FIRST TEST: NIKON D7000

As I mentioned in my last post, Collette and I recently purchased a new camera. The Nikon D7000 is a Digital SLR, a still camera like Collette's D80 but with a significant difference; it also shoots video.

The 7000 records HD video in full 1080 p as well as 720 p, the former at 24 fps only, the latter at 24 and 30. FPS refers to frames per second; both my Standard Def Canon XL1 and my HD Sony handycam shoot video at 30 fps. Film is recorded at 24 fps and this is often seen as a superior, more "movie" like video frame rate.

There are of course camcorders that record at 24 fps but DSLRs like the 7000 are said to have other advantages; image sensor size, lens quality, shutter speed, exposure, and something called Dynamic Range, what us old timers would refer to as gamma or contrast.

Now I have my opportunity to find out for myself. A trip to my local dog park in search of some lost dog tags .. and no, not the military variety .. gave me the opportunity to give the camera its first video test.

For this test I used Collette's 18 - 200 mm lens

Some things were quickly evident; the range of option on the Nikon surpass anything my currrent cams, even my beloved XL1, can give me. The Nikon gives you many options; several customizable white balance settings, over 30 Auto Focus settings, several depth of field settings on auto or semi auto modes and of course, manual whatever the hell you want.

Sometimes more can be a tad confusing. In the video below you will see good and bad examples of depth of field; the dog on the picnic table at 50 seconds bad, the dog in show pose at 1 minute 47 seconds good. What can I say, there's a learning curve.

I fiddled around with the various settings and modes; autofocus, manual focus, aperture priority etc. A couple of the shots came out darker than intended and I had to touch them up in post. Again, it's all about learning. This camera has a lot of options, many of which I am unfamiliar with, eventually they will come more quickly and smoothly. Even on this first shoot I was leaving the full auto mode in the dust but that is not at all surprising.

Handling the D7000 is also a learning curve. This is, at its heart, a still camera, not a video camera and then needs between the two in terms of handling, are different. Some DSLR models have adjustable swing out monitors, this one does not, I was feeling that lack today; I have a penchant for low angle shots (low) and a flip up monitor is lovely but it's nothing I can't work around.

Stablilization is going to be a factor. I shot with my L bracket; it screws into the bottom of the cam and gives me a little handle, this was helpful but you'll still see the camera shake, even when not zoomed in. At the Exposure camera show I demoed the Steadicam Merlin, a relatively small glidecam that you can operate with one hand. The thing was a dream, and I will be dreaming of the 800 dollar price tag for some time. There are other more affordable solutions out there and I'll be looking into them.

One of my concerns about DSLRs is the storage; I love having the freedom of shooting as much as I like and not worrying about running out of storage space. Like all DSLRs, the 7000 records to memory cards. One of the things I like about this cam is that it has two slots. Currently I have two Grade 10 32 GB cards in the cam. I should be able to put about 3 hours of video on each; I have a third card so ideally I can go out on a shoot with 9 hours potential, that may satisfy even me

Overall, I came away happy; the dynamic range is there, the frame rate is there, and the lens quality is there. I hope to very soon take it to a "real world" kind of situation where I will have to be able to record footage on the run, fairly quickly.

The camera will be up to the task, let's see if I can say the same about myself. Well I will the say the same about myself but then, I tend to be delusional.