Video Quality: Nikon D4, D800, D800E versus Canon 5D Mark III

Following up on yesterday’s commentary on Nikon D4 video quality, today I shot in FX and DX mode on the Nikon D4, D800 and D800E, comparing all to the Canon 5D Mark III.

I’ve published the video comparison results along with my general commentary on video behavior with the cameras.

Bottom line: I did not realize that video was in such sad shape on DSLRs (with the possible exception of uncompressed HDMI out, but that’s another ballgame with intimidating recording and post-processing overhead).

I didn’t realize that “full frame” on the D800 / D800E means a 1.09X crop (32.8 X 18.4mm out of the 35.9 X 24mm sensor). There is no true full-frame video on the D800/D800E.

UPDATE! I’ve added the Nikon D4 2.7X crop mode, which is the central 1920 pixels.

Nikon D4 half-assed video mode

Here’s a nugget from page 74 of the Nikon D4 manual, explaining Nikon D4 half-assed video mode. But I didn’t need the manual for my eyes to tell me how bad the D4 video is in DX crop mode.

In DX-based movie format, image quality is equivalent to movies recorded at a frame size of 1280 × 720”.

Video comparison: FX and DX for Nikon D4, Nikon D800, Nikon D800E, Canon 5D Mark III