Nikon V1 - shooting 4K 60fps raw for $200

[Andrew Reid]

Any link?

[ericvse]

I downloaded one of zach_daniels image sequences and found that you can edit the raw 4K photos natively in After Effects CS6 as a image sequence.

Some of you might already know this.

Its not very fast, but it's easy.

 

Just press import and select the first picture in the sequence. After Effects automatically recognizes this a Camera Raw Sequence and imports them all. When imported the window there you can tweek the raw file will open. You just have to do your adjustments once and they will apply the whole sequence.

 

Editing the raw image sequence is very slow, but you can always just render it out and throw it into Premiere and start playing around.

[YouFirstEye]

Weekend Challenge: One to One Hundred

 

 

vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/366/weekend-challenge-one-to-one-hundred

[PauCat]

Hello to all,

 

On the first place I would like to present myself I'm Pau Cinematographer from Barcelona!

 

Secondly lots of thanks Andrew Reid for the wonderful job you've been doing!!! Simply AWESOME

And thanks also for going public on the V1 4k video!!! 

 

Maybe it sounds like a bizarre idea... But would a sort 3d rig with 2 or maybe 3 V1's through a sort of mirror and triggering system work in order to get 3s of 4k as if it was 1 camera. That still would be under 1000 eur pretty good no?

 

Finally I would also like to thank very specially JAVIER SOBREMAZAS the guy that did the discovery and that thanks to Andrew has been published. I've crossed some mails with him and his an enthusiast cinematographer and probably this discovery has been posible due to blogs from people like Andrew and the limeted resources we have in Spain. I feel this Lad is a great guy and he is looking for WORK anywhere!!! As you know Spains economic situation is far from good. So please if you can help to a little promotion of this guy I really think he deserves it!!!

 

Heres my #bravojaviersobremazas!

 

Keep going to all!!!

[Andrei]

Finally got mine! Threw this together in 10 minutes in AE.  

 

JUMP. Twixtored, burst at 60.

 

 

https://vimeo.com/62191830

 

Here's a quick snapshot of the raw in comparison to the final output.

 

[tony wilson]

Finally got mine! Threw this together in 10 minutes in AE.  

 

JUMP. Twixtored, burst at 60.

 

 

https://vimeo.com/62191830

 

Here's a quick snapshot of the raw in comparison to the final output.

 

wow excellent job andrei : )

[cantsin]

Here's a probably significant update on the V2. (As of today, I am an owner of that camera and sold my V1.) In my humble opinion, if you want to get serious with shooting RAW burst mode video, invest the extra $400 for the V2. It makes your life a lot easier, respectively less painful.

 

Here are my observations:

1. Burst mode is still either 30 or 60 fps, but now you can shoot 40 images in a row. Resolution has increased to 4.6K (4608x3072 pixels).
2. Full manual control of shutter, aperture and ISO is available. P/A/S/M modes work in burst mode just as they work normally. (As a nice extra for street photographers, the silent electronic shutter now also works in single picture mode.)
3. Drastically improved write-out speed to SD cards. With a 95 Mb/s Sandisk Extreme Pro, a 40 image burst sequence now gets dumped to the card within 16 seconds. 
4. Raw burst mode now works, with all the features described above, with adapted mechanical lenses. This includes c-mount lenses (many of which are a good match for the V2 with its Super 16mm size sensor). However, there are still no whatsoever focusing aids for adapted lenses. If anyone has found a workaround, please post it here.

Shot some "raw footage" this evening which I am in the process of editing. Compared to shooting raw burst sequence with the V1, this experience was a real joy.

[Andrei]

Thanks for the update! I might get a v2 as well, 40 is definitely an improvement. This thing is so much fun to use.

[Andrew Reid]

Can confirm all of the above. V2 is so fast at writing images to the card you can do a burst of 4.6K JPEGs and almost immediately do another one straight afterwards.

 

I'm considering upgrading too. Just wish the battery was as large as on the V1 and that the camera wasn't so damned ugly.

[cantsin]

Here's the little video I quickly shot with the V2: https://vimeo.com/62298178

(As always, the vimeo video - including the high quality download file - is only a shadow of the master file in which every pixel is tack sharp. The ProRes 4:4:4 master file weighs 400 MB.)

 

Workflow:

1. copy the raw .NEF files to your video hard disk;
2. develop .NEF files as unscaled 32bit TIFFs using the raw converter of your choice; preferably apply image correction/grading here;
3. create a named folder for each 40 frames sequence, move the TIFFs into the folders which they belong to;
4. in Final Cut Pro X, create a new project and a new event. For this project, I chose 1080p/23.98 fps, which means that the 30fps shots will be slightly slowed down. As the quality setting, I picked ProRes 444 in order not to lose color resolution;
5. import files by choosing only the folders in the file selector, check option "import folders as keyword collections";
6. as a result, each shot is now its own keyword collection (=bin) in the events browser;
7. in each keyword collection, select all files and make a compound clip from them;
8. open the compound clip, select all contained clips, double click the digital time display above the timeline and enter "1" . Now all contained images will be only one video frame long.
9. If the pixel resolution of your video project differs from the native resolution of the image files (in this case: 16:9 HD 1080p), crop the images inside the compound clip as you wish.
10. drag the compound clips into the timeline, and edit them like you would edit normal clips.

 

Limitations: each trimming of a compound clip will necessitate its background re-rendering. Stabilization and optical flow slow motion will not be available. Workaround: export the clips as ProRes 444 and reimport into the project. An alternative might be to pack the tiff files, without recompression, into Quicktime containers and use those files in the edit.

[Andrei]

Here's the little video I quickly shot with the V2: https://vimeo.com/62298178

(As always, the vimeo video - including the high quality download file - is only a shadow of the master file in which every pixel is tack sharp. The ProRes 4:4:4 master file weighs 400 MB.)

 

Workflow:

1. copy the raw .NEF files to your video hard disk;
2. develop .NEF files as unscaled 32bit TIFFs using the raw converter of your choice; preferably apply image correction/grading here;
3. create a named folder for each 40 frames sequence, move the TIFFs into the folders which they belong to;
4. in Final Cut Pro X, create a new project and a new event. For this project, I chose 1080p/23.98 fps, which means that the 30fps shots will be slightly slowed down. As the quality setting, I picked ProRes 444 in order not to lose color resolution;
5. import files by choosing only the folders in the file selector, check option "import folders as keyword collections";
6. as a result, each shot is now its own keyword collection (=bin) in the events browser;
7. in each keyword collection, select all files and make a compound clip from them;
8. open the compound clip, select all contained clips, double click the digital time display above the timeline and enter "1" . Now all contained images will be only one video frame long.
9. If the pixel resolution of your video project differs from the native resolution of the image files (in this case: 16:9 HD 1080p), crop the images inside the compound clip as you wish.
10. drag the compound clips into the timeline, and edit them like you would edit normal clips.

 

Limitations: each trimming of a compound clip will necessitate its background re-rendering. Stabilization and optical flow slow motion will not be available. Workaround: export the clips as ProRes 444 and reimport into the project. An alternative might be to pack the tiff files, without recompression, into Quicktime containers and use those files in the edit.

 

That's great! Thank you!

 

Quick question. Since it's a 40 image buffer, does this mean you can select the 30fps burst and still fill up the full 40? Or would it only reach to 30 and stop? 

 

In other words, could I shoot in 30 burst mode and get 1.5 seconds at 24p?

 

That aside, here's another quick video. Some of the shots actually play through twice. In some instances, a heavily cropped shot is played in reverse, duplicated, followed by an identical shot in full view playing forward. Neat little way to get the most out of a take.

 

720p : https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2276112/4K-IN-VEGAS.mp4

 

Vimeo SD 

 

http://vimeo.com/62302567

[cantsin]

Quick question. Since it's a 40 image buffer, does this mean you can select the 30fps burst and still fill up the full 40? Or would it only reach to 30 and stop? 

 

It always shoots 40 pictures. So with 30 fps, you record 1.33 seconds. If you conform the result to 24fps, you will get 1.67 seconds playback.

[Andrew Reid]

Weirdly it goes further at the lower rates - to 45 at 15fps and 50 at 5fps.

 

But yeah, 40 frames at both 30fps and 60fps. Raw, JPEG, it doesn't matter still the same number.

 

I'm seriously considering the V2 - just the faster write times to the card and the manual controls / adaptable lenses in burst mode are great features.

[Emanuel]

Weirdly it goes further at the lower rates - to 45 at 15fps and 50 at 5fps.

 

But yeah, 40 frames at both 30fps and 60fps. Raw, JPEG, it doesn't matter still the same number.

 

I'm seriously considering the V2 - just the faster write times to the card and the manual controls / adaptable lenses in burst mode are great features.

 

And also with 40% more resolution... Any idea on how faster is to write it for card?

[Emanuel]

Here's a probably significant update on the V2. (As of today, I am an owner of that camera and sold my V1.) In my humble opinion, if you want to get serious with shooting RAW burst mode video, invest the extra $400 for the V2. It makes your life a lot easier, respectively less painful.

 

Here are my observations:

1. Burst mode is still either 30 or 60 fps, but now you can shoot 40 images in a row. Resolution has increased to 4.6K (4608x3072 pixels).
2. Full manual control of shutter, aperture and ISO is available. P/A/S/M modes work in burst mode just as they work normally. (As a nice extra for street photographers, the silent electronic shutter now also works in single picture mode.)
3. Drastically improved write-out speed to SD cards. With a 95 Mb/s Sandisk Extreme Pro, a 40 image burst sequence now gets dumped to the card within 16 seconds. 
4. Raw burst mode now works, with all the features described above, with adapted mechanical lenses. This includes c-mount lenses (many of which are a good match for the V2 with its Super 16mm size sensor). However, there are still no whatsoever focusing aids for adapted lenses. If anyone has found a workaround, please post it here.

Shot some "raw footage" this evening which I am in the process of editing. Compared to shooting raw burst sequence with the V1, this experience was a real joy.

 

I hadn't read it yet. Answered it now. Thanks.

[ScreensPro]

Shame these cams have a fairly low DR, topping out at 11 stops (according to http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Nikon/1-V2)

 

12 stops is the magic number, for me. Although raw can compensate for the slightly lower DR.

 

Think i'll order a V2, unless i pull the trigger on the F55 that i have been staring at for the last few weeks!

[jayvonbarman]

Shame these cams have a fairly low DR, topping out at 11 stops (according to http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Nikon/1-V2)

 

12 stops is the magic number, for me. Although raw can compensate for the slightly lower DR.

 

Think i'll order a V2, unless i pull the trigger on the F55 that i have been staring at for the last few weeks!

I was thinking between V1 and sony F65.....which one should i get.

[Andrew Reid]

Think i'll order a V2, unless i pull the trigger on the F55 that i have been staring at for the last few weeks!

 

Seriously??

[jgharding]

I might get myself a box room above a kebab shop, unless I pull the trigger on the penthouse above the Shard  :D

[cantsin]

One more update: As with Nikon SLR cameras, adapted third-party lenses only work in manual mode, and there's no exposure metering with them. You need to expose by guessing from the results on the display.

 

In the meantime, I have improved my workflow:

1. render raw .NEFs as uncompressed 32 bit TIFFs (as before);
2. put each TIFF sequence into a Quicktime file without recompression, using ffmpeg on the terminal command line. If your sequence is img001.tif img002.tif ... then: ffmpeg -i img%03d.tif -vcodec copy output.mov
3. import Quicktime files into NLE, edit and render as usual (perhaps using a proxy workflow for better speed)