DV Info Net - Nikon comes to the party... D7000

i see the D7000 as another D90; a test. there are a LOT of Nikonians with a LOT invested in glass, and a brand-loyalty chip on their shoulders against Canon, waiting for Nikon to make a serious move into HDSLR. Nikon has let a LOT of people down after releasing the D90; yes they were the first to bat with a DSLR with video, but they have yet to prove that output is worth a damn in the real world.

i am one of these people. But i am not brand biased; i buy whatever works best for what i need. However, i DO have a lot, and i mean A LOT, invested in Nikkor glass and Nikon speedlights.

I have more invested in Nikkor glass, even at used, liquidation prices, than i do in my prized sports car that sits in my garage. i HAD been waiting for Nikon to announce something equivalent to the 7D, or AT LEAST the T2i for video. the day the D7000 was announced, i decided enough was enough, and bought 2 T2i's, one with an 18-55 IS kit lens, and the second with the 18-200 IS lens for backup cameras and tight-angle cameras. They have integrated well, and we have them matched to our preferred XH A1 shooting settings, now i have no reason to buy a D7000 or any other half-backed HDSLR offering from Nikon. We are a budget based, no nonsense ad firm; we are NOT out to make movies, so 24P is totally WORTHLESS to us. We shoot FULL HD, or HDV/Full HD, so 720P doesnt mesh well, and at least to our staff, its obvious; Nikons are OUT.

I will likely always use my nikon gear for stills; the metering, AF, flash, and low-light capabilities do surpass Canons' offerings... But i will NOT buy any further Nikon bodies until they are AT LEAST on par with Canons for video; PERIOD.

i find it appalling, irritating, and ridiculous that i had to go out and buy two Canons and two lenses for backup cameras (i know i could have used adapters, but i prefer OEM lenses and NO 3rd party garbage between lens and bodies) because Nikon is lagging. Shame on Nikon. I have a myriad of lenses, bodies, a pair of 35mm adapters for Nikkors, and a small fortune in Nikon gear that is basically stills-only now, or 35mm-adapter-only now.

If it werent for the superior 3D tracking, metering, and TTL flash work on the Nikons, i would jump ship to Canons totally, but stills are about 45% of our portfolio, and over half of that involves motorsports or compact speedlight usage, so for now we will continue to use Nikons for stills in action and flash work, and Canon for video work.

We have a ton of ARRI lighting, stands, etc for video and stills; i would HATE to have to abandon all my Nikon gear and pay the premium to switch assuming Canon gets metering/flash/AF on par with Nikons, but i am SERIOUSLY disappointed in the technical abominations that Nikon has produced for pseudo HDSLR's. I have a D300/grip with the Nikkor 18-200VR and SB-900 that i use often, also access to a 7D with grip and the Canon 18-200 IS and 580EX II (my girls camera); the AF and flash metering of the D300/grip at 8FPS is simply far more accurate in the sports/motorsports arena, but every time we go on a trip, we take her 7D because it shoots video superbly and great stills. The eTTL system is crap compared to the iTTL system though; and she has more experience in stills with flash than I. She uses my D300 and SB-800/SB-900's more than i do because they just work, and well. I use her 7D and my companies' T2i's for video because they shoot what i need flawlessly.

Brief example; last paid photo/video mixed shoot. Track, tarmac, at night, bad lighting. Subjects are RWD drift cars doing from 20mph to 80mph, from 1/8 mile away to 5 feet away, SIDEWAYS. Lighting is random mercury vapor lamps. Only practical lens for this shoot is the amateur Nikkor 18-200 VR because i cannot POSSIBLY switch lenses that fast, and my 2nd still cam is being used with a 70-200 VR from in the stands as well as our second XH A1 rig in the competent hands of friends/hired guns. girlfriend is shooting video on a 7D with the 18-200 IS lens (again due to the rapid focal length changes) and an XH A1 rig (both on the same tripod) right next to me for web/car club content. I have speedlights hidden and taped to light poles and orange road cones all over the track, 5 SB-900's and 3 SB-800's, some for backlighting, some for fill, some for on-car-glare. A car wings its way though the course, belching smoke while its sideways, my fingers twisting the lens furiously to keep it framed, clicking away. as it passes i can smell tiresmoke and feel bits of rubber pelting me; we are less than 6 feet from the front of the car as it passes at a ridiculous angle before us; im snapping away knowing my speedlights are killing her 7D video due to CMOS/rolling shutter, but bits of it will surpass the XH A1 footage. My shots come out great; i got published and everything. Her videos were on their website (XH A1, flash banding nixed the 7D footage), we were asked to return and shoot other events. Great time too; got to ride/shoot from inside the drift cars. In 2009 i shot at the Monaco Grand Prix; so this is nothing new to me; preset zoom ranges or prefocus and shoot based on the sounds as a car passed a particularly acoustically reflective object, preset speedlight positions, etc. What bothers me is that i had the SAME gear, Nikon branded, sitting in our car not in use because it was incompatible. Wasted money, when IF Nikon had ANYTHING compatible with 1080P 30P i would have ran out and bought two at LEAST that day, JUST for that days' shoot. Instead i lost camera angles. So now i bought 2 Canon HDSLR's; just for video. Client LOVED the final output, but i KNOW we could have done, and WILL do, better on the next event because we will have 2 more backup cameras, even if i have to dish out for better lenses.

pics are from earlier in the day, D50 or D300 shots. I dont upload to Flickr often. Please check em out. Last two pics we were less than 8' from the cars...
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/...3b826605_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/...d8ba3b49_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/...d10081b1_b.jpg

Apologies for the rant.