Nikon D7100 - Video settings.

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romandesign

Member
Just got my new D7100 today. Video looks great but a bit jerky. I tried to force fixed shutter speed in P mode but got confused by camera behavior. I'm new to DSLR video. Can somebody share video settings and modes to use? Manual is very vague.


  • 30p Video is not very smooth, much more jerky than 30p video from my HDV prosumer camcorder set in in 1/60 shutter speed. Any solutions?
  • What exposure settings to use in manual mode? 1/60 and whatever aperture required? Can ISO be adjusted live or has to be fixed?
  • What auto mode to use for best video when auto is needed? When set to S shutter displayed in live view jumps all the time, so not sure what's happening, shouldn't it stay the same? What shutter speed will give me smoothest video and how to force is on automatic mode so the shutter is fixed and ISO is adjusted automatically (aperture is not adjustable during shoot, I know)?
  • What picture settings to use for video that will be graded and edited?
  • What picture settings to use for family-type video that just needs to be the best out of the box ("cinema" look not required).

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!
 
1. For full control, Shoot in M on the dial (manual mode)
2. Your ISO can be set to whatever you wish for movies
3. Set Your shutter speed to 1/50 or 1/60 depending on 24P or 30P
4. Aperture can be set before entering live view.
5. For auto shooting, I would just use the auto mode on the dial...of course AF will still not be fast, so you may want to ride the focus manually.

For picture settings, just experiment...as you will find many people prefer many different looks. If you're going to edit later, you just don't want anything too punched up too far on the contrast/color/sharpness settings. I believe many use variations of Neutral/Portrait/Standard.
 
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pulpfiction007 said:
1. For full control, Shoot in M on the dial (manual mode)
2. Your ISO can be set to whatever you wish for movies
Click to expand...

When I set it to M and shutter to 60 - when I shoot video, shutter indication on the screen jumps to 30 (indoors, evening, low light) - not sure why it's not keeping the 60 as I set it? Or is it?

Update: it seems that in S mode if ISO needs to be around 100 or up to 150 the shutter stays 60 as set, but if autoexposure is nudging ISO higher, shutter drops to 30 and stays there. Not very logical, I'd prefer if 60 remained until ISO 1600 or so and only then dropped, but I don't think this is user-selectable...
 
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Try the standard profile with contrast all the way down, sharpness on 1, and saturation down 1 or 2 notches to taste for grading. For a baked in look just dial down the sharpness to taste.
 
Update: I just confirmed a very strange bug! I did some shooting today outdoors in the bright light and in the S (shutter priority mode) with shutter set to 60 as soon as switch to video live view, shutter drops to 30 and stays that way no matter what I do. It does not respond to any dials etc. Obviously camera can't change aperture, so it changes ISO to keep good exposure. But I can's set shutter to 60 in any other mode but full Manual (M). The camera always drops shutter to 30. Why??? Note that if I switch to Photo Live View (not video) then shutter stays 60 and is also fully changeable by command dial.

I can't explain it by anything but a weird bug. I would be OK if it fixes the sutter to one value, but it should at least be the best suitable value (60 for 30p video)! Or user-editable. Instead it drips it to 30 even in bright light. It's not just not optimal setting, but also makes even harder to use wider aperture as there's just too much light at shutter 30. It forces to use manual mode, but with no metering I can't even properly change it during recording, because it's hard to see in a bright light if your exposure is OK and there is no meter to tell you otherwise. Any ideas about how to solve it?
 
If you need to change exposure during recording I would recommend using Manual mode and changing the ISO, metering with how the image looks on the lcd. It takes some practice, but having the lcd on 0 brightness all the time and not AUTO, keeping an eye on the highlights of the image and having an small enough aperture for adjusting some give or take ISO can work pretty well. I usually get to a location, take a photo to see the histogram or use the viewfinder to see an exposuremeter to get an idea of what sort of settings I need to start with, and then just adjust the ISO using my own judgment. I don´t recommend any other mode than M since they will give you very varied results that you have no control over.
 
romandesign said:
Update: I just confirmed a very strange bug! I did some shooting today outdoors in the bright light and in the S (shutter priority mode) with shutter set to 60 as soon as switch to video live view, shutter drops to 30 and stays that way no matter what I do. It does not respond to any dials etc. Obviously camera can't change aperture, so it changes ISO to keep good exposure. But I can's set shutter to 60 in any other mode but full Manual (M). The camera always drops shutter to 30. Why??? Note that if I switch to Photo Live View (not video) then shutter stays 60 and is also fully changeable by command dial.

I can't explain it by anything but a weird bug. I would be OK if it fixes the sutter to one value, but it should at least be the best suitable value (60 for 30p video)! Or user-editable. Instead it drips it to 30 even in bright light. It's not just not optimal setting, but also makes even harder to use wider aperture as there's just too much light at shutter 30. It forces to use manual mode, but with no metering I can't even properly change it during recording, because it's hard to see in a bright light if your exposure is OK and there is no meter to tell you otherwise. Any ideas about how to solve it?
Click to expand...

These cameras have 2 options for control for video...
Use the Manual mode to set everything, or let the camera take over control. The shutter priority doesn't work like shutter priority in photo mode. The camera takes control.
So in bright light, use manual mode. Have your shutter fixed at 1/60. ISO set at 100. Set your aperture before entering live view, and in very bright light if you want a wide aperture you will need an ND filter to not blow out and overexpose the whole scene.
 
Thanks. I was hoping for a workaround, but I didn't imagine that S wouldn't work. ALso, full-auto is supposed to try to guess the best exposure, but why is it going down to 30 then? It doesn't make sense. It should be 60 I think and then drop to 30 in low light. That's weird that any auto algorithm would work this way. Maybe Nikon thinks that 30 is the right shutter to use in most situations? To tell the truth on the first glance I didn't see much difference between 30 and 60 in the bright light. I'm still troubled by the video beeing quite jerky and not smooth. I think my HDV camcorder produces much smoother video at 30p.
 
Hmm. Sounds like the D7100 is behaving very differently to the D7000 in shutter-priority mode. To recap, here's what I do on my D7000:

  • Movie Settings → Manual movie settings → ON
  • ISO sensitivity Auto ON, max 6400, min 1/50 (I'm in PAL land and shooting 24p; I guess you'd pick 1/60th if shooting 29.97P)
  • Assign AE-L/AF-L button → AE lock (Hold)
  • Shutter priority 'S' mode, dial in 1/50th.
  • Dial in desired aperture.
  • Flick to Live View mode.
  • You now have shutter speed and aperture locked, and the camera will juggle ISO to pull an auto (and usually reasonable) exposure. You can dial in exposure compensation to bias it if you want to nudge it in either direction.
  • Tap AE-L/AF-L to lock the ISO, preventing exposure stepping during recording.
  • Shoot.
In use, it's less contrived than it sounds. Most of the above are profile settings you can write to one or other of the user presets; I have those set to auto-WB and Kelvin WB for U1 & U2 respectively.

If you set the preferences and operate as above, does the D7100 still diddle about with your shutter speed? Because damn, I was about to buy one. :embarasse
 
JonathanS said:
  • Shutter priority 'S' mode, dial in 1/50th.
  • Dial in desired aperture.
Click to expand...
1. If you are in S mode (shutter priority auto) then you should not be able to "dial aperture". If you can it means that you are in M mode or camera ignores S setting (as I think it does on D7100) but on my D7100 it defaults to some kind of auto mode, and in your D7000 maybe to manual mode. BTW there is no "manual movie setting" option on D7100.

2. It's really weird, but in photo M mode (including photo live view) D7100 indeed keeps adjusting ISO, so essentially it's not an M mode at all but an auto mode of sorts, until you disable auto-iso. This is weird behaviour. It would have been exactly what was needed for video, and if I understand what you are saying correctly, that's what happens in D7000, however in "video live view" on my D7100 auto iso stops working in M - it's only working in "photo live view" on M or in "video live view" on S and other modes. Which is beyond weird - why two different behaviours for photo and video live views. And where exactly needed - in video M mode - auto ISO doesn't work, while in photo M mode (where it's not needed and forces to go to menus and switch it off every time) it works. I'm speechless...

3. When AE-lock button is set to "AE lock Hold" for video, it freezes the whole thing, including the auto-ISO for the modes that it works. That seems more logical for photo than leaving auto-ISO working, but obviously it doesn't help in video.

If only I could force is to freeze shutter and aperture, while leaving auto-ISO to auto - that would be ideal, but so far I can't make it work that way...
 
Well, I've got the D5200 and works fine in S mode. The way it behaves, as it should, is you pick the shutter speed and the camera chooses the correct aperture depending on the lighting situation. And the D7100, I am 100% sure, operates the same away. And the ISO changing? Well, simply go to the ISO sensitivity settings in the menu and turn the Auto ISO sensitivity control OFF right after you had gone to the movie settings and turn the Manual Movie settings on.
 
John Caballero said:
Well, I've got the D5200 and works fine in S mode. The way it behaves, as it should, is you pick the shutter speed and the camera chooses the correct aperture depending on the lighting situation. And the D7100, I am 100% sure, operates the same away. And the ISO changing? Well, simply go to the ISO sensitivity settings in the menu and turn the Auto ISO sensitivity control OFF right after you had gone to the movie settings and turn the Manual Movie settings on.
Click to expand...

Well, I want to be 100% sure as well, but I'm holding D7100 in my hands, and it does not. I put it in S, fix shutter at 60, and as soon as I press "movie live view" shutter drops to 30, and it's not fixed - if I move around it sometimes changes to 60 or 125, but in the bright daylight it almost always stays on 30, which doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

There is no "manual movie setting" in D7100 menus.

I tried changing Auto-ISO to minimal shutter of 60 and disabling it altogether - no effect. In M mode Auto-ISO never works, in P or any other - works all the time, even when it's OFF in menus. It also ignores any settings and goes above maximum of 3200 set in menus to 6400 with closed lens cap.
 
romandesign said:
It's really weird, but in photo M mode (including photo live view) D7100 indeed keeps adjusting ISO, so essentially it's not an M mode at all but an auto mode of sorts, until you disable auto-iso.

If only I could force is to freeze shutter and aperture, while leaving auto-ISO to auto - that would be ideal, but so far I can't make it work that way...
Click to expand...
It's not so weird once you understand how auto-ISO works on Nikon cameras. Before enabling auto-ISO, it's important to preset the ISO Sensitivity Settings to suit your shooting preferences:

* ISO Sensitivity (normally 100) - sets the minimum ISO the camera will select
* Maximum Sensitivity (e.g. 6400) - sets the maximum ISO the camera will select
* Minimum Shutter Speed (e.g. 1/60) - sets your preferred shutter speed

In operation, auto-ISO will maintain your preferred Minimum Shutter Speed while setting proper exposure by adjusting ISO between your minimum and maximum limits. However, if lighting conditions fall outside your ISO limits, auto-ISO will set ISO to min or max and reduce or increase shutter speed as well, in order to maintain correct exposure. In auto-ISO mode, the camera will operate this way regardless of whether you set the mode dial to M, A, S, or P.

When you enter Live View mode to take a video, the camera will mechanically lock down the current lens aperture, which effectively forces the camera into aperture priority. For this reason, I think the most practical way to use auto-ISO is to set the mode dial to A. This will enable you to set aperture manually while auto-ISO adjusts the ISO setting to produce proper exposure at your preferred shutter speed. You can also use the Exposure Compensation button to fine-tune your exposure while in Live View mode. Once you're satisfied with the exposure, pressing the AE-Lock Hold button will lock in all exposure settings. It's not necessary to press AE-Lock if you want auto-ISO to continue to work while shooting video.
 
romandesign said:
1. If you are in S mode (shutter priority auto) then you should not be able to "dial aperture". If you can it means that you are in M mode or camera ignores S setting (as I think it does on D7100) but on my D7100 it defaults to some kind of auto mode, and in your D7000 maybe to manual mode. BTW there is no "manual movie setting" option on D7100.
Click to expand...

Ah, sorry - bad description on my part. On the D7000 you pick S, set a shutter speed, then the forward dial trades ISO for aperture. You lock in your chosen aperture by flicking to Live View, leaving just (auto) ISO floating, which you lock down with the AE-L button. To me, that AE-L button behaviour is as expected, since I really don't want the camera to ramp ISO during a take. In fact, I wish that button locked the auto white balance too, but maybe that's just me.

It sounds like the D7100 options are:

Shoot in M mode: manual everything, no option for auto ISO and hence effectively manual metering. Yikes.
—or—
Shoot in S mode: ...which is broken because the camera doesn't respect the selected shutter speed when in movie mode, irrespective of auto ISO settings.

Can anyone else confirm this behaviour of shutter-priority mode? Are we looking at a rogue unit here, a misunderstanding, or is it basically borked on the D7100? (in which case: firmware bug? Surely 'shutter priority' mode should... er... prioritise the shutter selection?)

Weird that the D5200 sounds like behaves as the D7000 does.
 
Lpowell said:
For this reason, I think the most practical way to use auto-ISO is to set the mode dial to A. This will enable you to set aperture manually while auto-ISO adjusts the ISO setting to produce proper exposure at your preferred shutter speed. You can also use the Exposure Compensation button to fine-tune your exposure while in Live View mode. Once you're satisfied with the exposure, pressing the AE-Lock Hold button will lock in all exposure settings. It's not necessary to press AE-Lock if you want auto-ISO to continue to work while shooting video.
Click to expand...

I'm familiar with how Auto-ISO works, but it works as set in photo M mode, and doesn't work at all in M video mode. That is weird. I see no reason for this logic. If anything it should be reversed, because in photo M I need full control but in video it would really help to overcome lack of aperture control.

I tried your procedure - it works exactly as in S (so you are right - S mode doesn't exist for video, it's A mode all the way apparently). Shutter is dropping to 30 most of the time and that's it. Exposure Compensation would affect the picture, right? So I can't force shutter 60 that way. And AE lock locks everything. So there is no auto mode that allows me to set shutter 60 and whatever aperture and maintain exposure with AutoISO! There is no technical reason it is so, especially considering people here say it works fine in D5200 and D7000! I'm still hoping for a workaround...
 
JonathanS said:
Shoot in M mode: manual everything, no option for auto ISO and hence effectively manual metering. Yikes.
—or—
Shoot in S mode: ...which is broken because the camera doesn't respect the selected shutter speed when in movie mode, irrespective of auto ISO settings.
Click to expand...

Even worse, as there is no real metering when shooting in M. There is a trick to assign a photo metering info to a function button, but then any adjustment in that mode does not carry to video, so you can click to get meter, adjust exposure, then disable meter and repeat all exposure setting again to mirror it for video. It's almost impossible while shooting so it makes it almost irrelevant. Only normal metering is before the shoot.

I'm still hoping I messed up somehow and keep missing something obvious, but I'm out of ideas about what can it be...
 
romandesign said:
I tried your procedure - it works exactly as in S (so you are right - S mode doesn't exist for video, it's A mode all the way apparently). Shutter is dropping to 30 most of the time and that's it. Exposure Compensation would affect the picture, right? So I can't force shutter 60 that way. And AE lock locks everything. So there is no auto mode that allows me to set shutter 60 and whatever aperture and maintain exposure with AutoISO! There is no technical reason it is so, especially considering people here say it works fine in D5200 and D7000!
Click to expand...
I'd be surprised if auto-ISO didn't work the same way on the D7100 as on the D5200. It's definitely confusing, though, and the way Nikon's firmware misrepresents lens aperture settings is hazardous. My recommendation is to use auto-ISO only in A mode, where it produces intuitive and consistent results (as long as you don't set AE-lock before entering Live View mode and avoid taking a snapshot while in Live View).

In auto-ISO mode, the shutter speed may indeed drop to 1/30 when maximum ISO is not set high enough for proper exposure in low-light conditions. If you set your preferred auto-ISO shutter speed to 1/60, it will stay at that speed so long as auto-ISO can find correct exposure within your preset minimum to maximum ISO range. Once it hits your maximum ISO setting, however, the camera will start using longer shutter speeds in order to maintain correct low-light exposure. If you want to force it to shoot at 1/60 second, the Exposure Compensation button can be used to underexpose the shot enough to bring the shutter speed back up to 1/60. Once you get the hang of this workflow, you can leave AE-lock off and the camera will remain at 1/60 shutter while the ISO is automatically adjusted as lighting conditions change.
 
Lpowell said:
In auto-ISO mode, the shutter speed may indeed drop to 1/30 when maximum ISO is not set high enough for proper exposure in low-light conditions.
Click to expand...
You're assuming low-light situation, which would be logical. But on my camera it does this in broad daylight! Now it's almost evening, but let's give you an example: I'm in regular mode (not live view). I set it to S and shutter to 60 and see that camera sets aperture to 3.5 and auto-iso goes to 650. Makes sense. When I go to photo live view - I see 60/3.5/800 - OK, reasonable (not sure why ISO is different but close enough). Now, AS SOON AS I go to video live view it shows shutter 30 , aperture 4.5 and ISO 400. That makes no sense! Auto-ISO is set to go up to 6400 and keep shutter speed of AUTO to use the D7100 zoom variations (I also tried 60 there - same result). So no reason for it to drop shutter to 30 because it can bump ISO up easily well within limits.

So it's NOT how auto ISO is supposed to work. Why close aperture? (I didn't touch zoom) Why slow down shutter? Why lower ISO if it could easily keep the exposure it set in photo mode? If it would be normal auto-ISO behavior, it would behave just like in photo mode. 3.5 is as high as this lens can go, and 60 is shutter I set in S mode, so it should bump up ISO to 640 or 800 just like in the photo modes.
 
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