mercer

I'll definitely give this a test later in the week and report back.

Thanks for the tips. I am a little bummed I can't dial in the WB temperature but the camera does offer the Kelvin values for each preset, so that will help. With my preliminary tests, Auto WB worked pretty well in mixed lighting, which is always good as that is usually the hardest for me to nail and often my usual lighting scenarios. I've never used a gray card or a color checker but with Color Finale's recent addition of color checker WB correction, I may give it a go. Have you ever used one of those WB lens caps? They seem like they could be handy. Saturation has always been one of my nemesis with picture profiles. At first glance, it seems like Nikon's flat profile favors blue and green... Orange and red seems much less saturated out the gate. I'm heading out tomorrow to give her a thorough workout, so I'll test to see if it needs to be knocked down a notch or two. Anyway, happy shooting!!!

Sounds pretty good. It does seem a little big for my tastes, but that is a great focal range. I had the 35-70mm f3.5 for a little while. But I sold it a while back with the rest of my Nikkor lenses. After a few months, I missed them so I've since started picking up newer copies. I decided to go with ai-S versions this time around with the 28mm f2 being my favorite. The only non-ai lens I'll keep is the 50mm f2 becaus it's one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used. I just won a like new 35mm f2 for 70 bucks yesterday... Am excited for that one. I also have a cheapo 35-70mm 3.3-4.5. It gets bad reviews but I found it's a nice sleeper lens for video. Is the 20-35mm the AF-D version, or is there an ai-s model too? I also have a couple older Tokina zooms in Nikon mount. I just bought a D5500, so I am re-exploring Nikon mount lenses.

That's what I was thinking too. I like to stay around 44, 4500 for that same reason. Thanks. With my initial tests I was using auto, which could work fine with consistent lighting, but I think I'll use the cool white fluorescent instead. Thanks again!!! On a side note... I am amazed at the picture quality... Who needs 4K!!!

Does anyone know how you change Kelvin settings with the D5500? A lot of articles state that you can, but I don't see anything in the WB menu for it.

What firmware are you on? When I bought mine back in July, BH accidentally sent me a return... That camera was on the original firmware, then the new, replacement they sent me was already updated at the factory. Did I miss a FW update? Have you tried going back to the original firmware to see if the ghosting appears?

Wow, you weren't kidding... My D5500 just arrived and I can't get over how small, yet ergonomic it is... It's almost as small as a compact mirrorless... But with a better grip. Btw, I watched your D750, full review, on your site last night and those shots were very impressive... Definitely some of your best work... IMO. I would love to see what you could do with a narrative shot on the D750.

Cool test. Interesting results. Btw, how do you like that 25-50mm? I've been eyeing that lens for a while, but it seems like it might be a beast of metal and glass?

No, I literally set an average WB temperature between daylight and incandescent... On most cameras it's usually a 4400. Part of the reason I do it is laziness, but I've also found that for my lack of post color skills, this median approach gives me some easy options in post... I can go cool or warm without stretching it too much. Sorry, just to clarify... When you wrote that they are over saturated out the kitchen, did you mean the standard profile is and that the Flat profile fixes that? And yeah I know what you mean about the color wash in different cameras... So to speak. I really like that warm Canon color look, but I also love what I've seen from the Nikon. As I said earlier, I'm not the best of colorists... Or even really that good at it, so these different camera brands offer unique color profiles out the gate... Different tools for different jobs. But I am going to treat the 5500 footage as my learning tool and try to get better using a simpler workflow.

I hope so, I would love to see a few improvements... Mic in, 5-Axis in 4K... Maybe that 200mbps 1080p. I can only assume it will be announced soon, especially since the LX15 doesn't have 5-Axis in 4K.

I don't mind a little grading/correcting. I like a somewhat muted look, but I enjoy experimenting, so that's why I was concerned with saturation. With one of my former cams, the saturation out of camera was real wonky... Certain colors just didn't look right. How is the WB? I've been using an average color temp for a lot of my recent work and I've found that in any lighting condition, the WB was close without too much correction needed.

Good to know, I like inconspicuous cameras. I think I have tested nearly every brand of cameras this past year, and I've learned I still like Canon the best, but I've been dying to use this Flat profile, so hopefully the D5500 will be a tool I will keep for more than 6 months. Valid points. I'm not sure how I'll fare without focus peaking now that I'm so used to it, but those colors and that DR... It's been tempting me for so long... I just have to give it a go. Plus, I've been really interested in stills lately. I used a t2i and an eos-m for years, so I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of DSLR filmmaking.

@kidzrevil I would have to agree with that. It has its quirks, but once I figured out it is a hybrid auto/manual camera I started appreciating those little quirks. Do you still have your NX1?

You're still thinking about getting the C100ii?

Gotcha. Then that's probably why I haven't seen it. I usually keep my ISO at 500 and use the 180 degree shutter. Other than the ghosting, now that you've had the camera for a little while... What are your thoughts?

I haven't noticed it. Are there any consistencies as to when you've seen it occur?

Good to know, I like inconspicuous cameras. I think I have tested nearly every brand of cameras this past year, and I've learned I still like Canon the best, but I've been dying to use this Flat profile, so hopefully the D5500 will be a tool I will keep for more than 6 months.

Dang, that's a good test! Does the 750 have more DR than the 5500? As you may have read, I picked up a Pocket last week and have used it a couple times with the Panny 12-35mm, all handheld. I used the focus button to grab quick focus and then the ring to do any racks. So far, it seems like a nice set up. The OIS is good, the screen is fine with focus peaking, except the camera is getting excessively hot. Almost too hot to hold. I haven't seen any hot pixels, but I'm not working it that hard either. As usual, the footage looks great... Minus the noise inherent with BM cameras. But as I have been looking at more and more footage, it almost seems redundant with my XC10... The ProRes files do not seem to be any better than the 1080 files from my XC10 and nowhere near as good as the 4K... But the S16 feel is so prevalent with both cameras, it seems like I am getting nothing more out of the Pocket that I don't already have with the XC10... Minus lens selection and Raw, but I have no real plans in shooting Raw with Pocket. So, I'm not really sure I see the point in keeping the BMPCC. Since the camera is running so hot, I think I'm just going to return it and the lens. On a whim, as I sometimes do, I ordered a D5500 yesterday and after watching your comparison video and a few other videos, I think returning the Pocket may definitely be the right call for me... Especially since I already have a small collection of Nikkor lenses and Tokina zooms.

Thanks, am curious how flat it actually is. From reading about the profile on Nikon's site, Flat seems to really help open up the shadows, which really excites me since I work within the horror/thriller genres. But I've seen some highly saturated videos online, so I was wondering if the profile was slightly saturated to begin with. @Inazuma posted some OOC samples a while back, but I can't seem to find them. Anyway, thanks.

Hey, everybody is different with different needs. I, personally, don't know why someone would buy that beast of a lens for a m4/3 camera... Especially since it will be used as a set of primes. The OP could get a set of great primes that work natively with m4/3 for about the same cost as the Sigma and a focal reducer... But different strokes for different folks. In my opinion focal reducers are great for vintage, full frame lenses and in most instances the Turbo ii is perfectly fine. In fact, vintage lenses for video did a comparison test between the two and they were basically indistinguishable. Personally, if I wanted a good zoom lens used in conjunction with a focal reducer, I would look at the Tokina 28-70mm f2.6 angenieux designed lens... What I'd lose on the short end, against the Sigma, would be gained on the long end and open up the iris right around the perfectly cinematic f/2 range... with a manual aperture, on the Nikon version, that can be declicked... But that's just me... Everybody has different needs.

Is Nikon's Flat profile good at its default settings, or are other tweaks needed to get the most out of it? I assume sharpening needs to be dialed down, but what about Saturation... Do certain color channels clip on Nikon's, so a saturation adjustment within Flat is helpful in the long run?

Honestly, part of the issue is probably me... I really need to spend the time and watch some tutorials on correcting and grading. I just get so excited to mess with the clips, I never get around to it... So I am probably going about it all wrong. Thanks for the tips!!! That's how I used to expose with my old Canon's and then when I moved to Panasonics I went with zebras... But then went back to meter exposure... I would usually underexpose by a stop though... But with c-log I understand you want to expose for your highlights, so I will definitely give this method a try. Thanks. Interesting, I never thought about that with the 70% zebra setting... Great point!!!

Thanks, I'll have to give it another go.

I just had a look at your Vimeo page and you have a very impressive portfolio. You're a wizard with that D5300 and D7100... Really nice work.I know the Nikon's are supposed to have clean shadows, but I didn't realize how clean until I saw your narrative pieces. How were you exposing? And judging your exposure?

Did you use 100% zebras? I haven't used the cam in a few weeks, but when I first bought it, the 100% zebras seemed really difficult to pull back the highlights, so I switched to the 70% zebras and thought that worked fairly well... But I have read that others are using 100%.