Nikon comes to the party... D7000

[Josh Dahlberg]

Nikon | News | Digital-SLR camera Nikon D7000

"The D7000 is equipped with the D-Movie function that enables recording of high-definition movies (1920 × 1080p, 24 fps) exhibiting superior video quality. Autofocusing during movie recording is possible using contrast-detect AF. When the focus mode is set to Full time-servo AF (AF-F) and the AF-area mode to Subject-tracking AF, the camera automatically maintains focus on a subject moving throughout the frame in three dimensions."

Dpreview reports MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression, and HDMI output to "full HD TV"

Should be a big improvement over previous Nikon video implementation, and a serious rival to the Canons if they're giving it plenty of mbps.

It appears they've left off 25/30p in 1080, which makes it a no go for many of us (including me).

[Greg Laves]

Glad to see Nikon getting more serious. I think the D7000 actually has more features than most people expected.

[Floris van Eck]

In the mean time, here’s a more complete spec list:
_16.2 megapixels with new Nikon DX-format CMOS sensor (4,928 x 3,264 pixels)
_ISO sensitivity range from 100 to 6400 at normal setting; can be raised to ISO 25600
_Full HD (1080p) D-Movie
_H.264/mpeg-4 video compression
_Makes .mov files at 24fps in 1080 (30fps at 720HD)
_Movie has built in mono, but stereo sound recording capability with optional external mic via stereo mini jack
_20 minute movie recording times
_High durability magnesium alloy body (dust and water resistant)
_6 frames per second still image capture
_9, 21, 39 point AF systems
_Double SD card slots
_12 or 14 bit color depth
_HDMI out display port
_Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) capabilities onboard

Nikon D7000: Camera Road Test With Chase Jarvis | Chase Jarvis Blog

[Josh Dahlberg]

Floris the video in that link is awesome... skew and aliasing isn't obvious (though though I wasn't looking clinically).

The question is, what is the bit-rate, and is there any chance the HDMI output is uncompressed?

Such a pity there is no 25p

[Garrett Low]

I would also be very interested if the HDMI out will put out uncompressed. If it does it might be a great match with a nanoFlash.

-Garrett

[Jonathan Shaw]

[QUOTE=Garrett Low;1569498]I would also be very interested if the HDMI out will put out uncompressed. If it does it might be a great match with a nanoFlash.

It's the million dollar question an since Nikon don't make video cams there is no conflict..... would be an all out winner if that's the case.

[Floris van Eck]

manual audio of 3 settings, plus “auto” for input.

Chase Jarvis is going to test HDMI output resolution + bitrate of the video footage.

Too bad there is no 720p/50/60 only 24/25/30. I also would like to see 1080p/25.

Otherwise this looks to be a winner for Nikon.

[Andy Wilkinson]

I agree this looks like an excellent development from Nikon.

As for being a game changer - well yes, full 1080p out over HDMI is a really great step (if it does it correctly, unlike my 7D) but for it to be a real "Canon killer" we'll need HD video shooting without significant aliasing....which is probably too much to ask for at this stage in DSLR video development ...but we all want that....and for me 25p is an absolute must as well.

Exciting times ahead!

[Steve Phillipps]

Originally Posted by Josh Dahlberg

skew and aliasing isn't obvious (though though I wasn't looking clinically).

I wasn't looking clinically either but the skew is blindingly obvious to me.

Steve

[Manus Sweeney]

i was looking (but not clinically) but i couldnt see any that jumped out, certainly not like previous Nikon DSLRs, some shots seemed like they coped better than the Canons would..

I wasnt particularily impressed with the video though, not sure if it was due to the camera or the filmaker, for a test video it would have been nicer without the extreme post processing. Image looked very soft and aliased and the AF function was going a bit wild at times

[Duane Steiner]

Nikon still refuses to do 1080 30P or 720 60P in their DSLR. Would have been a nice upgrade to the D90 I had but I am glad I went for the Canon 7D instead.

[Dan Brockett]

It would be nice to take all of my Nikon to Canon lens adapters off and just use a Nikon again. The camera looks good, price is right there at the 60D level. No articulating screen though. I wonder of the AF is actually usable when shooting video? I see skew all over the place but it is more of the jello type when the camera was moving, not the skew on moving vertical objects as much. Looks like a viable contender to the 60D and 7D, I look forward to checking it out. Even though I have the 5D MKII, I would pick up a D7000 in heartbeat. Luckily I live in NTSC-land so the lack of 25Hz frame rates is not a deal breaker for me.

Good job Nikon! Finally seem to be getting into the game.

Dan

[Dylan Couper]

The exclusion of 25/30p is harsh.

[Steve Phillipps]

Yes Dylan, and quite baffling I'd say. Surely when making these cameras they must look at what the competition (ie Canon) is doing and at least try to keep up? Could it be that Nikon are so non-video oriented that they don't realise that there are 50hz countries out there, and feel that 24P is sufficient?
Steve

[David Newman]

Originally Posted by Josh Dahlberg

The question is, what is the bit-rate, and is there any chance the HDMI output is uncompressed?

HDMI willl always be uncompressed, no camera compresses and then decompresses the output for HDMI out, and for good reasons: runing both H.264 encoder and decoders eats up battery life, and latency, the decoded image will be way behind live events and unusable for monitoring. Getting a 4:2:2 uncompressed tap for HDMI is the easiest solution in hardware. The downside will be if the output is scaled, like it is with the Canon 7D.

Bit-rate that question has been partly answered by "20 minute movie recording times", as the bit-rate upper limit will be restricted by the FAT32 filesystem (used on flash media) that is 4GB max.

4000MB*8bits / (20minutes * 60seconds) = up limit of 26.6Mb/s.

This is too low for I-frame, but very near the okay long GOP 24Mb/s PH mode of AVCHD.