24 replies to this topic

[Segerdahl]

Now "New and Improved!" I took a number of shots and built a little iMovieHD of the baitball, added royalty free music. iMovieHD is really easy.

I am going to try some of your suggestions next dive, see what is adjustable on the D90. Thanks.

HD Video of Scads of Scads

Wow, very impressive and what a dive (I will probably not see any fish on my dive next week)!!!
You did a great job behind the camera as well as behind the computer (very nice edited and nice music).

Now, suggestions for fututre improvements:
My guess is that you did not lock exposure. It feels as it's altered during the scene and it's a little annoying.
I also find most of it slightly over exposured. Not that it's burned out, but it would look nicer (and does in a few scenes) if the image was darker. I guess it's the extremely bright sand that makes it extra hard on the camera.
Finally, it's rather "jumpy"... hmm not sure I use the correct word here... anyone?? It's not shaky, you are very steady (well done!). I think it's either because it's a very complex scene (tons of things moving) or it's the conversion to Vimeo that caused it (happens way too often). Is it as jumpy before uploading to Vimeo? If so, perhaps you could experiment with different export settings?

BTW, for anyone watching the vimeo clip, make sure you have set HD ON and Scale OFF.

Edited by Segerdahl, 24 April 2010 - 07:18 AM.

[Segerdahl]

Another tips, for recording video:

As an alternative to or in combination with exposure adjustment, note that you can also move around the red focus square using the multi controller. Apart from changing the position for the liveview autofocus, it also changed the position from where the camera will measure the light. So, if you are filming a fish in the foreground at the edge of the frame and the background is rather bright, it's a good idea to move the focus frame to the fish. You might have to add some exposure adjustments as well, but it's a good start. You can actually do this while recording video (filming) but I don't recommend it. Better do it first, then maybe add some exposure compensation, press Exposure Lock and then press record.

I experimented some with Spot, Matrix and Avage exposure measuring but could not see any difference. Can you?

Edited by Segerdahl, 25 April 2010 - 03:58 AM.

[Drew]

I think Nikon uses Matrix only no matter what the setting is.

[Segerdahl]

I think Nikon uses Matrix only no matter what the setting is.

Based on practical experience, I'd think you are right.

Another thing, related to video recording. I have both an D300 and D300s and even though only the D300s has a video mode, both have the LiveView modes. I always hated the tripod mode's "contrast-detect AF" as it was not only dead slow, it was really bad and mostly failed. So I stopped using it. I used LiveView either in Tripod mode either for manual focus or in Handheld mode (works great UW with wide angle and non moving objects). As the D300s has AF while recording video, I tested that. It only work with (of course) the contrast detect AF. The thing is that (and I think I wrote that above) it's not all that bad. I't actually pretty good. Yesterday I felt I had to redo the contrast detect AF tests and tested the D300 against the D300s, using the same everything (lenses, light, settings etc). To my big surprise, the D300s really rocks and the D300 really sucks in this area. I am surprised that it has not been pushed at as a major improvement. Sure, it's not fast if you compare to the phase detect AF, but... I have read that the D300s has a faster contrast detection AF than the D300, but I also read that it wasn't a big deal. But hey it really is! MUCH faster and much much more reliable. Not sure if it will work uw though (but I sure will try), but on land it's now a very useful feature.
I have no idea how other Nikons are in comparement though.

Edited by Segerdahl, 25 April 2010 - 11:38 PM.

[Segerdahl]

Continuing to add tips on how to optimize video recordings with Nikon D90 and D300s.

Not sharp!
I have been annoyed that the recorded video is not pin sharp. I know video is seldom as sharp as still photo and mostly you are OK with that. But... I was not happy with the result. So, I simply tested to change the Sharpness parameter. I set it all the way up (9 on the D300s) and recorded some video. Wow, now the movie was super duper sharp!!! :-))

Noise:
Yep, some noise was added when pushing the sharpness parameter to its maximum. But it wasn't that much, and, as the default position of the sharpness parameter is as low as 2, I'm sure I can find a sweet spot between sharpness and noise.
I expected to see much added compression artifact but that didn't happen. :-)

Noise reduction:
I have also experimented with the noise reduction parameter, but I can't see that it does anything in video mode. Anyone?

Saturation:
Both contrast and saturation parameters affects the recording alot. Maybe one should be a little careful with the contrast parameter (depending on the ligthening situation) but I'm pretty sure that boosting the saturation parameter some will add a nice touch to uw-videos. Especially when recording in natural/ambient light. Has anyone tested to experiment with those uw?