is D90 for FilmMaking and MusicVideos

the_shadow_killer said:
Is Nikon D90 for FilmMaking and MusicVideos.
Is it than how good is the Camera at it.
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My Brother is using it DPing an indie film. Ive seen the shots he took and they look great. NOT because of the camera BUT because it was lit and composed well, directed well and they had pro actors and make up artists, PDs and stunt coordinators.

BUT is the camera IDEAL is another thing. Its a first generation DSLR that shoots HD videos. Its a handy tool to ADD to a shooters kit.

It doesn't have mic in and records MONO. so you need another recorder for good audio.

It only shoots around 4 min, then SHUTS DOWN.

ONLY 24p.

NO MANUAL controls for exposure (you do a hit and miss thingy and lock it before rolling)

On a certain exposure setting, fast movement is rendered like frame doubling and not a natural motion blur.

Its very difficult under fluorescent light and halide type lighting. (this introduces running horizontal "scanlines" on your shot) we think this has something to do with lights that have ballast,(cant confirm though) otherwise, outdoor shots look good.

VERY poor codec performance that introduces strange color artifacts around thin linear patterns in your shot making color accuracy difficult.

Monitoring the video while shooting is ok but the recorded image is highly Degraded.

Its overall image has a postery color effect look (which some may like).

That said we placed it sided by side with bigger HD cams to measure its performace. I posted our tests here.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/jvc-pro-hd-acquisition-systems/141557-jvcs-d90-sony-hd1000-side-side-tests.html


You will see resolution charts and set up tests on that link.

Placing the footage which is an AVI file with MJPEG codec on an NLE for color correction, the fottage does offer a modest latitude for color grading. You can still produce dramatic results in post CC with this camera.


BOTTOM LINE.

If your a beginner on a budget and starting out you can do things with the D90 if you have vision and the right storytelling skills. The D90 wasnt a total waste for my Bro because he knew what he was getting and learned to work around the camera's limitation. He also uses the cam to shoot great BTS shots on projects when their using 35mm ARRIs. IT IS, after all, a VERY GOOD still camera.

Later on you can move on to a more capable setup.

I like to focus this post on an informative level, NO CAMERA is perfect, see what you want by looking at posted footage and tests like these. Make your decision based on what you believe will work for you best.


Ted
 
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acoelho1 said:
How good a camera is depends on you? If you do quality work, you will get quality results.
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Which becomes funny when you read john's posts and he repeatedly states that the reason he thinks the d90 isn't usable is that he owns one and it never performed to his standards. :-)
 
For the record 90% of all "films" and 100% of all music videos don't record sound in camera so that's a void argument. Also 35mm film doesn't have sound at all and a roll is 4.5 minutes. Have you ever heard anyone question its viability as a medium for filmmaking and music videos? :-)
 
Relax guys. I am just challenging you to work harder and prove me wrong. You can do stuff with the D90, heck, you can do a movie or video with a Super 8 film camera still, but be ready to work hard in post to get something decent. It is just the nature of the beast.
 
The d90, with attention to stabilizing, exposure, custom curves, and post work can produce more filmic images than anything even close to its price. It does not respond well to the casual shooter--the soccer mom will be very disappointed! The test over at dvinfo certainly shows that filming test patterns is best done with other cameras. (Though the d90 clearly has the nicest bokeh!) For those of us filming people (etc.) the d90 produces a very pleasing and filmic image.

I just saw Slumdog Millionaire for the second time (a must see for any of you who haven't seen it). I was struck by the beauty of the images. They were almost all very vibrant in color, extremely shallow depth of field, and rather soft. They reminded me very much of the d90 style of imaging! In fact Danny Boyle did film mostly with digital HD, and a few scenes were filmed with a Canon dSLR (some proprietary software that Canon made just for him).

What works for the eye, and in movies often cannot be captured in test pattern images or pure resolution measures.
 
i'm logging out now. will be busy shooting a feature in gran canaria the next two weeks. if all goes well i'll return with around 30 hours of footage. yes, we're shooting on a couple of d90's.

/matt
 
mattsand said:
For the record 90% of all "films" and 100% of all music videos don't record sound in camera so that's a void argument. Also 35mm film doesn't have sound at all and a roll is 4.5 minutes. Have you ever heard anyone question its viability as a medium for filmmaking and music videos? :-)
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Matt!

That's as Good as they come!

A+++++!
 
mattsand said:
i'm logging out now. will be busy shooting a feature in gran canaria the next two weeks. if all goes well i'll return with around 30 hours of footage. yes, we're shooting on a couple of d90's.

/matt
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Be real eager to see some results when you come back. Talked to a guy last night who is planning on shooting a low budget feature with a Mark II. I'll ask him to come start posting as well. Good Luck.
 
I'm eager to see some too. :-) ironically this project started out as a no budget super 8 or 16 mm shoot but as investors started to show interest and we needed a budget that held up financially we first planned for red, then hdv, finally d90 and now we even have an ok post budget if all goes well. :-)
 
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was done in 8mm. Don't see why someone cant make a film with a D90.

If you work it, it will work. :)
 
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