Nikon D750 movies stink!

Scrayen

Senior Member
Here is a 20 second sample:

Photo Test Area - James Austin

I shot the granddaughter's recital dances. Every movie was out of focus and brightness was wrong.


The D750 has that "i" button for movie settings but is everything really in that short menu? What about setting aperture to get the whole stage in focus? What about metering mode. Those are not on the "i" menu to remind me. So how can I do it better?


I used the Nikkor 24-120mm lens that came with the camera kit. Mostly at 120mm to focus on my granddaughter. This also means I was panning around the stage as she moved. I realize now I should have zoomed out to avoid the panning back and forth.


Position
I was sitting fifth-row center. Initially I tried the first row but I was always looking slightly up and was afraid the dancers feet would not always be visible. There was just no good spot to record from.


Focus goes in and out. Live-View setting was AF-F
Sitting fifth-row center, the heads from people in front of me are in the bottom of the shot. In the movie you see it go out of focus by itself. The camera may have tried to focus on the heads in front of me but I don't think so because I would aim higher and half-press the shutter to re-focus and it still took a long time to re-focus. It can be seen in the short sample of the movie. But the rectangle in the center was not on those heads and sometimes it took a long time to get it to turn green. Automatic focus was reacting too slow. Should I have manually set narrow aperture like f/16 to get the whole stage in focus instead of leaving it to the camera?


Light skinned dancers are too bright. I used Highlight Weighted Metering.
The white balance was set to A1. I am not sure if A1 means automatic because there is also an A2 on the D750.


Camera Settings
1080p/30 High Quality
Nikon D750
Lens: Nikkor Vr 24-120mm f/4G
Focal Length: 105MM
Focus Mode: AF-F
AF-Area Mode: Wide Area
VR: Off (I used a tripod wedged in between the rows of seats)
THE FOLLOWING ARE LISTED IN THE INFORMATION BUT WHY ARE THEY LISTED IF THEY DO NOT COUNT FOR A MOVIE?
Aperture: F4 (That lens is F4 only)
Shutter Speed: 1/30s
Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto
Exposure Comp: 0EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: Auto (ISO 2200)
White Balance: Auto 1, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: On (Normal)
 
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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
If you look you'll see your D750 has a “Movie Shooting Menu” (Movie Camera icon) where you will find ALL the movie-related settings and functions in a single location. The "i" button is a Quick Menu of sorts, it's not the whole list of options, the Movie Shooting menu is.
....
 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
Most serious DSLR video shooters do not use autofocus because the camera tends to hunt, and that ruins the shot.

As for exposure, you can still use exposure compensation in the metering, and any time you are shooting a brightly lit subject against a dark background, you have to adjust exposure comp to -1 stop or something similar (you can check with spot metering).

However, I took a DSLR video course earlier this year, and the teacher (who shoots beautiful cinematic wedding videos) essentially shoots in manual mode, choosing his aperture in advance (yes you could have chosen a smaller aperture in advance for bigger depth of field), and adjusting his shutter speed on the fly to get the right exposure as lighting changes. This technique goes against all of the DSLR video tutorials on Youtube which all say to use 1/30th shutter speed for smooth footage, but this guy's results are spectacular.

So next time try manual mode. First pick your desired aperture and start your shutter speed at 1/30th of a second. Adjust ISO to get the right exposure. If the scene gets brighter, you can choose a faster shutter speed with the rear wheel. I think the D750 even lets you adjust aperture while shooting video (unlike the D600).
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
exactly what Blade said. no autofocus. anybody even a bit serious uses manual focus. exposure is dont manually as well. take advantage of the cameras power aperture mode. dont touch the shutter. as I know from videogs who shoot weddings, they set shutter usually at 1/50 2x the 24p for the US. they adjust aperture and iso only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB4-mLcGbSY

and you need to work on your movement. way too jerky.

the video capability in the D750 is one of the best in a dslr. user error here. sorry to sound harsh.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
the video capability in the D750 is one of the best in a dslr. user error here.

Maybe one of the best in a DSLR, but not sure how well it compares to a little $300 camcorder. :)

I know less about movie video than anything, so I remain puzzled about the DSLR appeal for movies. Frankly, I think it is only special purpose.


For sake of argument:

Hollywood uses (or used to use) 35mm movie film, which is roughly DX size (certainly much larger than tiny camcorder video sensors). This means they use lenses longer than the tiny video sensors. Which gives them much less depth of field, and thus the classic Hollywood look. Not necessarily better or worse, just usual.

The FX DSLR is even larger, so even longer lenses and even less DOF, so blurred backgrounds become easy instead of impossible. But alternately, the larger sensor allows even wider views with shorter lenses. And in digital sensors, the noise is likely lower in larger sensors too, allowing higher ISO to be acceptable, which seems the actual plus. The megapixels are not a plus, those have to be discarded.

So IMO, those seem to be the DSLR pluses, if you want shallow depth of field and lower digital noise, or even wider views with shorter lenses.

But the convenience of using a $300 camcorder runs circles around the DSLR. The Nikon DSLR is NOT user friendly for movies. :) In the little camcorder, focus is not a problem, shallow DOF is not a problem, and auto everything works out well. On trips, I could choose to use my D800 for movies, but the $300 camcorder is greatly more convenient to use. And seems extremely adequate for the purpose.
 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
On trips, I could choose to use my D800 for movies, but the $300 camcorder is greatly more convenient to use. And seems extremely adequate for the purpose.

I absolutely agree and bought a plastic Sony videocam with 30x optical zoom just for these reasons. The only thing I hate is the lack of an eyepiece because using LED screens in the sunlight is a pain... but a DSLR uses the LED screen for video, too.
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
Maybe one of the best in a DSLR, but not sure how well it compares to a little $300 camcorder. :)

I know less about movie video than anything, so I remain puzzled about the DSLR appeal for movies. Frankly, I think it is only special purpose.


For sake of argument:

Hollywood uses (or used to use) 35mm movie film, which is roughly DX size (certainly much larger than tiny camcorder video sensors). This means they use lenses longer than the tiny video sensors. Which gives them much less depth of field, and thus the classic Hollywood look. Not necessarily better or worse, just usual.

The FX DSLR is even larger, so even longer lenses and even less DOF, so blurred backgrounds become easy instead of impossible. But alternately, the larger sensor allows even wider views with shorter lenses. And in digital sensors, the noise is likely lower in larger sensors too, allowing higher ISO to be acceptable, which seems the actual plus. The megapixels are not a plus, those have to be discarded.

So IMO, those seem to be the DSLR pluses, if you want shallow depth of field and lower digital noise, or even wider views with shorter lenses.

But the convenience of using a $300 camcorder runs circles around the DSLR. The Nikon DSLR is NOT user friendly for movies. :) In the little camcorder, focus is not a problem, shallow DOF is not a problem, and auto everything works out well. On trips, I could choose to use my D800 for movies, but the $300 camcorder is greatly more convenient to use. And seems extremely adequate for the purpose.

you are right, there is convenience and ease with a dedicated video camera. there are pluses and minuses to both. in weddings the move is to dslr video and there is a huge demand for it. in fact its the reason Im moving to dslr video shooting. there is non stop work compared to stills. the P2hd 130 and other shoulder cams are still used. usually people who are still stuck in the 90's.

but those who are looking for angles and perspectives that look like stills, creativity is fully open with dslr and its where its at today. a good dslr videographer works 8-14 weddings a month. and thats usually a physical limit because weddings are physically stressing. so if you wanted you could work everyday. yes we have weddings 5-6 days of the week. not only on weekends. in fact there are no weddings on the weekends.

the big difference is the d750 works at iso 3200 and can shoot with minimal lighting and captures the atmosphere vs regular cams that need tons of light and..doesnt. and youre absolutely correct regarding video with dslr being diffcult. there is a lot to learn and a lot of settings to adjust to get it right. but if I have to throw convenience out the window to get a nice shot, so be it. for me its about the final image not just to capture/document. otherwise im just an average photographer and there are enough of those. with dslr you have to put thought to create a clip. a lot of staged and setting up. like using a slider or stabilizer. you guide the couple before shooting and 1,2,3 action..

and yes even a smartphone is enough for most trips. a short clip here and there..more than enough. Sj5000 action cam. its more than enough.
 
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Scrayen

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish,
I completely forgot about the movie menu during the shoot. Thanks.


Blade Canyon,
That is the basic information I needed. It looks like autofocus hunt is one thing that happened. Instead, I should be able to get the whole stage in focus by using Manual Mode with f/16, f/22 or so while watching the histogram. I just tried it outside the house and it works good that way.


Only thing about using the wheels during recording is the clicking sound gets in the movie. Moving the dials slowly helps a little.


Exposure Compensation does not have an effect during movie recording for me. It works in photo mode but not movie mode. I tried it inside and outside the house. I adjusted it fully positive then negative and saw the EV numbers change but the histogram did not move at all and I saw no difference. I must be missing something?


I do like your suggestion about using Manual Mode.


rocketman122,
Never tried Power Aperture. I just now played with it thanks to you guys. I will make use of it. Much quieter than the clicking wheel.


Yes the movie is jerky. Thank you for pointing that out because it gives me more incentive to fix it. The camera was on a tripod and I (mis)adjusted the screw so I could pan the camera side to side. I thought I had a good tripod for that but apparently not since it is so hard to do.


WayneF,
Before purchasing the D750 I researched online including about the movie quality. I found lots of praises about the movies taken by the D750 and not much criticism. In real life I am finding the movie settings are very finicky. Some camera store guys suggested I buy a video camera. I would still consider a video camera but I am concerned about the quality and whether it could zoom in from the back of the auditorium which is where I wish I could shoot from but I need to zoom way in from far back. They suggested a Canon Xa20 which cost around $2000 before accessories. What video cameras would you suggest? Should I move this movie subject to another thread?

These straight-talk replies are why I like this forum. The necessary solutions are given no matter if it's the photographer or the camera. So thanks.
 

TieuNgao

Senior Member
You may want to try Sony FDR-AX100, one of the best (if not the best) 4K camcorder for under $2000 (currently $1600 at Amazon) according to the reviews. That model has 1" sensor, f2.8 Zeiss lens with 12x zoom (29-340mm) and 120fps for slow motion.
 

ShootRaw

Senior Member
I disagree..The video capabilities are awesome..
Here is a promo I did on a model..Im not a professional in video yet..Enjoy[video]https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FOOR6jyWg-ds&h=PAQEqkI-X&s=1[/video]
 
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