Is the D600 a great videocamera or should i go for D800?

[Jeff Zimmerman]

Originally Posted by Sam Renkin

I've had my D600 for 3 weeks now, and I'm in Miami using it on a splashy opening video for a sales meeting. The images I'm capturing are rediculous - the way this camera sees the light is amazing. I'm using a DX 35mm 1.8G and the kit 24-85mm for most of my shots. I'm intentionally vignetting the 35mm to get a toy camera look (see attached).

ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING TO NOTE: I read many complaints about this camera because when filmin "you can't change the ISO in Live View." That's a load of BS and incorrect. I'm shooting in Manual mode. The APERTURE cannot be changed in Live View (must be set first) but the ISO and the shutter speed can be changed anytime.

Anyway - loving this camera and thought it was worth sharing!

Nice shots! Love the 35mm look.

[Sam Renkin]

Sorry can't post right now. It's all mixed together with some stock footage, animations and graphics. I'll need to set aside these clips and post later.

[David C Wright]

I have tried both the D800 ans D600 and like them both. It was a surprise to me when I first discovered the lack of aperture control on the D600 but I use a variable ND like the Genustech and problem solved!
ND Fader Filters

[Duane Adam]

I own the D800 and the video is OK unless you need to color grade, then the codec doesn't hold up. I also have a GH3 which shoots up to 72mbps. It doesn't shoot stills as well as the D800 but it smokes it when it comes to video, at less than 1/2 the price. Nikon has some catching up to do.

[Sam Renkin]

What codec does the GH3 use and how is it different than the D800? Are you shooting with a neutral color profile?

Interested to know how many people are recording video internally on the D800/D600 vs capturing with HDMI out on an external high bitrate device. This seems to be the best solution for any camera (video or DSLR) that compresses the video signal for writing to internal media.

[Duane Adam]

AVCHD, mp4, MOV and MOV all-intra. I usually shoot by color temp. Just so I'm clear, I love my d800 and have no plans to part with it. Even using the clean hdmi however it does not shoot fine detail like the gh3 nor can it shoot 1080 60p.

[Laurence Kingston]

I just recently got a GH3 as well, and yeah, the video does seem to smoke everything else.

[Duane Adam]

The D800 takes better stills but another area where it shines is interval recording using RAW.
Time lapse sequences using this method are astonishing and have better resolution than the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. I used the time lapse function at first but that only shoots compressed video. You need a large, fast card to shoot interval RAW but the results are remarkable.

[Larry Secrest]

Duane, what about grading using an intermediate codec, such as cineform?
Just wondering?

[Graeme Hay]

If you consider 25% photography and 75% filmmaking use, does the general "Go D600" consensus change?
The only draw back (besides price) for me to the D800 I can see is the useless CF slot (I use SD) and i know I can get a SD-CF adapter (works similarity to the micro-ss to SD adapters) as a work around for about $50. But it does seen to be the better camera (control layout, no weird issues like apature control or 95% HDMI output, more MP which Ill use, better body and USB3).

Also anyone know of a good low-light/ISO comparison of the video recording quality (internal and HDMI recorded) on Vimeo or YouTube. I'm having trouble finding one as most compare image/photo quality.

[Duane Adam]

Originally Posted by Graeme Hay

If you consider 25% photography and 75% filmmaking use, does the general "Go D600" consensus change?
The only draw back (besides price) for me to the D800 I can see is the useless CF slot (I use SD) and i know I can get a SD-CF adapter (works similarity to the micro-ss to SD adapters) as a work around for about $50. But it does seen to be the better camera (control layout, no weird issues like apature control or 95% HDMI output, more MP which Ill use, better body and USB3).

Also anyone know of a good low-light/ISO comparison of the video recording quality (internal and HDMI recorded) on Vimeo or YouTube. I'm having trouble finding one as most compare image/photo quality.

You know the d800 takes both sd and cf cards right?

[Graeme Hay]

Yes, but it's 1CF and 1SD whereas the D600 is 2 SDs

[Sam Renkin]

The cost of SDHC cards seems to be dropping every day. I just picked up some 32GB Sandisk cards for about $34 each. That's cheap enough to use as shelf storage for each project!

I'd say "so long" to CF cards and get the D600 or the new D7100. Both are great cameras.

[Corey Benoit]

The fastest SDHC card is nowhere near CF or XQD capabilities. I know, I have all three. The margin is drastic.

[Duane Adam]

Originally Posted by Corey Benoit

The fastest SDHC card is nowhere near CF or XQD capabilities. I know, I have all three. The margin is drastic.

Great point. The Lexar 1000x CF card is rated at 150 mbps which means you could shoot 3 shots per second continuous burst in raw.