticed that with the D800 set to Auto, it indeed outputs true 1080p out the HDMI. The resolution options will confuse you at first, you first assume it only outputs up to 1080i and you record in PsF, but this is not the case. The camera actually outputs true native 1080p in the frame rate you choose in the movie menu. (North American D800s will not output native 25p in my experience, it will try to convert the framerate in camera to 60i)

I too experienced the black border issue, but this was due to me using 1080i in combination with an Intensity card passthrough (since I don't have a Mini-HDMI to Mini-HDMI cable lying around.) This was not due to the 95% menu option, it was actually 2 horizontal pixels off by 1 vertical pixel off.

Gonna try again with the 1080p output from the camera.

Edit: 1080p actually resulted in a green line at the bottom with it being vertically one pixel off. I'm assuming my Intensity is the problem here and that I need a Mini-HDMI to Mini-HDMI cable.

Jack, the nanoflash can't record true p. Only pFS.

The nano for certain can't record 1080p 50/60hz, but it can record 1080p 23.98, 25 and 29.97.

If you select 1080i in the D800's settings, then you need to enable the PsF recording. With the HDMI on "Auto" and no CF or SD card in the D800 itself, it outputs true 1080p at the appropriate refresh rate.

I've yet to test with a Mini-HDMI to Mini-HDMI cable so my tests are not objective since I have a failure point in the Intensity Pro, which is not purely passing through the video. Capturing using the Intensity Pro, I don't experience the issues I described. However, Media Express only records MJPEG or Uncompressed, and Vegas only captures XDCAM HD422 50mbps (which is processor intensive)

Hi Jack,

You are right about that. The PsF is true p over an i signal. You confused me however saying "Gonna try again with the 1080p output from the camera." But when you output 1080p from the camera it won't work. You have to record 1080p, but output 1080i and set the nano to PsF recording. That's right.

I did get it to work passing through my Intensity Pro. The only caveat is that the sync is thrown off with the Intensity Pro's output. (adding black and green bars)

If you're talking about playback, Some Samsung monitors have been able to accept 1080p playback from the Nanoflash (not having "Play Prog -> PsF" turned on) But you are right that for full compatibility, E-E Direct should be off and that option should be on.

I however can record 1080p 23.98 and 29.97. My Nano actually indicates 1080p23 or 1080p29. I use Record PsF for my EX1R, but because the D800 does native progressive, I don't need to turn PsF on.

Edit: What's interesting about the D800's "Auto" HDMI mode is that it tries to read the EDID data from the HDMI itself before trying to output. On my Samsung monitor for North America, (with HDMI input) it knew it didn't support 1080p25 or 1080i50, and dropped me to 1080i60 with tons of duplicate frames. It worked fine on my Samsung at 23.98 and 29.97 in native progressive. On my Panasonic TV, when I set 1080p23.98, the display's refresh rate appropriately changed to 48hz, indicating a native progressive signal, but setting to 29.97, the EDID data didn't show the TV supported it, so it dropped down to 1080i60. The EDID must behave differently when you have a card loaded in the camera and when you press the record button. This would describe the 720p symptom earlier. The Intensity Pro supports all frame rates. However, the reason I found out it was native progressive was because of the Intensity. The typical symptom of a 1080 progressive signal being interpreted as interlaced on the Intensity Pro is a extreme anamorphic stretch and crop of the image. By setting the Intensity to 1080p, I then get a normal picture.

Don't want to hijack your post but could you tell me if you see a noticeable difference between the footage captured in camera vs. on the nanoflash? I've got a nanoflash and am thinking about getting a D800. I'd be mostly using it for small indie movies and possibly some corporate shoots so I could be doing a fair amount of color grading to the footage.

Thanks.

Grading footage from a flat "Poor man's S-Log" picture profile is a breeze, so long as you're properly exposing the picture. The D800 includes a histogram, so you can use that to properly expose for grading later. The standard profile is too high contrast for flat shooting, and is slightly harder to grade.

My "S-log" settings use a Neutral picture profile with Sharpness at 5 and the lowest levels for contrast and saturation. I then shoot at 5600K, doing color correction in post. Remember to follow this setting or else you will experience clipping out the HDMI out:

D800 Menu: Wrench|HDMI|Advanced|Output Range to Limited

Audio is embedded in the HDMI and the manual audio level at 1/20 is almost Line level equivalent. (It's slightly more sensitive than standard -10db line level.) Using a powered XLR to 3.5 mixer should get you little noise in the camera's audio pre-amp.

Just tested again with a Mini-HDMI to Mini-HDMI cable, the vertical black bar is gone, but the horizontal green bar of 3 pixels at the bottom still is present. This is with the Camera HDMI set to "Auto" (Camera output is 1080p)

However, setting the format as 1080p30 with the HDMI output on the camera set to 1080i and the PsF -> Prog option enabled solves this problem.

Amend Dan's observations to include that you must set the camera to 1080i. If you wish to use 24p, you must enable 3:2 pulldown removal.