Nikon D90 usage at night...

D

DVX100Shooter

Veteran
Anybody have any good tips or suggestions for using a D90 to shoot video at night or in dimly lit venues? I did a shoot in a club last weekend and I used a LED lightpanels light on the D90 and the video was so-so to me. I was told that the ISO cannot be controlled manually in Video mode and the camera will select the ISO on its own. Is this true? If so that might be why a lot of my footage looked grainy even with the light! Now I will say that after I ingested the footage into Final Cut Pro and edited it and then exported out a DVD and watched it on a TV, it looked better. I guess my question is do I need to set any particular settings in video mode or is everything done in Auto mode so to speak?

Thanks
 
Yeah, I've got a D90 as well and let me just say - If you can buy a T2i or a GH1, or even trade to a D7000 for video - go for it. Taking advantage of the large sensor is much easier on those cameras, because you can freely adjust the ISO, shutter speed, etc. Plus you won't have to deal with the dreaded Jello nearly as much, and all of the artifacts from the D90's codec.
You can do all the work arounds with the D90, like locking your aperture, etc. stairstep removal in post....but with the other options available I for one have relegated my D90 to where it really shines - Photography.
There is a thread in this section - optimizing the D90 for video if you want to stay the course.
 
I Agree. D90 is already a sub-par video camera in sunlight. It's worth replacing with a better camera if your trying to get work done with it.
 
Thanks for the suggestions and yes I am considering getting the D7000 in early May but I did a Music Video with the Canon 5D and like the image quality that camera puts out too so I have to decide what I want to do. As for question for this thread, I found a cool article about a guy that did some kind of trick with his iPhone and was able to lower the ISO of his Nikon D90 in video mode really low to shoot at night with little or no grain. He even posted a video to prove this. Check this out:


http://dslrhd.com/?p=218
 
Efexone said:
I Agree. D90 is already a sub-par video camera in sunlight. It's worth replacing with a better camera if your trying to get work done with it.
Click to expand...

I think thats a BIT harsh. Sure the D90 has some issues for sure, but it isn't hard to achieve some footage in low light situations that can be relatively clear from grain. Just need a fast lens (1.4) and some careful planning

Red Giant's Denoiser filter helps as well if you have a bit too much noise
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top