Nikon D5300 Review and why DSLRs are dead for video

[Nikkor]

That's strange, the d5300 looks a lot better and sharper in the last video. When in the one before the g6 looked better.

[maxotics]

Matt, remember to bring a bowl of colorful fruits to place on the ledge next time ;)

[Michael1]

 

Posted a longer, mostly unedited, flat color version of this D5300 footage a few days ago. Here's a shorter version, that's edited, a stab at grading, with music and some GoPro footage added. :)

 

File too large for my free vimeo account.

 

 

Beautiful footage!

 

Where is the unedited version posted?  I would like to look at that.

 

Michael

[skiphunt]

Beautiful footage!  The narration is not doing it for me, though.  Too distracting, and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the video.  I turned off the audio.

 

Where is the unedited version posted?  I would like to look at that.

 

Michael

 

Can't please everyone I guess. The narration only goes for less than half of it. Then it jumps to only music. The narration is about a photographer paying too much attention to the details and missing "the place" ie. missing the forest for the trees. So, in essence it does actually fit with the random moving images of basically the stills I shot. If you want to look at the ungraded footage, there's a link to it in the video description. Just click over to YouTube and read the full description there.

 

ps. the other version is edited too and has the much longer version of the narration. Only difference is it's longer and isn't graded. Nor did I spend any time at all with the order or edit. So enjoy! lol

 

There's not an "unedited version" online and I won't likely spend any more time on it. Just wanted to make something out of it to force me to dive into FCPX and start practicing grading. It's essentially a glorified camera test. So, the fact you don't like my narration, doesn't really bother me the slightest. That was just something I recorded for my friends who follow my blog so I just slapped it on as narration. Then, cut it down to just that eye-glasses story because that's where I was when that footage was shot, and it does actually go with it in an abstract sense. I don't expect most to dig it though. Just wanted something other than the usual, very easy, slapping music on a travel video that everyone does.

 

I posted it here because when I was shopping for a camera recently, I wished I'd seen more stuff like this instead of typical test footage. It would have made the buying decision easier.  There wasn't much from the usual gear blogs and some outright ignored the camera as nothing more than a rebadged D5200. So, I thought I'd post it here in this thread for other's considering this camera. Not trying to win any fans for my storytelling. It is what it is. More of a service to show some variety from this camera.

 

BTW: I wasn't really looking for critique to be honest. I don't usually critique anyone's work unless they ask me too or unless I ask them if they're open to critique. If I'd wanted critique on the creative, I'd have asked for it. So, if you're interested in this camera and want to see more variety of footage from it, but don't like my narrative, just continue to keep the volume down.

 

Oh yes! Thanks for the compliment on my visuals! And, you're welcome. ;)

[Guest]

That's strange, the d5300 looks a lot better and sharper in the last video. When in the one before the g6 looked better.

Yeah it's going to take me a while to understand. This last test was quite controlled, so I feel fairly confident about the results from these settings. I've known for a while that 24p AVCHD is by far the G6's best setting, so I think that has something to do with it. I'll try a side-by-side of the G6 with 50p MP4 vs 50p AVCHD. And I'll do a D5300 24p vs 50p to confirm that possibility. Hopefully that will give some answers.

 

The good thing for me is that they seem to complement each others strengths and weaknesses, so once I've figured out exactly what they are I should be able to cover most shooting situations pretty well.

[maxotics]

BTW: I wasn't really looking for critique to be honest. I don't usually critique anyone's work unless they ask me too or unless I ask them if they're open to critique. If I'd wanted critique on the creative, I'd have asked for it. So, if you're interested in this camera and want to see more variety of footage from it, but don't like my narrative, just continue to keep the volume down.

 

 

No one wants to be criticized.  Getting better, however, is not pain-free.

 

I was only pointing out that your narration was distracting, to me.  If you are posting a video about the camera, why not just narrate what you were going through while shooting it?  "I tried this exposure. .. I forgot to change ISO here so... etc."   That would have been more helpful, if CAMERA TESTING is what you're doing.  Yes, I could have turned the sound down, but I would have felt rude (even though you wouldn't know.

 

Some people,as you pointed out, liked the narration.  Did I argue with them?  

 

We're all here to support each other.  But I don't want to help anyone who thinks they know more than me and can learn nothing themselves ;)

 

Again, I enjoyed your video.  Thanks for posting!  

[skiphunt]

No one wants to be criticized.  Getting better, however, is not pain-free.

 

I was only pointing out that your narration was distracting, to me.  If you are posting a video about the camera, why not just narrate what you were going through while shooting it?  "I tried this exposure. .. I forgot to change ISO here so... etc."   That would have been more helpful, if CAMERA TESTING is what you're doing.  Yes, I could have turned the sound down, but I would have felt rude (even though you wouldn't know.

 

Some people,as you pointed out, liked the narration.  Did I argue with them?  

 

We're all here to support each other.  But I don't want to help anyone who thinks they know more than me and can learn nothing themselves ;)

 

Again, I enjoyed your video.  Thanks for posting!  

 

I thought I made it crystal clear what the intent of the video was in the video description and original post. Again, if I'd posted a creative piece that I wanted creative feedback on, I would have asked for it. Glad you enjoyed it, but I'm not going to get into a pissing match over this with anyone. I learned what I needed to from this personal test. If my method of sharing it wasn't to your liking, then so be it. It was a PERSONAL camera test I thought I'd share. I get bored looking at test footage of traffic going over a bridge, trees in the wind, waves on the beach, etc. etc. I shot footage on a trip I recently took to see how the camera would perform for ME. I thought some here might get something out of it. Nothing more.

 

When I post something creative, and want feedback about the creative, the edit, the voice over, the audio design, etc. I will ask "hey, what do you all think?". For a glorified camera test, I'm not looking for feedback. I'm simply sharing. I didn't even ask for feedback on my grading.

 

I posted this for other's here to see what I got from the camera. I'm done with it. I've actually already moved on to cutting clips for stock video sale and am uploading as I type this. If this were a project that I cared to develop, I'd gladly listen to creative critique on the audio, etc. Then, I'd mull it over, and take another stab at it. Instead, I learned what I needed and am moving on to concentrate on an actual project next. Understand? 

 

Again, in case you missed it. The video I uploaded was random shots while I was traveling in Mexico recently. I wanted to see if I could get acceptable results from minimal gear in my backpack. I discovered that I could. I also wanted to see the differences in real world shooting in the field between different picture profiles. And finally, which of the profiles worked the best for my own visual style and which worked the best for the limited grading experience I have. Also, wanted to confirm that I wasn't making a mistake by not investing in a much more cumbersome and expensive raw workflow. I learned that the compressed Nikon D5300, if shot well, holds up well to grading and produces an acceptable image for my needs. No need to spend any more time comparing, buying, shopping, looking at tests, etc. Now time to learn how to use what I have and apply it to a cool project, instead of wasting time. ;)

 

Decided to add narration I'd already recorded and I actually like it. To do a voice over talking about the camera and such is not my job. I didn't need that for myself. I shot it, played with grading. Thought it was boring without sound, so I slapped a loosely related narrative I'd already recorded over it, with some catchy royalty free music. Done and done. 

 

You're welcome.

[maxotics]

Skiphunt, I understand, it's all about you.

[skiphunt]

Skiphunt, I understand, it's all about you.

Whatever. Thanks for looking and glad you enjoyed it. 

 

Moving on. Peace out.

[Andrew Reid]

Move on now guys, thanks.

[Danyyyel]

Yeah it's going to take me a while to understand. This last test was quite controlled, so I feel fairly confident about the results from these settings. I've known for a while that 24p AVCHD is by far the G6's best setting, so I think that has something to do with it. I'll try a side-by-side of the G6 with 50p MP4 vs 50p AVCHD. And I'll do a D5300 24p vs 50p to confirm that possibility. Hopefully that will give some answers.

 

The good thing for me is that they seem to complement each others strengths and weaknesses, so once I've figured out exactly what they are I should be able to cover most shooting situations pretty well.

 

One thing to take into account is that some codec are geared toward detail and other toward other factors like subtle gradient, noise, even motion etc. This is from the experience of the different gh2 hack with diftwood and lpowell. So just over stressing the codec might not be a simple answer because with the external recorder these Nikon's might be different than the typical Canon with fix bitrate. One you tested them with wide lens with deep dof and lot of detail they just turn to mush.

 

So one test would perhaps be to just shoot something with a lot of detail but perhaps 1/4 of the screen and a very plain background. So that the codec bitrate is not over stressed but still able to render than part of the image the sharpest it can, at least without using an external recorder that would not rely on the internal codec at all and would show the best result.

[Michael1]

Can't please everyone I guess. The narration only goes for less than half of it. Then it jumps to only music.

Sorry, Skip.  I didn't mean to sound critical (and I took the inappropriate comments out of my original post).  That wasn't right, and I feel bad about it now.  Don't listen to me.  If no one takes any chances creatively, everything would be boring.  I think I'll go back and listen to the narrative based on your preface.  It's a very well done piece, and nice to see what the camera can do in capable hands, too. :)

 

Michael

[skiphunt]

Sorry, Skip.  I didn't mean to sound critical.  Don't listen to me.  If no one takes any chances creatively, everything would be boring.  I think I'll go back and listen to the narrative based on your preface.  Don't get me wrong, it's a well done piece, and nice to see what the camera could do, too. :)

 

Michael

 

No worries. I revealed to Maxotics privately that I've got some heavy life stuff that's freaking me out at the moment. Should pass soon, but I'm not my self at the moment. Ultimately, I think I should not have taken it so close to looking like a finished piece. I was just going to put some graded clips with no audio up. Then, had a hard time cutting stuff out because I shot so much variety and am really happy with the images I got. Then added music to make it easier to get through, then thought it'd be nice with some narration that I already had handy. Toss on a title, and a little production bumper name I've been playing with, and bada-bing... ya got something that looks like it's supposed to be a finished piece. My mistake. In the end, I'm glad folks here liked the images and got something out of it. 

 

Cheers.

[Michael1]

No worries. I revealed to Maxotics privately that I've got some heavy life stuff that's freaking me out at the moment. Should pass soon, but I'm not my self at the moment. Ultimately, I think I should not have taken it so close to looking like a finished piece. I was just going to put some graded clips with no audio up. Then, had a hard time cutting stuff out because I shot so much variety and am really happy with the images I got. Then added music to make it easier to get through, then thought it'd be nice with some narration that I already had handy. Toss on a title, and a little production bumper name I've been playing with, and bada-bing... ya got something that looks like it's supposed to be a finished piece. My mistake. In the end, I'm glad folks here liked the images and got something out of it. 

 

Cheers.

Actually, I would just leave it as is.  I'm getting to like it now.  Sometimes things have to grow on you.  I can really relate the sunglasses portion of the monologue, since the micro screw came out of my darn Hobie sunglasses a few days ago.  I've got the screwdriver, but no screw.  :)

 

I hope everything brightens up for you soon, Skip. (thumbs up)

 

Michael

[Guest]

Hope you're looking after yourself Skip. You're a "top bloke" as we say here in North East England!

 

Would it help if I said I really liked the narration but found the visuals a real distraction so I turned them off and kept listening? No probably not. I'm lying anyway. I did really like the story though.

[maxotics]

I liked the story too, by the way.  If it wasn't a good story it wouldn't have been distracting to me ;)

 

This whole thing reminds me to spend more time reading people's posts and considering more carefully what I have to say.  We're all good now I think.  I looked at Skip's photo sites.  Very impressive stuff!  

[Guest]

 

50p vs 24p. No difference in resolution.

[Danyyyel]

I think you should try what I wrote before on not over stressing the codec (more so if you don't have an external recorder). You never know because your first video with the d5300 regardless of the g6 looked sharper than the last two one. I think you were shooting wide open and part of the image was blurred and did not stress too much the codec.

 

 

One thing to take into account is that some codec are geared toward detail and other toward other factors like subtle gradient, noise, even motion etc. This is from the experience of the different gh2 hack with diftwood and lpowell. So just over stressing the codec might not be a simple answer because with the external recorder these Nikon's might be different than the typical Canon with fix bitrate. One you tested them with wide lens with deep dof and lot of detail they just turn to mush.

 

So one test would perhaps be to just shoot something with a lot of detail but perhaps 1/4 of the screen and a very plain background. So that the codec bitrate is not over stressed but still able to render than part of the image the sharpest it can, at least without using an external recorder that would not rely on the internal codec at all and would show the best result.

[Guest]

Your first video with the d5300 regardless of the g6 looked sharper than the last two one. I think you were shooting wide open and part of the image was blurred and did not stress too much the codec.

 

I think you must be right about this.

 

I want to keep doing real-world tests though. I find them more useful right now. I'll do some shallow DOF side-by-sides with the G6/D5300.

 

This is what annoyed me about Andrew's criticism of my first test - "you did it wrong". I shot that scene how I would want to shoot it, to see how each camera looked in terms of that kind of shot. Then he tells me that's not how you do a test. Well I wasn't trying to get the pixel-peeping best out of each camera, I was trying to see how they looked when I used them in that particular way.

 

I went ahead and re-did the test again anyway though, and it has been useful knowing how they look with a deeper DOF. The G6 is clearly sharper.

[skiphunt]

Has anyone done or seen any good D5300 that was recorded via external recorder? If so, was there much difference? And do any of the external recorders support 60p yet? Looks like the new Ninja Blade does not.