Nikon D750: I Love It!

Last fall after I first bought and worked with the Nikon D750 for a while, I put together a review of it's video features. The response to that review has been really helpful to me because I learned that a lot of viewers thought I didn't much care for the D750.

Nothing could be further from the truth and let me be 100% clear: I love my Nikon D750!

I think the confusion came as I felt I had to explain why I bought a DSLR instead of the amazingly popular Sony a7S which is also a full-frame camera but with a mirrorless design. Oh, and the a7S can record 4K via its HDMI output. Oh, and it can also record S-Log.

Why would you go for a Nikon D750 instead of a Sony a7S, particularly when they are priced within a couple of hundred dollars of one another? I could have dropped the additional money without an issue at all.

And don't misread me when I give my explanation here. I love what Sony is doing, the direction they're heading. They are leading in a direction that is amazing - large sensor cameras and small bodies that ditch the mirror design of SLRs since the focus technology is at a point where that doesn't sacrifice anything. What's not to love about that?

But that's what made everyone think that I don't like the D750. I essentially said that it is a decent full-frame DSLR for video. Just decent. Not amazing. And I still think that is fair. The bitrate of the internal codec is relatively low compared to cameras like the latest generation Sonys or Panasonics. It is 1080p. It still doesn't have focus peaking. It doesn't do waveforms or false color. The footage it produces is good 1080. It is a totally workable solution for many types of shooters. Just not as much of a commitment to video from Nikon as I would like to see and that Sony and Panasonic are putting into their cameras. As a result, shooting video with the D750 is a good experience, but not as pleasurable as with my GH4.

When I'm going to shoot video and I have a choice between my D750 and Panasonic GH4, I'll choose the GH4 90% of the time as the main camera. It is a pleasure to use when shooting video and it produces lovely 4K footage. But there are 10% of cases where I'll choose the D750. Those are usually cases where I'll be doing an interview or talking head on location. Only the D750 allows me to blur the background like full frame cameras allow. The color it produces is great. It works beautifully with my Atomos recorders, both the Ninja II and Shogun. And in fact, with the Shogun, it becomes almost pleasurable to use (because the Shogun has all those video exposure and focus tools that make things so much easier and quicker). That setup gets a little bulky and isn't for everyone but it works well for interviews for me.

Now when it comes to shooting still photos and I have a choice between the D750 and the Panasonic GH4, I choose the D750 99% of the time. It is that amazing. Dynamic range on this camera is stellar. When I'm shooting still photos for weddings or portraits, the D750 is unrivaled in its ability to pull out shadow detail. That allows me to create stunning wide dynamic range type images in post. The focus is snappy, the flash eco system that Nikon provides is still pretty good (where are the RF transmitters, Nikon? That's one thing you're missing). The lenses available, both from Nikon and others, are top notch optically.

If I could only keep one of my cameras, I think I would keep the D750. Why? Because 4K is nice but not critical for me at this point. Paired with the Atomos Shogun, I have all the exposure and focus tools I need for shooting video. The large sensor produces amazing quality footage. On the still photo side, the GH4 is not bad, but not even in the same league as the D750 which is probably the best DSLR for the price on the market right now in most ways. Low light/high ISO performance on the D750, while not quite as amazing as the a7S, strikes the perfect balance of resolution (24 megapixel) and high ISO performance. That means this is an incredibly versatile camera.

And now, of course, it is priced at about $300 less than when I bought it last fall.

If I had to make the choice again today, I'd still choose the Nikon D750.

Reflectors: Indispensable Lighting Tool

I've said it before, so excuse me if I'm sounding redundant, but I find these 5in1 reflectors to be super useful.

Sort of the classic 3 point lighting scheme is something I like to change up using these reflectors with consistent, reasonably dimensional results. Let me explain.

The classic three point lighting scheme for talking head shots is a key light 45 degrees to one side (or variations on the angle), fill light on the other side of the talent to fill the shadows, and then a hair light or kicker from above and behind the talent to separate them from the background. Solid strategy, I recommend it.

But I actually like to do away with the fill light and use a reflector instead, just the white surface. Makes for a more dramatic look with more contrast in most cases. I'm not criticizing fill lights, I just find it easier to work with reflectors for that role in most cases.

Here are a previous couple of episodes where we cover lighting and reflectors:

If you don't have any reflectors, today may be a good time to pick up one or two. B&H Photo has the Impact 42" 5in1 reflectors on special for $25.

One of the other great things about these is that the middle section is a scrim that you can use to soften light very effectively. For example, for a key light, I'll sometimes shoot a fresnel light through the scrim and get the same effect as a softbox. Handy.

What Have I Learned This Year (about making films)?

Dave Dugdale over at LearningVideo.com had the clever idea to interview several of his friends and acquaintances at NAB on what they have learned over the last year. Dave and I met up for lunch while at NAB which was not our first time talking but first time meeting in person. He's every bit as genuine in person as you'd gather if you've been following his site and YouTube channel. And if you have't, he's certainly worth following. I'm also honored that he'd ask me what I've learned this year!

https://youtu.be/p3GRZ2WWWiU

Which Lights Render Color Best?

Short answer (in order): The Sun, Tungsten, Some LEDs, Plasma, Fluorescent. This piece put together by Film Gear is one of the best practical comparisons I've seen on the subject:

https://vimeo.com/videogear/cri-video-lights

The practical implications of using a light source that has rendering issues is a lot of extra time in post trying to fix the problem or possibly not being able to achieve the look you want.

Phone Video + Lavalier Mic

http://youtu.be/Q0dRVx_BmtQ Can you record video with your phone and at the same time, record the audio with an external lavalier microphone like the RODE smartLav+? Yes! And you can do this with pretty much any smartphone and almost any lavalier microphone that has a 3.5mm plug. Check out the episode on YouTube for links to the mics and adapters.

Varavon Armor GH4K Pro Camera Cage

Let's me attach all my stuff and then it stays out of my way. Varavon has been producing some surprisingly quality gear in the last little while. Their Armor GH4K Pro camera cage was not the first cage dedicated to the GH4 (and GH3) to market, but in my tests, strikes a very good balance between price, quality, and features.

The unibody aluminum cage is very thoughtfully laid out with cutouts for all the critical controls and doors, includes an HDMI and mic cable retaining systems, and stays out of the way so you can focus on shooting.

Yes, I like it and am happy to make it my new cage for my Panasonic GH4.

Avoiding Glare on Glasses: Lighting for Talent with Eye Glasses

If you shoot interviews or talking heads (or just about any kind of video), you will run into cases where your talent are wearing glasses and your lighting glares off of the lenses and distract like crazy. In this episode we cover a few quick strategies for reducing that glare. http://youtu.be/B_RJ7tViw2g

Calibrate Your Computer Monitor For Web Video and Photo

For a long time I’ve felt like I was fighting to get the color in my videos to look right. I'd get things looking right on my computer, upload, and then when I viewed from another computer, YUCK! In this episode we cover how to calibrate your computer monitor to get more consistent results. In this case, I use the X-Rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter. This episode is NOT intended for serious color critical decision making nor for professional color grading. Monitoring for pro work like that is far more expensive than most of us hobbyists can afford. But the calibration we cover here is a nice first step for someone on a very tight budget.

http://youtu.be/Q7jrIWVBD98

- For the longest time, I felt like my color results for video and photography have been pretty inconsistent. It was not unusual for me to color correct a video and do my best to get it looking how I wanted it to look but then find, with frustration, that on other computers it looked totally different and in many cases, really, really bad.

- Calibration your monitor can help with this issue.

- First a note, this is NOT a guide for high-end, professional color grading because proper solutions in that league generally cost more than most of us enthusiasts can afford, using 4 - 10,000 dollar reference monitors fed by video I/O cards rather than a standard computer graphics card.

- This episode is for people with regular computer monitors and very small budgets that want to take the first step to ensure that their videos or photos look decent when displayed on other computers on the web. Note that it is not just a matter of identifying monitors that have “really good color” or are “really accurate”. Every room is different and every batch of monitors and computers are different. Even the highest quality monitor should be calibrated in the environment where it will be used.

- Calibration of your monitor does not suddenly make your $150 US monitor from a big-box store look amazing with images and footage the pops off the screen! It doesn’t even ensure that your monitor is able to cover all of the colors or luminance levels of any standards.

- What it does is set your monitor as close to a standard color space, white point (balance), luminance levels and contrast (gamma curve) as your monitor is capable. The goal is to do the color correction and grading on a monitor that is close to the standard and then when displayed on the web and all of the monitors people use out there (which are mostly NOT calibrated), they will at least look reasonably consistent with the look that their monitor imparts to other images and footage produced in color managed workflows—closer to how you intended it to look.

- So, it doesn’t make crappy monitors look amazing, or even make good monitors look amazing, it just makes them display everything as close to the standard as that monitor is capable.

- What standard are we talking about? For computers, we’re talking about sRGB. This applies to both Windows and Macs.

- As background, I have two relatively inexpensive monitors. The really cheap one is a 7 year old HP monitor that is really quite bad in a host of ways that we won’t bother to cover here. I’m in the market to replace it with a reasonably affordable, but more capable monitor. My main monitor is a Dell Ultrasharp U2413. This is a “wide gamut” monitor that cost around $475 USD at the time I bought it. It is much better than my old HP but not a high-end color correction/grading reference monitor. But it is good enough to do non-pro web delivered video production.

- How do I calibrate the two? I use the X-Rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter which comes with X-Rite i1 Profiler software. This is an approximately $250 device that you place on your monitor, connect to your computer via USB and the software runs the monitor through a series of color swatches to calibrate your monitor in terms of contrast, white balance, and color space to get you as close to the sRGB standard as possible. On more modern monitors, it can change all the monitor settings for you. On older, less capable monitors, you may have to manually set the “brightness” settings

- It also tests the quality of your monitor to let you know how closely it is able to reproduce the sRGB color space and white balance and contrast (gamma) and can also test the uniformity of your monitor—whether you have any bright or dim spots from the backlight.

- The process takes about 3 to 5 minutes and it is recommended that you run it every 4 weeks or so. It works with various types of LCD screens (fl or LED backlit) and CRTs and even projectors.

- First thing I noticed after the first calibration is that my monitor looked a lot less bright, almost too dim. I learned that ideally, your room should be dark, with one high CRI light behind the monitor aimed at the wall. This is why the “grading suites” either have no windows or the windows are covered to block all light from coming in and influencing the color of the light in the room. This not only provides a more consistent environment but also reduces eye strain.

- Is it worth the $250 price tag? For me it was because, subjectively, I do not struggle with the final color and contrast of my projects since I’ve been using this—I now get much more consistent results.

- Don’t get too confused by the color grading forums where people tell you that you cannot use your computer’s monitor to color grade. That’s true if you are color grading for broadcast TV or cinema projection and selling your services as a professional colorist, but if you’re just producing enthusiast videos for online, using a colorimeter to calibrate your computer’s monitor is way better than nothing at all.

- I’m still in the process of researching what I will do when it comes time to upgrade to a reference grade monitor and will share more as I learn more. Check out LearnLightAndSound.com for more articles on what I find.