Here is my experience with the Nikon D7100 using a Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle 2.
First off you can only get a clean full frame HDMI signal with the D7100 set to live video mode, live picture mode outputs a cropped 720 size image only. The output of the D7100 can be clean with no menus and is full frame with no cropping edges as seen with a Nikon D600. You have to select the clean output via the D7100 info button. Unfortunately you cannot record with the two units simultaneously. If you push record on the D7100 the HDMI output changes to a 720p output however the Hyperdeck Shuttle will record a full frame image but only at 720p 59.94fps. One strang thing I found was that even though I had the D7100 HDMI output set to 1080p and the record format set to 24p (high) the Hyperdeck Shuttle only recorded at 29.97p. There is no direct setting for frame rate that you can select on the Hyperdeck Shuttle so I’m not sure if the unit is recording 23.98Psf or the D7100 is only outputting a 29.97p signal. There is no interruption to the live view on the D7100 when you record or stop recording with the Hyperdeck Shuttle, it performs seamlessly and fast. Both DX and 1.3 crop modes work with the Hyperdeck Shuttle which is a nice bonus for that extra punch. The punch in for focus still works and If you switch the menu on or change the info button the Hyperdeck Shuttle still records but at a cropped 720 size image. It can be kinf of handy to have all the record info imbedded for a few frame on each clip then switch to a clean output.
Overall there is an increase in resolution using the Hyperdeck Shuttle over the D7100 internal recording. Gone are any internal codec compression artefacts, along with any mud like smoothing in saturation that pops up with the internal codec. The motion cadence is smooth and very much the same as the internal codec. I found that there is a slight lift in gama with the Hyperdeck Shuttle recordings. And even though the Hyperdeck Shuttle records in 10bit, I still see some 8 bit colour banding in some of the images. The Hyperdeck Shuttle recorded audio from the D7100 over the HMDI which is a bonus and a workflow pain at the same time. Its more related to the DNxHD 220x format that stores 16 channels of audio with the Quicktime file. Thus making it a chore to use in Avid and will not import directly into After effects. I ended up deleting the audio tracks using Quicktime Pro and resaving the file, which then allowed me to use them properly in both applications. One of the reasons for using the Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 was my hope to be able to record in a native format for Avid MC editing. I was looking for a faster workflow that I wouldn’t have to transcode or alter the source material. Unfortunately the DNxHD 220x format and its 16 channel audio presents a slower workflow and work around then importing the D7100 internal H264 files directly into Avid MC or After Effects.
In the end I did find the boost in overall quality to be very good using the D7100 with the Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 compared to the D7100 internal H264 codec. I find that it could be worth the extra setup, data space and workflow in some of my broadcast work. I do have another issue with the D7100 and its sibling D5200 and the fixed horizontal pattern noise it produces in shadow contrast areas and this seems to be a characteristic of the sensor at even low ISO’s in well lit scenes. I had hoped that for some reason it might have been an internal recording codec issue or somehow it was generated while recording or related to some other camera setting. But unfortunately it is not and the HFPN is very prominent with an uncompressed recording and shows up with even more detail compared to it being slightly smoothed out somewhat by the internal D7100 recording.
First off you can only get a clean full frame HDMI signal with the D7100 set to live video mode, live picture mode outputs a cropped 720 size image only. The output of the D7100 can be clean with no menus and is full frame with no cropping edges as seen with a Nikon D600. You have to select the clean output via the D7100 info button. Unfortunately you cannot record with the two units simultaneously. If you push record on the D7100 the HDMI output changes to a 720p output however the Hyperdeck Shuttle will record a full frame image but only at 720p 59.94fps. One strang thing I found was that even though I had the D7100 HDMI output set to 1080p and the record format set to 24p (high) the Hyperdeck Shuttle only recorded at 29.97p. There is no direct setting for frame rate that you can select on the Hyperdeck Shuttle so I’m not sure if the unit is recording 23.98Psf or the D7100 is only outputting a 29.97p signal. There is no interruption to the live view on the D7100 when you record or stop recording with the Hyperdeck Shuttle, it performs seamlessly and fast. Both DX and 1.3 crop modes work with the Hyperdeck Shuttle which is a nice bonus for that extra punch. The punch in for focus still works and If you switch the menu on or change the info button the Hyperdeck Shuttle still records but at a cropped 720 size image. It can be kinf of handy to have all the record info imbedded for a few frame on each clip then switch to a clean output.
Overall there is an increase in resolution using the Hyperdeck Shuttle over the D7100 internal recording. Gone are any internal codec compression artefacts, along with any mud like smoothing in saturation that pops up with the internal codec. The motion cadence is smooth and very much the same as the internal codec. I found that there is a slight lift in gama with the Hyperdeck Shuttle recordings. And even though the Hyperdeck Shuttle records in 10bit, I still see some 8 bit colour banding in some of the images. The Hyperdeck Shuttle recorded audio from the D7100 over the HMDI which is a bonus and a workflow pain at the same time. Its more related to the DNxHD 220x format that stores 16 channels of audio with the Quicktime file. Thus making it a chore to use in Avid and will not import directly into After effects. I ended up deleting the audio tracks using Quicktime Pro and resaving the file, which then allowed me to use them properly in both applications. One of the reasons for using the Blackmagic Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 was my hope to be able to record in a native format for Avid MC editing. I was looking for a faster workflow that I wouldn’t have to transcode or alter the source material. Unfortunately the DNxHD 220x format and its 16 channel audio presents a slower workflow and work around then importing the D7100 internal H264 files directly into Avid MC or After Effects.
In the end I did find the boost in overall quality to be very good using the D7100 with the Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 compared to the D7100 internal H264 codec. I find that it could be worth the extra setup, data space and workflow in some of my broadcast work. I do have another issue with the D7100 and its sibling D5200 and the fixed horizontal pattern noise it produces in shadow contrast areas and this seems to be a characteristic of the sensor at even low ISO’s in well lit scenes. I had hoped that for some reason it might have been an internal recording codec issue or somehow it was generated while recording or related to some other camera setting. But unfortunately it is not and the HFPN is very prominent with an uncompressed recording and shows up with even more detail compared to it being slightly smoothed out somewhat by the internal D7100 recording.
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