Manual Control firmware Updates: An Email over at ProLost

mrmoe said:
LOL. Keep in mind that Nikon's market is 99.9% Journalism and video was intended for this market, not Indie film makers who demand more critical features. It will come in time, but not anytime soon. Cheers
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More and more photo journalists are being asked to produce video as well as stills for their distribution channels. So the journalism market might push Nikon to improve the video features as well. They certainly have the sophistication to deal with manual exposure settings!
 
Robert Altman said:
More and more photo journalists are being asked to produce video as well as stills for their distribution channels. So the journalism market might push Nikon to improve the video features as well. They certainly have the sophistication to deal with manual exposure settings!
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It is still a very tiny quotient, though.
 
Nikon's market is most assuredly not 99.9% journalism and the D90 is not a journalist's camera. Whether or not they're testing out the tech for later use in that market is a different question. Either way, I'm sure their original intent was not born out of eagerness to compete in the already crowded video/indie filmmaker market.
 
i know at least four or five photo journalists who use the d90 because it has video, if you work for a newspaper you're gonna need it these days. web video if you haven't noticed seems to be the ****. the d90 isn't usually a pro camera, they would all have chosen differently if it hadn't had video, but it is now.

/matt
 
@mrmoe
Dude, where are you getting your stats from? Please just don't make up stuff and post it, at most just use exaggerated words, but don't make up numbers. Nikon has made video camera's in the past, and they make other technologies besides pro still cameras.
 
artforme said:
@mrmoe
Dude, where are you getting your stats from? Please just don't make up stuff and post it, at most just use exaggerated words, but don't make up numbers. Nikon has made video camera's in the past, and they make other technologies besides pro still cameras.
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@artforme

I was referring to their commitment to their base market, Photographers. It's no accident that they have a 46.7% share in the global DSLR market making Nikon the leaders. (570b yen, as of 03/09 from what Nikon Corp financial's report) However...

Can you point to a Nikon Camera with video (before D90 & D5000) that was mass produced and gain market share, but more importantly will reflect on their Cash Flow, and Balance Sheet?

Keep in mind the D90 was made with photographers in mind, not indie film makers, hence the reason their is no manual controls. Nikon does make other products, but its core business and market (based on Nikon financials) is for Photographers. And yes, I due diligence when I invest. I'm sure they may eventually see a market, but for now its their base consumer that keeps them in business. Not sure why you feel bothered by my comment, but whatever you do, Have a great day.

Cheers.
 
Robert Altman said:
More and more photo journalists are being asked to produce video as well as stills for their distribution channels. So the journalism market might push Nikon to improve the video features as well. They certainly have the sophistication to deal with manual exposure settings!
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Agreed. If anyone has influence, its definitely the journalism crowd. Cheers.
 
mattsand said:
i know at least four or five photo journalists who use the d90 because it has video, if you work for a newspaper you're gonna need it these days. web video if you haven't noticed seems to be the shi*. the d90 isn't usually a pro camera, they would all have chosen differently if it hadn't had video, but it is now.

/matt
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I'm seeing the same trend going on. very interesting times.

Now, back to GH1 thread, enough of this firmware update chat. :)
 
@mrmoe lol, good reply. [touché]

I just thought you were underestimating one of the major selling points of the D90. Nikon markets the D90 for it's 'moving images'.
 
artforme said:
@mrmoe lol, good reply. [touché]

I just thought you were underestimating one of the major selling points of the D90. Nikon markets the D90 for it's 'moving images'.
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Yes, Its true. It Markets & Advertises a Video feature ("moving images") to its Photography community. But... Can you imagine if they were to market to the film making industry.

D90 now includes...
Awesome Aliasing, 5 min record limit, and No manual controls.
Buy a D90 and get Free Overheating. Limited Time offer !

Back to GH1 thread :)

Cheers
 
im still so torn between the two cameras

on one hand the D90 does jello, has high compression, but you can control the ISO and shutter with the trick and it produces the nicest filmic highlights i've seen out of any camera in this price range.

Then the GH1, has manual controls, way better compression and higher resolution image, has less jello but doesn't do blowouts like the D90 does. It also has some strange 24p that has to be reverse telecined like the HV20 because of the damn pulldown....

Seems like we just can't win... They are so close to releasing something that we can all use without problems, but it's like they just deny us that...

And im sorry Panasonic,, but no monitoring option while recording? wtf...
 
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PaPa said:
im still so torn between the two cameras

on one hand the D90 does jello, has high compression, but you can control the ISO and shutter with the trick and it produces the nicest filmic highlights i've seen out of any camera in this price range.

Then the GH1, has manual controls, way better compression and higher resolution image, has less jello but doesn't do blowouts like the D90 does. It also has some strange 24p that has to be reverse telecined like the HV20 because of the damn pulldown....

Seems like we just can't win... They are so close to releasing something that we can all use without problems, but it's like they just deny us that...

And im sorry Panasonic,, but no monitoring option while recording? wtf...
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I tried to find some info on the partial iso and shutter control with the D90 but I couldn't find anything. Is there a work around?

I am also toying with getting the D90 still. It has the soft filmic image and range that I want.
 
It's a great camera, you can't go wrong with it. The only thing it asks of you is the patience to enforce the workarounds to get it to "somewhat-manual-somewhat-auto" controls. Yes, that means constantly trying to lock the exposure "just right" and not being able to review clips unless you want it to mess around with your exposure again when you flip back to live view, thus forcing you to have to do the exposure dance one more time. Aside from that and the few little menu option tweaks and the post process workarounds, you should be fine.

Actually writing that all out makes it sound like a monster when it comes to video. Not at all! Once you get everything set up, shooting video with the camera is a breeze, even on full auto!
 
Jack_Felis said:
It's a great camera, you can't go wrong with it. The only thing it asks of you is the patience to enforce the workarounds to get it to "somewhat-manual-somewhat-auto" controls. Yes, that means constantly trying to lock the exposure "just right" and not being able to review clips unless you want it to mess around with your exposure again when you flip back to live view, thus forcing you to have to do the exposure dance one more time. Aside from that and the few little menu option tweaks and the post process workarounds, you should be fine.

Actually writing that all out makes it sound like a monster when it comes to video. Not at all! Once you get everything set up, shooting video with the camera is a breeze, even on full auto!
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well put, it's definitely a dance.

but to me, its similar to the dance i had to learn to get manual control over my shutter and gain settings from the hv20. once you learn the dance, it's easy to repeat. but it takes a bit of time.

The post workflow issues look slightly simpler with the D90, just with higher compression and lower resolution, but as seen, the range of the D90 is really nice.
Im still giving nikon time with the D400 before i make any decisions. But panasonic has definitely brought the game up for sure!
 
Pirata said:
Not really.
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how do you figure? it's at least 50% more as far as i can tell. sure, it's because they force you to buy an expensive lens, the d90 would be just as expensive with an equal lens, but afaik there's no way around that.

/matt
 
I'm waiting on Nikon. Then if they don't do anything I'll think about the GH1.


PaPa said:
im still so torn between the two cameras

on one hand the D90 does jello, has high compression, but you can control the ISO and shutter with the trick and it produces the nicest filmic highlights i've seen out of any camera in this price range.

Then the GH1, has manual controls, way better compression and higher resolution image, has less jello but doesn't do blowouts like the D90 does. It also has some strange 24p that has to be reverse telecined like the HV20 because of the damn pulldown....

Seems like we just can't win... They are so close to releasing something that we can all use without problems, but it's like they just deny us that...

And im sorry Panasonic,, but no monitoring option while recording? wtf...
Click to expand...
 
are manual controls truly possible via a simple firmware update or is it more complicated and a complete hardware overhaul is needed?

I know there are some things that can be changed via firmware updates and other things are just "pie in the sky"

What are some of the "realistic" things that can be improved via firmware?
 
Nearly everything wrong with the D90 can be fixed by firmware. Jello wobble, skew, and the overheating issues are about the only things that can't be fixed by software. Manual controls over everything within D-movie mode, including compression and ISO, can be enabled only if Nikon allows it.
 
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