Nikon D7000

[Stephen F. Bodi]

Has anyone who is lucky to have a D7000 bothered to test the audio yet? I am curious as to how good the stereo audio in is. I own a beachtek D2 and would like to use it with my D7000 (when I get one) . I would only be using the on-board audio for ENG type work anything else sound would be recored in a separate audio device. I would like to know how much manual control exists for sound on this camera.

[Oleg Kalyan]

Panasonic GH1 hacked Vs. Nikon D7000 test video on Vimeo

[Eric Pascarelli]

Bought the Z-Finder PRO2.5x today and it works and fits perfectly on the D7000. Highly recommended.

[Jim Forrest]

Amazon says--

This item will be released on November 15, 2010.
Pre-order now!

Jeez, was hoping for the 1st.

[Terence Morris]

Try as I may I can't find any explicit mention (anywhere) that the D7000 records native 24p, not some 60i intercine pull-down like my Canon vixia HF s100!

Surely, if true, this is an important feature Nikon would promote.

Is the D7000 truly capturing progressive 24p?

Terence

[Eric Pascarelli]

Originally Posted by Terence Morris

Is the D7000 truly capturing progressive 24p?

Yes. True 24p. Progressive, no trace of 60i. Frame rate is 23.976 fps.

[Terence Morris]

Yikes! And thanks. Now let me re-think my life as vestigial movie maker...

[Dan Asseff]

I was really thinking about this camera, but now I need to know how this is going mach up with my NX5. Is there any raw footage I can download? Does 24p and 60i match up? What a shame because I have so many Nikon lenses.

Dan
Forever Moments Video Productions

[Jim Forrest]

Not raw, but some examples of D7000 footage

Nikon D7000 on Vimeo

[Marcus Martell]

Somebody is suggesting me to wait for the next Nikon for video.....
I'm planning to buy a DSLR next year, but now i ask you: Is Canon 7d still the best one on the marked compared to this new baby?
thx

[Chris Leong]

Originally Posted by Dan Asseff

I was really thinking about this camera, but now I need to know how this is going mach up with my NX5. Is there any raw footage I can download? Does 24p and 60i match up? What a shame because I have so many Nikon lenses.

Dan
Forever Moments Video Productions

I have one.
The D7k footage is H264 1080p24 only (in 1080), no 60i. That's about the only shortcoming I can see thus far. Like you I have a slew of Nikon lenses. Only the non-AI lenses won't work - there is a mechanical aperture sensor on this body, like the older FX bodies. Unlike some of them, the sensor does not retract into the body so you can't mount a non-AI lens. However, it will meter with the AI/AIs lenses, so that's great news.

I'm nearly 100% shooting 24p narrative and commercial footage so the frame rate doesn't bother me any. Or else I'll use Twixtor to change frame rates.

Still working the video part out - the auto focus is useful, but only in very limited situations (like most video AF, IMO, so no better or worse - it'll still try to go for the closest thing in the frame, or the furthest, or wherever you set it). The metering is okay, but as you know most of this stuff on the Canons with the Nikon or PL lens adaptors (which is how most DSLR videographers shoot) is full manual. And the main complaint about the D7000's predecessor, the D90, was that you couldn't get the body to go full manual.
Well you can now with the D7000. Which means, apart from the frame rate situation, there's not a lot left to distinguish the Nikon from the Canon. We're down to the usual jello/codec/yadda yadda discussions common to most all DSLRs.

So for me, that's more than enough to stick with Nikon through the transition.

There have been various D7000 vs 7D clips posted on the Internet. Check them out. One in particular isn't fully color corrected on the Nikon side so the Canon side looks more vibrant. To make a point with a friend, I took that same clip and added 5% more color saturation on the Nikon side to match both image halves properly. They looked pretty much the same, close enough that as a film maker / story teller it makes no difference - the camera, either camera, works well enough not to get in the way of a story told in pictures.

Now that the Scarlet is officially vaporware, it's just the D7000 and the Canons (5Dii, 7D, T2i, 60D). Plus of course the Sony Alphas and the rest. But mainly the D7000 means that Nikonians are back in the running.

Oh yeah - audio. Well, I have a 4 track digital location audio setup and on the more critical shoots it comes with me, even when I'm shooting high end video cameras with balanced audio inputs. (just so's I have backups. BTW, I do like the D7000's twin card slots, which allows me to shoot onto two cards simultaneously if I want, or over-run from one card onto another, or have one card take JPEG and the other RAW/NEF or video - pretty cool!)
Even though you can adjust the D7000's auto gain preamps (essentially low/medium/high/auto), it's still auto gain preamps in every setting, and so you get that creep over time as it turns up, etc.. But having said that, it's pretty good audio in most common situations. I'm pleasantly surprised, let's just say. But I'd still record separate audio on critical shoots, regardless. That's of course just my way. Definitely on that one YMMV.


Good times!

[Paul Cook]

Originally Posted by Chris Leong

I have one.
Now that the Scarlet is officially vaporware, it's just the D7000 and the Canons (5Dii, 7D, T2i, 60D). Plus of course the Sony Alphas and the rest. But mainly the D7000 means that Nikonians are back in the running.

Sorry - do you know something even Jim doesnt? ;-) Just because something fails to arrive on schedule (or even remotely close to a suggested schedule) doesnt make it vaporware. The Epic is now entering production as we speak, so the Scarlet will follow in due course.

Also as to the Nikon being 'full manual' the truth as we know it is its a ham-handed ill thought out way in which you get there. The work around to set aperture is pure stupidity. Also to gloss over the fact that Nikon only allows you one frame rate at 24p as if its nothing is letting them off the hook IMO. Canon provide you with the tools to shoot in 24, 25, 30 or even 50/60p in 720p which gives amazing slow motion which you simply cannot get in the Nikon.

For me there is no excuse - to be this late to the party and show up with something so 'underdone' and 'underwhelming' is unforgivable.

[Chris Leong]

Scarlet:
Well it surely won't be the under-$5k all-in-one pocket wonder it was originally set out to be, whenever it does eventually arrive. What I was referring to was that the Scarlet seems to have moved upmarket and is now not longer a factor in the DSLR price range of cameras to be considered.

And while I totally agree with you that Nikon has come late and light to the party, it's still here. And for those of us who have been Nikon users since day 1, that's good news.

The rest of it will be catch-up, for sure. But Nikon will catch up, eventually. (I sure hope someone from Nikon is reading this who gives a darn)

Those of us who are still battling with the non-HD HDMI monitoring of the 5Dii and the only recent 23.97 and 5994 firmware will continue to battle onwards using whatever camera is best for the job at hand. But all the lenses I own have always been Nikons, and I have owned and used a D40, then a D90, and now a D7000. Which Nikon has always considered, and represented all along and openly, to be a stills camera first and foremost, with video tacked on the end.

Canon rentals are cheap and D7000's are unobtanium for now, so what the Nikon can really do in video remains a battle to be fought, and workarounds come up with, as we all move onwards.

As for me, I'm going to continue to tinker around and make short movies, etc., but with the D7000, when I can get it to behave. Maybe it will take more effort to get it to do that - but I've made movies with the D90, so the D7000 is easier. Much easier.

And for some of us, that's enough.

Obviously not for others.

[Eric Pascarelli]

Originally Posted by Paul Cook

The work around to set aperture is pure stupidity.

If you use a Nikon lens or 3rd party lens with an aperture ring (All manual focus and AF-Nikkors and any newer non-G lens) there is no need whatsoever for a workaround. Just turn the ring to change the aperture manually.

With non aperture ring lenses, shoot in S mode and click the shutter release when you're happy with the aperture. Not perfect, but quite workable.

[Chris Leong]

Eric, hi!
Yeah, that's why I don't much like the G series lenses - why on earth take the aperture rings away from a lens? I guess "if it's not sense, it's making dollars"... (my dad's saying, not mine).
'Course, the lenses I'm using now on my Letus all have their aperture clicks removed as well as focus gear rings attached...