Short D7000 Video "Weld Falls"

T

TMDFilms

Active member
Hello,

Here is my first Nikon D7000 video. This is my first HDSLR and I got to say, I'm loving the look. What is nice about the D7000 setup is the mobility. Instead of limited to a mile or so with the EX1 + 35mm setup, I can travel much further by foot with this setup.

Gear used was D7000, cartoni head and sticks, 17-35mm, 80-200mm, and some ND filters.

Here is the link to the short.
http://www.tmdfilms.com/films/cineshorts/weldfalls.html

Comments and critiques are welcome!
Thanks, Damon
 
Absolutely GORGEOUS work Damon! I definitely need to pick up some ND filters... what do you use?

I'm loving my D7000 for stills and I've been impressed with what it can do for video thus far.
 
That's some of the best looking footage I've seen from the D7000 yet. Have you color corrected a lot in post?

I'm worried about the reports of the stuck pixels. Are there any bad pixels on your cam?
 
That is easily the best looking film from the D7000 so far. Congrats! Great job!

Btw, I looked at the Cartoni website. What head and sticks do you use?
 
Thanks! The footage is color corrected. But mostly level adjustments and increase in color saturation. I checked the sensor last week for hot pixels and didn't see any. I'll probably check it once a week from now on. The ND filters I used were Hoyas (0.6 and 0.9). Good quality. But they are time consuming to flip out for different lenses and different exposures. I'm looking into a fader ND filter.

Damon
 
dfreerider said:
That is easily the best looking film from the D7000 so far. Congrats! Great job!

Btw, I looked at the Cartoni website. What head and sticks do you use?
Click to expand...


dfreerider, I use the cartoni focus head. Have been for 3 years now. Still very solid. Here is a nice review from Jarred Land - http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?46898-Cartoni-Focus-Head-Review

The sticks are Gitzo GT3541LS. I can adapt it to 75mm or 100mm bowl heads. It's light and compacts down to 22 inches.

Thanks, Damon
 
Ridiculously good looking footage.

Have you any ideas about a fader ND filter?

I'm in the same boat. I need the .6 and .9 and would rather get a fader, but don't know which brand, etc.
 
Hey Damon:

Check out your film @ 1:14, the pan of the tree trunk. There appears to be either a lens flare or a hot pixel, I'm guessing it's the former, but it's worth investigating!
 
Mirezzi said:
Hey Damon:

Check out your film @ 1:14, the pan of the tree trunk. There appears to be either a lens flare or a hot pixel, I'm guessing it's the former, but it's worth investigating!
Click to expand...


Mirezzi, I used the 17-35mm on that shot. Great lens, but flares like crazy without a hood or flag. I believe the spot you are looking at is the one on the lower 3rd line. Watch the spot move right as the camera pans right.

Damon
 
I honestly wish that I could learn better exposure techniques, the reality is that without rules or tips, I have no idea how to expose properly to get footage that is as beautiful as this. Some of the main points in many of these shots are that some objects are completely or most of the way sacrificed to illuminate other objects, yet the illuminated objects or backgrounds are never overexposed or unruly. And while Nikon may do it better, Canon's exposure modes sure don't know what in the crap they are doing, it's usually anyone's game. And another thing is I wish I could snag my hands on a 1080P Nikon original file, I'd love to pixel peep it.
 
Ohhhh...Nikon D7000 you are looking so good... Little by little films like this beautiful piece will shut up the critics that say that Nikon missed the HDSLR boat. Nonsense, this is the beginning of a wonderful line of new cameras from Nikon with gorgeous stills and video. Nikon is the brand I really love. Thanks for posting, excellent work.
 
Damon this is the best D7000 film .Just beautiful it makes me want aD7000 .Look out Canon the sleeping tiger Nikon might wakeup and if they do we may see a 21MP full frame ,vaiable frame rates ,time lapse ,with 12 stops of latitude ,xlr,and -12,-6-3 db ok just a dream but only dreamers have dreams come true.
 
Thank you everyone! The D7000 is a very nice step up for Nikon. The stills it produces are awesome. I walked the Vegas Strip during the night shooting at ISO 3200 with no problem. Then later printed some of those photos for my 13x19 collection. They still look awesome. But we're not here to talk about its photo capabilities.

The visual look in video mode is clearly very pleasant. Some shots in this video still make me smile. And the overall use of the body is very comfortable. I'm not sure why it's such a big deal about not being able to adjust aperture during live view. All my Nikon lenses have aperture rings so that's no problem there. But for G lenses I can see it being a bit frustrating. However, when I'm shooting, I usually stick with the appropriate f-stop for the scene. I rarely need to change f-stop during a shot. And if I do, flipping out of live view, changing f-stop, and flipping back into live view takes about 4 seconds.

Some things I would like to see improved. U1 & U2 are great. I use them all the time. I would like to see an additional user setting on the dial. U3? Yes please. The option to clear all screen info during live view. A histogram or at least an exposure meter in live view. And the final wish would be to see a higher bit rate. The codec is pretty good but at 19mb/s, it just falls short. 24mb/s is all I wish for. I be very happy with that.

The D7000 is not immune to aliasing and color moiré. From what I can gather, it's very similar to Canon's offerings. This is no surprise and I expected it when I bought the camera.

Will I use the D7000 as an a-cam? No. But I would easily use it as a tight quarters, crash cam, or "you probably shouldn't be up there" b-cam. All in all, it's a quality DSLR. And it may end up in some of my short film productions. I have a feeling the next D400/800 will be extremely popular. I think they will put a FX chip in the D400 to compete against the 5D and the D800 will be bumped between the current D700 and D3. But these are only guesses.

Keep collecting that beautiful light!
Damon
 
TMDFilms said:
Will I use the D7000 as an a-cam? No.
Click to expand...

Why not? I have shot with T2i, GH13, and D7000, and personally to me D7000 was the best of all in video image. I also know a reputable member in this forum sold 5D after getting D7000.
 
Don't get me wrong. I love the D7000. It's crossed my mind many times about going all DSLR. Some of the shots from the D7000 are just not possible with a EX1/35mm setup.

Here is another test short I just got the time to put together. All footage was shot in November and December of 2010.

http://vimeo.com/20380999

Damon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top