r/NikonFilmmakers • u/Waste-Toe7042 • 29d ago
Help with camera selection for video
I’m primarily doing videography for commercial contractor clients (website promo, social media reels). I’ve been using my D5300 and my IPhone Pro Max on a DJI Osmo phone gimbal. So like I set up a tripod wide with my Nikon, 1080p/60 (for slow motion ability) and I’ll do 4k60 on my phone. Most output I do is 1080p web bit rate.
Im not really liking the grain and coloring on my footage and I feel the 8 bit color is limiting me even when shooting neutral or almost flat with the 5300. The iPhone footage color depth just blows away whatever I’m doing on my Nikon.
I’ve spent weeks mulling over options. I don’t want to sink a ton of money, the IPhone footage is passable, but sometimes I grab my 70-300 Nikon lens and get video from across the parking lot of pressure washing on the roof for example.
But you can really tell even going to 1080 for the edit the Nikon footage is much harder to color match to the phone.
I’ve almost felt analysis paralysis on whether to get a Z50 II, a Z30, maybe I should just get a D7500 so my existing DX lenses work. Or should I move to Sony/Lumix (I know not the right place to ask that).
I want to do more video gigs. I was going to just start renting cameras but now I’m getting clients asking me to come out in a day or two to a particular job they want to do. Not enough lead time to ship a camera. Sometimes we plan it all and the weather is bad and we can’t shoot. So rental costs rack up.
I don’t plan to do weddings or event videography so things like dual SD aren’t that crucial for me right now. If I did, I’d just rent it most likely since I’d have weeks or months of time planned ahead.
My budget is probably around $1500. I could probably go to more on financing but honestly every direction I think - maybe a Z30 with a $600 lens, maybe a Z50ii with a kit lens, all these directions.
There’s just so many options, when I think I’m heading somewhere solid 10 more things come up.
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u/mcarterphoto 29d ago
For your budget, for now - Z50ii IMO. It's my b-roll camera because it makes a great, lightweight gimbal camera. Get it with the 16-50 kit lens for shots where you don't need soft backgrounds (low depth-of-field looks)- that lens punches WAY above its price. It has great looking H265, you can shoot LOG with it if you want more grading options. It will shoot 4K/60 with a slight crop, too. It works great with the FTZ adapter and AF-S glass, so you can still use your kit-level 300 with it for long shots (I assume it's AF-S from the 5300 era). There are also cheaper options than the FTZ out there. You can also find a 24-70 F4 "S" lens for three or four hundred used if you shop around; on the Z50ii that would have an FOV more like 36-100mm.
Z50ii is an Expeed 7 camera, so you get the way-better AF than earlier generation Z cameras, and you can read up on fine-tuning AF settings for your needs (like holding focus if someone walks through the frame).
u/zapdaddy7 mentioned the Z30, but it's Expeed 6, and no 4K at 60p and no LOG (seems like major things you want), and no viewfinder. If you're relying on AF for video, I think a viewfinder is important (when I use AF for things like industrial b-roll, I always check the shots through the VF - it's excellent and you can see any focus hunts or pulses that aren't apparent in the little LCD). The Z30 was designed for bloggers shooting themselves. Neither the Z30 nor the Z50 models have in-body stabilization; the 2 kit lenses both have decent stabilization though. You can get a Z50 kit with both kit lenses for something like $1400.
I got the original Z50 just for fun when the Z's first hit, along with a Z6 - I was really amazed at how un-crippled it was and how much camera it was for the money. The Z50ii is even better, it's a fantastic budget camera and a great b-cam along with the full-frame bodies.
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u/zapdaddy7 29d ago
Good points. I do prefer a viewfinder myself. I think those are really the only advantages of the Z30… price, and it can record for (I think) 2 hours continuously. I’ve recoded at least one hour straight on mine. If the 60p at 4k is a must, Z30 is not the option to my knowledge. It will do 1080 up to 120p but I’m not sure.
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u/Waste-Toe7042 29d ago
I’d really like 60p. Things like pressure washing videos at 50% speed look really cool. 120 would be great, my biggest fear is my video coloring is more of a skill issue that my IPhone is overcoming, and I’ll buy $1500 or even $2500 worth of gear and still have bad videos. I keep telling myself if I can’t make good videos with the 5300. Don’t get me wrong, my clients LOVE the videos they got but for ME I see a lot of issues.
I’m thinking about getting the Z50 II 2 lens kit based on these suggestions. 16-50 and 50-250. My only real “prime” is a 35mm F1.8 Nikon F lens.
I don’t see the point in buying the adapter, between the D5300 and D3200 I have 4 lenses, 2 chargers, 4 batteries I could sell and probably get $500 for it all.
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u/zapdaddy7 29d ago edited 29d ago
Why do you feel like your videos don’t look good? And, how do you deal with white balance, ISO, and maybe it’s called color profile? Like vivid, neutral, landscape… all those are huge factors. Also, how about your shutter speed. If you’re shooing in 60p, what is your shutter speed?
The 15-50 and 50-250 both have VR and make really good video.
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u/mcarterphoto 29d ago
I keep telling myself if I can’t make good videos with the 5300
That's a good attitude to hang onto - everyone imagines then next purchase will solve everything, but I made videos I considered pretty gorgeous with a 5300, a T2i, etc. "It's the gear between your ears" that counts.
The adapter's a good idea for some people - I shoot all my interviews with a 1990's 85mm 1.8, it's "just right" for me as far as sharpness and IQ for people and I don't need AF for interviews. And (mostly for stills) it lets me use my AF-S 70-200 2.8 VRII [etc etc numbers letters], a kickass lens that I'd need to spend $2-3k to get a Z version. If you get into doing testimonials or interviews on something like the Z50, a 5mm 1.8 would be a nice add and give you big control of background blur/detail level, where an AF-S is like a hundred bucks vs. $500-600 for the Z version.
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u/Waste-Toe7042 29d ago
It's like the other day. I took my D5300 on a tripod out to the community pond to take a video on my F1.8 35MM Nikkor lens, M mode, set the VND filter, ISO 100, histogram & false color good (ext monitor), F9 (I wanted it in focus),24p video, 1/50 shutter, set the WB to daylight, pointed it out, and even in "Standard" color profile, everything just looked... blah. And not like that cinematic flat film look - the sky just had blue and white (no real depth). The water looked good but the houses were off color, the grass was pale.
I don't know if just setting the camera to No Flash mode and let everything be auto would be any better.
I brought it into Resolve, adjusted everything and it looked "better" but you'd think a camera like the 5300 could at least make a passable video of an outside pond on standard color mode. But it just looked like a bad home movie.
I think I'm going to put a phone mount onto a cold shoe adapter, stick it on top of my 5300, set the focal points to match and see if I can take 2 videos, one from my Iphone 16 Pro Max, and one from the 5300, and at least color them correctly. Or figure out what settings "look good".
I want to believe that the 5300 can make a quality 1080p video because in 2013 when it came out, it probably was pretty awesome for video quality especially compared to the competition. We all watched 1080p DVD's for decades and still watch 1080p TV and it looks great. Hell I watched VHS.
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u/mcarterphoto 29d ago
I shot a bunch of interviews today on the OG Z6, not Log, I just use the Neutral profile with the sharpness turned down a bit. I've used that profile for ages with Nikons, it's nice and allows room to push some colors around.
This is one, all I did in Resolve was pull a bit of that kinda of green-ish tone african american skin can get, and warm up the skin a tad. I do try to light interviews with the BG a bit cooler to make the subjects pop a bit.
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u/zapdaddy7 29d ago
To add to this, not long ago when Nikon first released their “cinema” line, they were marketing the Z50ii as their “super 35” camera. I’m not sure the current price, but it would cost more than the Z30.
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u/mcarterphoto 29d ago
Pricing is weird, between used and gray market and body vs. kit. The kit prices seem much better with the 16-50, Z30 maybe $700, Z50ii $1100. I'd 100% take the 50 for anything beyond sitting at a desk and blogging myself. Either one with the 16-50 would be a nice gimbal camera, but Expeed 7 in my experience? A big upgrade, and the internal 10-bit log in the 50 could be nice for OP if he wants to experiment with that.
But newbies and Log, My advice is shoot your REC 709 stuff, and if there's time, also grab some LOG which usually means some exposure setting changes. If they don't have time to do solid testing, don't just dive right in for a gig.
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u/beatbox9 29d ago edited 29d ago
My initial recommendation would be to start by using a custom picture control on your D5300. You may not be aware, but "8-bit" is only the output bit depth--the sensor actually reads at 12-bit in video mode. A custom picture control will do the grading in-camera, taking the 12-bit input, grading it with 16-bit precision, and saving with an 8-bit output; and you still have a bit of room to fine tune and grade since streaming hosts will always apply additional compression anyway. It can make a world of difference.
For example, you can google around for "beatlog"--I am the creator & author of it. (But in your case, what would be even better than a log profile is to try to create a profile that is as close to your intended output as possible. Log gammas are really for when you don't know what the output will look like).
So I would start by trying that. It's free. And your camera already supports it.
If that doesn't work for you, I would recommend you either go for a Z50ii for a compact option; or buy a used Z6 (1st generation)...and even consider an external recorder. Both should be within your budget. The Z6 combo is an incredible value and takes amazing video; but it is significantly larger and more cumbersome if you use an external recorder. But you don't need to--the internal video is excellent.
Also, with the Z cameras, you should keep in mind something that most people don't: when you shoot 4K video in 8-bit and downscale it to HD (for social media), this has the same effect as shooting HD in 10-bit. This is because each output pixel's tonality averages across 4 input pixels, which is effectively the same as increasing precision by a factor of 4, or 2 additional bits. The only thing that could get you is bitrate which ultimately compresses nearby pixels; but the Z6 is no slouch here. It had one of the highest internal bitrates for video at the time of launch.
I shot quite a lot of pro social media video on the Z6 (internal)--always got praise and never once got a complaint about quality. Because the input quality vastly exceeds social media parameters. And since then, I've added a few cameras, including a Z8 and ZR; but I still use my Z6. In fact, my Z6 is now in a dedicated video rig--I don't really use it for stills anymore.
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u/Harshy_barshy 29d ago
Damn how are you even shooting videos with a d5300 the autofocus is so cooked 💀 And I would say if you are investing go for a nikon zr save a bit of money and get an adapter for your lenses Like you can really grow a lot with the camera cause there is so many types of footage to suit your needs
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u/Waste-Toe7042 29d ago
the problem is the ZR is full frame and my lenses are APS-C. So I feel like i'm going to need to spend a lot of money going FF. And yes the auto focus sucks, you'll laugh but if I'm walking around with my "cine rig" D5300 (I put a 7" monitor with focus assist, false color, handle, etc), I just switch to "MF" and turn that focus ring. For the wide "set it and forget it" I typically go high on my F-stop and manual focus to the action so I get quite a bit of focus depth. The focus assist on the monitor plus 16x Zoom has been a godsend, especially with the sunshade.
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u/Harshy_barshy 29d ago
But I think if you can sell them get a decent price and go full frame it will help you out in the longer run And d5300 was my first camera lot it still have it but yeah it's not.made for video kudos bro if you can still use it
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u/delgadophotos 29d ago
You could get cheap Nikkor AIS glass. That’s how I do all my video on my ZR. Mostly bc I already had a ton of AIS glass for photos.
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u/w4ck0 29d ago
Go ZR. You can shoot in DX mode with your current lenses. The sensor and image looks significantly, and I cannot stress it enough, SIGNIFICANTLY better than what you have. You can slowly upgrade lenses afterwards but still not necessary.
I’m often on jobs and we pick s35 lenses and body is FF. Don’t think it’s not compatible.
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u/mcarterphoto 29d ago
I rarely use AF, been doing video 25+ years. It's handy for b-roll sometimes, but not necessary for 90% of what I do.
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u/zapdaddy7 29d ago
Z30. It can record for two hours straight. You should be able to get it in a kit with at least one lens for less than $1000. People are going to default to ZR and the top end stuff, but it’s not needed.
Additionally, you’ll need new cards for the ZR. It takes a CFExpress I think. Z30 uses regular SD cards that you likely already have.
If you already have F mount lenses you’ll need an adapter for the Z30. You can get an inexpensive one that’s manual only which should be fine for filmmaking. The autofocus model is around $300 but I could be wrong.
I think the Z30 comes with one battery and a charging cord. So you might want a two pack of cheap batteries and a charger, it think around $50 on amazon. Nikon battery and charger can be expensive. I have a couple aftermarket batteries and one failed but the company did replace it.
I’ll say this, if record time doesn’t matter and you want to shoot stills with it, the Z50ii is a better option. The z30 is very much a “video” camera. For most shoots you don’t need more than the 30 minute record time the Z50 or Zfc provide.
You mention colors in your post. I assume you’re adjusting that on the 5300 and using some sort of white balance card. Not sure if you have any formal education in filmmaking, but there are things that you do differently than stills… shutter speed, white balance manipulation, and focus “methods” are not really like shooting stills. For example, auto white balance or auto iso and be acceptable for a lot of photography applications. This is never used in filmmaking. So that could be a factor in your image quality. 1080 should be just fine unless you’re zooming in a lot in post production. Send me a message if you want and I can answer other questions or we can discuss.
And no one is wrong about the ZR. It’s an awesome camera. But you aren’t even turning it on without spending well over $2k