I recently cam to the realization I need to move up from my XH-A1 with a letus adopter, the lighting situation is to difficult indoors, haven't decided whether to just keep it or sell it..... but I digress.

I saw Philip Bloom's video on the D5 and was slightly concerned about this idea of post sharpening he talks about. I'm wondering if the Nikon D800 has the same issues, having to sharpen the video in post, or if it's a better image right of the bat.

Sorry I posted this in the Nikon section then realized the Canon thread might be better.

I've had both side by side for a while but sold the D800 because it was not as good in low light as the 5D3 - which was one of my main requirements.

The D800 is sharper straight out of camera, but I found that what you get is all you can have, because it didn't sharpen further without introducing its of artefacts. You can also suffer from moiré problems with the D800 (as I found out from personal experience).

The 5D3 (which is what I assume you meant by D5) is certainly a little softer straight out of camera but sharpens pretty well and doesn't suffer from the same moiré problems that affects the 5D and D800.

Tolerance to noise is always personal preference, but for me to topped out at around ISO2000-2500 on the D800 whereas on the 5D3 I'm happy shooting up to 6400 and will go to 12800 in a real pinch. The picture form the D800 at 6400 was totally unusable IMO.

It's a shame. I liked the D800 as a camera a lot. I shots thousands of stills with it, but in the end my need for shooting in low light meant I had to change back to the Canon system.

Even though I shoot with Canon Cinema C300 as my primary camera, I keep on getting requests to shoot with a Canon 5D III for lot of lower budget shoots. Till date I haven't heard of a producer asking for a D800. If you are going to shoot only personal stuff then choose which ever camera you want. If professional, then better to shoot with equipment that is demanded by clients. Else your camera will sit on the shelf.

Thanks Dave, having been lusting over the idea of a new camcorder Sony FS100 and the whole DSLR thing, I've come full circle back to the idea of keeping my A-1 with my Letus and just going tape-less. I love the idea of not being concerned with lighting issues with a 5D. The letus scares me every time I use it indoors after a few initial disasters with the lighting.

BTW, a bit off topic......I called B&H this morning and they recommend the Canon.
Canon FS-CF Pro Portable Compact Flash DTE Recorder 1751V350 B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=684200&Q=&is=REG&A=details)

Even though I shoot with Canon Cinema C300 as my primary camera, I keep on getting requests to shoot with a Canon 5D III for lot of lower budget shoots. Till date I haven't heard of a producer asking for a D800. If you are going to shoot only personal stuff then choose which ever camera you want. If professional, then better to shoot with equipment that is demanded by clients. Else your camera will sit on the shelf.

I'm not a professional, so I'm not concerned with image...... no pun intended.

I shoot primarily guitar concerts. In low light concert situations I see where a 5D would be the solution however, I'm also looking at the Sony FS100. It seems these camcorders are the future for full frame prosumer cameras kinda like what the DSLR did to video cameras. However, the 5d and the Nikon are a hell of a lot cheaper, but I don't need a camera, I need video.

Please clarify something for me. With the 30 minute video run on the 5D. is this reset everytime you stop and start? In other words if I record 25 minutes of video stop recording then record again I get another 30 minutes?

Here is what I primarily do, I didn't use the Letus because I was unsure of the light that day and didn't want to risk screwing it up.
Bach: Suite for Lute in C minor, (BWV 997), Jason Mullen - YouTube

Michael, the Lumix GH3 has no shot length limit and a 50 Mbps codec.

Fran

Please clarify something for me. With the 30 minute video run on the 5D. is this reset everytime you stop and start? In other words if I record 25 minutes of video stop recording then record again I get another 30 minutes?

Michael,
The video recording duration is 29 mins 59 seconds. If you stop before that and start again, you will have another 29mins and 59 seconds to record.

For how long do you intend to record at one go?

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

That's good to know, I've been watching videos comparing the Nikon D800 with the Canon 5D III and remain convinced the 5D is better for my needs. I'm also ever so slightly intrigued with the black majic cinema camera.

I had wanted to buy the black magic cinema camera for some specific purpose. However, moire is the killer. So I didn't buy it. Also, raw is not for everybody. You need time, hardware and budget to do the post processing of raw files.

BTW, a bit off topic......I called B&H this morning and they recommend the Canon.
Canon FS-CF Pro Portable Compact Flash DTE Recorder 1751V350 B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=684200&Q=&is=REG&A=details)

Have to admit I've never heard of this product!

I had wanted to buy the black magic cinema camera for some specific purpose. However, moire is the killer. So I didn't buy it. Also, raw is not for everybody. You need time, hardware and budget to do the post processing of raw files.

I saw some video of both the BMCC and the 5D3 and much preferred the 5d3. The 5d3 looked like film and the BMCC looked ..... well...... like video.

BTW, a bit off topic......I called B&H this morning and they recommend the Canon.
Canon FS-CF Pro Portable Compact Flash DTE Recorder 1751V350 B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=684200&Q=&is=REG&A=details)
Yes, this was tech that bridged HDV cams to tapeless acquisition. Although sold through Canon, this is remarketed/rebadged from Focus Enhancements. It uses the firewire output from the cam, and records HDV in 1440x1080 anamorphic 4:2:0 (like HDV), though I see this box can also rewrap it into several container formats that might better suit a particular NLE.

However... this method evolved, and the next gen of HDV recorders used the HDMI output from HDV camcorders, which was a significant upgrade. With boxes like the nanoFlash, Atomos Ninja, others, you could take full 1920x1080 at 4:2:2 out of the HDMI on your HDV camcorder. And in some cases get an integrated monitor as well. A better resolution and much better colorspace, no pesky tapes...

$695 would get you a Ninja 2, and if on Mac you can record direct into ProRes, an excellent editing codec.

I'm using FCP6, I'm wondering about how to sharpen the video in such a way as Philip Bloom suggests is necessary for the MK3. Can you use a sharpening filter inside FCP or does one need a special plugin for this?