vDSLR: Nikon or Canon guide for newbies

[Trey T]

Video DSLR || Canon or Nikon

As video DSLR being use more and more in Texas, ones might need to know which system is a better investment.

What is my credential?

-I am not a professional videographer; by which, I mean, I do not derive my income from videography. My background is far from motion picture but this is one of my many hobbies that I excel on. The opinions are based on the technical aspect specified by the manufactures and personal experience. I have been shooting vDSLR since February 2009 and since then, there are tens of projects have been produced.

-This documentation is to provide basic information. If you’re interested in learning more, I suggest purchase a vDSLR and start your adventure from there.



What is video DSLR (vDSLR)?

-Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera is mainly built for still picture (photography) but have the capability to capture motion picture (video) much like a video camera.

-vDSLR are known for its large-size sensor. In comparison to professional video camera like Sony EX1/3, it has CMOS sensors with diagonal dimension of ½” at 16x9 ratios and its dimension yields to 11mm x 6.5mm.



History of vDSLR:

-vDSLR was first introduced by Nikon in August 31, 2008 by the model D90. Canon 5D-mark II was introduced in September 17, 2008 with video mode. Here are the specifications of the first vDSLR of both makers:

Nikon D90:

-Effective sensor size: 24mm x 13.5mm (16x9 ratio)
-Maximum resolution 13MP
-Video CoDec: M-JPEG (Motion JPEG) in .avi file container
- Video resolution/frame-rate: 720p24
-Audio: manual control. Mono audio. No mic input.
-Dynamic Range: UNKNOWN

Canon 5D-Mark II:

-Effective Sensor size: 36mm x 20.2mm (16x9 ratio)
-Maximum resolution 21MP
-Video CoDec: H.264(MPEG-4) in . mov file container
-Video resolution/frame-rate: 1080p30 or 1080p24
-Audio: manual control. Stereo audio. Stereo mic input.
-Dynamic Range: 10 stops (Red One yields 11 stops)

-The DSLRs do provide excellent picture but Canon excelled in many specifications such as better video CoDec, mic input, and video resolution/frame-rate. Both CoDecs are not professional for editing but Canon’s H.264 (MPEG-4) has a modern CoDec widely use and it’s more efficient than M-JPEG. If you like to read more about the CoDec, a google search will get you there.



Benefit of using DSLR:

-Extreme low-light capability.
-Large sensor to provide narrow depth of field (DoF).
-High quality picture.



Problem of using DSLR:

-Both cameras provide non-professional audio quality. The cameras have a lot of “hisses” or noises. Therefore, it requires external (off-camera) audio recording for clean and professional quality. Handheld audio recorder such as Zoom H4n or Tascam DR-100 are use to provide off-camera recording. The software to synch the audio to the Nikon or Canon video files is called Pluraleyes.

-Terrible “rolling shutter”. This phenomenon occurred with all CMOS sensor due to the sensor reading from pixel-to-pixel from left-to-right and top-down. Canon vDSLR does not utilize all pixel to create 1920x1080 (2MP) of resolution but rather skips pixels to maintain the maximum sensor size or aka field-of-view. Fast panning or whip panning is not recommended when using vDSLR.



What software can edit the video w/o conversion?

-Nikon: any modern editing system
-Canon: Adobe Premiere CS5 or Sony Vegas 10


The easy question: which camera system to buy, Nikon or Canon?
-Canon.
+Better CoDec
+More features
+Far better online support than Nikon
+The buttons configuration of Canon has been very well designed from their consumer DSLR to their pro DSLR with one hand operation. It's important for shooter doing handheld with right hand as main support and left have to pull focus. Nikon D90 requires two hands to operate the camera(ISO, shutter speed, aperture).

[dmora]

Any reason you chose the d90 and not the d300, d7000, or d3s?

[tukaniray]

I believe he was posting the first video DSLR released for Nikon and Canon.

I for one still believe in using Pro-ENG cameras for pro video work ... but also see alot of people using vDSLRs such as the Canon 5D Mark II plenty.

Definitely has great pictures for what they are.

FYI, the red cameras have crappy built in sound as well. Needing an external audio is also recommended there as well. And the Zoom H4n is freaking awesome.

-Ray-

[soymilk]

My wondered this myself, seems like the article is terribly dated. D90 and 5dmkII were the first 2 HDSLR on the market.

The main points for shooting canon for videos are, more mpbs, more shooting format options, magic lantern, custom shooting styles/profiles.

Its not fair to compare a $2700 dollar camera vs a $1000 camera. Plus, you're a bad mamma jamma if you can handhold video and pull focus and adjust settings at the same time. Usually when I take video, iso, shutterspeed and apertures are set already before I hit the record button. The only thing I worry about is keeping it stable and pulling focus (on a tripod).

[dmora]

AnOther thing TS failed to address is if you already have lenses for nikon per se. Recommending canon with out addressing this is terribly lopsided. It would behoove anyone to not stay with a platform they're familiar with rather than get something just because people use it more.

[soymilk]

A lot of people are using adaptors to fit nikon lenses to canon bodies. So it depends on the lens per se. If anyone is really considering going into video, then canon would be the better choice. Not just because more people are using it for video, but because the overwhelming options canon offers for video compared to nikon.

Nikon is sadly very far behind when it comes to video. Luckily for me I bought a Dslr to shooting pictures. Video is just a bonus.

[tukaniray]

Eh ... if I were to go with a camera for Video ... I honestly would go with the Pro-Video models of SONY.

I heard the Sony DSLRs shoot in video and in a codec much more superior to the ones used by Nikon and Canon, AVCHD.

-Ray-

[soymilk]

I don't know about better codec, since they both use h.264. I always thought it had something to do with the file structure.

5dmkii and other dslrs that use a .mov or .avi file container are restricted to 4gb clips. About 12mins on a canon@1080p and 20mins on the nikon d7000 @1080p. Cameras/camcorders that use avchd aren't limited to 4gb files.

Here's a cruddy video of my aquarium. Sony a33 was used for majority of the shots.
Elos Sys70 on Vimeo

Can anyone tell which shot was done with which camera?

[tukaniray]

Nice shooting ... that last shot through me off. It started real soft and then the focus was moved.

Being on the internet it was hard to tell the difference. With HD these days, almost can't tell which shot is shot with what camera.

But I am going to say the last shot is different.

-Ray-

[tukaniray]

And AVCHD may be a product of H.264 recording ... but it has a different subfolder layout and setting that Panasonic and Sony created to give off a better quality in the Pro-Sumer market. Whether or not they used that file system on the vDSLr's of Sony, I don't know. But I know that the respected Pro-Sumer ENG cameras have the better codec version with less compression.

-Ray-

[soymilk]

Thanks for the compliment on the video, and yes youre right lol. That last shot was a 50mm sigma on a d7000. My almost failed attempt to add some sort motion. Towards the end I ran outta footage so I threw in anything that was long enough lol.

The Sony dslrs have the same file system. But the bitrate was limited to around 17mpbs for the highest quality. I noticed that when trying to colorgrade I saw a bit of artifacts when I tried to push the Sony camera footage too much. So I ended up just shooting a vivid profile instead of trying to do neutral and coming back to colorgrade.

Ps iMovie sucks for color grading. I'm waiting for fcpx to come out to. Imma try making another short movie when I go to San antonio later this month.

[tukaniray]

Yeah ... I haven't touched iMovie since I left Apple years back.

I am an Avid / Final Cut Pro editor.

Wow, 17mb/s on the Sony vDSLRs ... the Sony NX5u shoots at a Max 24mb/s. Not bad for the DSLR.

-Ray-