Is the cheap Nikon D5200 a better option than D800 for video? No moire & aliasing and good detail

[Julian]

Nikon, Leica R and lenses for larger formats (medium format etc).

[Dylan]

I wouldn't say "no moire & aliasing". I could see some in the metal railing after the train passed by. Also, the video by  Hans zijffers wasn't even in HD. 

 

[Andrew Reid]

Technically almost no camera has zero aliasing or moire. It's always lurking on a test chart somewhere.

 

The D5200 rates very highly where this is concerned, it has virtually nothing noticeable similar to the 5D Mark III.

 

720p mode is worse though.

[zenpmd]

I am seriously considering this and getting rid of the GH2. THe GH2 simply does not have a good wide angle option without investing the 4/3 lens which i dont wana do!

[Andrew Reid]

Neither does the Nikon unless you invest in Nikon glass!

[bobkrist]

This is great news for Nikon shooters. As nice as the D800 is, without an articulated LCD screen, it makes it hard to shoot video for those of us who work on the fly as a one-man band. 

[sandro]

Everytime there's something good in terms of resolution there's always something that destroys it. I bet more will come out along with the low bitrate.

[Adl]

Hi Andrew,

 

would be nice to know if the D5200 HDMI out is 4:2:2 :)

Kind of sensation compared to the crippled HDMI out of the D600...

 

thanks

[tibor]

I personally switched from a double system to a single one : my initial setup was Nikon for stills, and Canon with Nikon adapters for video.

 

Canon DSLR offer more complete controls on video than Nikons, but, regarding IQ, Nikon offer a more organic look, more filmic. Canon's AA filtering seems to be on the heavy side - this may the reason why canon videos look softer and smoother in textures.

 

When the D5100 came out, I gave it a try - the 16MP exmore sensor is great offering beautiful stills and video files, but the lack of manual controls in video are frustrating.

 

I also purchased a D3200, it was full of nice promises, but is suffering from a major bug : shadow blinking - banding in video. This happens even at 400 ISO, shot in daylight, but more often, in low light conditions and makes the footage very ugly. The only way to get the rid of it (I tried switching from 50 to 60 HZ, different shutter speeds etc...) is to slightly overexpose the image and of course, blocking the exposure. I guess the sensor is stressed by the video engine, it may also be related to the very small populated pixels on the AP-S sensor. ( many vimeo users complained about this problem)

 

This brought me to the D600 : beautiful video files, even at very high ISO (3200 ISO), great color depth and detail, some moire (not much) that can be override by opening the lens a lot, or using diffraction (F16), but I usually PP when moire occurs (very rarely). 2 bugs that need to be fixed : Full HDMI output (crippled ?) and aperture control in live view with AF-S lenses (hardware issue ?)

 

So now, what to think from the D5200 ? I just hope that the video engine is not corrupted like the D3200. First tests look great, but I will not fall into the trap again - wait and see.

[franklin]

I just ordered a D5200 so I am interested in seeing what type of improvements they made to the video function.

 

I have a D5100 and always liked the quality of the video it puts out. As noted, the live view control is terrible - it makes great pictures but you could never use it in any sort of professional setting. Their are some work arounds to trick it into overriding the auto controls but it's no picnic.

 

The D5100 also puts out fantastic still images especially when you shot RAW so it's a shame they made it so hard to work with. Right now you could get the body refurbed for under $400 which is alot of camera for the money.

 

If they give the D5200 better functionality it could be a nice little unit for shooting video. Lens compatibility is an issue if you don't own a lot of Nikon lens. I ran a few tests with the D5100 and some of my Nikon lenses and got mixed results. The good thing is the older primes are out there and super cheap.

 

I will try to do some test stuff over the next few weeks.

 

 

 

 

[mojo43]

I wouldn't say "no moire & aliasing". I could see some in the metal railing after the train passed by. Also, the video by  Hans zijffers wasn't even in HD. 

 

If you download the source there is barely any aliasing. It is only bad in sd. 

[sandro]

What I'd like to know is if this Nikon has full video exposure control like the Canons and if I can switch PAL/NTSC in camera.

 

If the bitrate was higher I would buy it right away, the night shots resolution is really impressive. But 60fps at 24mbps??

[remi]

What I'd like to know is if this Nikon has full video exposure control like the Canons and if I can switch PAL/NTSC in camera.

 

If the bitrate was higher I would buy it right away, the night shots resolution is really impressive. But 60fps at 24mbps??

Hi  , it's impossible to change the aperture while in video mode , and the d5200 have strange horizontal noise pattern  in the shadow areas, and it seems at all ISO's .

[Andrew Reid]

The banding noise pattern is only visible when you boost the lows very high using the built in picture profile. There's a workaround in my review here: http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/2120-nikon-d5200-review/

 

Discussion moved to the review thread.