Nikon D90 has 720p24 over HDMI

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Dan Chung

Here's a pic

Dan, if you look closely at your photo, Nikon has embedded an Apple logo in the viewfinder. ;)

[Anmol Mishra]

Thanks for the overlay report..Are you sure that the overlay cannot be turned off on HDMI ? Usually there is a small menu item to turn it off..
Hmm!

Originally Posted by Dan Chung

I had a quick play with the D90 video mode yesterday, I was very impressed. Auto focussing before filming starts is cool, much like the way we used to use push af on Z1's The screen is bright and clear, but really could do with a tilting option. The lens effects are as good as I get with my Brevis setup. Not sure about the codec, time will tell. I already have an Edirol R-09 audio recorder so I aim to use that for sound. A HDMI field monitor will be the next step.

Also had a chance to play around with it on my Red Rock Micro rig and a Manfrotto modosteady. All good fun. Can't wait to get one.

I did a short video (shot on an EX1) of the camera here YouTube - Nikon d90 launch event
but it doesn't show the video mode as it wasn't been publicly demonstrated.

A word of caution for those hoping to use a flash XDR or similar HDMI capture device, current Nikon's I own (D3, D700 and D300) all push the entire screen with overlays and focus points out on HDMI and can't be turned off. I wouldn't be surprised if the D90 was the same.

The other downside is there does not appear to be LANC or any other video trigger other than the button on the camera back. This could be a real pain in many rigs.

Hope this is of help.

Dan

[Anmol Mishra]

Hi Chris. My impression was that the video is only 24P. Not sure why Nikon would bother with interlacing - and it does need slightly different circuitry just to output 1080i over HDMI..

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

Because 720p and 1080i are equal to each other in bandwidth. Same amount of data either way.

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Anmol, I have no idea what it's really doing. The question was "why 1080i?" and I simply answered that 1080i and 720p are the same amount of data.

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Dan Chung

The D90 can use this MC-DC2 Remote Cord from Nikon
but it only seems to be a trigger for the shutter button, the video is started using the OK button when in Live View mode, not the main shutter release. Maybe it can be configured in some other way using custom functions but I don't think so.

Thanks for posting the pic of the new OK button. Nikon: why? why? why? Why spend more money on a button like that? My mom's Canon S3 (with optical imagestabilizer) also has a "Record" button for video. Nuts. Do people really want to take snapshots during a movie? That's why Canon has two buttons.

[Hunter Richards]

So does the iris/iso/shutter have the ability to lock for a take dan?

[Dan Chung]

I believe so, but I'm waiting till I get a production unit in my hands first to confirm everything.

Dan

[Pat Griffin]

The videos look great! I'm so glad I didn't spring for a 35mm adapter.

Regardless of cannibalizing their own products, if they were smart, Canon and others would follow suit quickly. Sure, they would loose some money in halting production on video cams, but there is much more to be gained by solving and selling the "one camera" for stills/video solution.

Just took my family on a two-day trip to San Diego and even though I brought my trusty HV20 with me, I was so busy just getting some decent stills, I never even got it out! Vacation after vacation has been the same, I usually think I would rather have some nice stills than some flat video.

Although this prototype Nikon has some flaws - biggest one is time limit before sensor heats up - I have been waiting and wondering why companies have not done this yet.

So hopefully others will quickly follow suit before everyone in the world buys a D90. Good job Nikon!

[John Sandel]

Trying to shoot holes in this news. I understand the logic of other vidcam makers avoiding this innovation, so as to protect their investment in their current product lines.

So, what's not to like?

- I can live with mono audio
- The D90's form factor is odd, but usable
- The gurus here (& elsewhere) will explain any oddities in resolution, bit rates & compression, so I can live with those (my post workflow is flexible)
- HDMI out is perfectly adequate

The only things that worry me at this point are in shooting ambitious (rather than casual) motion pix with the D90:

- gearing a follow-focus to short SLR lenses when they're so close to the D90 body
- likewise, filtration ala Cokin, et. al, or fitted rails; maybe a macro-bellows rail setup?
- On/Off function is a tad unusual, but again, I can adapt my habits
- video-style viewfinders with critical focus may be un-hook-up-able

And one thing could be a deal-breaker: the heat the chip suffers from cramming all those electrons through. Does it have to cool off, after the famous 5 minutes? If so, for how long? Shooting takes via "live preview" could be too expensive with my crew standing around …

Maybe shoot with more than one D90 & trade off, to allow for cooling?

Nikon's engineers can't know how end-users will abuse the D90's video function. The "rest" time for the internals must be pretty short. It has to be, to make this scheme viable.

Anybody have any specific info on this?

[Hunter Richards]

I played with the original bike avi and fixed the jumps in exposure to see what it would look like in manual- added some grain to taste. I think the footage from this camera looks good. If you are cautious of the rolling shutter skew shouldnt be a problem.

Here is the link: D90 color-corrected and exposure fixed on Vimeo

[Tim Polster]

I think this could be viewed as a useless feature for "normal" consumers.

Video with such shallow DOF will rarely be in focus.

I can see people trying to shoot some footage and giving up.

And I don't think many people on vacation are going to be doing any rack focuses!

[Chris Hurd]

I must agree with Tim. While shallow DOF is seen as a distinct advantage to filmmakers, the fact remains that filmmakers are a very small slice of the overall market (highly vocal, sure; but nonetheless a pretty tight niche). The *majority* of customers would look upon shallow DOF as a problem, not as an asset.

[Stu Holmes]

Originally Posted by John Sandel

And one thing could be a deal-breaker: the heat the chip suffers from cramming all those electrons through. Does it have to cool off, after the famous 5 minutes?

Note that the 5minute time limit is ONLYin the highest res mode of 720p. The time limit in the two other modes (lower res) is 20minutes. That would seem to shoot a hole in the theory (?) that the 5minute limit is due to sensor heating.

just my thoughts.

[John Sandel]

You're right. I don't know if heat is the issue.

Looking at the D90 body, I see salt-shaker holes for the mic. This page has photos with mouse-over tip boxes:

Nikon D90 Digital Camera Design - Hands-On Preview - The Imaging Resource!

Anybody know how audio leaves the D90 body—mini-jack, etc? Will I have to mount this thing over a Beachtek adapter?

Also wondering about power requirements. Nikon makes an external battery pack. Something that plugs into the internal battery bay, & cables to a larger (third party?) pack, may be unnecessary—unless the Live View Mode is especially draining.

[I J Walton]

Overheating isn't the real reason for the 5 minute clip limit.

Apparently it's for tax reasons. If it could record for any longer than 5 minutes it would be classed as a video camera. Video cameras are taxed more than still cameras, in the EU anyway. Which is why they found this 5 minute-clip work-around to avoid being taxed.