New video guy here.

LKingston · Jul 4, 2012

Hi, my name is Laurence Kingston and this is my first post on this forum. I have been shooting video for years but I am new to to serious still photography. I got a Nikon D5100 about a year ago to use for both still and video photography. At first the D5100 was really frustrating: the exposure changed in jumps that I couldn't control, the autofocus was always hunting and I didn't seem to have much control of anything other than aperture. Then there was the aliasing and moiré...

Anyway, I've learned to work around these issues and I've grown to really love this camera. My main video camera (a Sony HVR-z7U) was in need of repair and I used nothing but the D5100 for several months and did all my videos during this time with the Nikon and if anything, they looked better (aside from a bit of moiré here and there) than they would have had I used the camcorder.

Almost everything here was shot with the D5100:

http://www.movietheaterpreshows.com/

Here are a couple of current ads that still need pro voice-overs and some other minor tweaking:

https://vimeo.com/45099390

The black and white portions of this one were shot with 50mm and 35mm primes in low light. I went back a second time to get these because the shots with the zoom lens looked so terrible. At 1.8, the primes made such good use of light that I could have easily gotten away with color, but I didn't know that at the time. The food shots were done at an earlier date with the Sony Z7. Everything else was the D5100:

https://vimeo.com/45084221

Do I wish I had bought a Canon? Well at the time it would have been a better choice I'm sure, but having stuck out the decision to go Nikon (and bought several lenses) I am happy with my choice and here to stay. The new D3200 has full manual control and I'm sure that the D5200 (or whatever they decide to call it) will as well. The D4 and D800 would be interesting if they had articulating screens.

Anyway, hello everybody. I am happy to be here because I have one heck of a lot to learn about still photography.

Big Mike · Jul 4, 2012

Welcome aboard Laurence.

Most of us here are mainly still photographers and might only dabble in video, so this (new) section probably isn't too busy yet, but hopefully it will take off.

KmH · Jul 4, 2012

Have you added any accessories to your D5100 to facilitate making videos?

LKingston · Jul 4, 2012

Yeah, brackets, audio stuff, tripod with fluid head, lights, etc.

Raian-san · Jul 5, 2012

If you do video...get a D7000 or 5200....if not at least swing to Canon t2i..t3i...60D and beyond...If you want to do still...D5100 should be fine. If you need help on video...just PM me. :thumbup:

LKingston · Jul 5, 2012

The D5100 is just fine for video. No you can't go fully manual, but I never do that anyway. My ads play in movie theaters and look as good as the national spots that I know are a lot higher budget. I do have problems using the DSLR: the back focus is off so you can't zoom during shots without adjusting the focus. The exposure changes in jumps rather than smoothly and judging focus and exposure on a little LCD screen is pretty much impossible. The audio is not as clean as it could be. The moiré drives me nuts. All these would be the same on a comparable Canon. The phase sensing autofocus on the Canon T4i is tempting but from what I've seen on Youtube, the response is still a bit too slow for it to be all that useful. I expect that the d5200 is right around the corner. Hopefully it will fix some of the moiré problem that the T4i missed.

Big Mike · Jul 5, 2012

The T4i and the couple new video-friendly lenses from Canon, seem to point out that they are going to cater more to the DSLR-Video market. I would assume Nikon to be doing the same

Raian-san · Jul 5, 2012

Full manual is a must if you want to do professional work. The t3i, 60D, 5D mark ii all have manual audio level too. New firmware coming out for the 7D to have manual audio as well. Though I do use shogun mic to the camera, I also have an audio recorder that records at 96kbs/24 bit to record better quality audio and I just sync it together.

t2i, t3i doesn't have an option to change the kelvin white balance. It's crucial for me at least to adjust the white balance, color tone, wb shift and etc to make it as close to what I like in camera and what kind of story I want to tell. Also every lens have different color and saturation, so have adjust the right balance for different type of Lens unless you use all Canon L lenses. All canon DSLR video are all manual focus, and we like it that way. You just have to get used to be good at following focus. Most of the time we shoot wide open f/2.0 or lower. I don't know if Nikon have kelvin adjustment and etc, I hope they do.

TheKenTurner · Jul 5, 2012

Raian-san said:
Full manual is a must if you want to do professional work. The t3i, 60D, 5D mark ii all have manual audio level too. New firmware coming out for the 7D to have manual audio as well. Though I do use shogun mic to the camera, I also have an audio recorder that records at 96kbs/24 bit to record better quality audio and I just sync it together.

t2i, t3i doesn't have an option to change the kelvin white balance. It's crucial for me at least to adjust the white balance, color tone, wb shift and etc to make it as close to what I like in camera and what kind of story I want to tell. Also every lens have different color and saturation, so have adjust the right balance for different type of Lens unless you use all Canon L lenses. All canon DSLR video are all manual focus, and we like it that way. You just have to get used to be good at following focus. Most of the time we shoot wide open f/2.0 or lower. I don't know if Nikon have kelvin adjustment and etc, I hope they do.

You can change the white balance on a T2/3i. Also for video if you're filming while moving, you should choose an aperture like f/11 to make sure your object is in focus.

-Ken Turner

Raian-san · Jul 5, 2012

TheKenTurner said:
Raian-san said:

Full manual is a must if you want to do professional work. The t3i, 60D, 5D mark ii all have manual audio level too. New firmware coming out for the 7D to have manual audio as well. Though I do use shogun mic to the camera, I also have an audio recorder that records at 96kbs/24 bit to record better quality audio and I just sync it together.

t2i, t3i doesn't have an option to change the kelvin white balance. It's crucial for me at least to adjust the white balance, color tone, wb shift and etc to make it as close to what I like in camera and what kind of story I want to tell. Also every lens have different color and saturation, so have adjust the right balance for different type of Lens unless you use all Canon L lenses. All canon DSLR video are all manual focus, and we like it that way. You just have to get used to be good at following focus. Most of the time we shoot wide open f/2.0 or lower. I don't know if Nikon have kelvin adjustment and etc, I hope they do.

Click to expand...

You can change the white balance on a T2/3i. Also for video if you're filming while moving, you should choose an aperture like f/11 to make sure your object is in focus.

-Ken Turner

Yeah you can change the WB...but there's only a few you can select from. You can't manual adjust the kelvin temperature to exactly how you want it. 2,500-10,000. We always shoot in Kelvin, and match all the cameras to the same temperature.

TheKenTurner · Jul 6, 2012

Raian-san said:
Yeah you can change the WB...but there's only a few you can select from. You can't manual adjust the kelvin temperature to exactly how you want it. 2,500-10,000. We always shoot in Kelvin, and match all the cameras to the same temperature.

Yes, but I've never been in a situation where I can't get a perfect white balance. Also, you can edit it in post.

-Ken Turner