Which camera can give me this?

[jaimesommers]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help with my dilemma?

I am in my last year of a photography degree and am looking for a camera with the following specs:

The ability to shoot at high ISO with good results - I shoot a lot of theatre stuff and low light.

Excellent image quality.

HD video that will record for longer than 30 mins if possible.

Full frame.

Reasonably fast frame rate - i don't do sports particularly.

I have a Canon 300D that I love to death, and have also used the Nikon D100, however i have never been happy with the D100 image results compared to the Canon, they always seem to be soft.

Ideally I suppose I want a croos between a D3 and 5D MK 11, can anyone suggest anything?

Cheers

Jaime

[OldBoy]

Hi Jamie, have a look at the new D3s as this might do all you want and more.

[jaimesommers]

I didn't know it was out, I will have a look,

Cheers

Jaime

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by jaimesommers

I didn't know it was out, I will have a look,

Cheers

Jaime

It's not out until December but suggest you wait until Late Feb at the Focus-on-imaging show at the NEC, when they may reduce the price by about £400. That's where I got my D3 and saved £400.

[creid]

Nobody mentioned lenses yet?? High ISO is not a magic bullet for curing issues with slow glass... OP, what lenses do you have??

Carl

[flake]

Unfortunately for you the only cameras which can record true HD are the Canons. The Nikons even the new ones can only record 720 which isn't the full 1080P required for true HD. In addition the rolling shutter method used by Nikon will give the 'Jello' effect when panning, not a criticism just a fact.

The other issue is that at the moment you're going to be stuck with 30 fps not the 25fps which people say is more desireable, and all of it is manual focus which might be an issue in low light. Recent updates have allowed you to change the aperture while filming, but the impression I'm getting is that both Canon & to some extent Nikon have been surprised by the level of interest in Video on still cameras, and as such the next generation of image processors will improve on Video no end. Digic V is rumoured to have a dedicated video processor I'm sure Nikon will want to be following suit as well.

Canon rumours are fairly certain the 1D MkIV will be announced 20th October it will be interesting to see if the Digic V is included with it, and the inbuilt video capabilities of a pro level camera aimed at Journos and sports people. Low light capabilty is also rumoured to be very good, not FF but APS H 1.3 crop (not sure why FF is desireable) very fast fps rate

30 minutes of video seems to be a little more difficult at the moment dunno why but both mine will record 30 minute chunks, regardless of the size of the memory card.

Looks like you'll have to wait until the end of the month to see what the real specs are (if it's even launched !)

[anglefire]

The reason for the limit of 30minutes is due to the defintions of video cameras and still cameras - there is either a different tax on the two or it is proposed that there is, so to avoid the cameras being even more expensive (Ha ) then they keep the video length to below 30minutes.

[NormanLaw]

Originally Posted by anglefire

The reason for the limit of 30minutes is due to the defintions of video cameras and still cameras - there is either a different tax on the two or it is proposed that there is, so to avoid the cameras being even more expensive (Ha ) then they keep the video length to below 30minutes.

Another reason might be that the memory cards are formated to FAT32 and the largest file that can be stored in FAT32 is 4gb. If cards could be formatted to NTFS then the file size limit would several terrabytes. Perhaps someone would tell us how large the 30 minute HD video file is.

[jaimesommers]

Thanks for the replies, sorry for my late one!

I have kit lenses, would better lenses make much difference?

Thanks

Jaime

[ianpinion]

Originally Posted by jaimesommers

Thanks for the replies, sorry for my late one!

I have kit lenses, would better lenses make much difference?

Thanks

Jaime

They certainly would on a full frame camera, because the size of the sensor is so much bigger it highlights the imperfections of the lens in front of it. The better the quality of your glass is, it will help to limit it's sensitivity to chromatic aberations and other distortions caused by the lens.

A cropped sensor is far more forgiving with a lower quality lens.