M Carter

The problem comes when you get into extreme DR situations - high end real estate interiors, some corporate events, upper-crust lifestyle products/travel destinations outdoors. Holding onto sky detail can be a real killer there. To each their own though - I like integrating motion graphics & design for corporate clients, and many of those gigs are too tight for rentals. Affordable 4K looks like it will really up my game (and ease my workflow) for tracking and keying. 4K was the #1 feature I was shopping for last quarter; and being able to reframe is big as I do a lot of one-man-band corporate interviews. Punching in is a great tool for editing.

It's not perfect, but in motion on my 22" editing bay HDTV (UHD transcoded to 1080 prores) the compression really looks very good - I really don't "see" it if the shot is compelling - and the noise pretty much disappears. And this at 1800+ iso's. Not an Alexa killer by any means, but for a $1000-ish DSLR body, it kills anything I've used to date in that range. (OK, this week NX1 prices in the US shot back up to release-date levels, oddly enough). I do a lot of small-biz/startup work that I'd turn down if I had rental expenses, and I've generally owned APS-C Nikons or Canons for those gigs. I find it to be a ridiculous leap in quality for that market, and I'm in the midst of a no-lights corporate gig where I expected to be waiting hours for neat video renders. Footage is, in a word, "damn pretty", and I consider DSLRs my "pretty" cameras vs. my do-it-all, small-chip broadcast cameras that I use for corporate events, etc. Certainly you can get way better high-ISO performance when you get past $2k, but for real-world business clients that usually want 720 web delivery and a 1080 file for the trade show screen or the 60" meeting room TV? It's a fantastic little tool, and if you can properly light a shot, it's pretty killer. Very surprised it's actually useable at high ISO's is my overall point.

ISO 2000 (or maybe 2200??) @ 4K, no grading or NR - Nikkor 28-70 2.8 @ 70mm, F4 or so. 2200 ISO, just playing with new baby and new lens (kit zoom) - in motion, there's very subtle noise in the soft shadows under the hair/ear/shoulder - but very tiny noise grains compared to the average DSLR, and it tends to go away when the footage is reduced to 1080: The sensor is very capable at high ISO (at least at 4K…)

I've been shooting as high as iso 2200 and getting very clean footage. If I shot the same scenes at 1600-1800, it might look pretty sad. But opening the shadows with a higher ISO? I've found it shockingly clean. (and I own a shit-ton of lights, but I've had some no-lights-allowed commercial gigs and the NX1 has been the bomb. Had my Nikon body and a panasonic AC-160 "video" camera, never even considered breaking them out).

The 16-50 kit zoom is a pretty wicked lens for the money - seeing them for as low as $140. Wide open they're really pretty and the AF is startlingly good, the OIS is very nice as well. Stopped down, make sure your sharpness is off - I found my test footage to be wacky-crazy-surreal sharp from F8 on or so. But if you own an NX1 (and don't have the S zoom) it's ridiculous not to have it. I'm using it for paying gigs, steadicam and fig-rig style handheld. Footage is just tits. Focus is awesome. Really glad I bought the body + lens for the extra $200. (To be clear, 90% of my paid shoots I have Nikkors on the NX, but I've gotten very hard to get types of shots with the kit lens and they edit in smoothly). Funny, my daughter just had a baby, and with the kit zoom, the NX1 is the best "grab some family footage" video camera I have ever, ever owned. Great AF and the footage is gorgeous up to 2200 iso.

Hey, even if people think you're a messed-up idiot, at your funeral they'll be toasting your memory in tears. (And I bought an NX1, and yeah, it's a bad little mofo of a camera).

I didn't record my settings at the shoot, but playing with the camera yesterday - this is ISO 2000. I see a tiny bit of noise in the shadows near the ear, but very fine. For web delivery I wouldn't mess with it at all - if the project were going to be projected large? Maybe. But in years of Nikon and Canon shooting, this looks to me like ISO 400-800 noise.

Just a note on the max ISO listings - with the latest firmware, I shot a no-lights-allowed project with the NX1, and much of it was shot from 1600-2200 iso. I'm just not seeing any noise to speak of - the footage is amazingly clean. I blasted the ISO until I was just under highlights blowing at f3.5, F4 or 2.8 with some lenses. It's freaking clean as hell. I assumed I'd be running it all through NeatVideo, but no need. Really kind of shocked.

A user-menu folder/section like Nikon has, where you can copy most-used menu items from any menu section. WHITE BALANCE CONTROLS IN VIDEO PREVIEW!!! SLOW MO EFFECTS AVAILABLE IN 24P!!!! (Yeah, I can just shoot 60 or 120p, but I like that the camera conforms the clips. Wish it did it at 24p too). More customization choices for the buttons than just the ones Samsung thinks make sense; Option to have the shutter release be the video trigger; Or at least option to make both the wifi and trigger buttons be the video button at the same time. Wired remote able to set focus point, zoom native lenses, and stop/start video (may already exist but I don't have the wired remote yet) (I use my crane a lot and have yet to take even one still with this thing). Other than those, my primary ones would be anything that ups image quality. I'd like to see every DSLR maker that has decent video add a DV pin hole to the body, so anti-spin QR plates could be developed. The hole could also be for the battery grip alignment pin. Really love this camera and tech, but I fear wish lists are a moot point now...

I like those grades, but the lack of any full blacks makes everything seem washed out, especially when surrounded with black framing bars. Personally, I'd work the curves to kick up the very deepest blacks. That church entryway in particular looks very washed out and strange to me.

I was referring to the BMC's image quality - native prores and raw. The NX1 will do 30p at 4K, 60 - 120p at 1080. But it's a compressed format. Pretty dang good compression, but I doubt for sheer beauty and power in grading it can touch the BMC. (And I own the NX1, not knocking it).

Why not run some tests yourself? Why ask someone about the "sweet spot" for a lens between wide open and diffraction when you can find out for yourself in a matter of minutes? Don't you want to know how your lens performs across the aperture range? If someone tells you "F32, man" you'd be happy with that? Even if the lens only goes to F22? Test test test.

UHD DR Gamma, green channel x.94, sharpness -10, saturation -2, master black +2 16-235 luminance. Here's a grab showing the detailed area. Not even the focal point. It's impressive, what this sensor can hold.

(Do let me know if I'm posting too much NX stuff… but for those on the fence…) Did a real-world shoot and a tough one - school for severely - and I mean severely - cognitively disabled kids. No lights, rooms were not very bright, mix of flos and skylights. So, nightmare. (I'll be doing interviews with the directors and parent testimonials that will be properly lit down the line). Shot with these lenses: Old Nikkor 80-200 2.8 AF push-pull, wide open - bought it used maybe 18 years ago, pre-D version and mojo for days; More modern Nikkor 28-70 2.8 (aperture ring lens), wide open; The little 16-50 Samsung kit zoom - wanted to try this for handheld stuff and mimic a steadicam using the AF and OIS. Other than the day being sort of emotionally devastating (can't recall how may times a kid would absently take my hand if was standing still - sweet, beautiful kids who are mostly non-verbal) I was really psyched - I've never shot sony DSLR, only Canon and Nikon, but this thing is by far the best DSLR I've used. Never stuck a loupe or monitor on it, and only used the EVF outside - the OLED with peaking gave me great focus, even at 200 2.8 (I wore a pair of reading glasses when shooting). I was constantly hitting custom WB and looking for something white - very mixed lighting and it really came through, with the usual light casts to highlights that are the norm in those situations - yellow/pinks that clean up easily in post. Shot from 800 iso to 2200, mostly from 1200-2000, all day. I can't tell the shots apart today. Was not thinking of this as a low-light (or mid-light) beast, but I'll be damned - it is crazy clean up to 2200 at least ( I didn't have murky, black shadows to deal with, lighting was dim but even). Images below - 200mm 2.8 - really pretty character, yet sharp as hell where needed - just a touch of color correction in Photoshop; 70mm 2.8 - 100% detail crop, ungraded or sharpened; The kit lens, wide open - cleaned the highs a bit in PS. A note about that kit zoom - I really dug it for wide & stabilized stuff… wide open. We shot out in a playground and I didn't know we'd be outdoors, so shot at F16-F22. It is a weird-ass lens stopped down like that. The sharpness is simply bizarre (and I had sharpness dialed all the way down). It's a lovely piece of glass wide, the OIS isn't earth-shaking (or earth UN-shaking) but will give warp stabilizer a head start), but the AF is freakishly, crazy useful for that sort of shooting. I see these going for as low as $140. If you don't have the big S zoom (hell, even if you do) it's a useful lens. I need to research the wide 2.8 pancake primes for these sort of shots now. Very impressed with the camera so far. Battery life was reasonable, and I was 2nd-nature, not really thinking about anything but the image, on my first gig. Damn it Samsung, don't give up on the NX!!!

I got my son on of those "fancier" tripods from Amazon when he started UT film school. Then I got one for myself after playing with it. 75mm bowl, decent head. I use it when I have to manage multi camera shoots, or for making oddball rigs, and I often stick the head at the end of my crane. Really phenomenal for the $$. They start at $99. http://www.amazon.com/Fancierstudio-Professional-Heavy-Camcorder-Tripod/dp/B013HBO39C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450288375&sr=8-2&keywords=fancier+video+tripod

Well, the NX1 can dress up well for a night on the town, can't it? Big old 28-70 2.8 Nikkor, lovely glass.

Beyond all the stabs at science - stick it on your camera and run some tests or shoot for a couple hours. Your brain should file it under the proper category and on a gig you'll reach for it as needed.

Kevin's in the house!!! That little 16-50 is a wicked lens on the NX1. Not for everything, but for the $$, very handy. I can see a lot of scenarios where a tiny AF wide will be great. Got my firmware updated, and yes, I'll do some testing with DIS, hopefully another handy tool.

I purchased an NX1 - and the guide - last week. Decent value for the guide at $20, but it really should be updated to reflect the current firmware if people are still buying it. There's a few minor changes, but one huge one - the guide states that camera control is completely locked up when HDMI is used. There are some limitations (and oddities) with HDMI but overall it's very useful. (No peaking or overexposure guide, but the histo is still there. Some funkiness regarding getting MF working with native lenses). PG 6 "Manual focus is tricky" - assign the AF button to the delete key. When you go into video mode, drop your thumb to delete, and right-arrow to MF. Not optimal but becomes second nature. PG 5 "when to shoot 4K" - the internal 1080 is much improved now and not massively different than resized 4K.

I'll let you know across the net couple weeks. Always loved Nikon's color, since the D7000. But my 7100 sensor gets noisier every shoot - ugly horizontal crap. That's more like it:

I'm shooting an event I do as a freebie every year next weekend. Holiday play/concert, little kids. Usually do three cameras, I think I'll shoulder mount the NX1 and the kit lens and see how the AF goes. Can always kick to manual or throw a Nikkor on it, but my testing (er, fooling around) so far says it will be great. Maybe not for a single camera shoot, but since I'm doing the editing, I have a good feel of when to zoom or shift focus and know I'll be cutting to another camera to hide it. Got a corporate interview and a special-needs school piece next week so I'll give it a good workout. The school will need an 80-200 to keep out of the kids faces, should look nice. BTW, don't know about pre-firmware updates, but the 120 FPS looks pretty clean to me (and made the Mrs. say "how can you afford that thing?!?"). Not as crispy as the 4k, but usually doing slowmo that extreme I'm gonna jack with the image some as well. Trying to line up a music video to play some more.

If BMC had ever actually given us 60p at 2.5 k, I'd own one now… beautiful image, I just find 60p to be really handy sometimes.

That's some crazy frame rate options. Still, wonder how it stacks up to the Ursa mini as far as value goes. The mini seems like a lot of camera for the $$.

Yep, I have Premiere but still haven't started moving projects to it. On my list… but I like having stuff in ProRes anyway, between after effects and sending clips to clients, etc.

Booking are kind of blowing up across the next few weeks so I took a shot at the NX1. Got the little power zoom for an extra $200 - $1299 seems like a good price, though it may plummet after the holidays. Waiting for a lens adapter, I have a sack of nice old Nikkors. (This camera is filed under "I own it, lower budget no-rentals gig gear". As an aside, all the research I've done on video for the web and for ad landing pages suggests if you have a business, you're an idiot not to have a video. Leads and conversions jump from 80 - 300%. Really pushing one-man, corporate stuff for 2016 - I wouldn't mind filling my calendar with some small gigs, and I usually end up re-writing their copy, designing ad campaigns and landing pages, even redoing their site. I'm an agency with in-house video, man!) First impressions - Menu system and custom controls were easy to setup and after an evening of playing around, it's feeling pretty second nature. I have yet to shoot a single still though… but have a nice custom setup, love having the mic volume on the wheel. (Could never remember where it was on my Nikon). (I use an external recorder, but wit several Nikon bodies, line-out from recorder to camera for a scratch track? Stage the gain properly and I often used the camera audio.Hhaven't tried that with the NX, we'll see). Wonkiness: couldn't find a few things I've read about - realized it doesn't have the latest firmware. Guess these have been sitting in Amazon's warehouse... Wonkiness 2: Sometimes the EVF (or the display) doesn't come on at powerup, it's one or the other, and the button doesn't work. Toggle the power and it's fine. Wonkiness 3: No matter how I set things, the fast/slow settings only show "fast" -1080p, etc. I have 120 fps in the menu but I like that the camera will conform the footage. May be a firmware thing? The AF - fack me, I can use the hell out of this. Not for narrative/editorial work but for events and steadicam - man, I can see using this fairly often. I'll want to test it a lot and see it on a big monitor, but… impressed. I expect to have non-native glass on this most of the time, but nice to have it. Probably get the 2-2.8 at some point. The autofocus default when you leave video mode - already trained myself to hit delete key (set for AF) and toggle the AF off. Kind of a hassle but now second nature. The lens stabilization - thumb's up. Again, events and steadicam, godsend. No DIS in this firmware, doubt I'd use it anyway. LOVE the WB controls - I've got WB set to the down arrow, right by my hand. Easy to grab a custom, and I love the color matrix controls for every preset - unless I'm going pretty artsy, I really prefer most of my look in camera other than keeping the blacks detailed and open. Really love the EVF. I tried my loupe on the panel, but (A) the evf detector gets confused by the hinge on the loupe and (B) this body is kind of small - my loupe won't slide down far enough without some drilling. I may just skip the loupe for shoulder mount work - it's a great EVF. Ran some footage through editready, reasonably fast - not much different than converting H264 to Prores in Streamclip, unless I downscale which seems to double the time. The native 1080 looks very good to me, I guess one of those firmware fixes really came through. I saw a bit of jaggy aliasing that was a bit cleaner with UHD downscaled. Overall - pretty pleased, but with a touch of genuine sadness - if Samsung is really abandoning this part of the market, it's a shame. The NX1 is simply a remarkable first shot. I know plenty of folks here dismiss it, but man - you're talking about a $1k body. It's got bang for the buck like nobody's business.