D810 Video

This is sort of a lessons learned post. I shot a dance performance last night (sort of), Glad I have a second chance tonight. Had everything set up, 1080 30fps, shutter at 1/60, auto iso (still get some blown areas but not to bad), battery going out at 40 minutes into the 90 minute performance, no intermission. Grab a spare charged battery, open the door pop it out and put the new one in and ERR on the display, could not clear it. Pulled cards, battery, reseated lens still ERR on the display. I did noticed that the mirror was up and after a while (10 minutes) it started working again. Of course, I lost so much video I need to go back tonight and it is about 100 miles from home so 200 round trip.

So on to the lessons learned:

1. Wasabi batteries do not even compare with the Nikon batteries for video.

2. Turn the lcd down to -5 to conserve power and use a self powered external field monitor.

3. Never pull a battery without turning off record and shutting the camera down! (mistake when in panic mode)

4. Set up backup camera on a tripod with just a 50mm to capture something if everything else turns to s___ on you.

5. Always shoot the first performance in case you need to go back, sol if no second and things go south.

Did I say video is tough for and old dog still guy.


ps Did a battery test this morning and got 80 minutes and about a third (maybe 100) left on a Nikon battery

So, while you mostly figured out your own issue - let's talk about the elephant in the room!

90 minute is no place for a DSLR - these things are NOT designed for recordings more than 20 minutes on Full quality and even that is a streatch. As the sensor gets hot it will degrade the quality, and running back-to-back sessions for that long will results is fairly bad footage, and may even shut the body down due to heat.

If your going to shoot long events all at once, you might want to invest in a true HD Camcorder designed for such things. I have a D810, but I also have a 3-chip Sony NX5u for this kind of shooting.

Great response on an old thread.
BTW, never had an overheating issue with the 800 or 810. I don't shoot enough video to warrant buying additional equipment.
Please advise me of your source limiting a D810 to 20 minutes, that is nothing I have read and been using these bodies for quite some time, I am actually on my second D810 and keep a D800 as a backup.. I would prefer using two of them if I had a problem but I have not noticed any degrading quality.

Also, I have 48 years of experience after my training and i find your help (opinion) to be a tad condesending but still appreciated.

My comments were never meant to be condescending or disrespectful, I am very sorry that you took them that way!

Now lets look at that elephant…right on Nikon's site, under specs:
Nikon D810 | Full-Frame DSLR | No Optical Low-Pass Filter

Movie Maximum Recording Time
20 minutes at highest quality
29 minutes 59 seconds at normal quality

And yo will see this (+/- 2 min) for most Nikon camera produces in the past 5-ish years.

Please understand this is 20/29 minutes of continuous shooting - if you stop/start the timer starts over.

Video limiting has been a know "issue" with DSLR video from the inception. I have experienced it in more than a dozen Canon & Nikon bodies I have owned or used, it's posted all over the net and just about ever DSLR "How-to" site talks about it.

In the beginning when I first introduced DSLRs into my television commercial production (~2005) the limits were between 10-12 minutes and this was due to two things: 1) Sensors over heating 2) FAT32 File size limitations. As sensors have gotten better over the past few years over heating damage is not as much of a concern as is image quality from over heating and times have been extended up to 29.59 minutes in optimum conditions. I find that when outside and it's warm/hot 15-20 is about max before I start seeing artifacts in my video - and when inside in very cooled conditions, recording for the full 20/30 minutes looks great.

BUT there is still a 29.59 minute cap on all cameras, why you ask... Good question!
This is due to a EU tariff tax that was set over a decade ago. The Europeans say that anything that can record over 30 minutes is a Video Camera and taxes for video cameras is much higher than those for still cameras.

Most companies Nikon & Canon included, all cap at 29.59 minutes (even for US models) to avoid those taxes.

Ok, so we all get that - but why are most most Nikons limited to ~20 minutes for 1080p HQ recording? Simply, file size. While some companies (like GoPro) have been able to get past this with "spanning" both Nikon and I believe Canon, for what ever reason, have chosen not to - ish. They will still split large files under 4gb into 2 or 3 different files, but limit a recording session to 4gb. As to why they will not go past 4GB - that I do not know, but I am sure they have their reasonings?

So while I am not disputing that your getting more than the limits imposed? I did a little test with my own D810 (just so I don't put my foot in my mouth) and has expected it is limited…. At the current settings (1080p, Highest Quality, 128gb SD Card) I am limited to 10 minutes - when I start shooting there is a countdown timer in the upper right corner - when that hits (0) zero - recording stops - period.

I know Magic Lantern has a hack for the Canons, but to my knowledge, there is no legitimate hack for the Nikons.

Also, Phillip Bloom (professional in DSLR video, whom I follow online) shoots a lot with the D800 series Nikons and I remember him mention in a couple of recent (past year or so) posts how he wished the limits were removed.

So if you are indeed getting more than the limits in one continuous shot, I’d like to know how you have been able to get past these limits that most everyone else is limited to - if your starting/stopping each shot under these limits - then this whole conversation is mute.

I stop and restart between numbers, shut it off during intermission, I am well aware of the time limits thus why I do what I do to shoot a 2 1/2 hour performance, what I was saying is I have never had an overheating issue or degradation in video quality that I can see.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Great!