35mm Adapter Killer? Nikon D90 DSLR Shoots 720P HD Video, Red throws gauntlet
16 Comments Published by Matthew Jeppsen September 9th, 2008 in Cameras, News, ShoppingNikon has just dropped a new 12.3 MP Digital SLR still camera, the D90. This little 1.b 6oz camera is considered a “advanced amateur” offering, but it comes with some surprisingly professional features, including a 3″ LCD with Live View, clean ISO up to 3200, and “D-Movie” mode, which can capture HD video at 1280×720 in 24p in a motion JPEG avi. Through a 35mm lens. So, will this camera impact the 35mm adapter industry?
Mike Curtis has written two articles at ProVideoCoalition that deal with the D90, the first is a blogwad of the latest news and buzz on this camera, the second is a spec-off vs the Red Scarlet.
And speaking of Red… Jim just announced their own tasty little tidbit of info on a late-2009 “DSLR Killer.” We certainly live in interesting times. Over at ProLost you’ll find a nice post that discusses Red’s stills + motion (non)announcement, with Stu’s color commentary:
“There is a theory that in order to shake cusomers away from an existing product, your product must be ten times better. In the digital cinema space RED One was seen by almost everyone as being ten times better than anything at its price point. What happens when RED’s SLR-killing autofocus is just a hair slower than Canon’s? Or only a tiny bit better?Good luck Jim. I’m sure I’ll want whatever you make. But I do hope you’re as busy making things as you are dreaming them up. Remember the 4K projectors and displays you mentioned two NABs ago? It would delight me to no end if you were as enthusiastic about refining your existing products as you are about announcing new ones.”
The new D90 DSLR with stock lens is now available at your favorite camera retailer, with the body-only option coming on October. B&H lists it at $999.95 for the body and $1,299.95 with an 18mm-105mm VR lens. The short sample video below shows the HD movie mode shot with a f/1.8 prime.
UPDATE: There has been some confusion over whether or not the D90′s exposure can be completely manually controlled in D-Movie mode. Based on a few tweets by D90 user davidstripinis, it appears that the camera’s auto-exposure can in fact be locked by toggling on the following setting:
“Menu > Custom Settings > Controls > AE-L/AF-L for MB-D80″
What this setting does is enable Auto Exposure Lock for the D90′s AF-ON button which is located on the vertical grip (or a similar button on the optional MB-D80 battery/grip pack). So now when you are shooting 720p HD video, you can press the AF-ON button to lock the exposure at any given time. While not technically a full manual mode, this is extremely useful and simple to implement/use.
UPDATE: D90 users are starting to work out manual control workarounds, and this DVXuser thread is a great start. Here’s a short excerpt that helps clean up excess auto ISO adjustments:
“…the key ingredient to repeatable results will be a Manual Lens. After you’re done being mad at me, strap on a Nikon Nikkor 50/1.4 (or Similar) and try this:….1. Without turning on LV mode, set the camera in Manual Mode.
….2. Turn on AE-L (LOCK), you can check by peerin’ into the viewfinder
….3. Close your Iris down to an f5.6 ~ 8
….4. Aim the camera at a wall or surface that’s brightly lit. It should not be blown out, but bright. ….I would say just about sixty-percent (60%) Exposed or a little more.
….5. Activate LV mode.
….6. Open the Iris to a 2.8 or 1.4 and check the cleanliness. Not to mention the 1/30 ~ 1/60th shutter. Mmmmm. Delightful.If you did this right, you should be able to point the camera at an underexposed area (little shadow, etc) with the lens wide open and see very little to NO noise at all. If I had to guess, this is ISO 200 ~ 320.”
Here’s another users’s handheld D90 work that shows the DOF control possible.
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I read somewhere that there is a limit to how long a shot you can make with this D90. I believe it is ‘only’ 5 minutes per shot. But interesting (and long overdue) nonetheless…
Yes, there seems to be a five minute recording limit. It’s not clear if this is a licensing limitation, or a heat issue with the sensor. Thanks for the comment.
-MJ
definitely are limited to 5 minutes, the officially stated reason is overheating (I think of the sensor is what they said), but unofficially the scuttlebutt is that it is limited to 5 minutes for tax/tariff reasons – qualifies it as a still camera that shoots video, rather than vice versa, hence different tariff categorization, hence keeps costs down.
-mike
Thanks for the clarification, Mike!
-MJ
Following this I read the scuttle-butt over in the RED forum about a new camera they are working on. Seems like their DSLR-killer is something to pay close attention to
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=18710
Browsing the Reduser forum thread on this announcement is a very interesting experience. Most of the responses are gushing praise. But the new product announcement seems to have angered a few that would like to see “old” projects wrapped up. Here’s a few highlights:
One user says:
“3 major cameras that are in development, before you’ve caught up shipping the first product ? Please don’t skip the boring stuff like that set of Primes I ordered last year!”
Here’s another one that made me grin:
“Hi dear
am new user with a new reed 4k
i have a simple question
how can i edit the red files
- i need a plugin to dont lost qualite or something ?
- i have to use avid or final cut for the 4096×2048 ?
thnks for help”
But perhaps my favorite exchange came after an excited poster asked “Wow! How do you get involved in beta testing?”
The answer from a Red One owner? “You buy the camera.”
-MJ
you can control and lock exposure. i could not figure it out and no one would give me a straight answer on how to do it without a battery pack.
I finally found it!!!!!
menu > custom settings menu > f control > f4 Assign AE-L/AF-L button > AE-L Lock (hold)
Now all you have to do is go to regular manual mode shooting, Live Preview or not it doesn’t matter. Just click the AE-L and it will lock.
: )
ok… now let’s make some sweet videos!!!
I can see a lot of rolling shutter problems in that footage.
The D90 isn’t practical for video but if you set up a shot and don’t move the camera I bet you can get some awesome shots and make quite a nice short film…
Leo
LeoFilms.net
5 min = 4gb = max file size for FAT32 formated media!
Nothing to do with taxes LOL!!
I am loving my D90, I can’t stop carrying it around. The rolling shutter is not as bad if you have a wider lens.
My biggest annoyance is the compression, it doesn’t come close to 25Mbit, it usually hovers around 11-13. Even though the footage looks fine, it could look so much better. I think Nikon should address this.
The lack of *full* manual controls is a bother but so far I haven’t really been worried about it. The exposure lock is handy though.
One other thing. Every digital Nikon DSLR (maybe the pocket cams as well, don’t know), when tethered to the computer, shows up as a drive so that you can transfer the footage. But with the Nikon D90, you have to use the transfer software. You can also just use a SD card reader to hook it up directly but this shouldn’t work this way.
The stills are fantastic, the low-light capabilities put my D40 to shame.
This camera is perfect for carrying around everyday. I don’t use a case, I just have it slung over my shoulder. A dedicated video camera simply can’t do that. This is the future, we will need the big cameras for our professional shoots but we will use these babies for our everyday stuff.
Thanks for the mini-review, Anthony!
-MJ
I honestly don’t think the SLR will replace a camcorder…just like taking a still from a camcorder can cut it for a photograph. I still love 35mm adapters.
There is a five minute limit – on the first shot.
Much to my surprise, after the initial five minutes, I could only shoot 30 second bursts.
That is totally useless for my purposes.
It doesn’t seem that a file size limitation would have anything to do with this constriction.
That appears to be heat related, my large/fast memory cards should not have had a problem with the data load.
I didn’t have time to wait and see how long it would take to ‘cool down”.
I just begrudgingly took my new D90 of the sticks, and rigged up my 35mm adapter.
On a bright day out in a field, I had great images of myself reflecting off of the beautiful screen.
It was infuriating that I couldn’t get clean site of the live image with all the rest of the world reflecting back at me.
I had to set up a courtesy flag to stop the massive reflecting.
Manually focusing was cumbersome enough without having to fight through the image to see what I was doing.
The CMOS issue won’t be an issue – if there is little to no movement from the camera, or your subjects.
But then what have I become? A static landscape videographer that loves racking focus?
There’s enough of that on vimeo already.
I really wish these marketeers would stop insinuating that this is going to kill the 35mm adapter market.
As far as I’m concerned, it will be a couple of years before they get this right
The stills were really nice, but I don’t really need a new camera to get nice digital stills.
I no longer possess this camera.
I saw some of the potential issues in the Canon footage from their answer to the D90. Why they would go 30fps instead of 24fps for something that is $3,000 and is supposed to please pros – mystifies me.
24 being so much more cinematic than 30.
Like I said, perhaps in a couple of years.
Don’t lose those 35mm adapters!
I have no problem with capturing multiple 5 minute clips. So far it is working great for me. I still plan to buy a 35mm adapter for my FX1.
Now the menu is too complex.
Take me long time to learn.
I’m stupid.
Folks I just have to say that this camera is amazing. I will never go back to the standard way of shooting. Shooting directly to file is a an amazing time saver and an editors dream. I never want to see a tape again. The 5min time limitation hasn’t been a problem for me. I’ve only seen my time drop under 5minutes a few times and that was because I was running out of memory on the chip. Not sure about the overheating thing. I’ve shot multiple 5minutes takes in succession all day long without having to cool down. 5minutes does not mean 4gigs. Not sure what the guy above was LOL about. I can get a ton of 5minute takes on a single 4gig chip. I can see the time limitation being an issue if your shooting concerts or weddings. The workflow isn’t too much different to shooting film. There are exceptions, but if you need more than 5minutes for a take you might want to rework the shot. You might just bore people. The sound is separate, but if you’re shooting with this thing you may want pro-audio to go with it so this is kind of a non issue. The rolling shutter is the only real problem. It’s not bad as long as you keep the vertical line far away. The iris control takes some getting used to, but this is a problem that can fixed reliably. Once again the camera is amazing, and cheaper than an adapter. I find it hard to pay 1500 to 2000 dollars for spinning or vibrating piece of glass.