Nikon D90 or Canon HV20

C

Cinemano

Active member
I know its a weird comparison.. but im thinking of selling my HV20 and my Nikon D80 to get a NIkon D90.. Hoping it can cope both tasks..

If the Nikon D90 is PROGRESSIVE 1280p and the HV20 is INTERLACED 1920, surely after pulldown its the same as the D90 video quality?

Thanks for feedbacks..

I dont worry about Mic input as I do sound on a seperate device.
 
Do you worry about the fact the nikon cannot record a 30 minute interview? Or even a 10 minute interview?

Surely an HV20 is far from being a professional tool, but if you use it to make a living, don't trade it for a D90. The D90 is a tough beast, and don't usually behave.

If you want to use it for fun, though... I find my D90 very fun. Probably more so than an HV20.
 
hi, i dont think i ever shot over 30-40 seconds :) but i do fiction and commercials.. I think for shooting events or interviews yeah it would suck.. hum, but good point.. might be dangerous to sell my hv20.. i need it to play all my old MiniDV tapes anyway. buaaah so ill need to raise the dough in these hard times then hehehe Profesionally working, id be lucky if i can get a shot longer than 4 minutes on my RED.
 
even if you shoot less than 5 minutes per take, liveview can't keep turned on for much more than 10 minutes. I'm sure a D90 could really ruin a day's work for fiction or commercials when you are at take six and still doesn't "have it" and the camera decides to turn itself off.

Just saying...

:beer:
 
Cinemano -- if you want to shoot progressive footage, the HV20 can do that with it's PsF method (progressive segmented frame) which allows 24p or 25p (NTSC or PAL) recorded to DV tape as if interlaced in order to conform to the HDV standard.
 
If you're going to have other prefessionals or clients on set then it would be a good idea to have a second D90 on hand when the first one overheats. The D90 has better low light capabilities and shallow depth of field but it is temperamental. Having said that there are pro's here that know it's limitations and are using it for commercial work. I plan to do the same to raise some extra cash for my film.

Before the D90 came out I was thinking of using something like a HV20/30 for my feature but once the D90 was available there was no other alternative for me. You will need some kind of stabilizer for it.
 
I have an HV20 and I haven't used it since I got my D90, except for audio recording for ADR/sound effects that is. Trust me, the D90 is a great tool for filmmaking but you need to be vigilant when filming with it. Nothing has changed over the years with cameras for filmmaking, they all require a workaround of some kind in the end. For example, the HV20 requires the exposure trick and post conversion for true 24fps. The D90 is no different in that you have to lock exposure and, you don't necessarily have to but, you can also apply simple tweaks in post to correct some of the side effects of the compression the D90 uses. If you care about quality, you have to do whatever you can to get the most out of the D90 and the same should go for any camera you decide to use.

In your case, it sounds like you could very well use a D90 versus having to have both a D80 and the HV20 but be warned, the D90's only major weakness is that it overheats so the investment in a second D90 pretty much makes the argument for one single camera moot. Having two D90's really is a lifesaver as you can film with one until it overheats and then swap to the other and then back again once the other one overheats. It's not too time consuming, just swap the lens and memory card and you're good to go. Batteries are the only issue you might run into but I haven't been on very long shoots that required more than two batteries. Don't even try interviews unless they're short or can be in short bursts. Documentaries can work as long as you can swap cameras, if you're in a situation where that's not possible then you're better off going with something else.

As far as stabilizers, I've heard of some getting by with shouldermounts (ie. Zacuto, Redrockmicro, etc.) and then there's the whole gyro stabilizer craze that's going on right now. Use what works I suppose. However, I find that a VR lens works reasonably well combined with steady hands. Just leave the caffeine alone for a while and maybe eat a bannana before filming. ;)
 
Cinemano said:
I know its a weird comparison.. but im thinking of selling my HV20 and my Nikon D80 to get a NIkon D90.. Hoping it can cope both tasks..

If the Nikon D90 is PROGRESSIVE 1280p and the HV20 is INTERLACED 1920, surely after pulldown its the same as the D90 video quality?

Thanks for feedbacks..

I dont worry about Mic input as I do sound on a seperate device.
Click to expand...

The HV20 / HV30 is progressive and 1080p - so moving to the D90 will mean a loss in resolution (as it is 720p).
 
I just have one. talking to Nikon about sponsorship and additional cameras. overheating has not been an issue. i can't shoot that fast. :)
 
the people who've run into overheating problems are probably just running live view on a constant basis. i had it in live view for over 30mins, cause i forgot, in a 75f room before it shut down. not once, since i flick out of live view between whatever shots, has it over heated. if you're gonna spend 2600, or 2k just for the body, 2300 for one body, one lens on a camera, just shoot for the 5d mk2
 
The D90 is definitely way more fun. What's not always fun is looking at the footage when you get back to edit :) Still, I have this problem now where I don't really shoot stills anymore - the video is too hard to resist when I'm out shooting something.

I'm glad I still have my HV20 (and SGpro, and DVX...) but yeah I wish they could be as simple, form-factor wise, as the D90. I hope the next generation of video-capable dSLRs can live up to the promise.
 
Well, the first thing the camera does is it starts sputtering out thirty-second increments instead of the full five minutes. Granted, this too happens over time even when you flick live view on and off between takes. I switch when this happens because thirty-seconds just isn't enough for a lot of things.

As far as the resolution hit, yeah, you do start to miss the sharpness and flexibility of 1080p, but the 720p D90 footage looks far more filmic. However, don't be too enticed by the 5D Mark II, that is a different beast entirely as far as workarounds go. Plus, if you want 24p, there's currently no way to get that natively out of the 5D Mark II. So, be prepared to spend extra money and time on other software to convert the 30p to 25p and then convert that to 24p. I've only seen one video example of the results and, surprisingly, it seems to work pretty well. Would I want to do that? No, not at all, but that's just my opinion.
 
just to add my experience....I had a Canon HF11 for about 3 months before I got my D90...have barely touched my HF11 since....I bought the D90 over the fact I wanted selective DOF and hated hated hated these Letus and Brevis type adapters....Im not paying over 1k for something that has so many flaws....

anyway.....since I got the D90 I have gotten back into stills more so the thing takes damn good shots
 
Zak Forsman said:
I just have one. talking to Nikon about sponsorship and additional cameras. overheating has not been an issue. i can't shoot that fast. :)
Click to expand...
let us know how you go with nikon, I've been thinking of doing the same here for the feature....some of those mega expensive wide primes would be nice too.
 
sorry but hv20 is definitely not 1080p.. its a 1080i camera. It is true that it CAPTURES 1080p video at 24p, but does it record to the tape that way??? People who know the limits of HDV would have said something by now.

Please read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDV
 
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