Well... I gave it a go. I'm not a videographer, but I did enjoy it I must admit.
I recently bought my new back up camera. A D90. It has an added feature as a HD video camcorder. They say, this, combined with top quality nikon lenses can produce near movie quality videos.
I had a go and I must say the HD stuff is really good. When I could get it in focus (because you have to do it manually) the images are pin sharp. I used the fact that it's so hard to focus to attempt an edgy video of an American football game.
Shooting at F2 with nikon glass allows you to really play with he depth of field making some of the shots looking really pretty. Also, having such a small camera in your hand allows you to keep the camera still for long enough when you want to get a straight(ish) shot but as you can see from the film it gives you more room to shake the camera about which can give the shots a sense of urgency.
The camera pretty much does all of the exposure for you. I tested it out with some lights too and the metering just seems to know what you want to do. It's the same with this outdoors situation, it deals with light change very well. It doesn't get it all of the time but I can't fault it really.
I'm not saying you should shoot everything on a D90 without a tripod but for something like this where you're trying to keep a tempo and drama I think it kinda works.
I must admit, it was tough to do but for my first ever video I'm quite pleased with the result.
It loses it a bit at the end because A) I got tired and bored at the game and B) I got tired and bored while editing it.
At 200mm it's tough to keep quick guys dead centre, especially without any support. However, it is what I set out to do. I needed to get some wobbly, off centre shots for the idea to work.
I don't know if I'll do anymore. But if I do, I know I've learned a lot from this. Definitely have a plan for what you want to do beforehand and trust the camera.
have a look... I'll try and get the HD version up asap because it really does look so much better.
Stallions from paul briscoe on Vimeo.
