5200 or 7100? coming from Canonland

Haven't used the D5200, but just got a D7100 over the weekend (coming from Panasonic GH series). Got pretty comfortable w/ the menus fairly quickly & pretty much love the camera. The colors, DR, noise handling, image are all lovely. There is the gripe about no Exposure Meter in Live View & having to switch out of it to view (an inconvenience, but minor to me) and would definitely be annoying for Run & Gun stuff. It doesn't bother me that much, hopefully a Firmware Upgrade could make this possible in Live View though. I would've also liked a Record Highlight function for overexposed areas of the frame but still a minor quibble. Overall I'm very happy w/ this purchase & got rid of my GH3. I like too many things about the D7100.

Andrea189 - Thanks for that bit of info!
 
VLance52 said:
Andrea189 - Thanks for that bit of info!
Click to expand...

Happy that you find it useful! When I was using the D7100 without the external recorder I read a post that explained how to show the exposure when in live view Movie mode, I found it really useful, pity that it does not work now that the camera is connected to a Pix 220 via the HDMI port.

Anyhow, I cannot find the original post but I think that you have to go to Custome Settings Menu, choose G:movies, then g1: Assign Fn button and select View Photo Shooting Info. Instead of g1 you could also use g2 (preview button) or g3 (AE-L/AF-L button). Hope this might be useful.
 
Andrea's right on that one too.

You can use the assignable buttons to view photo shooting info and get your exposure meter to come up in live view.

You've taken away my only two gripes about the camera today. I'm very happy. Thanks again for your tips!
 
homestar_kevin said:
Andrea's right on that one too.

You can use the assignable buttons to view photo shooting info and get your exposure meter to come up in live view.

You've taken away my only two gripes about the camera today. I'm very happy. Thanks again for your tips!
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I am really happy about it, the D7100 is a great camera.
 
It's an exposure meter like on the Canon DSLR's and it stays up and active while in live view and while recording video.

It's exactly what I was wanting. Very happy
 
Lpowell said:
But you know what? I never use manual settings to shoot video because of the lack of a histogram in Live View mode! In practice, I've found the most reliable way to shoot video on Nikon DSLR's is to use the light meter to set exposure in Aperture Priority mode. While it's a little tricky to set up the auto-ISO function to default to 1/60 sec shutter speed, Aperture Priority best suits the camera's Live View aperture limitations. Likewise, auto-ISO works very well with the camera's wide usable ISO range and gray card white-balancing produces more accurate results than my own manual color temp guesstimates.
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To each their own, but when I shoot with video cameras, canons, etc, I'm not looking at a histogram - once the shot's dialed in, I rarely look at the meter.

I've shot plenty of commercial stuff on Canons and the D7000, full manual. Never had a problem with aperture rings - if you take the lens from the F22 lock, it's always worked for me manually, regardless of the control setting; that only seems an issue for ring-less lenses. I just don't like the idea of the camera "deciding" to change the ISO on me. For run & gun stuff, you'll get an occasional blowout, but to me it looks better if the mids and shadows stay the same when a hot spot enters the frame. For more planned-out stuff, there's no issue.

I know some people still advocate auto exposure for video, but unless it's really crazy run & gun, I just don't see it being preferable. I haven't had a camera set to "auto" in literally years, for video anyway.
 
Andrea189 said:
Happy that you find it useful! When I was using the D7100 without the external recorder I read a post that explained how to show the exposure when in live view Movie mode, I found it really useful, pity that it does not work now that the camera is connected to a Pix 220 via the HDMI port.

Anyhow, I cannot find the original post but I think that you have to go to Custome Settings Menu, choose G:movies, then g1: Assign Fn button and select View Photo Shooting Info. Instead of g1 you could also use g2 (preview button) or g3 (AE-L/AF-L button). Hope this might be useful.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I may have a lemon, seriously hope it's user error.. Every time I try & assign 1 of the buttons to enable this function, save the settings, it does not take. I go to Live View, hit the button, nothing. Tried for about 30 minutes. Also, I have a spec of dust on the sensor & while trying to do the option to raise the mirror so I can use a dust blower to possibly remove it, the option is greyed out - NEVER allows me to do this option. I have updated the firmware if this makes a difference & have contacted Nikon support.
 
VLance52 said:
I'm thinking I may have a lemon, seriously hope it's user error.. Every time I try & assign 1 of the buttons to enable this function, save the settings, it does not take. I go to Live View, hit the button, nothing. Tried for about 30 minutes. Also, I have a spec of dust on the sensor & while trying to do the option to raise the mirror so I can use a dust blower to possibly remove it, the option is greyed out - NEVER allows me to do this option. I have updated the firmware if this makes a difference & have contacted Nikon support.
Click to expand...

Did you assign the shutter release button to Record movies? If so, the Viewing photo info option wil not work.
 
Andrea189 said:
Happy that you find it useful! When I was using the D7100 without the external recorder I read a post that explained how to show the exposure when in live view Movie mode, I found it really useful, pity that it does not work now that the camera is connected to a Pix 220 via the HDMI port.

Anyhow, I cannot find the original post but I think that you have to go to Custome Settings Menu, choose G:movies, then g1: Assign Fn button and select View Photo Shooting Info. Instead of g1 you could also use g2 (preview button) or g3 (AE-L/AF-L button). Hope this might be useful.
Click to expand...

Another nice find! Thanks.

I use an external HDMI monitor, and the meter shows up on the monitor, but not on the camera's LCD.

The camera's LCD screen goes black when set to 720p, but the monitor is showing correct data.
 
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Andrea189 said:
Did you assign the shutter release button to Record movies? If so, the Viewing photo info option wil not work.
Click to expand...

Andrea189 - You're on fire! Thanks for this! Still unable to get the mirror lock up function to clean the dust off my sensor though. Thinking I'll just take it in for a cleaning.
 
Andrea189 said:
I have never used the Pix with the camera set at 720p, I will try and let you know.
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I checked the manual. The LCD screen is supposed to go black when using an HDMI device and in 1080i or 720p mode. This is a little strange, but I think most people use 1080p mode anyway.
 
Sumfun said:
I checked the manual. The LCD screen is supposed to go black when using an HDMI device and in 1080i or 720p mode. This is a little strange, but I think most people use 1080p mode anyway.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's a little weird, as you said I have always set the camera to 1080p and never realized it.
 
VLance52 said:
Andrea189 - You're on fire! Thanks for this! Still unable to get the mirror lock up function to clean the dust off my sensor though. Thinking I'll just take it in for a cleaning.
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Are you using a fully charged battery? You need at least 3 bars on the battery icon for the mirror lockup function to be enabled.
 
Sumfun said:
Are you using a fully charged battery? You need at least 3 bars on the battery icon for the mirror lockup function to be enabled.
Click to expand...

Yep, battery is fully charged. MUp function is also selected on the wheel (if that makes a difference). Just got off the phone w/ Nikon Support, had me do a reset, lens unattached, still not working. They recommend I send it in, but I have a shoot in 2 weeks & everything else is working fine so I'm holding off until I get back. Unless I get it working before then. Good thing is, the dust spec only shows up above F8 & I never shoot above that w/ use of variable ND Filter.
 
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Michael Carter said:
I just don't like the idea of the camera "deciding" to change the ISO on me. For run & gun stuff, you'll get an occasional blowout, but to me it looks better if the mids and shadows stay the same when a hot spot enters the frame. For more planned-out stuff, there's no issue.

I know some people still advocate auto exposure for video, but unless it's really crazy run & gun, I just don't see it being preferable.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I gave you the wrong impression, I'd never let the camera change the exposure during a video shot either. What I do on the D5200 is use auto-ISO while framing the shot, and then hit the AE-Lock button before staring the video recording. Each camera has its own strengths and quirks, and learning what works best is part of the challenge. With the GH2, for example, I always shoot video in full manual mode.
 
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