DSLR and NanoFlash

[Andy Mangrum]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to start a Thread that addresses the current status of the nanoFlash with Various DSLR's.

As we know the nanoFlash is an amazing recorder that expands your recoding capabilities,But one thing we are constantly asked if simply does the nanoFlash works with any DSLR's,

Which many customers have tested and the results are spanned all over the forum.

What would be very nice is a single thread that has the status of all of the Various DSLR's and if they do work with the nanoFlash, or what the current Issues are.

So as we start this thread, let me state that many DLSR's only output "FULL HD" 1080, on playback, or may display the On Screen display on the HDMI thus the longing for a "Clean HDMI OUT"

Granted the nanoFlash does work very well with the various Higher End camera's the support HDMI Out for example,
Sony FS100(HDMI only),
F3 (SDI and HDMI),
AF100 (SDI and HDMI),
Canon XF 305 (SDI and HDMI),

So if we could keep this to strictly DSLR's, Which I have always received Question's about the following Camera's:

Canon 5D
Canon 7D

Nikon D90
Nikon D7000

Not to mention there is a lot of interest with these newer camera's

Panasonic GH2

Canon Rebel T3i

So we welcome your input, and will hopefully make this thread a "one stop shop" for any customers interested in using a nanoFlash with a DSLR.

Best Regards

[Chris Barcellos]

Okay, I will bite. I use the Canon 5D Mark II, and the Canon T2i (which is not on your list.).

I also was one of the original testers of Magic Lantern for the 5D and have been using the T2i and its version of Magic Lantern. Throughout the development of Magic Lantern techology, the issue of full HDMI out has been raised. Trammel Hudson searched for a way, but from what I have followed, its just not getting there.

I also know some 7D shooters who thing they have full HD at all times on their camera. But my understanding is that only time the camera outputs full HD via HDMI is post. In fact, one of your lower pirced competitors, was advertising its unit for DSLRs, and I think they had misinformation about the output too, and they have modified their advertisement.

So my question to the manufacturer of Nano Flash is are you seeing anyway to get clean full HD out of the current crop of DSLR's. If not, are you privy to any knowledge of that changing in the future, either via new models, or firmware changes.

[Andy Mangrum]

Hello Chris,

Thank you for your post,

Also have you tried with the T2i to a monitor or nanoFlash?

as for adjusting the image from a crop, this can be a very complicated process, which essentially, we would have to up convert the video, which the nanoFlash unfortunately cannot do to hardware restrictions.

Best Regards

[Chris Medico]

The 7d doesn't output a good signal when in record pause or record mode to send to an external recorder. It only sends the correct HD signal when playing back media recorded to the internal CF card.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Andy,

Everything I have read elsewhere would suggest that the current line up of Canon DSLR's are not going to work.

The GH2 seems to be more of a gray area though.

I have seen that elsewhere there are a number of threads dealing with the GH2 and whether or not it has a clean uncompressed hdmi out signal. Some people claim to be getting results with another HDMI recorder, but its hard to make out the truth of the matter.

If your lab could get a hold of a GH2 to do some tests with it then that would be really appreciated by current (and future) nanoflash owners. There is way too much speculation around that camera, so it would be interesting to hear what your lab guys could find out once and for all.

Thanks for starting this thread by the way, it will be interesting to see what is discussed.

[Chris Barcellos]

T2i reacts pretty much the same as the 5D. You have one higher resolution but not true HDMI nor is it 1080 x 1920 by any means. It is somewhat helpful for prefocusing, but goes to total SD in post. The Marshall monitor is not true HD definition either, but with the magnification feature on the camera, I can prefocus decently for set up shots. (for serious shooting, I use my Nikon classic glass, as I have no fast or great Canon lenses. I perfer to manual focus anyway.

[Andy Mangrum]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you Chris, and Simon for your contribution,

As well as we too have heard various things about the Panasonic GH2, that suggests that it may work but only to a degree, but we do not have one in our lab for testing.So we have not be able to verify anything either way.

Best Regards

[Brian Walstad]

It's my understanding that when most of the Canon DSLR cameras are in record pause mode you can get it so none of the display icons actually are on the smaller image itself in the center and they are off to the top and bottom of the image. I also heard that you can record this image with an external recorder and crop 19% (I think) in post. It this is true you would get high bitrate 422 footage that is slightly bigger than 720 once cropped. Disclaimer: I have not done this myself, I just read this in some other forums.

[Andy Mangrum]

Hello Everyone

I have Just Verified that the Canon Rebel T3i outputs a 4:3 Crop within a 1920x1080 Frame, Very similar to the Canon 7D or 5D as others have reported.

Also note that Panasonic has released the G3, which the GH3 should be seen to follow, Which might actually work with the nanoFlash, given the output being a clean full frame output over the HDMI.

Again If anyone wish to input it would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

[Rohan Dadswell]

With the GH2 I was able to get a clean feed out of the mini HDMI port when the camera went into record mode. In pause there was screen info present.

I was able to record this with the NanoFlash. There seemed to be some ghosting or doubling up of frames that was very apparent with movement on the recorded footage.

This was a very quick test - I will get my GH2 back in a week or so, so I can do some better tests then

[Andy Mangrum]

Hello Rohan,

Thanks your for your contribution, I think many users of the nanoFlash will be interested in the results.

Also there has been rumors of Issues with 1080p 23.98, If you could verify, It would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

[Rohan Dadswell]

Another quick play with GH2 & NanoFlash.

Can only get a clean feed when the GH2 is in record. (clean meaning no info on screen), so you need to roll the GH2 and the NanoFlash separately.

No audio is sent over HDMI when the GH2 is recording, only on playback

1080 video is 50 interlace not 25 progressive - the doubling up I was seeing before was due to recording interlace as progressive. Haven't tried 720 which is meant to be progressive - the menu was grayed out, couldn't find how to access it.

There is a 'Cinema Mode' that is meant to record at 24fps - the output over HDMI was still reading 50i and the vision had quite a bit of stutter to it.

The clean recorded footage from the NF looked acceptable but with noticeable noise - this could have a lot to do with the colour profiles in the GH2, if I was serious about this way of shooting I would spend a lot of time adjusting these (the colour profile that the Panasonic AF-102 shipped with was really noisy but with tweaking looks great)

So it looks like you can record usable footage from the GH2 to NanoFlash in 50i 1080 but I think I'll stick to a real video camera - this was by no means a comprehensive or technical test but just a 'plug in & see what happens'

[Ronald Jackson]

Useful information, especially to those like me who have cast an eye on a GH2. Interesting too about 50i as I was under the impression these cameras would record 24p (if not 25p)


Ron

[Rohan Dadswell]

It think the onboard AVCHD will record 24p in 'cinema mode' but the HDMI outputs something very different.
There is defiantly no option to record 25p (although the the footage does look more progressive than interlace, so maybe they are splitting the frame after capture before recording)

[Rafael Amador]

Originally Posted by Rohan Dadswell

Another quick play with GH2 & NanoFlash.



1080 video is 50 interlace not 25 progressive - the doubling up I was seeing before was due to recording interlace as progressive. Haven't tried 720 which is meant to be progressive - the menu was grayed out, couldn't find how to access it.

There is a 'Cinema Mode' that is meant to record at 24fps - the output over HDMI was still reading 50i and the vision had quite a bit of stutter to it.

So it looks like you can record usable footage from the GH2 to NanoFlash in 50i 1080 ....'

You won't find 1080p25 out of any HDMI or SDI. progressive stuff is streamed as PSF.
The question is not whether you are getting p25 or i50, but if you are getting full raster unprocessed video.
8 or 10b, 422 or 420, doesn't matter too much, but clean.
rafael