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Going from photo to video, brand switch?

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scrdhrt

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Hi all,

I'm thinking about going into videography, and need some advice. I've got a very good understanding of the world of photography, but I have very little experience with video. I've used Nikon for ages, and have been very happy with the brand and the products. So a little while ago I got this Sony action cam and a Rode video mic, started fooling around with it doing some travel videos, shooting short stories and the like, and felt it was pretty nice change and progression. So the thought of going into video has buzzing around for a while, and I've been looking at what I have, and what I need, and I'm a bit at a loss.

I have a nice setup for photography, and some other stuff as well

Nikon D700 (no video capabilities)
Nikkor 24-70 2.8
Nikkor 70-200 2.8 with image stabilization
Flashes, bits and bolts, remotes, wireless connections etc

Rode Video mic pro
Canon Cine 50mm 1.3 (mint condition, I've never used it, part of a trade unrelated to photography)
Sony X3000 action cam

From what I'm reading, Nikon isn't the best brand to do video with. Is this so? Canon and Panasonic seems to be the most recommended brands for video making. I don't mind switching brands if it's the better way to go forward with video. I'd probably keep my Nikon equipment for photo, though.

I'm thinking about getting the Canon 80D (or maybe even 5D mkIII, depending on recommendations) for use with the Canon lens. An alternative Panasonic GH5 (which has gotten some really good reviews) with some sort of converter for the Canon lens (which one?)

How would you go forward? Any input appreciated.

Thanks

BR;
Andy
 
I switched from Pentax to Panasonic Micro-Four Thirds because I wanted to have a good hybrid stills/video camera. I have zero regrets - it was expensive to buy a complete now system and lenses, but I've been very happy with the results and especially with the smaller, more compact lenses made possible by the M43 system.

I think Sony and Panasonic are the leaders in the hybrid camera market, with Panasonic having an edge if you want the very best video capabilities - but I have no experience with Canon and so I might be unaware of its strengths.
 
Sean Nelson said:
I switched from Pentax to Panasonic Micro-Four Thirds because I wanted to have a good hybrid stills/video camera. I have zero regrets - it was expensive to buy a complete now system and lenses, but I've been very happy with the results and especially with the smaller, more compact lenses made possible by the M43 system.

I think Sony and Panasonic are the leaders in the hybrid camera market, with Panasonic having an edge if you want the very best video capabilities - but I have no experience with Canon and so I might be unaware of its strengths.
Click to expand...
Thanks Sean,

I've been hearing good things about Sony as well. I'll take an extra look at their offerings.

BR;
Andreas
 
scrdhrt said:
Hi all,

I'm thinking about going into videography, and need some advice. I've got a very good understanding of the world of photography, but I have very little experience with video. I've used Nikon for ages, and have been very happy with the brand and the products. So a little while ago I got this Sony action cam and a Rode video mic, started fooling around with it doing some travel videos, shooting short stories and the like, and felt it was pretty nice change and progression. So the thought of going into video has buzzing around for a while, and I've been looking at what I have, and what I need, and I'm a bit at a loss.

I have a nice setup for photography, and some other stuff as well

Nikon D700 (no video capabilities)
Nikkor 24-70 2.8
Nikkor 70-200 2.8 with image stabilization
Flashes, bits and bolts, remotes, wireless connections etc
Rode Video mic pro
Canon Cine 50mm 1.3 (mint condition, I've never used it, part of a trade unrelated to photography)
Sony X3000 action cam

From what I'm reading, Nikon isn't the best brand to do video with. Is this so? Canon and Panasonic seems to be the most recommended brands for video making. I don't mind switching brands if it's the better way to go forward with video. I'd probably keep my Nikon equipment for photo, though.

I'm thinking about getting the Canon 80D (or maybe even 5D mkIII, depending on recommendations) for use with the Canon lens. An alternative Panasonic GH5 (which has gotten some really good reviews) with some sort of converter for the Canon lens (which one?)

How would you go forward? Any input appreciated.

Thanks

BR;
Andy
Click to expand...
Neither of the two Canons you listed do 4K video. Even if your final result is 1080, shooting in 4K and downsampling to 1080 after editing offers resolution and color advantages compared to natively shooting in 1080. See
for why.

Sony and Panasonic have numerous mirrorless cameras that can do 4K video, as well as 1080. I know that your Canon lens can be adapted to various Sony models (with a choice of adapters), but not sure about Panasonic models. Sony and Panasonic do well for both photos and video. Panasonic has micro 4/3 sensors, while Sony bodies are available with APS-C and FF sensors. All of these cameras have pluses and minuses, and you need to decide what is most important to you, depending on the type of video that you want to shoot. If low light is of primary importance, the Canon Cine 50 mm T1.3 combined with a Sony AS7II (FF) would be an awesome combination that would be hard to beat.
 
A good mirrorless camera should eliminate focus problems endemic to DSLRs as distant to subject changes
 
Personally I think you should start with defining what sort of videos you hope to end up with.

The advantage of ILC is changing lenses. You may not need that. Various choices in camcorders with fixed lenses. Usually better battery life. Obviously designed for video. Some have better audio options.

Some complain about the 30 minute clip limit but how many people are effected by that?

Define your final goals. Then use that to define your requirements. Plenty of people using all types of cameras for video
 
Thanks for the replies and thoughts!

The ambition is to make short films for Youtube and similar platforms, post videos of my travels on Facebook and that sort of things, so I don't think that I'll be limited to 30 min recording time in one shot.

I'll go and have a look at the Sony cameras today.

BR;
Andy
 
scrdhrt said:
Hi all,

I'm thinking about going into videography, and need some advice. I've got a very good understanding of the world of photography, but I have very little experience with video. I've used Nikon for ages, and have been very happy with the brand and the products. So a little while ago I got this Sony action cam and a Rode video mic, started fooling around with it doing some travel videos, shooting short stories and the like, and felt it was pretty nice change and progression. So the thought of going into video has buzzing around for a while, and I've been looking at what I have, and what I need, and I'm a bit at a loss.

I have a nice setup for photography, and some other stuff as well

Nikon D700 (no video capabilities)
Nikkor 24-70 2.8
Nikkor 70-200 2.8 with image stabilization
Flashes, bits and bolts, remotes, wireless connections etc
Rode Video mic pro
Canon Cine 50mm 1.3 (mint condition, I've never used it, part of a trade unrelated to photography)
Sony X3000 action cam

From what I'm reading, Nikon isn't the best brand to do video with. Is this so? Canon and Panasonic seems to be the most recommended brands for video making. I don't mind switching brands if it's the better way to go forward with video. I'd probably keep my Nikon equipment for photo, though.

I'm thinking about getting the Canon 80D (or maybe even 5D mkIII, depending on recommendations) for use with the Canon lens. An alternative Panasonic GH5 (which has gotten some really good reviews) with some sort of converter for the Canon lens (which one?)

How would you go forward? Any input appreciated.

Thanks

BR;
Andy
Click to expand...
Sony and Panasonic have a long history of doing video. Both of them do good video and have their strengths and weaknesses. Regardless of your choice, these 2 are the best candidates.

Panasonic is great if you want to control a lot of things/settings so that you can manipulate the video more tightly i post. If you look at the GH family, it's pretty solid and gives you a lot of control in aperture, shutter speed, ISO, color, saturation, sound manipluation, etc. If you want the best control in a lot of things, right now, the GH5 is it. It is a bit pricey, and daunting if you are a newbie, but it may spur you to learn more since you know that the equipment is not the one that is going to limit you.

If you want a larger sensor (aps-c or 35FF), Sony is the way to go. It can also do many things like Panasonic but some they do it differently.

Now, how you decide depends a lot on what kind of video you intend to produce. Do you want to make short fllms? documentary? travel? blogging? instructional/educational? etc. etc. This can affect the equipment of choice. Not any different in photography where you can have landscape, ,wedding/events, news/journalistic, street, macro, astro, etc.

Personally, as an event shooter, I see the merits of both. But right now, for us, we chose Panasonic as our main video camera because of the 4k. We already know it's drawbacks, but we can work around it.

As for lenses, you can adapt your canon or nikon lenses to either one with an adapter. If you AF in video, Sony will be ahead in this area. But if you tend to use a FL a lot, it is best to get native lenses for that. 35FF for Sony tend to be very expensive vs MFT. That may be affect your decision, but it should be something you should be aware of.
 
caterpillar said:
scrdhrt said:
Hi all,

I'm thinking about going into videography, and need some advice. I've got a very good understanding of the world of photography, but I have very little experience with video. I've used Nikon for ages, and have been very happy with the brand and the products. So a little while ago I got this Sony action cam and a Rode video mic, started fooling around with it doing some travel videos, shooting short stories and the like, and felt it was pretty nice change and progression. So the thought of going into video has buzzing around for a while, and I've been looking at what I have, and what I need, and I'm a bit at a loss.

I have a nice setup for photography, and some other stuff as well

Nikon D700 (no video capabilities)
Nikkor 24-70 2.8
Nikkor 70-200 2.8 with image stabilization
Flashes, bits and bolts, remotes, wireless connections etc
Rode Video mic pro
Canon Cine 50mm 1.3 (mint condition, I've never used it, part of a trade unrelated to photography)
Sony X3000 action cam

From what I'm reading, Nikon isn't the best brand to do video with. Is this so? Canon and Panasonic seems to be the most recommended brands for video making. I don't mind switching brands if it's the better way to go forward with video. I'd probably keep my Nikon equipment for photo, though.

I'm thinking about getting the Canon 80D (or maybe even 5D mkIII, depending on recommendations) for use with the Canon lens. An alternative Panasonic GH5 (which has gotten some really good reviews) with some sort of converter for the Canon lens (which one?)

How would you go forward? Any input appreciated.

Thanks

BR;
Andy
Click to expand...
Sony and Panasonic have a long history of doing video. Both of them do good video and have their strengths and weaknesses. Regardless of your choice, these 2 are the best candidates.

Panasonic is great if you want to control a lot of things/settings so that you can manipulate the video more tightly i post. If you look at the GH family, it's pretty solid and gives you a lot of control in aperture, shutter speed, ISO, color, saturation, sound manipluation, etc. If you want the best control in a lot of things, right now, the GH5 is it. It is a bit pricey, and daunting if you are a newbie, but it may spur you to learn more since you know that the equipment is not the one that is going to limit you.

If you want a larger sensor (aps-c or 35FF), Sony is the way to go. It can also do many things like Panasonic but some they do it differently.

Now, how you decide depends a lot on what kind of video you intend to produce. Do you want to make short fllms? documentary? travel? blogging? instructional/educational? etc. etc. This can affect the equipment of choice. Not any different in photography where you can have landscape, ,wedding/events, news/journalistic, street, macro, astro, etc.

Personally, as an event shooter, I see the merits of both. But right now, for us, we chose Panasonic as our main video camera because of the 4k. We already know it's drawbacks, but we can work around it.

As for lenses, you can adapt your canon or nikon lenses to either one with an adapter. If you AF in video, Sony will be ahead in this area. But if you tend to use a FL a lot, it is best to get native lenses for that. 35FF for Sony tend to be very expensive vs MFT. That may be affect your decision, but it should be something you should be aware of.
Click to expand...
 
Consider whether or not you need power zoom, reliable auto focus and more depth of field. If you do, you'll probably want a camcorder, not a camera. Cameras have larger sensors, which equals less depth of field. Less depth of field makes focusing much more critical. Panasonic's auto focus can be iffy for video. Many video shooters use touch focus instead, which Panasonic is very good at.

Trying to zoom hand held video with a manual zoom lens is going to be a real challenge. Perhaps, since you already have a camcorder with power zoom and auto focus, you might want a camera to go with it, so when you want less depth of field, or manual focus/exposure, you can use the camera. The trick is finding a camera with a color profile that will match the camcorder. Trying to match video from two different cameras can be a real challenge in post, especially if they're from different companies.
 
I forgot to mention 4k. 4k is the future. 4k video is twice the height and twice the width of 1080p video, which means you can do major cropping in the editing phase and still end up with 1080p resolution. You can also pan and zoom in post, which may negate the need for a power zoom lens. Right now, Panasonic is leading in the 4k realm, but the others will catch up. Sony has issues with overheating in 4k, but if you're only doing short segments, it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Keep in mind that there are adapters to use your Nikon lenses on Panasonic and Sony cameras. ( I own eight Nikon lenses that I use with my Panasonic GH5 camera )
 
I abandoned Sony due to serious overheating issues. I switched to Panasonic and couldn't be happier. I just picked up a GH5 and am loving it.
 
scrdhrt said:
[...]

From what I'm reading, Nikon isn't the best brand to do video with. Is this so?
Click to expand...
Is it the best? No. Is it perfectly workable? That depends. The main gap is a lack of focus peaking, and slow / hunting liveview (which is used for video) autofocus.

So, if you're setting focus and leaving it, fine. If you're changing focus to follow subjects or for artistic reasons, not so fine. If you use an external recorder like an Atomos, suddenly you get focus peaking again, and manual focus is again fine.

The Nikon video image quality is excellent.

--
"THINK" - Watson
 
Last edited:
LingoDingo said:
Keep in mind that there are adapters to use your Nikon lenses on Panasonic and Sony cameras. ( I own eight Nikon lenses that I use with my Panasonic GH5 camera )
Click to expand...
Let's be clear that none of those adapters do decent autofocus. If I'm wrong, I"d love to know about it.

--
"THINK" - Watson
 
Last edited:
rumple said:
Let's be clear that none of those adapters do decent autofocus. If I'm wrong, I"d love to know about it.
Click to expand...
Yes, fully manual Nikon lenses that work beautifully for video work. Add on a Metabones adapter and you have stepless aperture control. ( can be either straight through adapter or Speedbooster adapter )
 
Last edited:
One can get good video from Nikon models. In terms of IQ (and nothing else) the results compare well to any other brand.

Nikon's latest mid-range camera offers improved video features, including 4k, however:
  • The 1.5x crop factor in 4k mode entails sensor size on par with m 4/3, plus impairment of wide angle.
  • Older lenses without silent AF will mar audio capture, perhaps even with a Rode mic attached.
  • Unless I am mistaken, no 120fps or 240fps modes for slow motion.
  • No 5-axis IBIS to supplement lens VR or to compensate for zero stabilization on other lenses.
Canon's dual pixel AF is, by all accounts, the best. Unfortunately, Canon's mid or budget range models don't offer 4k or frame rates above 60fps (in 1080p). And there is no 5-axis IBIS, which aids any hand-held video a lot.

Others have endorsed Sony and Panasonic models. In the end, however, you are not alone if your investment in a favored brand's lenses, ergonomics, and menu traits make you reluctant to swap identity, faith, and soul.
 
A 4/3 camera has to have a crop in video 16x9 mode. Likely worse then a 3:2 FF camera
 
NickZ2016 said:
A 4/3 camera has to have a crop in video 16x9 mode. Likely worse then a 3:2 FF camera
Click to expand...
Worse what ?

Worse shallow depth of field ?

Worse sharpness ?

Worse image detail ?

Worse rolling-shutter ?

Worse color reproduction ?

Worse dynamic-range ?
 
worse crop factor
 
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