d90 footage - quick test in Toronto subway

[Matthew Bennett]

So of course one of the first things I wanted to do was get the d90 into a subway setting : The link below is the result of a quick half hour of messing around... Only really happy with a couple of the shots, but I learned a lot in the process..

THE SUBWAY in metro Toronto...
A typical nightmare for anyone with a prosumer or above videocamera w/adapter... low to no light, security guards on your a$$ in a minute if you show tripod, and people generally making a huge fuss because they think they are getting videotaped...

Aside from the constant stabilization challenge, the d90 shoots in ANY light (albeit with grain), and is completely INVISIBLE to civilians. No one gave me a second glance for a moment. Great fun. I can't wait to do a more polished 'scene'. I also attempted to use the rolling shutter issues as an 'effect' in the edit, not sure if it works all the time, but I'm trying to deal with it as an opportunity rather than a curse...

And of course all post is targeted towards an SD or small web finish.

http://www.qmediasolutions.com/guest/CAMERA_TESTS/SUBWAY_edit_sharp_h264.mov

[John Sandel]

Matthew, heartily encouraging stuff. I'd give you an award for the first D90 mini-narrative posted here. I thought your camerawork was excellent; Jello-O was unobtrusive (this hothouse of propellerheads may disagree, god love 'em) & your use of focus was dramatic. Of course, the music helped …

More evidence that, in skilled hands, any tool will suffice when bent to an appropriate use. What lens(es) did you use, etc? All metadata appreciated.

[Thebes]

Wonderful. This proves that the D90 has a place for serious work. I'm sure this would have been MUCH harder to shoot with a "real" video camera and large, light eating DOF adapter.

I don't think the rolling shutter skew was a big issue either. It was pretty obvious in the one train shot, but it just added an edging sense of motion.

[Matthew Bennett]

Matthew, heartily encouraging stuff. I'd give you an award for the first D90 mini-narrative posted here. I thought your camerawork was excellent; Jello-O was unobtrusive (this hothouse of propellerheads may disagree, god love 'em) & your use of focus was dramatic. Of course, the music helped …

More evidence that, in skilled hands, any tool will suffice when bent to an appropriate use. What lens(es) did you use, etc? All metadata appreciated.

Just a bunch of old manual lenses, 50mm 1.8, 24mm 2.0, 180mm 2.5, mostly.
I shot wide open which can lend a bit of gaussy haze to the image sometimes.

I let the camera have its way as far as exposure, ISO and shutter, just exposing constantly and then locking it down.

[John Sandel]

I let the camera have its way as far as exposure, ISO and shutter, just exposing constantly and then locking it down.

Thebes, how does this compare to your general method, with the D90, thus far?

[rawfa]

It looks excellent, Matthew. But I can see big issues with the rolling shutter in several occasions.

[Matthew Bennett]

It looks excellent, Matthew. But I can see big issues with the rolling shutter in several occasions.

Yes, we're going to have to starting writing scenes where everyone is drunk or drugged...
THEN the roll would be a big boon...

[Daryl Auguste]

Awesome job man, that was great.

[NikonGuy]

That looks seriously cool. I want to see more stuff of this quality.

[walnutcrunch]

The look of it is pretty nice. This would be such an amazing tool if it wasn't for that rolling shutter. My lord that is a defect and a half.

So far, keep the d90 on sticks or warp reality.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Holly Shit The SubWay Train was skewed!

Kinda cool though but trippy!

[ESTEBEVERDE]

OH!

I like what you have put up on here on the boards so far!


A++++++ and keep up the good work! :beer:

[rawfa]

Yes, we're going to have to starting writing scenes where everyone is drunk or drugged...
THEN the roll would be a big boon...

Hahaha. Good one.

Seriously though. The stuff look REALLY good.

[fahreza]

wow, great work, and it think it looked fantastic! now i really want a D90 even more!
i say despite its shortcomings, this proved that the camera is totally usable. just have to learn to get around its limitations.

now i'm just curious about the limitations, as in, when will skewing occur? the subway train was skewed in a couple of shots, but not in the other shots and they're all moving.

[Matthew Bennett]

now i'm just curious about the limitations, as in, when will skewing occur? the subway train was skewed in a couple of shots, but not in the other shots and they're all moving.

Skewing will occur on any fast motions on the horizontal plane. This means if you make a fast motion panning as an operator, or if something moves very quickly horizontally through your static image..

UP and DOWN motions are allright, though! (at least we have that..)


I guess with those subway shots you can get a good idea of what speed through the horizontal will begin to reveal skew...

[fahreza]

Skewing will occur on any fast motions on the horizontal plane. This means if you make a fast motion panning as an operator, or if something moves very quickly horizontally through your static image..

UP and DOWN motions are allright, though! (at least we have that..)


I guess with those subway shots you can get a good idea of what speed through the horizontal will begin to reveal skew...


i see. thank you for the explanation.:)

it has to move horizontally -really fast , for the image to skew. i was beginning to wonder if it has anything to do with color, or light or shape. so we'll just avoid fast pans and fast moving objects like speeding cars or passing trains.

[Norbert]

Excellent look! Looks like a commercial. What did you do in camera or in post to bring back the shadows? They don't look all black and crushed like in every other clip I see. What's your secret?

[PappasArts]

Looks awesome!

The D90 latitude is sweet too..

[Daniel Aragão]

I cant see the stair stripping lines on this footage, how did you avoid those artifacts?!

thanks for such a great footage. nikon has to give you some money for this one. hehe if you please, it would be great to watch this footage in full resolution.

[timmytimetravel]

Totally awesome! I'm so looking forward to seeing more of this type of work coming of this unit!

And you're not talking a lot of setup time for these shots or setting up lights :)

How much fun was it maintaining focus? You did an awesome job. Did you punch in using the lcd magnifier before the shot, adjust, punch out?

You said you were shooting wide most often, did you find your self needing to give it a few more stops to avoid a narrow dof to maintain focus?

I feel there was very little jello! Favorite stabilization tricks?

Do you feel that $2k worth of gyro kit under the camera would have made a real difference to this style of shooting / piece or no need?

[Fliques Osman]

Hey Matthew, that looks great.

I'm in Toronto myself, and couldn't find any stores that stock the D90. I'm looking to do some film out test with it. Where did you picks yours pick from?

Thanks and keep up the good work.

[utako.o]

couldn't find any stores that stock the D90. I'm looking to do some film out test with it. Where did you picks yours pick from?


sadly, i'm in the same boat as you.. Nikon has yet to ship to canada... rumour has it for next tuesday but they also promised the stores fro sep 22nd... want d90 NOW!

[Justyn]

Man.. you got to be kidding me.. That's a great friggin piece. LOVE that and what an image from this little cam... and you got to love that DOF... and ability to resolve under crappy lighting. Man alive that's sweet. At this price... It's a nice little glove-box cam or more and I bet ther will be camera support for this...



how's the post on this? I'm on FCP6.. easy to work with?

[Matthew Bennett]

Hey Matthew, that looks great.

I'm in Toronto myself, and couldn't find any stores that stock the D90. I'm looking to do some film out test with it. Where did you picks yours pick from?

Thanks and keep up the good work.

I had to get mine from B+H in NYC

I did all the post work from an SD 'print' I made in AE, then just cut normally like you would with DVX footage on FCP

[ryan brown]

Awesome work Matthew... as usual. Yes, the rolling shutter was noticeable, but I don't think it ruined the shots by any means. Just a very small flaw that the general audience probably won't care about, or possibly even notice.

Keep in mind people, that Mr. Bennett is a very talented DP, so don't expect to just grab this camera and produce results to this caliber. I'm sure you could give him a $19.99 "as seen on TV" HD camcorder and he could produce excellent results. That being said, the D90 may have it's place in the video world just yet ;)

Full on feature film? probably not... but for web output? abso-freakin-lutely.

[Fliques Osman]

Hey fellow Canucks,

D90 is now available in Canada. I picked one up from Henrys in the T.O area. Body 1119.00 for body only.

[frisco]

True.... And Thank you Mr. Bennett for the demo.... Truth is you had me in the first ten seconds.
Thank you for not shooting your cat, dog and flowers.

frisco




Awesome work Matthew... as usual. Yes, the rolling shutter was noticeable, but I don't think it ruined the shots by any means. Just a very small flaw that the general audience probably won't care about, or possibly even notice.

Keep in mind people, that Mr. Bennett is a very talented DP, so don't expect to just grab this camera and produce results to this caliber. I'm sure you could give him a $19.99 "as seen on TV" HD camcorder and he could produce excellent results. That being said, the D90 may have it's place in the video world just yet ;)

Full on feature film? probably not... but for web output? abso-freakin-lutely.

[EDIT-XTREEM]

Hey fellow Canucks,

D90 is now available in Canada. I picked one up from Henrys in the T.O area. Body 1119.00 for body only.


I'm waiting for Vistek to get it in.

[SaNTi]

Nice!

I used to live right in front of the buildings in the end.

Queen and Ontario.

[Norbert]

In case my question was drowned... Your clip is the only D90 clip I've seen so far where the shadows are not crushed. What did you do to bring them back?

[Matthew Bennett]

In case my question was drowned... Your clip is the only D90 clip I've seen so far where the shadows are not crushed. What did you do to bring them back?

When I made my SD 'print' in AE, I just bumped the output black levels up a bit. This has the added bonus of smoothing the banded compression in the lowlight areas of the images.

I wouldn't do this in camera - I find it's good to let the camera crush the blacks to RGB 000 because then there is less stress on it's jpeg compression.

[Rubbersquare]

have to say, that was much more engaging than the vincent laforet short. and further pushes me to the d90 from the 5d. as i've said a number of times, the content is what matters. and what you did there was good content and good look. that makes a great job!

[Ryanrjack]

Footage like this is the reason why I'm really excited about these DLSR cameras that shoot HD video!

[mmoses00]

Matt,

Can you post the 720p version in some format? Just wanted to see a bigger version on the 30"

Thx!

[bronxjragon]

dopeness

[Matthew Bennett]

I can't believe this thread got ressurected! Lazurus!

As soon as Lee Wilson developed the LEE FIX, I did an HD version of it, actually. I'll post it later.

I really need to go shoot something better in the subway though, the shots aren't really as good as the camera can get...

[Pierre N Petit]

ditto for the hd version. Good job. I really like the incognito factor....