Canon 70D or Nikon D5300 or something else for video?

[Ben Prater]

GH3 - Metabones - Sigma 18-30 w/ Nikon mount

 

This would be my recommendation, too. You can't go wrong with the GH3 -- it's a 'get-it-done' production camera. Going with Nikon-mount will give you some flexibility in the future, if you decide to jump to BMPCC, etc. since you can manually dial the aperture. 

[jasondhsd]

On the GH3 with speedbooster what f-stop would the sigma lens become?

[Derek Weston]

On the GH3 with speedbooster what f-stop would the sigma lens become?

 

http://www.computingbits.com/photography/fstop/

If you look at the metabones page it says that it gives you one stop. So 1.2

[jasondhsd]

Alright I just pulled the trigger on a GH3 that was listed as used but in the description had "brand new never used never opened" it was $850 including shipping I also had some rewards points on my credit card which I applied and made the final cost $615. We shall see!  Now to decide on a lens!

[Ben Prater]

Alright I just pulled the trigger on a GH3 that was listed as used but in the description had "brand new never used never opened" it was $850 including shipping I also had some rewards points on my credit card which I applied and made the final cost $615. We shall see!  Now to decide on a lens!

 

If you don't go with the Sigma 18-30mm, you should probably be looking at the Panasonic 12-35mm. A little more expensive, but a little wider and an active mount that pairs perfectly with the GH3. The Nikon-mounted Sigma will force you to twirls knobs more than the Panny.

[Vesku]

I'd like to see some video of the d5300 beating up the gh3. I haven't seen footage that outshines what I've seen people do with the gh3 yet. Maybe it can, but i'd like to see some evidence of it. It looks less detailed. Hopefully I can find some footage of hdmi out video with the d5300. Haven't seen it yet.

 

Is there anyone who has d5300 and GH3. I am too curious because I have not seen any brilliant D5300 ot D5200 videos yet. The dynamic range too in those examples are not very impressive. There is massive noise in some flaat-profile videos too. I dont think that external recorder improves much not else than artefacts with D5300.

 

Can someone describe what is better in Nikon colors?

 

If using Creative mode HDYN in GH3 it uses whole sensor RAW dynamic and records about 12.5 steps dyn range video.

[Stormz]

Hi,

This thread has been interesting (but confusing.. for me) reading.

 

As a total newbie who has an interest in video production, how hard is it to use a manual focus? How do I get smooth focus changes a-la the autofocus on the 70D? It seems for smooth autofocus the Canon 70D has no equal... all the other camera's on autofocus have to hunt for the exact spot, which would ruin a sequence.

 

So the only other alternative is manual focus... so how hard is it? Do you have to prepare all your shots beforehand as in pro production, or can you just go on holiday and capture on the spot smoothly?

 

I understand that you say the GH3 and even G6 have better video quality, but if the 70D is easier to use for a newbie, you can see the attraction.

[maxotics]

I understand that you say the GH3 and even G6 have better video quality, but if the 70D is easier to use for a newbie, you can see the attraction.

 

Hi Stormz, there are no real secrets in the camera world (once you've been around the block a few times).  There are only trade-offs.  Obviously, every manufacturer will brag about what they improved, but NOT what they gave up to get there.  The 70D is primarily a stills camera.  I don't have it, or a Gh3, but my guess is that my lowly Panasonic GF3 would auto-focus in video better than the 70D because it has a smaller sensor, is mirror-less, and Panasonic trades off photo quality for video.  Does that mean I don't see the "attraction" of the 70D.  I do.  Those are great stills cameras.  The 70D will, for the most part, take better photos than any of those MFTs. 

 

If you're new to this you need to assume many of the people who are posting are presenting their views in relation to what's important to them.  There is no attraction for everyone, only tradeoffs!  One mans' trash is another man's treasure :)

[hmcindie]

 

Can someone describe what is better in Nikon colors?

 

 

I just got a video to edit from someone who actually shoots with Nikon D7000 or something. Great framing, they got the audio straight into the camera good enough but the colors...my god the colors. They were so grey. Did not endear me at all to Nikon but who knows if it was the shooter. It also had the staccato motion from too high a shutter so atleast ND's were missing but that's quite common for low budget DSLR guys.

[Stormz]

The 70D is primarily a stills camera.  I don't have it, or a Gh3, but my guess is that my lowly Panasonic GF3 would auto-focus in video better than the 70D because it has a smaller sensor, is mirror-less, and Panasonic trades off photo quality for video.

 

Thanks for the reply Maxotics. You need to check out some of the video reviews of the 70D though, as you'll see it's autofocus (thanks to the new sensor and the way they use it) is amazing. No hunting around for focus on subjects... just touch the touch-screen and it goes there.

[maxotics]

Thanks for the reply Maxotics. You need to check out some of the video reviews of the 70D though, as you'll see it's autofocus (thanks to the new sensor and the way they use it) is amazing. No hunting around for focus on subjects... just touch the touch-screen and it goes there.

 

The reason DSLR focus well is they have an independent focus system that works when the mirror is down.  The problem, is that when shooting video, the mirror must be up, so they must use the sensor to figure out focus.  The problem is that the sensor is being used to capture images ;)  What Canon has done is put some of those sensor pixels aside to do double-duty, both take images and figure focus.  However, these pixels can't figure focus and capture images at the same time.  I don't fully understand the issues, but know, when shooting RAW, that these pixels are hot (because they're on focus duty).  Canon probably switches the sensors back and forth, from image to focus mode OR, they just interpolate around them in video mode before video compression.  The second is my guess (because they show up in RAW).  

 

The 70D has a bigger sensor than the MFTs, so it will have a shallower DOF which is both good and bad for auto-focus. Good, when it's working well, bad, when it's a little off.  The technology you talk about, where you press on someone's face, is in my lowly GF3, and it works really well.  That technology is new to the DLSRs now, because of the sensor focus pixel developments.  

 

What you're going to find, in photography in general, which I think every serious person on this forum will tell you, is that auto-anything is nice to have for events and when you want to drink and shoot ;)  As soon as you want to capture a image, in a certain way, auto won't work because no camera or computer can read your mind!  Nor can the camera predict if your subject will move forward or backwards a foot and change focus to match that perfectly.  Do you want the subjects eye's in perfect focus?  Do you want the best focus that lines up 2 people, or 3?  Do you want to focus on the ash-tray first, and then the person's hand, and then their expression?  Do you want the subject to be lit properly, or do you want them a bit dark, and the room exposed correctly?  All these things you have to set the camera to do.  

 

All this is another reason why everyone is arguing other benefits of the cameras than auto-focus.  Does the 70D do auto-focus better than the 60D.  Absolutely!  But after you get into it, will you care?  

[leafcutter]

Do you know what you are going to be shooting with this camera?  Is it going to be lots of moving things that need tracking in the frame or static shots like interviews?  I have some low end DSLRs that I use on some shots - the autofocus is shocking but I just lock the focus and hit record so autofocus just doesn't matter to me.  Others would probably class them as unusable because they have a different set of criteria.

 

If you might need to use the camera for a bit of everything then that will probably mean you have to compromise somewhere to get a camera that will do enough of what you need.

[mojo43]

The colours on the Nikons are fantastic. Most of the shots on this are from the D5200 Vesku

 

[shotbyshaun]

Excellent video.  What lenses do you use with your D5200?

[Inazuma]

As a previous owner of a Nikon d5200, I have to say that the colours generally had a greenish tint to them. In Lightroom i would often have moved the tint slider to the right (magenta). So it's nothing that post can't change.

 

As for the 70d - I cant comment much. I previously owned a 550d. I've recently looked back at the footage I took with it and have been appalled. The image was soft, there was very noticeable moire/aliasing, and the noise was large and blotchy. From what I've heard, all Canon APS-C cameras give similar quality.

 

I would not recommend a Nikon d5200/d5300 either because of the lack of focus aids (like peaking) and quirks to do with its handling.

 

I would like to recommend my Panasonic GX7 but I take issue with the price of the lenses and the lack of optically stabilised primes. Other than that, I love the camera. It has the largest feature set and best interface of all the cameras I've used (including those two above, plus a NEX-6). The stills image quality is somewhere between Canon APS-C and Nikon APS-C (probably leaning more towards the Nikon). The video quality is certainly sharper and you have better control over the dynamic range, however it is slightly noisier than the Nikon. Another plus is that almost all the lenses are silent and focus very quickly. Not as quick as the 70d or new Sony a6000, but still fast.