D90 Interviews

[Ethan Cooper]

Since I primarily do weddings these days I haven't had much of a chance to use my D90 in a controlled environment, but the other day I was able to use it to shoot an interview session where I had control over lighting.

Let's not discuss the content of the piece here, just the merits of the camera. I thought it did just fine in a controlled environment and would consider using it again for headshot interviews.

All the technical details of the shoot are in the description on Vimeo:

Breen Love Story (pre-ceremony edit) on Vimeo

[Nicolas Morenas]

Very nice quality!
I think D90 HDReady video is very capable when the camera is completly static ;)

[Ger Griffin]

Nice piece Ethan.
Yea its all in the lens really eh. I recently got myself the 50mm f1.4 g and its just beautiful.
Low light wasnt an issue for you there yet they camera still had something to offer over and above a regular camera.
Im curious though, why one would opt for the d90 over and above the letus in a situation where lowlight isnt a factor?
Convenience?

On another issue (sorry!) may I ask you what font that was?

[Ethan Cooper]

Originally Posted by Ger Griffin

Nice piece Ethan.
Yea its all in the lens really eh. I recently got myself the 50mm f1.4 g and its just beautiful.
Low light wasnt an issue for you there yet they camera still had something to offer over and above a regular camera.
Im curious though, why one would opt for the d90 over and above the letus in a situation where lowlight isnt a factor?
Convenience?

On another issue (sorry!) may I ask you what font that was?

I simply felt like experimenting with the D90 under controlled lighting to see what I could squeeze out of it. Much of what I've seen online with it was available light and I was curious as to what she could do.

My Letus/HV20/50mm 1.8 would probably have struggled a little with the small 200 watt Divas. I personally wouldn't trust that setup with anything much less powerful than a 1000 watt softbox.

The font is Zaphino if I remember correctly. It's too hard to read for my liking, but I just went with it anyway.

[Jay Morrissette]

Great job on the video!

That is among the best D90 footage I have seen. How do you think your HV20/Letus combo would have compared to the D90 in the interview assuming you gave it all the light it needs?

~Jay

[Ethan Cooper]

Originally Posted by Jay Morrissette

How do you think your HV20/Letus combo would have compared to the D90 in the interview assuming you gave it all the light it needs?

I don't think there would have been a big difference between the two in terms of overall look. The HV20/Letus would have added a slight bit of texture to the shot due to the vibrating ground glass, but this is nothing you'd notice unless you were comparing them side by side and I actually like the look it gives.

The background would have appeared a little darker I'd imagine since I would have been pumping more light on the subject to compensate for the light lost with the adapter setup thereby changing the ratio of light between the subject and background.

I don't know if the HV20/Letus would have been any sharper in the final product. Straight out of the camera it would have been considerably sharper but I added a good bit of post sharpening to the D90 to bring it up to where I wanted it.

The window highlights in the background would probably have blown out more with the HV20/Letus and had more of a glow to them. I've noticed that the adapter tends to blow out highlights a little quicker than just the camera alone but again it's not unpleasing in the way it handles them, just a slightly different look.

The D90 will never be a serious production tool that I'd use as my main or go to camera but it was really fun to "get away" with using it here and even more fun to actually have it work well.

Do remember that if you're going to use the D90 in this manor that you'll have to break every little bit since it only records in 5 minute chunks and I found that after about 30 - 45 minutes in Live View the camera would shut down due to over heating. That would give us a chance to grab a drink or restroom break but would never fly with someone important sitting in front of the camera.