Nikon's D90 does HD movies too
Nikon's D90 is upon us. High-def movie clips with sound, from a consumer DSLR! The 12.3 megapixel model, , with 11-point autofocus and a bundled AF-S Nikkor 18-105mm lens, is $1,300 and available from September. From the press release:
The D-Movie mode [allows] consumers to create their own HD movie clips (1280 x 720) with sound from their D-SLR camera. Photographers will appreciate the cinematic qualities that come from the 24fps frame rate, which matches theatrical film, whether producing vacation clips or creatively melding stills with video.
At the price, it's out of my league simply as a camera, but if the HD movies are of comparable quality to HD camcorders — and the internal buffer can deal with the record button being depressed for more than a minute at a time — it's a sexy value-add on what otherwise should be a seriously decent camera.
PR [Nikon]
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damn. almost makes me wish i'd not got the xsi
I think that the video should have been developed a bit more, or relegated to the bottom shelf models, but the obvious restrictions of an SLR probably prevent such the following from happening:
(from Crave)
Exposure is fixed for the length of the clip, it has monaural sound, and you can only focus manually while shooting...
That does not sound too high def to me, other than image size. They are obviously trying to lure people new to SLR's, but isn't that what the D40x, D50, and D60 are for? I think they should have gone for more sensor size, better ISO to match the D300 and above, etc. Leave the video to the pocket cams. Too many limitations to make this viable, me thinks.
Otherwise, its probably as rock solid as every other Nikon. And, its *not* a Canon. Yea!
My mother has been looking for a DSLR that does video (with audio), she uses the function mostly to "stamp" the event that she's recording with the photos. I'll have to forward this on to her, she'll be estatic.
It's impressive as a v1 feature, and potentially a game-changer in the market, since Canon has to fear cannibalizing its own HD camcorder market if it starts adding similar features.
Yes, the feature set on the D90 isn't quite a real camcorder yet, but take a look at the demo videos -- interchangeable lenses let you shoot in a way you only could with a $6,000+ video camera before.
The shortcomings all seem to be things that could be solved in v2 and later iterations. Nikon doesn't have too far to go to make their DSLRs match Canon's prosumer video cameras feature-for-feature.
The obvious areas for upgrade in a D95:
- 1080i video
- Longer (unlimited) clip length
- Autofocus while shooting
- Exposure adjustment while shooting
- A better built-in microphone and mic jack
- Articulated screen for shooting at high/low angles
It's not a long list. Some of those are firmware/processor issues, some are sensor related, some could even be solved on the D90 with an add-on grip/jack pack. (I can imagine Nikon selling a $200 video add-on with a shotgun mic and wireless receiver. They'd make a killing.)
Nikon is inches away from a killer feature that redefines the camera market and simultaneously kills off the notion of a dedicated video (or still) camera.
@Aaron
Very good points. But if the bullet list you have was met, would it not then be a V90 that can take stills?
Will convergence ever end?
So not quite as good as the far less expensive EX-F1 then?