Comments on: Nikon video firmware with AF through the sensor in development (Nikon video)

By: Chris Lilley

Chris Lilley — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:39:55 +0000

“they said” is equally gender neutral, without drawing attention to the gender issue like “he/she said” does. It also reads better. Just a suggestion.

By: jbl

jbl — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:36:54 +0000

I agree… manual focus video is the way to go.

Also, there won’t be a firmware update for the D90 just like there’s no firmware update for the D300 to have the video feature on it…

the new af in video will either be in D700x/s or in the D4/D400

By: Chris Lilley

Chris Lilley — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:32:52 +0000

NEF equivalent for video is an interesting part, and would put it directly into RED territory. Just as NEF is better than JPEG for editing stills, so a raw video output is better than motion JPEG or any MPEG-based, lossy compressed solution for editing video.

By: Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:34:34 +0000

I just hope Nikon’s RAW workflow fits well into existing workflows. We really do need a standard for compressed RAW. It’s just about acceptable for each manufacturer to have a different RAW format for stills because there are only a small handful of applications used in stills workflows (PhotoShop being the most dominant). But there are LOADS of software tools used in mid- to high-end film production.

There was some talk of a “Cinema DNG” format a while back. I wonder what happened to that? Adobe were making enthusiastic noises about RAW for video a while ago. My hope is that Adobe will integrate something like the Adobe Camera RAW editor into Premiere Pro (whilst HIGHLY optimising the maths so it can play back 24/25fps, perhaps using 1 or more GPUs)

I really hope that Adobe are working on applying their awesome image grading tech from the stills world to Premiere Pro and I hope that Nikon are working on launching an answer to RED. A Nikon camera with manual controls, compressed RAW (with a decent post workflow), decent audio inputs (2xXLRs and/or S/PDIF) and audio controls and monitoring, no jello, DX or FX sized sensor. I’d buy it in a second.

But I hope the camera can also take reasonable stills. I am a believer in convergence.

By: Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:24:43 +0000

I agree that few pros want AF in its current implementation. I can’t speak for anyone else but I’d LOVE an AF mode which works the way I want it to work (i.e. locks solidly to the object that you want to focus on and allows you to easily select other objects in the frame to pull focus to – apparently RED are working on this kind of technology). I believe we’ll see “pro video AF” within the next few years. The Panasonic GH1 is an interesting step in the right direction but it gets confused too easily (e.g. if your subject turns their head so the camera sees a profile shot then then face-detection gets confused and the AF hunts which looks horrible).

By: Jester

Jester — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:50:07 +0000

I’d take fully manual over af any day.

By: Digital Cinema

Digital Cinema — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:10:18 +0000

Sounds real to me. I think both Canon and Nikon are very interested in competing with Red.
If you read Canon rumors going back into the spring, Canon Is developing a 35mm sensor based video camera based on their XL series that will take EF lenses and have RAW video.
Nikon can not sit back and not compete with Canon and Red. I predict a totally new video only box with F mount.
For everyone thinking of this from a DSLR point of view, don’t, this all about competing in the video/filmmaker arena.

By: Chagchag

Chagchag — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:41:25 +0000

This smells fake rumor. Also AF on a videocamera is not very useful. No pros (including myself) wants autofocus. No pro camcorder or filmcamera have this feature, because it is of very limited use.

What we DO want is full manual control of exposure, which for some reason Nikon thinks only is usefull for stills. Go figure….

BTW, the Red One has an option to shoot raw on CF cards. Convergent Design’s videorecorder also records uncompressed HD on CF cards.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:00:44 +0000

He/she said not to trade up from D300 to D300s just for movies. And this product would be during the life of the D300s. In other words, it isn’t a replacement for the D300s. It’s a different product. That’s my read anyway. And this person works on firmware, right? A fair amount of which has been farmed off to a joint venture between Nikon and Fuji (or something like that, I forget the specifics). So being “close to Nikon development” doesn’t have to mean a source inside Nikon.

So, one way to interpret it would be, “I’m working on firmware for a handicam that will use your AFS lenses, so don’t trade up from the D300 to the D300s just for video, because this thing should be out within a year.”

Pure speculation of course. Based on third hand information, about a conversation that may or may not have taken place between two completely unknown entities…

Remember this… http://nikonrumors.com/2009/04/01/first-nikon-camcorder-the-hdv-coolvix.aspx ?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:17:34 +0000

That’s a 2/3″ sized sensor, not an s35 sized sensor…

Besides, you’re suggesting that Nikon is working on a camera that has to be tethered to a computer? Not likely…

By: Ken Elliott

Ken Elliott — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:08:04 +0000

Here’s your clue:
http://www.siliconimaging.com/DigitalCinema/products.html

Check out the SI-2K mini and ask yourself “what if Nikon came out with something like this?”

By: Matstar

Matstar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:17:26 +0000

Totally agree here. No AF video sux hard! (Esp outdoors)

By: Matstar

Matstar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:12:09 +0000

My thoughts exactly – videoing outdoors without AF is like shooting stills with a pinhole camera. How on earth do you focus an LCD in direct sunlight??

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:09:10 +0000

No one uses flash memory for shooting RAW video. Use a RAID 0 multi-terabyte rig if you wish to shoot for a long time. It’s really no problem to do that these days. Just strap it on to your Steadicam rig.

By: dB

dB — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:52:17 +0000

it says they’re working on a NEF video format, which everyone is assuming means RAW (including me)

By: dB

dB — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:45:54 +0000

Yes, processing RAW video takes a lot of computing power, and expensive software. Give me give me.

You don’t HAVE to shoot RAW if you don’t want to, but would be a great feature for those who can manage it considering how few cameras offer it

By: [NR] admin

[NR] admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:45:25 +0000

remember those:
http://nikonrumors.com/2008/08/31/otoji-spy-shot-updated.aspx

By: [NR] admin

[NR] admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:38:10 +0000

I have used the he/she thing before

By: [NR] admin

[NR] admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:37:45 +0000

not really, I may have said that to misinform you

By: jsa

jsa — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:34:04 +0000

MX = Movie ??