D800 press release

Like a LOT of other topics we get into I think a lot of this divide (moire) is between different types of shooters.

I shoot an occasional music video, I have shot commercials, but not many, I virtually never do any type of event shooting (I despise doing it, so I quote a very high rate and if they are willing to pay it, OK, but they usually aren't). In narrative I have complete control over what they are wearing, what's in the background, etc... I know what has a high chance of causing moire, so i don't put those things in the shot, usually easy enough.

Even if it does rear it's head, unless it's just brutal, 99.999999% of the audience will never notice it.
 
jdv said:
The moire issue is - as usual - way overblown. Moire might be the biggest non-issue in the camera world - "normal" people could care less. Don't shoot a movie about brick buildings or stripped shirts, and you're golden. A bigger concern to me is the "video-ish" look of the footage.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the moire is a huge sum of the parts of why it looks "video-ish". Poor downsampling like that not only affects brick buildings and stripped shirts but has an overall effect on the image, it affects the way texture and detail and skin and hair and everything looks. It makes everything look squiggly and chunky. That's why I can instantly tell a DSLR video than any other professional tool.

Compare the Behind The Scenes video shots where there are stills in the video with the rest of the D800 footage... those stills are how things should be downsampled, and the detail you'd get on the GH2 or Reds and Alexa's re-scaled to 1080p.

And the camera compression and way it groups images together and blocky grain patterns and shutter speeds and frame rate etc will also add up to the video-ness etc as we know.
 
Forget about the camera, that was great visual storytelling.
Click to expand...

There you go! But wait....didn't you see that naughty pixel running from left to right, stopping in the middle of the screen, sticking his tongue out, then running again! And the aliasing and the moire on the spider web right before the end of the film on the tree behind the girl throwing the newspaper? I was horrified that Nikon doesn't really care about the award winning cinematographers here and dares to put a completely flawed camera! Shame on you Nikon, shame on you! Well maybe the D900 will be better.
 
Last edited:
'That's why I can instantly tell a DSLR video than any other professional tool."

It's not a "professional tool" for video.

It's a semi-pro tool that does an amazing job at it's price point. I'm shooting on DSLR because for less than $3k (for even the pricer members of the family) you get something the typical non-pixel peeping viewer will think looks pretty darn good. Certainly good enough it doesn't detract from the experience of the film.

If I was making a feature that even qualified as "low budget" (say $750K) I wouldn't be shooting on a DSLR, I'd be shooting on at least a RED. I shoot on DSLR because my typical production budget is less than $2K a day.
 
cowpunk52 said:
If this were a storytelling forum, then we would be having a far different conversation. But it's not, and I think it's important to remember that when putting this thread in context.
Click to expand...
The video was posted. I watched it. It wasn't a series of test charts and brick buildings; it was a sweet, well-executed story. As such, that was my sincere impression.
 
It's not a "professional tool" for video.
Click to expand...

Is as professional as the person behind the camera. The videos so far from the D800 are from top professionals and they look pretty good. The same goes for promo videos from Canon and others. Just take a look at the BTS videos and see how the pros work.
 
John Caballero said:
Is as professional as the person behind the camera. The videos so far from the D800 are from real professionals and they look pretty good. The same goes for promo videos from Canon and others.
Click to expand...

No doubt.
An iphone CAN be a professional tool, and the skill of the person behind it can maximize it's capabilities. Give Gordon Willis or Christopher Doyle, a 15 year old Hi 8 camera and Joe Schmo right out of film school an Arri Alexa and we both know who would make a better looking film, BUT except for Shane Hurlbut who has some kind of fetish, and specific shots where the small form factor is an advantage, very, very very few top tier professional DP's would shoot on DSLR by choice. People shoot on DSLR because of price.
 
IDK, I'm not particularly impressed by the IQ itself. The main things that are getting me are having the option to go commando with mic in and headphone out, and FF + DX modes. Nikon, can you make a true anamorphic option in the DX mode (FF sensor made to cover entire s35 lens image circle with a square) and give us cine-gamma picture styles?

Edit: but the IQ is not horrid either. It is up to current (i.e. past) DSLR standards. Just expected a little more sharpness with the 36mp sensor. Not impressed for what I'd expect from 2012 dslr video IQ, but not worried about it either. The D4 and D800 are the best FF video cameras under $10K, and that will be true for at least until Canon releases it successors.
 
Last edited:
Not surprised by the moire/aliasing. I'm pretty convinced that you aren't going to get a large sensor DSLR that performs well in these areas unless it shoots its native format. If you find a way to get rid of it, you're getting rid of high frequency detail as well.

GH2 still has it, just less of any other DSLR out there, and I'd wager it'll out-perform the D800 in this area.

One thing's for sure, unless they used some kind of hurricane magic to stabilize the camera, the rolling shutter's non-existent. That makes it a tool for intense or extreme motion up front.

Also, with James and Plasm, and Cowpunk on various points made. Not impressed.
 
By the way, you know who really needs to enter the arena?

Hasselblad.

Let's see some Medium Format video with Mamiya lenses. >=]
 
Kholi said:
By the way, you know who really needs to enter the arena?

Hasselblad.

Let's see some Medium Format video with Mamiya lenses. >=]
Click to expand...

I sold the Hasselblad to finance the 5D purchase, but still have my Mamiya 645. Pull it out every couple of months and shoot a few rolls, love that thing.
 
Someone let me play with their Medium Format camera, first time I've ever held or shot stills with it, and it melted my hair off. Want.
 
Kholi said:
Someone let me play with their Medium Format camera, first time I've ever held or shot stills with it, and it melted my hair off. Want.
Click to expand...

Like ALL film cameras that don't fall in the highly collectible range the prices are off a cliff. You can probably get a 645 with several lenses for literally a few hundred bucks, but digital backs are pretty pricey I think, about the cost f a mid range DSLR.

Talk about shallow DOF, holy cow, stopped down it's like millimeters.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
Like ALL film cameras that don't fall in the highly collectible range the prices are off a cliff. You can probably get a 645 with several lenses for literally a few hundred bucks, but digital backs are pretty pricey I think, about the cost f a mid range DSLR.

Talk about shallow DOF, holy cow, stopped down it's like millimeters.
Click to expand...

... Maybe we should start buying these lenses now... before it happens...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top