Nikon comes to the party... D7000

[David C Wright]

Thanks David for the calculations on the hdmi output. Sounds like it will not be much of an advantage to pair this camera with an external recording device?

Best

David
http://www.lunaseafilms.com

[Jon Fairhurst]

If they don't do 1080p30, it's likely that the sensor is slower than Canon's, and will likely have a longer rolling shutter latency.

Still, if the HDMI output is clean, that would rock. The only remaining big questions are how they handle aliasing/resolution, and how good the encoder is...

[Andy Wilkinson]

"Sounds like it will not be much of an advantage to pair this camera with an external recording device?" (Quote David W)

David W, I'm not sure I follow you? If the HDMI does not scale its output (like the 7D does - but it's still better than SD resolution) then that would be very useful (monitoring in Full HD and/or attaching a Nanoflash or any of the alternatives we're all reading about).

As was pointed out by David N (and on various other forums today) the bit rate/video encoding format is likely to be 24Mbps AVCHD. The hope is the HDMI output (i.e. uncompressed) whilst RECORDING is not scaled down from 1920x1080p (as is the case with my Canon 7D)....if Nikon have done "the right thing".

Even if the HDMI output whilst recording is the real deal, I think it would be a complete overkill to attach an expensive Nanoflash (or alternatives) to this camera if the sensor still produces horrible aliasing and skew, jello etc. (all of which I've just seen very easily on the linked to videos - some "mud" too).

But what do I know - especially about Nikons!

EDIT, I see David N has replied about this at the same time as I posted too.

[David Newman]

Originally Posted by David C Wright

Thanks David for the calculations on the hdmi output. Sounds like it will not be much of an advantage to pair this camera with an external recording device?

No, I was stating the opposite. As live HDMI will be uncompressed (and likely the better 4:2:2 not 4:2:0) there will be goods reason to capture directly into a CineDeck or similar. However, Nikon may have selected to scale the output which reduces the advantages of live external capture.

[Jon Fairhurst]

There is also the issue of menu overlays. Is the HDMI video available clean?

[David C Wright]

Hi Andy, I was just interested in getting opinions on whether recording to an external deck was advantageous or not... Personally I hope we can hook the camera up to something like the nanoflash or Ki Pro Mini and get amazing results.

David
http://www.lunaseafilms.com

[Andy Wilkinson]

Yep sure - if the HDMI is "clean" as was so well put that that would be great (i.e. 1920x1080 and no red dot a la 7D!!). I guess we'll all know soon.

As an aside just had a quick look at your website - some amazing stuff you've done :-)

EDIT: Just found this info on the Nikon site.

720p25 is listed....no 1080p25 though. Also, note the info (in the link) about the codec it uses.

D-Movie | FAQ

[David Newman]

I guess I was too generous on the data rate. Best is 19Mb/s which is not great, based on the 2900 MB file size.

[Paul Hatcher]

Is the movie function spec the same as the d3100 then?

[Mike McKay]

Originally Posted by David Newman

I guess I was too generous on the data rate. Best is 19Mb/s which is not great, based on the 2900 MB file size.

Yeah, aren't the Canon's upwards of 48Mb/s ??

[Rich Ryan]

Originally Posted by David Newman

Bit-rate that question has been partly answered by "20 minute movie recording times", as the bit-rate upper limit will be restricted by the FAT32 filesystem (used on flash media) that is 4GB max.

4000MB*8bits / (20minutes * 60seconds) = up limit of 26.6Mb/s.

This is too low for I-frame, but very near the okay long GOP 24Mb/s PH mode of AVCHD.

That would be nice, but I'm afraid it's lower than that. The Nikon FAQ at D-Movie | FAQ says that a 20 minute recording is 2900 MB so that works out to 19.33 Mb/s

[Jonathan Shaw]

Originally Posted by Mike McKay

Yeah, aren't the Canon's upwards of 48Mb/s ??

I believe they are 44Mb/s

[Graham Hickling]

What about exposure control in video modes?? Please let there be manual shutter control!!

[Dan Keaton]

Dear David,

If the HDMI output is clean, and the camera does a good job on downsizing the image to 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720, then a lot is to be gained by an external recording.

But, these are big "If's".

But, one day we expect cameras to meet these conditions.

And when they do, the nanoFlash will be ready.

The 12 to 20 minute time limit will be gone, a higher-bit rate can be used, and if one does not record in camera also, some of the heat generated while recording in camera will not be generated.

More than one camera manufacturer is working hard to eliminate these "If's".

In my opinion, it is just a matter of time.

[Rich Ryan]

Originally Posted by Graham Hickling

What about exposure control in video modes?? Please let there be manual shutter control!!

The Nikon "Tips" page pretty clearly indicates that you have full control of aperture, ISO, and shutter. However, you need to set the aperture before entering Live View.