BillyDuds Loc: North Carolina

In my first try at movies with my new d800, the picture came out very jerky. (Child with hula hoop, daylight, shade.) I'd inadvertently left the exposure mode set to A, from previous still pics I'd been taking. Should I try exposure mode P instead? Thanks greatly for all advice!

haroldross Loc: Walthill, Nebraska

Is the video jerky when viewed on the camera, the computer or both? What type and speed is your memory card?

What video settings did you use? I know you had it set to A but what resolution is the video?

The Nikon D800 shoots video at 1080p resolution at 30 fps, it shoots 24p at 1080p, which is great for that film look, it does support continuously focusing while recording movies. The full list of modes supported is: 1920x1080 @ 30 fps, 1920x1080 @ 25 fps, 1920x1080 @ 24 fps, 1280x720 @ 60 fps, 1280x720 @ 50 fps, 1280x720 @ 30 fps, 1280x720 @ 25 fps, 1280x720 @ 24 fps and 640x424 @ 24 fps.

24 fps will seem jerky compared to 30 fps.

BillyDuds Loc: North Carolina

I'd been watching the movie clips in Adobe Bridge on my Macbook Pro; the pics viewed this way are very jerky. But your questions got me messing around more with them, and purely by chance up popped Apple's QuickTime Player. Viewed on it, no jerkiness! So evidently the answer is that Bridge's ability to render motion isn't as good as QuickTime's.

There appears to be no problem with the d800 settings, though I do plan to pay more attention to them the next time I make a movie clip. (Bridge's metadata doesn't provide info for the movie clips, but on a still shot taken a moment later under the same conditions, these were the settings: f/1.4, 1/800, iso400.)
Great thanks for your quick and stimulating response; I really appreciate it.

BillyDuds Loc: North Carolina

Hi Harold! Guess you posted more questions, so here we go: the memory card is a Lexar 32GB 600x SD. The resolution mode I've been using is 1920x1080 @ 30fps, thinking that'd give the highest quality picture. I've also recently been using DX Image area rather than FX, figuring that also might be better for movies. What settings do you prefer?
Bill

haroldross Loc: Walthill, Nebraska

I usually use the highest frame rate and resolution for my video work. I can always use Handbrake and convert it to a lower resolution/ frame rate.

I have found that Apple Quicktime (I purchased the upgrade) works well for playback of the video.

BillyDuds Loc: North Carolina

I'm a little unclear. By highest frame rate and resolution, do you mean 1920x1080 @ 30 fps (highest resolution, correct?) or 1280 x 720 @ 60 fps (highest frame rate)?
And do you use FX or DX for your video work?
Again many thanks!

haroldross Loc: Walthill, Nebraska

When you talk HD quality you have 720i (1280x720) and the high def 1080i (1920x1080). When transferring film to video, you need to take into account the differences in film and video frame rates. Film is commonly shot at 24 frames per second (fps), although 25 fps is sometimes used when the final project is to be delivered as PAL video (as opposed to the more common technique of just speeding up 24 fps film to 25 fps). Video can have a 29.97 fps rate (NTSC), a 25 fps rate (PAL), or either a 24 fps or 23.98 fps rate (24p), depending on your video standard.

Using 60 fps would give smoother motion but would have to be changed to one of the standard frame rates for use on a DVD and such. If you just slow the playback of the 60 fps to 30 fps, you would have a slow motion video.

I'm just giving the bare basis here since I don't see the need to go into a lot of technical details.

One of the downsides of many of the Canon DSLR cameras is that they record at exactly 30 fps and not the 29.97 fps standard. This creates a few problems when importing the video into editing software such as Premiere or iMovie. A conversion has to take place and that takes time.

BillyDuds Loc: North Carolina

Just when I was starting to think I'd made a little progress up the learning curve! Now I can see how much more I have to climb. Many thanks for lending a helping hand to nudge me a little farther!

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Me Too!
Have taken 6 so far - discovered that if I set everything on auto - Mode P, Focus - 51 point 3D, a high ISO, then I can zoom and scan with reasonable results.