Comments on: Nikon D90 buffer upgrade for 1080 HD video

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:23:50 +0000

the mirror that reflects the image seen through the lens up to the viewfinder blocks the sensor. The mirror has to go up and therefore disables the viewfinder while the sensor is exposed.

By: Gary Gibbons

Gary Gibbons — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:03:06 +0000

I am seriously considering purchasing this camera (NIKON D90) for a ‘secondary camera’. I like the ‘still’ shooting portion of it obviously but I videotape weddings professionally for 30 years now and am wanting a second camera to shoot video that can be put in the back of the church. I use high end 3CMOS chip HD Sony video cameras. I need to have a camera that will ‘continuously’ record for at least 1 hour. I was reading about your 5 minute limitation on your D90. Does that mean that it automatically breaks up the video into 5 minute files or you actually have to stop the camera at 5 minutes during recording to let it do it’s thing before you can start the recording again? Like I said I am also wanting the camera for shooting stills for family as well as for my video production business. I am mainly wanting it for a stationary–rear mounted in the church camera that has A REAL LENS and not some cheap consumer video camera 150X digital cheap lens. My understanding is the the Movie Mode of the D90 Nikon can handle low light real well? That sometimes becomes a real problem at these weddings in these churches. Thank you–Gary

By: fz

fz — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:59:00 +0000

By: alain calliaipiedi

alain calliaipiedi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:07:00 +0000

Any recent news about this rumor?

By: Adam Geller

Adam Geller — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:45:06 +0000

I also was an early adopter of the D90 and have had lots of experience with it’s video. It’s limitations firstly are in the 18-105mm it comes with as it’s too slow and requires lots of light. ( plus, due to the automatic nature of it, some f stops are not available) Using hacks such as the “Kholi” method you can acquire somewhat more manual control of the camera. Try a 50mm f1.2, 35-70mm f2.8 or similar if you want to be impressed. Manual control of the iris is a must even though you still have to hack the body into doing what you want (ie. using the AE lock prior to entering Live View while focusing in on different shades of exposed areas with different combinations of f-stops and exposure values ). This can and needs a firmware fix to simplify this process (Mainly just have a way to lock the iso in at 200). I’m also confident the codec can be improved to better deal with the camera’s stair-stepping as people have already done that with codecs written for FCP. The thing I worry about is the rolling shutter / bandwidth issue. I suspect there are two processors controlling different functions of video processing. Why would it be both 720p and 480p are afflicted with the same rolling shutter / bandwidth problems? Why can I zoom in during live view but not during recording? I suspect one processor (A) has the massive task of down sampling the images from the CMOS sensor and loading it onto the buffer, and another (B) processes the video file for saving to the memory card. So (A) is slow and causes rolling shutter and lack of overall bandwidth and probably cant be updated (B) isn’t quite perfect either because of stair stepping and poor compression. Fortunately none of the problems caused by (B) are noticed when watching LV from the Mini HDMI output on the body. An ideal firmware update should include an option also remove some of the camera settings printed over the live image so we could use a Gefen PVR or equivalent HDCP compliant HDMI recording device for external hard drive recording (also eliminating the 5 minute 720p limitation). This I know is possible, I know a firmware update could squeeze a little more quality out of the functions controlled by processor B. Lets keep our fingers crossed. Note: some of these problems also exist in the Canon EOS 5D video but are WAY less noticeable, see for yourself. Nikon you are advertising this thing to families as a good video camera it’s time to own up to your claim with some serious firmware updates.

By: chip

chip — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:45:13 +0000

1080i would be a down grade.

By: editman

editman — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:20:47 +0000

I’m a D90 user since launch and used the movie function alot. Both in private and at work in proffessional production.

Someone who says the bitrate wouldn’t work because the hardware can’t keep up do need to check what is going on when you film.
I would point out the bitrate as being much of the limiting factor to poor picture quality but it’s the codec and it’s implementation that’s what’s to blame.

If the D90 could run it’s maximum rate at all times we wouldn’t complain. If you look at the actuall bitrate you notice it goes from a poor 2000/kbps to a good 32000/kbps. And if you would output 1080i instead of 720p the bandwidth is almost the same.

1080i or 720p at around 30000/kbps would be okey! You have to have a fast SDHC card but that’s okey.

By: fz

fz — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:24:44 +0000

720p to 1080p…. i highly doubt it. however if they ‘just’ give us control over shutter and iso and minimise the stairstepping i would get almost euphoric!!! and i would appreciate such an update so much more than having 1080p with the d90′s actual movie controls. its such a nice dslr! but right now in moviemode you have to outfox your own camera (before it bites you) to get out some decent looking footage )…. and that kind of sucks imo!
regards fz

By: SSV

SSV — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:53:39 +0000

It would be true if they are going to make real 1080. Not a problem to implement crappy one, like 720p in D90. Just upsample it a bit more – you have “1080″.

I have D90, so I’d be happy if Nikon really would make new firmware to make D90 “hd video” a bit better. Actually, I don’t care about 1080, it would be more than enough if Nikon would make D90 720p looks like real 720p. But I doubt if Nikon actually needs it . So, instead of having better 720p we’ll have even crappier 1080.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:21:09 +0000

Ok, so this is my dream spec sheet for a new Nikon DSLR.

FF
12+ MP
720p or 1080p HD video
external mic jack
headphone jack (very important for video)

Is that too much to ask?

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:46:30 +0000

I’m all for add ons and upgrades but… the upgrade from 720p to 1080p in this body seems far fetched to me. if they can do that why can’t they upgrade a D1x to a FF chip?
Now, if they have some new fangled thingamajig to mount an external mic WITH a headphone jack then I’m game. Even if the video is 720p and the sensor is x1.5 crop.

By: Paul Treacy

Paul Treacy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:02:55 +0000

The mic rumor may have credence. The rest I’d doubt. The price, however, seems unrealistically low. If one could plug in a shotgun mic it would yield some serious power. It would also negate the need for external audio gear which is complicated during editing.

I’ve not gotten a D90 yet but will very soon. I have two films I want to make and my tiny Flip, though a brilliant family use camera, just won’t cut it for the hi-end I need.

I’m getting excited now. I’ve watched most of the D90 films at http://www.vimeo.com/D90 and I’m getting a good idea as to its capabilities.

http://photohumourist.com

By: rcoward

rcoward — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:58:00 +0000

Good point. So, what if I take my D90 to the US and get the ‘upgrade’ fitted/reprogrammed/etc over there, would it invalidate my warranty here in the UK? Time to dig out the paperwork and email Nikon UK…

I’m not as up to speed on my electronics as I should but I am sure you can reprogramme some chips to behave differently and even to run the firmware completely differently. So a Nikon firmware upgrade ‘could’ change the whole way in which the video works, assuming the hardware is ready to receive it. A $30 charge is also about right to do a firmware upgrade ‘in-store’ for the non-computer literates and scaredy-cats amonst us.

I see the logic with a previous post suggesting Nikon rushed out the basic camera firmware in a bid to be ‘First’. If this is the case then there is a potential to expand the camera’s capabilities with subsequent firmware upgrades. Sony did it with the PSP – who’d ever thought that the PSP would have a Skype client built into the firmware when it was first released? And GPS, camera, etc on later upgrades…?

For me the video is not a deal maker/breaker, but it would be nice to have a stereo mic input and AF. But really, if you want serious HDV then get a HDV cam. Otherwise, the D90 will be great for the occasional video clip(s).

By: NikonMan

NikonMan — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:09:50 +0000

The internal microphone will pick up the nioses of the AF as they did on early Coolpix, an external microphone (if we ever see one) would likely fix this…

By: JeroenW

JeroenW — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:35:52 +0000

If it’s true then it may be $30 but it will cost three times that in Europe and will not be available until the spring, if then!

compared to the US our nikon service sucks and we hardly get any rebates or cash backs.

By: Thebes

Thebes — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:23:45 +0000

Jimeye- You do realize that it would be impossible to make a SLR that exposes the sensor AND has the mirror down at the same time, right? Unless you wanna get into funky half-silver mirrors that split the beam or something. Also, I find my D90 (and my D70s) to be extremely difficult to manually focus through the viewfinder, and when I have achieved proper focus through the viewfinder, it is off significantly and consistently at the sensor with both cameras. For my D90 I use mostly manual lenses because those work best with D-Movie, and I’ve declicked them so that I have manual exposure controls with AE locked… even with stills I prefer to shoot them in LiveView, it is actually MUCH easier to focus than the cruddy consumer grade viewfinder.

I don’t see a buffer magically giving the D90 1080p, the camera already has significant issues with 720p. Maybe there is a board that could be swapped and Nikon is out to define themselves as THE movie making DSLR, but there is no way that the fix will only cost them 30 bucks, at that price they would just be recooping the shipping and handling.

By: XNik

XNik — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:44:46 +0000

I would think that it is more software upgrade. Like how DVD players up scaling existing quality. I dont think it will be true 1080 but more just scaling up.

By: Jimeye

Jimeye — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:09:33 +0000

Honestly I would much prefer to look through the viewfinder instead of Live mode while shooting movies – mainly because it is a more stable way to hold the camera and it is easier to focus manually through the viewfinder. Also I would love to have full manual control over exposure, neither of these seem like something that would be too difficult for Nikon to provide in a firmware upgrade since you can shoot pictures this way if you want to and honestly 1080 is good but doesn’t seem to match this level of camera. The microphone would be great but with five minutes clips an external audio source isn’t that bad or hard to sync up (though it is an extra step).

By: Juergen

Juergen — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:22:56 +0000

There’s a questionmark ? missing behind the headline “Nikon D90 buffer upgrade for 1080 HD video” as it is unsure if there really will be a D90 buffer upgrade for 1080 HD video (personally I doubt it, but that’s another thing…).

By: dslrfred

dslrfred — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:32:08 +0000

Why is it that sustained 4.5 fps are reached only with JPG basic, size = small, and these approx. 360kB * 4.5/s gives quite exactly the same 1.6/s MB as those of the movie mode bandwith? It seems to me that exactly those 1.6 MB are the principal buffer and/or bandwith limitation of the D90, so it seems pretty unlikely to me that this can be changed by a simple firmware update.