If you have broadcast or major-cable network clients, the standard camera operators' day rate is about $600/day ($1,800/day with a broadcast HD package). Non-linear FCP/Avid editors make about $100/hour.

A conventional 2/3" HD broadcast package costs approximately $150,000-$200,000, including audio and lighting. A DSLR-based HD "video" package can cost as little as the price of the DSLR, plus a few lenses, fluid-head tripod ($1,000-$2,000), follow-focus rig ($600-$1,500), and a handheld rig ($500-$2500). Add a couple of DivaLites ($2,000), and audio ($2,000-$5,000), and you're good to go. If you go on the cheap (e.g., no fancy Lectrosonic wireless mics, etc.), you can put together a very capable DSLR-based video package, with everything above, for under $10K.

Hard facts I am a commercial stills photographer, I was asked by a long term client to do some video work for them. My choice was to say No, and lose the client, or invest in a pro video camera plus all the follow on equipment needed to shoot at a professional levels.

Point 1 When the word VIDEO is applied to buying equipment, it usually cost treble what stills equipment costs

Point 2 Time, most work is done on tripods normally with helpers { Thats Staff who need paying} sound and lighting teams

Point 3 Editing When you can say those immortal words "Thats a Rapp", the real work starts in the editing, Time Time Time

Point 4 Clients seem to think that editing is a five minute job and pay 5 minute rates

Commercially is hard work , you cannot get paid for the time you put into it

Poor return on investment of equipment, unless its very long term, however values of second -hand video gear is low, due to constant technology changing

I have the Tea Shirt

My advice is don't get involved. not if its a commercial proposition and you intend to make a living from it

Thanks guys!

I like it, Tyler.

Graphicnatured said:
This was a fun shoot we did with the Nikon D7000 for the Doritos Crash The Super Bowl contest: Sprouting Genius http://bit.ly/uUHfxu

Way to go buddy! Be ready for Z to be in more commercials than you are ready for. Let me know about your next project...be my pleasure to help out anyway I can. Great work once again.

Cheers :)

This was a fun shoot we did with the Nikon D7000 for the Doritos Crash The Super Bowl contest: Sprouting Genius http://bit.ly/uUHfxu

This feature was shot entirely on a D7000:

"16x9 The Bigger Picture - The puck stops here"

http://bit.ly/rPgD6e

via Nikon Canada

Although not a commercial video, I did recently shoot my first film ever for the Salem Film Festival's 72 Hour Challenge. We won Best In Show for the Amateur (ages 25+) category. The film was shot entirely on my D7000. I had some issues with sound and the cleanup caused a few more issues. Other than that, and a few depth of field focus problems, I'm quite pleased with the results. If you'd like to check it out and offer constructive criticism, it would be appreciated. The film is called Places and is on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dm2HuJfRR4

I had something similar happen last night after I started using 2 new SD cards. 16GB Sandisk Class 10s. The LCD simply would not turn off. I had been shooting bracketing with exposure compensation, after disabling these and turning off the top LCD began turning off again. Just to check I went back and re-enabled these and again the LCD would not turn off like it should. Disabled bracketing and compensation and it worked again. Did I find a bug or is it possible my new cards are still the problem.

Mike

sounds like a call to Nikon is in order.

Hi all,

"If the card fails to write or is slow to write, it could take a lot longer to clear the buffer, thus the camera not turning off once switched off. Have you tried different SD cards to see if this still happens?"

Correct, but it's random on all the cards that I have, it does it or not, with capriciousness. I see no pattern with lens, card, mode, shutter, aperture, flash setting, etc., and have not a clue what could cause it.

"do you have the camera set to clean the sensor filter on shut down?
check to see if you made this change while adjusting your menu.
the camera will not turn off while it is cleaning the sensor filter, resulting in a delay."

I've set my camera to clean on start and shut down, but that's not new - I set it like that from day one - and not what I think is causing this, since it appears 'random', but a pretty good guess.

I'm stumped, but thanks to both of you.

EDIT

I have no trouble with buffer or with unrecognizable files.

My best,

Mike

do you have the camera set to clean the sensor filter on shut down?

check to see if you made this change while adjusting your menu.

the camera will not turn off while it is cleaning the sensor filter, resulting in a delay.

The only time the camera should not turn off is while the buffer is writting to the SD card. If the card fails to write or is slow to write, it could take a lot longer to clear the buffer, thus the camera not turning off once switched off. Have you tried different SD cards to see if this still happens?

Hi DutchNikon,

I have 1.02, and I also have a typo, the battery drain _isn't_ onerous. I really can't tell that this is anything but something that just seems wrong.

And it is intermittent, not routine.

It has really caused any problems other than the camera should be 'off' when the switch goes 'off'.

My best,

Mike

IceHawk, Mike, just to be sure... what firmware version do you have in the camera ?

( Ver. 1.02 is the current one..)

Hi all,

I'm beginning to have the same problem with the D7000 not immediately turning off, but I always reformat the cards in the camera after downloading, and it doesn't seem to be related to video - my video is dedicated to slot 2, and that card is also reformated in the camera.

The camera _does_ shut off, eventually, and the battery drain is onerous - Thom Hogan has noted that leaving the camera on doesn't seem to matter much one what or the other concerning battery usage, and that's pretty much been my observation, but having it 'on' when it should be 'off' seems wrong.

I would also thing that that if I had a series of shots in the buffer, that would be one thing, but that wouldn't seem to be the case either.

These are the same cards Toshiba, and others, that I've use successfully for some time without fail. Again, no error messages or lost data, just not turning off with the switch.

I'm asking Nikon Support what they think.

My best,

Mike

Thanks Mike!
Yeah I am using Zoom H4n with Behringer B2 mic.
I know TASCAM is a great rig but I do lot of stage karaoke shows also which forced me to buy H4n
Regards
Regi

Hi Regi,

Looks great.

For your NAT sound, are you using an independent audio rig? I prefer a TASCAM rig, but just asking.

My best,

Mike

my latest work, hope u all like it.... :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KwBt8qCtKg&feature=feedu

I use d7000 for all my commercial shoots in India, New Delhi. This film was done with available light source except food footage which I did with 2 Umbrella lights 90 watts each. Lenses used 24-70 Sigma HSM 2.8, 18-55 VR & 18 -105 vr kit lens.

http://youtu.be/j2lIpjLuGz0

We shot this commercial with a Nikon D7000 (the outside shots) and a Canon 7D for the studio shots.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GunTalkTV#p/u/58/ixmur2jXFjM

I bought the D7000 for use on a television series, and it's done a great job. I'm watching to see what Nikon does with the next body featuring video. Since I can use Nikon glass on a Canon body, that's an option if Nikon doesn't ramp up the video significantly. I've been shooting Nikon professionally since 1971.

Thanks@jonny

If video was the primary mission, the 7D might get the nod, or the 5DmkII as it's a great still cam too. Since still is the mission, and I am waiting the replacements for the D300s and the D700, the D7000 gets the nod in the interim.

patrickdowns said:
I am glad to read here that @studio460 has the D7000, when surely if the 7D or 5DmkII were that superior, he would have gone that route, and surely he will be doing video FAR superior in quality by design than I ever will or could. That seems to be an endorsement of the D7000 for all the video I might need, and the D400 and D800 or whatever they will be will no doubt be even better.

I think studio's choice might have been more about the legacy Nikon lenses that he owns and you mention that you do, too. I don't think he'd argue that Nikon has Canon beaten in the video department. Have fun with your D7000 and welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll love it.

Wow! What a phenomenal thread...props to all, esp to @studio460 for his technical explanations. I don't know what I don't know, but you've convinced me that I don't want to do DSLR or any video at the level required to be commercially viable. Too much gear and learning curve!

I am just getting a D7000 and some lenses, primarily for stills. I used Nikon for many years in the newspaper business, we switched to Canon (@ LA Times) which upset me, but I still have some great prime Nikkor glass left over. AI-S lenses like 35/1.4 and 24/f2, 20/3.5, macro, 105/2.5 etc., and I am glad I kept them...will be fun to play with for video (and for stills too, and when I get an FX body... hurry up with the D800 and D400, Nikon!).

I have agonized over Canon vs Nikon for a few weeks, as I know the 5D MkII is great for still and video both, better than the D7000 it seems according to what I read here. But then, I come back to the fact that I don't plan to do anything more than "play" with video on the dSLR. Shooting wildlife or sports, shooting some moving pitchers. Kid, macro etc. Fun stuff. At the LA Times, their videographers aren't using DSLR for their news video...they are using $10k video cameras by Sony or Canon. The shallow DoF that people love for feature work doesn't work too well for much of the docu stuff they shoot. And when you are a one man band, pretending to shoot feature work or wide-open, and do sound, lighting etc...good luck with that!

I am glad to read here that @studio460 has the D7000, when surely if the 7D or 5DmkII were that superior, he would have gone that route, and surely he will be doing video FAR superior in quality by design than I ever will or could. That seems to be an endorsement of the D7000 for all the video I might need, and the D400 and D800 or whatever they will be will no doubt be even better.

For me, I prefer the Nikon glass, and have the legacy prime lenses I want to use. In addition, the pro friends I have who have switched back from Canon to Nikon are SO happy they did. So I think I have made the right choice on the D7000 (for now) and coming back to Nikon. I am glad Samy's Camera is sold out of all their Canon 7D and 5D bodies today when finalizing my order, or I might have waffled and made a snap decision I would regret, and gone over to Canon. not that they don't make great stuff, but stills are what I do and plan to prioritize on in the future, and their flash lighting system and performance is better, and the glass is so good. Numerous friends told me "If I didn't have so much tied up in Canon, I'd switch...)

To TheCaz and those interested in DSLR video at "commercial" videos: Sounds like you have a few side trips that may net you some acceptable footage with some video capable camera. I have not made much use of my DSLR video from say a kayak. Even my most stable kayak (A Necky Eskia) is somewhat on the tipsy side. But every time I am in a kayak and in Alaska, I wish for my sea touring kayaks with the rudders, etc. What I have found in Alaska rental kayaks is frankly quite awful. So that would all limit the level of video I could do from a kayak in Alaska. In my experience the rolling shutter DSLRs need a set up where you can prefocus with a few still then switch to auto focus video and then try to keep the camera stable during the AVI clip image capture. I would say that I have never seen a big video camera used in a small boat other than a fairly large outboard-Jet Boat that is.....in Alaska. The jet boats are sometimes stable enough to do pro video. You could see that in the movie RedGold (Felt Soul Media). That movie had pro level video done under very challenging conditions and looks very good (HD and sharp). In my experience in Alaska the smaller tour boats might get you close enough to Orcas to photograph say on 300mm. But you'd better be ready to shoot very quickly if an Orca pod rolls by. I would sure want to shoot some stills before starting any video. For Brown Bears along shore the place you are going is only so so. It does sound like a great adventure! Keep us posted! But for sure get whatever you are using for video dialed in BEFORE the cruise and the side excursions. Looks like you are going with the GH2 and I do not have any experience with that camera. But I do have D90 videos that are quite good from Alaska and the D7000 is coming with me also this year.