Nikon choice, wait or not to wait?

I have a feeling this is all we'll see from Nikon for a while.

I'll probably buy a 5300 as a b-cam for my 7100 at some point (would be great to see a price drop soon though).

I really, really don't want to purchase anything above $1k until I can have prores or raw and 60p on a super-35/APS-C sensor. The Nikons and my more broadcast-camcorder style panasonic will cover me for 80-90% of my projects without renting... beginning to think my best bet is equip myself with a couple SSDs and battery solution for renting the BMC 4k camera, or maybe buy a speebooster and have rental choice of BMC 2k and GH4 for music vids/etc.

If Nikon did 10-bit out via HDMI I'd be pretty jazzed. I know lots of people love the GH4, the pocket, etc., but I'm waiting for my next "I own it" gear.

But for most of my work needs, you just can't get much prettier than the D7100 at this price level.
 
Michael, have you considered a D5200 with the 64 Mb/s hack from NikonHacker? In the UK you can get a D5200 for under £300 now and they give great images, particularly with the hack. Sadly there is no 50/60p though.

I shot this test video with the hacked D5200 recently. Its straight out of the camera with no pp, so you get a great idea of the colours and dynamic range.

Vimeo has compressed it a fair bit, so I recommend that you download the original file, or I can PM you a link to an even less compressed version.

 
I don't think I'd see enough quality to replace the 7100 with the 5200 (I shoot a lot of still gigs) - and I'd really like 60p@1080 for the usual reasons (I really like it even for some corporate stuff). The hack's a noticeable improvement, but I'd like my next big leap to be Prores or raw.

Curious to see if the 750 is a big codec improvement though - someone go buy the damn thing!!!
 
Michael Carter said:
I don't think I'd see enough quality to replace the 7100 with the 5200 (I shoot a lot of still gigs) - and I'd really like 60p@1080 for the usual reasons (I really like it even for some corporate stuff). The hack's a noticeable improvement, but I'd like my next big leap to be Prores or raw.

Curious to see if the 750 is a big codec improvement though - someone go buy the damn thing!!!
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I was thinking of the D5200 replacing a possible D5300 purchase that you mentioned, rather than replacing the D7100 with the D5200. I am seriously thinking of getting a D7100 and using my hacked D5200 as a B cam, though I take your point about the D5200 not having 60p@1080.
 
My only need for a 5300 would be the (really sweet) 1080-60 it does - other than that, fairly useless when you already own a 7100... I do use AF to set initial focus on steadicams or cranes, and I have a lot of older screw-drive glass I'm very fond of (no screw-drive in the smaller Nikon bodies). The 7100's remote port is killer for focus and triggering on a crane, too.

But... having a 5300 with a wide on it is great for gigs when you have steadicam work, just assign that little thing to the steadicam and balance it ONCE... I like that. Thus, maybe, I dunno, might pick one up. Doesn't look like we'll see anything groundbreaking from Nikon or Black Magic for the rest of 2014, so if I start feeling that "haven't bought anything in ages" malaise (OK, I've been buying vintage film cameras, really digging the darkroom again!)

If I didn't have a 7100 and didn't do still work, it might be a tougher call between the two.
 
Michael Carter said:
My only need for a 5300 would be the (really sweet) 1080-60 it does - other than that, fairly useless when you already own a 7100... I do use AF to set initial focus on steadicams or cranes, and I have a lot of older screw-drive glass I'm very fond of (no screw-drive in the smaller Nikon bodies). The 7100's remote port is killer for focus and triggering on a crane, too.

But... having a 5300 with a wide on it is great for gigs when you have steadicam work, just assign that little thing to the steadicam and balance it ONCE... I like that. Thus, maybe, I dunno, might pick one up. Doesn't look like we'll see anything groundbreaking from Nikon or Black Magic for the rest of 2014, so if I start feeling that "haven't bought anything in ages" malaise (OK, I've been buying vintage film cameras, really digging the darkroom again!)

If I didn't have a 7100 and didn't do still work, it might be a tougher call between the two.
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I might be being simple here but what remote do you use to trigger recording?
 
willantirocks said:
I might be being simple here but what remote do you use to trigger recording?
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I use one of those $9 Nikon remotes from Amazon (or eBay). One button, half press focus, full press shoots. Set your shutter to video triggering in the menus.

It's a proprietary jack which nobody seems able to find, so for a crane, I cut the remote cable in half and spliced a 1/8" headphone male and female jack. When I don't need the cable long I just plug it together, but I can also use an off-the-shelf mini- headphone extension (which is a handy thing to have anyway).

On a crane, it's extra cool - I can set my first focus point using the camera's AF - most crane shots I'm not pulling focus and if I am, I'm next to the camera and don't need the remote.

Nikon's AF is crap for video, but it works just fine to set initial focus, or refocus mid-shot if you can cut away from the focus-hunt.
 
DevonChris said:
Michael, have you considered a D5200 with the 64 Mb/s hack from NikonHacker?
Click to expand...

Actually, the Samsung NX1 seems like the D7200 I was hoping for: 4k, 1080p60, and an improved codec. It's APS-C and takes Nikon glass with adapters (as I understand). $1400.

Would love to get my hands on one for testing...
 
Wow, that's a really lame set of reasons, in that video (and I say that as someone who doesn't like Nikon for video).

The only one of those comments that isn't just a personal preference is the reduced availability of third-party lenses - but then he says he's using Nikon anyway!

And then he doesn't even mention the one issue that should have been pointed out: lack of electronic aperture control in live view.
 
Man, he lists "skin tones" as a reason to go with Canon... guess he hasn't seen any Nikon video from the D7000 and up...

And he's sad he can't stick an Olympus consumer zoom on a mount that has over five DECADES of pro glass available, plus all the current tamron/sigma/etc... and then says he shoots Canon because "the pros do"!

I haven't seen a lot of Olympus zooms on pro sets lately.
 
He just woke up from a cave. I mean you can compare Nikon to Panasonic or Sony's, with some good or bad points. But Canon!!!!!!!!!! Most of their Dslr are still basically using 2008 tech. For example Moire and aliasing has been cured since the D5200 two years ago even to the 36 megapixel D810. Then you have 60p, low light nearly equalling 5d3 from D5200 with pixel binning, clean hdmi out etc etc... The reason is simple, as Canon is protecting its highly successful C100/C300 line of cameras. If you want to have high quality video using eos lens, the message is simple buy a C100/C300.
 
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