Help Me Pick A Camera

B

benjaminblack

New member
I'll try to keep this brief. We're a successful wedding studio and we just hired a videographer who's finishing up college. We shoot Nikon and have a huge selection of lenses and since we're NPS members Nikon will send us anything we want to try for free.

The videographer we hired shoots a 60D and I love her work. Her color is so spot on.

But we want to upgrade her camera. At first I was all about the C100, but it can't shoot 60P :( and the MK II is too expensive. Then we spent some time looking at the A7s, but after watching around 50 wedding videos on Vimeo, we hated the color. I mean the color right off her 60D requires no changes in post. So that leaves us really with the 5D3.

I have a D810 and could get her a D750 to try. But the 5D will probably have the color we like and she won't have to learn a new system. She could surely benefit from all our Nikon glass, but I'm not going to make her switch brands if it's not the best choice for her!

Any and all feedback welcome!
 
Well, I see color is the most important thing for you and that's a bit subjective, so in the end it's going to be a subjective choice, I think. You'll find lots of people who prefer the Canon colors over the Nikon colors, but also lots of people who prefer the Nikon colors to the Canon colors. And I love the colors out of my a7S (on which I never use sgamut, which is what most people use and I aggree it looks like crap and is very difficult to fix in post unless you follow a very strict "official" workflow, which hardly anybody does).

Both for sharpness and DR, the D810 and D750 are superior to the 5D3 (unless you shoot RAW on the 5D3, which you probably don't want to do for weddings). Plus, you already have all the Nikon glass at hand. But it does work slightly different, and it does have slightly different color. It's not going to be an easy choice. Luckily, all of these cameras are great anyways, you can't go wrong really.
 
Samuel H said:
Well, I see color is the most important thing for you and that's a bit subjective, so in the end it's going to be a subjective choice, I think. You'll find lots of people who prefer the Canon colors over the Nikon colors, but also lots of people who prefer the Nikon colors to the Canon colors. And I love the colors out of my a7S (on which I never use sgamut, which is what most people use and I aggree it looks like crap and is very difficult to fix in post unless you follow a very strict "official" workflow, which hardly anybody does).

Both for sharpness and DR, the D810 and D750 are superior to the 5D3 (unless you shoot RAW on the 5D3, which you probably don't want to do for weddings). Plus, you already have all the Nikon glass at hand. But it does work slightly different, and it does have slightly different color. It's not going to be an easy choice. Luckily, all of these cameras are great anyways, you can't go wrong really.
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Do you think we should even rent the A7s and give it a try? She's never modified color in post, I'm a photographer and I've never used Final Cut X. I mean, should we give the A7s a fair chance and see if she likes the color correction workflow? Or is all that going to overwhelm her? She's young and has potential, but I don't want to take a good thing and complicate it right at the start.

We are renting a 5D3 and I'm going to have NPS send out a 750. We plan to try them altogether. Could easily rent an A7s at the same time...
 
All these cameras have a lot of different picture styles/picture profiles/creative styles so color is going to vary a lot depending on your settings. Unfortunately a lot of people don't take advantage of that. I do find people are less familiar with the A7S whereas the canon DSLRs have been around for many years so many people are more used to them. Frankly I'd take the color on a correctly set-up A7S than a correctly set-up 5D/7D/60D/etc any day, and it has way more resolution and dynamic range, not to mention frame-rate options. Every once in a while I shoot on Canon DSLRs still and don't know how people can get by focusing in 1080p without expanded focus while rolling. The A7S has expanded focus, peaking, zebras, histogram, timecode, 4k ouput, and no 12min recording limits or aliasing so canon DSLRs are a pretty tough sell these days...

Might be a good idea to rent an A7S first, though it may take more than a day to really get a sense of any camera and test the different color settings and workflow options for yourself. Frankly I wouldn't use Vimeo videos shot on a particular camera to judge too much of anything, though the really good ones can give you a sense of what is possible and the bad ones just remind you that every camera looks bad if you don't know what you're doing.
 
I never give this kind of blunt one-way advice, but, make her use a D810/D750. It really is the best way here. Going from the 60D to a D810 is NOT in ANY way uncomfortable, I tried that exact jump, and the D810/D750 just makes SO much better images, they're both DSLRs and once she knows what dials change exposure she'll be ready to go shoot. The option she's going to have in having all these high end lenses is just not to be given up for any other reason. Stay with Nikon so you'll have a united collaboration where you can share bodies, lenses, batteries, and just have less problems when something goes wrong on a shoot. Non of the other cameras on the market have anything that better vs d810/d750 that's worth giving away the lenses/collaboration previlage. And hey don't worry she won't be upset leaving the 60D platform and shooting on the D810! If as you say she produces wonderful stuff with the 60D I can imagine what she'll do with a D810.

So yes this is a one-way advice, Nikon. Once you leave her the camera for a day or two she'll be very happy.
 
One system is great but do remember that Nikon lenses are "backwards" compared to the rest of the video/photo world. This is a big deal if one has a lot of muscle memory built up over time... At least it is for me.
 
You mean the focus ring? I shoot Canon and Nikon interchangeably for years and it never bothered, and that case is the worst. If you only get to use Nikkors for a couple of days you'll get used to it. I can't agree it's a real issue. Nikors are as good as lenses get
 
benjaminblack said:
Do you think we should even rent the A7s and give it a try? She's never modified color in post, I'm a photographer and I've never used Final Cut X. I mean, should we give the A7s a fair chance and see if she likes the color correction workflow? Or is all that going to overwhelm her? She's young and has potential, but I don't want to take a good thing and complicate it right at the start.

We are renting a 5D3 and I'm going to have NPS send out a 750. We plan to try them altogether. Could easily rent an A7s at the same time...
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If you're not going to modify color in post, the a7S is NOT a good idea. The a7S needs color correction and color grading, otherwise is just another camera, like many others.

Then again, would you give your clients your photos without playing with the color in post?
 
Am I totally going against the grain by suggesting a few lower end Nikons with a (higher bitrate) hack?

That way, one can get a 2nd or 3rd camera that you can just place in front of the happy couple and record for however long a card lasts.
 
Ebrahim Saadawi said:
You mean the focus ring? I shoot Canon and Nikon interchangeably for years and it never bothered, and that case is the worst. If you only get to use Nikkors for a couple of days you'll get used to it. I can't agree it's a real issue. Nikors are as good as lenses get
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Focus and zoom movement (unless you are shooting with a prime). I can only speak for myself but I come from more of a live filming, hands on the camera all the time background. My instincts are to rotate clockwise closer, anti-clockwise away. In a fast paced environment like a wedding I know I would miss some opportunities, and it would also mess with what is second nature to me. Sure one can adjust, but I would not want to.
 
Bassman2003 said:
Focus and zoom movement (unless you are shooting with a prime). I can only speak for myself but I come from more of a live filming, hands on the camera all the time background. My instincts are to rotate clockwise closer, anti-clockwise away. In a fast paced environment like a wedding I know I would miss some opportunities, and it would also mess with what is second nature to me. Sure one can adjust, but I would not want to.
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Agree 1000%...I had to use the D750 for a couple of days (thank God it was not a wedding) and I had a really hard time focusing...let alone button placement, different menus etc...those can be used after a while...but the focus thing for a canon user...difficult!!! My advise to the OP is to let her choose with what camera is more comfortable...we re talking weddings here...its not a game...and it doesnt have...CUT...lets role again!!! If you missed it...its gone! Trust me...nobody will notice moire or luck of sharpness in a wedding video...but out of focus is just not acceptable...
Now, if she try the Nikon and feel that she has it...ok...go for it...
 
Ebrahim Saadawi said:
I never give this kind of blunt one-way advice, but, make her use a D810/D750. It really is the best way here. Going from the 60D to a D810 is NOT in ANY way uncomfortable, I tried that exact jump, and the D810/D750 just makes SO much better images, they're both DSLRs and once she knows what dials change exposure she'll be ready to go shoot. The option she's going to have in having all these high end lenses is just not to be given up for any other reason. Stay with Nikon so you'll have a united collaboration where you can share bodies, lenses, batteries, and just have less problems when something goes wrong on a shoot. Non of the other cameras on the market have anything that better vs d810/d750 that's worth giving away the lenses/collaboration previlage. And hey don't worry she won't be upset leaving the 60D platform and shooting on the D810! If as you say she produces wonderful stuff with the 60D I can imagine what she'll do with a D810.

So yes this is a one-way advice, Nikon. Once you leave her the camera for a day or two she'll be very happy.
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This with a caveat, make sure she does not heavily use the AF system for video, nikon's video AF system is atrocious and not comparable.

Other than that it may be hard for her to learn the Nikon Focusing direction, but unless she already has a full range of high end Canon lenses she should be use the Nikon system. If she is going to be a second shooter/videographer the lenses and support that are gained by switching are worth it. I do recommend the D750 if she is doing primarily video work, and it's also a fantastic wedding camera.

One other thing to keep in mind. If your okay with the quality of her videos from her current camera and want her as a second shooter you can buy her adapters so she can use your Nikon lenses adapted on her Canon body and get her another nikon for the photo work. But overall I do recommend having her switch.
 
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