Switch - experimental short shot on Nikon D90

N

---nemesis---

Member
Check out my latest short film shot on the D90! It's my first experimental film. It's not really a style-oriented experimental film, but more of a narrative-oriented experimental film. I'm not one for experimental films really, but I really loved this idea and wanted to shoot it.

For a stabilizer I used my Redrock rails and just used the tail end to rest on my shoulder. I have some hand grips mounted underneath.

As for lenses, I used a 50mm 1.8 and an 18-55mm 3.5.

I'd love your feedback!

Length: 3:17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxXtj7aPNk0&fmt=22
 
Wow! Cool concept. Simple, elegant, and very effective. I like the shots too. You should make one for one the dvxfests here.

I think I would've liked a little bit of sound design, but the music was great on its own.

Great job.
 
I really enjoyed this. I like the panoramic shots. I like the way you were shooting into the sun when the alter guy was busy, Rashomon trees like.


How often would this event happen?
 
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Wow dude, that was really really well done for a short.

Does he have a twin or something?

I am surprised by the lack of jello vision for the D90,compression doesn't look bad either. A little high contrast for my taste but very nice.

Did you edit this on PC or mac, and what is it like to edit D90 stuff?
 
Wow thank you all for such wonderful compliments! :)

Veehaanow: Someone suggested I enter it into the latest fest, but I felt finding the loss in this short was too much of a stretch. I originally shot this for another fest, but the runtime ended up being 2 and a half minutes too long and I really can't/don't want to cut it down.

PaPa: Yes, they are twins, but supposed to be the same person switching places. Haha nice call man. I edited this on Final Cut Studio and used MPEG Streamclip to convert the files into Apple Intermediate Codec. Workflow was insanely easy. I forgot to mention that I applied the stair stepping removal that I got from an article Zak wrote.

PaPa, DruBoogie, Starscream: To reduce the jello I did a lot of practice hand held using my Redrock rails as a shoulder mount. There is a lot to hand held shooting that I never realized before that the D90 basically made me become aware of. Vibration of the camera in hand held doesn't look very professional on all cameras, and using the D90 helped make it become apparent when I was doing that by making everything turn to jello. So with a lot of practice I figured out how to shoot with a nice hand held look but without vibrating the camera at all to get jello. This helps a lot for me shooting with other cameras, too, because a lot of us don't realize how much we vibrate the camera. It's my theory that the D90 is a great training tool for any cameraman or cinematographer to play with so they can perfect hand held work.

But not only that, I'm figuring because of the amount of light making the shutter close really low helped a lot.
 
I would love it if you could post some full resolution grabs showing off the kind of compression the D90 gives? I am ready to sell my xh a1 for this sucker for the mean time before newer generation stuff is released but really want to get a taste of the workflow in PP CS3 and see the compression.

thanks guys.
 
Papa, wait a little longer. There are better DSLRs with the movie mode on the way. I love my D90, and it has paid itself with still photography, but video is another matter. Although some stuff looks better than other in general the D90 has way too many issues. I recommend you wait for the Lumix GH1 from Panasonic or the next generation Nikon.
 
i can't wait for the panasonic, because i want to use my nikon lenses. 3/4 doesn't cut it for me. The nikon allows me to use all my nikon lenses.

After my feature is done, ill be able to sell my XH A1 with letus elite to get something cheaper that will hold me out until i have another project down the line.

Im tired of dealing with adapter light loss, GG issues, dust, etc.. Although i am able to get some stellar images, i would prefer a different workflow at this point.
 
Papa, you do realize the gap between the gh1 and d90 is .5 or 25%? You can use your nikon lens on the d90 if first, they're AI and secondly you don't mind it's 1.5x crop. I wouldn't sell the A1 for the d90. Maybe for the canon Mk2, but not the d90.
 
I just want a camera without an adapter which will allow me to use my nikon lenses, shoot 24p, and not cost me a fortune.
 
Well done. Did you use an ND filter or polarizer?

I agree, the jello is not a problem if you stabilize the D90 right, use the right lens, and get the right shutter speed.
 
Yes I forgot to mention I did use a polarizer. Mmm I love polarizers, especially in the California desert.

I hate adapters as well. I will never use one again. As cool as they can be, they're still jerry-rigged and unbalanced and difficult. I'm going to shoot my next film on Red next month anyway, and I just use the D90 for smaller shorts and photography now. The workflow of the D90 is incredibly simple and easy though. I might use it to shoot auditions for my next film because of its simple file-based system.

If you're going to be doing major productions, I don't think you should get rid of your XH A1. The D90, although amazing for what it is, has too many limitations to justify using it on a really important project to you. You'll find yourself in situations becoming very frustrated that you aren't able to control the shutter speed and ISO manually. I work for a production company and still use the XL2 for almost all of my professional shoots.

There are plenty of grabs from the D90 you can find on this forum, but if you like I'll post one for you later.
 
Papa, I guess we all want to do what we think is right. But you should get your hands on a D90 from somebody and test it first, then decide if you want to make the investment. What good is a camera that uses the Nikon lenses, shoots 24 fps, but because of compression, jello problems, stairstepping, codec and how insanely difficult it is to focus it is not going to give you a consistent output? If you want professsional footage the D90 is not the camera you want to be using even though it may have shallow depth of field.
 
there will be an adapter available to use nikon glass on the GH1. It shouldn't cost more than about $30. I'll probably get the GH1 and sell the D90 until Nikon brings out the D800.
 
i totally agree that people who can't focus manual lenses shouldn't use the d90. i'm not sure if they should be making films at all, but everybody's gotta start at the bottom i guess.

/matt
 
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