Last week Nikon announced the new HDSLR the Nikon D4 and the world shook… did you feel it? I sure did… And why? This sure was a shot across the Canon bow (should I have used a cannon pun there? HA!) and of course we need to compare the D4 to the Canon EOS-1D X as they are similar models and price points.

I’ve seen some folks trying to compare the Nikon D4 to the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, but that’s not fair – the 5D2 is 3 years old and only $2500 – obviously not a fair comparison!

Obviously, Nikon has had 3+ years to get it right – and since they were the first to even release an HDSLR (the Nikon D90), we thought all along that they’d make a killer HDSLR before this. Sure, there’s the D7000, but it still wasn’t quite the competitor to the Canon line. After all, Nikon was still putting out sensors that had more jello than Bill Cosby (only the old folks will get that reference).

In this post, we’ll cover the new features of the Nikon D4 (we already covered the new features in the Canon EOS-1D X here and here), and then we’ll post some differences, then comes the big table o’ features, and finally a summary of which you should buy… it is a long post!

Other planet5D posts on the new Nikon D4:
30 minute product demo from FroKnowsPhoto and USA press release
Europe press release with tons of video info and several product videos

Interesting features of the Nikon D4

First, what are the exciting bits about the Nikon D4 (we’ll do a table with feature comparisons in a bit)?

• The biggest feature everyone is so excited about is the ‘uncompressed clean HDMI out’ (note: uncompressed specifically means not using the in-camera H.264 compression) – something the Canon EOS-1D X should have as well as any future HDSLR… Hello Canon? Of course, to deal with this, you’ll need an external recorder.
• interesting tidbit here is that in order to get the HDMI output to be uncompressed, you’ve got to remove both memory cards, otherwise, you’ll get the compressed video without on screen text/graphics
• The buttons in the back of the camera are backlit like the Apple laptops – brilliant!
• Dual card slots – but one of them is the new XQD format – a CF card replacement
• Intervalometer is built in (Canon listening?) but there’s still no internal GPS (an iPhone can do it, why not a DSLR?) – and you have the option to cread a movie of your timelapse directly in camera
• Controllable with an iPhone or iPad with the wireless accessory
• Note that we’ve shown this is possible with the Canon HDSLRs (see this post and this one as well)
• Option to ‘zoom’ to a 1.5 or 2.7 crop factor (even in video) – this can extend the range of your lenses
• silent mode for stills – using the movie pipeline to give the images, these stills are roughly 2 megs and jpeg only. It’s available in FX Mode, DX mode, 1.2x mode, 5:4 mode

For video folks:

• The Nikon D4 is the first HDSLR with a headphone jack!
• Smart tracking of faces and autofocus is available in video as well (we’ve yet to see how good their autofocus in video mode is).
• shutter speed, aperture, and ISO sensitivity to be changed during recording
• full-time contrast detection autofocus capability, operating either in face detection, wide area, normal, or subject tracking modes, as well as the ability to focus manually
• There is a 60fps video option, but like the Canon EOS-1D X, it is only available in 720
• Clip length is 20 or 29 minutes depending on resolutions
• Nikon says they’ve greatly reduced jello and moire, but we’ll have to see (the few samples that are available seem to be much better)
• Video is 8-bit (that is a limitation of the codec we’ve heard) 4:2:2

There are some detractors there in the video aspects tho… we’ve got to get hands on to see whether these are real impacts

• Tho there is HDMI out and the LCD doesn’t switch off while using an external monitor, Nikon says the HDMI quality is “is only suitable for monitoring purposes” (see imaging-resource article on the Nikon D4)
• it still bugs me that the only way to turn on the “uncompressed HDMI output” is to remove the memory cards – meaning you can’t do dual recording – and that’s just a plain stupid way to turn something ‘on’.
• EOSHD found: “The downsampling of the sensor is similar to the Nikon J1, a $499 mirrorless camera.” – read more about the implications in the EOSHD article

Side by Side!

Ok, on to the comparison… First let me say that in the video aspects of the Canon EOS-1D X were initially a disappointment until we saw the Canon EOS C300 – again not that the Canon EOS C300 is a competitor to the Canon EOS-1D X, but that we now know more about the plans Canon has for the HDSLR line (here, I’m referring to the cinema EOS dslr as well).

About this table… I’ve gone beyond most of the usual spec comparisons (at least I think I have) to add some of the more important features not usually listed in ‘specs’ – and this is a subset of a bigger table I’ve been working on with all of the HDSLRs which I hope to post soon.

Summary and choice

Wow, that’s a lot to take in – and deciding which camera to buy if you’re a pro will obviously depend on your needs. For me, and many of you as well, the decision comes down to your investment in lenses and at this point, I’m a Canon shooter.

I’ve been intrigued by some of the chatter I’ve seen where people say the Nikon D4 trumps the Canon EOS-1D X, but in reality, I see that it comes down to maybe one or two features that people see (like the uncompressed HDMI output and/or the headphone jack) that seem to sway things toward the new Nikon. But it again depends on your needs.

And, if you look up and down the specs, it seems there are quite a few interesting things that people ignore or forget when comparing – specifically, Canon “wins” on the megapixels (18 ‘beats’ 16 right?), burst (fps), ISO is 2 stops better (without expansion), timecode, multi-exposures, dual axis leveling, and others. Nikon “wins” with timelapse support, HDMI output, headphone jack, in camera zoom, possibly autofocus (we’ll have to see on that!), and others.

So we’re still lucky that we have 2 huge competitors fighting it out with features because this means we get better cameras every couple of years.

And, we’ve still got a very interesting year to come! We know Canon has the Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the Cinema EOS DSLR still to come this year.

Sorry to tease you with the title – of course I’m not going to pick for you – it all depends on your needs and current equipment. But hopefully this gives you a consolidated list of features to help you pick.

disclaimer: I don’t know if every fact above is correct, if you see an error, please let me know

(cover photo credit: snap from Nikon and Canon)

Yes, I’m finally getting back to giving away another Drobo and I’m excited to make this a great Hanukkah or Christmas present for one of our loyal readers – and you’ve got multiple ways to enter this giveaway!

December Giveaway

We’re going to do this a bit differently than the past – you have 3 ways to win!

First – like our facebook page

First, we’ll put all the names of people who are ‘fans’ of our planet5D Facebook page! So for one chance to win, just simply ‘like’ our page and you’re eligible to win!

To make it really simple, just click this ‘like’ button!

Second – post on the forums

The second way to get one or more entries into the giveaway is to post on our planet5D forum – every post there between now and December 20th is eligible to win!

So jump over to the forum and post as much as you want – be on topic tho – contribute a movie you shot, comment on someone else’s post, answer someone’s question – each time you do that will be another entry.

Third – Tweet it!

or, get another entry by posting this tweet (click here to automatically go to twitter with the text):
“Win a Drobo on planet5D #planet5dDrobo – enter thru Dec 20 – rules here: http://blog.planet5D.com/decdrobo”

or as an additional bonus since you love planet5D Cinema so much, tweet this please: (click here to automatically go to twitter with the text):
“I love watching videos shot on DSLR video cameras on planet5D cinema”

Giveaway Details

We will be giving away 1 Drobo at on December 21st (in time to be your own Christmas or Hanukkah present – tho I WILL NOT be using expedited shipping so it is likely to not get to you until after the holidays!) – it will be the base model and it will NOT include any drives. We’ll do a random selection from all the facebook fans as well as the forum posts and all of the tweets with #planet5dDrobo between now and midnight December 20

No purchase is necessary – anyone can win as it will be a totally random giveaway.

Our Fourms

You can register to post, but you can also log in with Twitter or Facebook. But once you’re in, you’ll want to work with others and learn how they’re using their equipment. We’ve got sections for:

• General Discussion
• Cameras (each of the Canon HDSLRs has a section here)
• Video samples, movies, music videos etc
• Video tips and equipment
• Video Editing
• Still samples from Canon HDSLR cameras (see also galleries)
• Still Photography
• Critiques (both still and video)
• Marketplace (buying and selling equipment)
• Introductions – just stop in and say hi!

We’ve set up a special thread on the forum for entries into the contest if you don’t yet have something to contribute to the other threads. Just post here.

We’d prefer that you post something about yourself, or how you’re using the camera; you know, something interesting – something more than just a simple ‘I want to win’… but we’ll leave it up to you — of course, you can always introduce yourself on the “introductions” thread.

planet5D Forums – a nice place to talk HDSLRs

We know that you have choices on forums, and we have made the planet5D forum very pleasant, we’re tough on bashing (remember what mom always said: “if you don’t have anything good to say, then don’t say it”), the look and feel is easy on the eyes, they’re well organized, and you’ll have an enjoyable experience.

We’re doing this a little bit different than some of the “tweet this and win” contests, it is a tad harder to enter, but we feel this is good for everyone (not everyone has twitter)… and will help raise awareness of our enhanced forums and you’ll benefit by having an additional high quality place to interact with other HDSLR users! But if you want to tweet this post, please feel free! There’s a tweet icon right up at the top!

Thanks and please let me know if there’s anything I can do to enhance your stay at planet5D!

What is a Drobo?

For feedburner daily email readers: watch the video (note: feedburner and other email systems disable the javascript embed tags so the videos won’t display.)

Blogger’s Disclaimer: Drobo is not associated with planet5D and but our links to them are affiliate links.

(cover photo credit: snap from the video)

Every now and then, we get to see someone modify an old lens for use on a modern camera (remember the 102 year old lens with amazing photos?), and today we have Chris Gampat from the Phoblographer who’s added an Argus 50mm f3.5 Cintar to his Canon EOS 5D Mark II (reviews) with some interesting results. I remember my parents had an Argus and this is possibly the lens they had on that camera – now why didn’t I think to keep that?

A bit from Chris’ post

One of the keys to developing your own photographic style is getting a look that nobody else has. Since cutting down my photography kit to three primes, I’ve thought about what else I could add to get a different look while mixing in my own knowledge of photography to the pot. Then one day, while looking at an old camera on my desk, I decided to hack the lens off of an old Argus C3. After hours of internet research, I found that nobody has created an adapter for the lens to Canon EOS mount. So I took it to a machinist and had the lens custom adapted to my 5D Mk II.

The Lens

The Argus C3 is arguably, the camera that made the 35mm film format what it is. Affectionately called, “The Brick” it was a camera that was shaped quite like a brick and weighed almost as much despite being a rangefinder camera. The lens that came standard with it was a 50mm f3.5 Cintar. It was said to be extremely sharp…for the era! Indeed, this lens was created before the days of coatings and by modern standards, isn’t amazingly sharp or can resolve the amount of details that most modern lenses can.

The lens video

Some samples

Chris posted about 20 images on the post Review: Argus 50mm f3.5 Cintar Hacked for Canon EOS at The Phoblographer – but here are a couple:

The bokeh from this lens wide open is still quite delicious with an old school look and feel to it.

Copyright Chris Gampat @thephoblographer

Read more!

Chris has much more on this lens over on his blog: Review: Argus 50mm f3.5 Cintar Hacked for Canon EOS at The Phoblographer

(cover photo credit: snap from the thephoblographer http://www.thephoblographer.com/)

We’ve now given away 3 Drobos on planet5D! Again our thanks to the folks over at Drobo who have helped us – you really should think about how a Drobo might help you with your data management issues.

Winners

The July winner was never announced because the selected winner never responded to any of our attempts to notify them – so we’ve selected a new winner and that was Jim Ackerman.

We picked the August winner live on the planet5D live page after our conversation with Koo from NoFilmSchool last week – and that was Greg V.

The other winner of our week long Drobo giveaway was J. Mark Strong who also sent us a photo!

Drobo Winner J. Mark Strong not working on his Drobo

What is a Drobo?

For feedburner daily email readers: watch the video (note: feedburner and other email systems disable the javascript embed tags so the videos won’t display.)

I’ve had a drobo 4-bay (the USB2 model) for about 3 years now and I really enjoy it. I’ve been able to add additional drives to it and removed one when I needed additional capacity. I am hoping the new 4-bay units are a bit quieter tho – the one I have can be a bit loud in the summer when my office is warm.
thanks and good luck!

Blogger’s Disclaimers:

• Drobo is not a sponsor for planet5D but we’re thrilled they ran the contest (and I have owned my own drobo for several years).
• Our links to them are affiliate links. If you decide to buy (assuming you didn’t win) then we’ll get a little commission.

(cover photo credit: snap from the Drobo site)

Yes! We’ve got another Drobo to give away!!! That makes 2 for the month of August! You can win one of two ways – this quick giveaway – or on the planet5D forums (see this post with info).

This new giveaway is gonna be a quick one tho – only 7 days to enter and win… deadline is midnight Sunday August 14th. To enter you MUST go to this Drobo page and enter all your contact details. We’ll do a random selection from all those who enter on that form.

Please help us possibly get another Drobo to give away later by tweeting and posting this to facebook and google+ and everywhere else! Here’s a suggestion:

“Win a Drobo 4-bay disk storage unit! Tell all your friends to tell the world about the #planet5Ddrobo giveaway http://blog.planet5d.com/une”

And please feel free to use the facebook comment section below to tell us why you’d love to have a Drobo!

My Cheezy Giveaway video

Comment on Facebook

awesome comments

thanks to Drobo for giving another great prize!

Blogger’s Disclaimer: Drobo is NOT a planet5D sponsor, but we’ll print all sorts of HDSLR related news – just let us know!

(cover photo credit: snap from the Drobo contest)

We’re very pleased to be offering another great prize in our August giveaway – a Drobo 4-Bay! All of the instructions for entering are below – but here’s a pic of the Drobo boxes that arrived at my house the other day!

Drobos arrive at planet5D HQ (cat not included)

Details

We will be giving away 1 Drobo at the end of August – it will be the base model and it will NOT include any drives.

No purchase is necessary – anyone can win as it will be a totally random giveaway – but you do have to post on the planet5D forums to be eligible.

What is a Drobo?

For feedburner daily email readers: watch the video (note: feedburner and other email systems disable the javascript embed tags so the videos won’t display.)

How to enter!

Entry will be simple – simply post on our planet5D forum and you’re entered! And, as an added bonus, each time you post, you’ll get another shot at winning! All posts in the month of August (based on the time stamp on the planet5D forum server) count. We’ll pick the winner on the first of the next month in a random draw from all the forum posts for the month, and we will ship the product directly to the winner!

You can register to post, but you can also log in with Twitter or Facebook. But once you’re in, you’ll want to work with others and learn how they’re using their equipment. We’ve got sections for:

• General Discussion
• Cameras (each of the Canon HDSLRs has a section here)
• Video samples, movies, music videos etc
• Video tips and equipment
• Video Editing
• Still samples from Canon HDSLR cameras (see also galleries)
• Still Photography
• Critiques (both still and video)
• Marketplace (buying and selling equipment)
• Introductions – just stop in and say hi!

We’ve set up a special thread on the forum for entries into the contest if you don’t yet have something to contribute to the other threads. Just post here.

We’d prefer that you post something about yourself, or how you’re using the camera; you know, something interesting – something more than just a simple ‘I want to win’… but we’ll leave it up to you — of course, you can always introduce yourself on the “introductions” thread.

planet5D Forums – a nice place to talk HDSLRs

We know that you have choices on forums, and we have made the planet5D forum very pleasant, we’re tough on bashing (remember what mom always said: “if you don’t have anything good to say, then don’t say it”), the look and feel is easy on the eyes, they’re well organized, and you’ll have an enjoyable experience.

We’re doing this a little bit different than some of the “tweet this and win” contests, it is a tad harder to enter, but we feel this is good for everyone (not everyone has twitter)… and will help raise awareness of our enhanced forums and you’ll benefit by having an additional high quality place to interact with other HDSLR users! But if you want to tweet this post, please feel free! There’s a tweet icon right up at the top!

Thanks and please let me know if there’s anything I can do to enhance your stay at planet5D!

thanks to Drobo for giving such a great prize!

Blogger’s Disclaimer: Drobo is NOT a planet5D sponsor, but we’ll print all sorts of HDSLR related news – just let us know!

(cover photo credit: snap from the Drobo contest)

Remember the Drobo 100 contest? we almost won! Tho we didn’t win the grand prize, the folks at Drobo did decide to award runner up prizes and they’re graciously giving us a few Drobos and we’re going to give some away. You can see the winners in this Drobo announcement page.

With all of the huge photographs and video files coming out of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II (reviews) and other HDSLRs, you’ll definitely need more storage and Drobos fit that bill perfectly (if you’re not familiar with Drobo, watch the video below). I wish we had more to give away, but we’re thrilled to be able to offer these!

Our plan

The original contest was set up so that 1 winner would get 100 Drobos to give away in any way they saw fit – and we were going to run a contest to give away the Drobos to 10 different winners. Since we didn’t come in first but still are receiving some Drobos, we want to honor our commitment and give some away. What the winners do with them is up to them – they won’t be obligated to give them to charity.

Our plan is to give one Drobo away per month for the next 4 months! We’ll do each giveaway a differently to spread the love around.

The first giveaway

The first giveaway will be pretty simple – we’ll randomly draw the winner on August 1st of all of the people who are subscribers to our daily email. Simply enter your email address in the box below and make sure you process the verification email as we’ll make sure it is a verified email address when we select the winner. Email addresses that aren’t verified are not eligible to win! If you’re already receiving the daily email, you’re already registered!

Details

Some details about what we’re giving away:

• We will be giving away 1 Drobo 4-bay at the end of July
• winner will be randomly selected
• Decision of the random number generator is final
• Winner will get the Drobo 4-bay unit
• Hard drives are not included (you can buy them at amazon if you’d like to support planet5D)
• I happen to like these drives: Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA II (tho notice right now the 1.5tb drives are only $2 more!)
• No purchase necessary, but you do have to be a validated email subscriber to the planet5D email list – add yourself to the list in the box above
• Taxes and shipping (outside the USA) will be the winner’s responsibility
• Void where prohibited – we’re not responsible for anything other than giving good stuff away
• The winner must agree to have their name published as the winner.

What is a Drobo?

For feedburner daily email readers: watch the video (note: feedburner and other email systems disable the javascript embed tags so the videos won’t display.)

I’ve had a drobo 4-bay (the USB2 model) for about 3 years now and I really enjoy it. I’ve been able to add additional drives to it and removed one when I needed additional capacity. I am hoping the new 4-bay units are a bit quieter tho – the one I have can be a bit loud in the summer when my office is warm.

Please tell everyone!

So, make sure you’re getting the planet5D daily email and please tell all your friends! It would be great if you would tweet or post on facebook:

“planet5D is giving away a Drobo – find out how to win: http://blog.planet5d.com/9aw”

thanks and good luck!

Blogger’s Disclaimers:

• Drobo is not a sponsor for planet5D but we’re thrilled they ran the contest (and I have owned my own drobo for several years).
• The original contest stated they were going to give one Drobo to each of the top 10 entries with the most votes. They’ve awarded us 5 as runner up; we’re going to keep one of the 5 and give the other 4 away. We feel this is fair since there wasn’t a runner up category and we did want to honor the original intent.
• Our links to them are affiliate links. If you decide to buy (assuming you didn’t win) then we’ll get a little commission.

(cover photo credit: snap from the Drobo 100 contest)

When you’re learning about your camera, one question that comes to mind is should you worry about the mirror vibration when shooting stills? Does locking the mirror up really help? Well, Preston Scott of CameraTechnica put that question to themselves and decided to put together a little test with their Canon EOS 7D (reviews) to help analyze the situation.

Of course, this will fuel the debate about whether a DSLR even really needs a mirror any more – why not go mirrorless?

The test video

DSLR Mirror Vibration from Camera Technica on Vimeo.

More details

Please read the blog post there are more details there and a really good summary. Of course one question that I had while watching the video is answered in Preston’s post – what impact does the shutter speed have?

He also said this snippet:

The results are fairly telling. In the first case, despite all attempts to press the shutter button smoothly, erratic vibrations sent the laser dancing in all directions. The addition of the remote shutter in case two improved things substantially, but there was a surprising amount of movement induced by the mirror. In the third case, it became clear that allowing mirror vibrations to dampen during mirror lock-up helped the situation substantially.

What do you think? Should future DSLRs be mirrorless?

(cover photo credit: snap from the video)

Do you guys remember seeing this very cool “Here Morning Elegance” stop motion video? You probably have, it has over 19 million views on youtube… but I’ll bet you didn’t know it was shot on the Canon EOS 5D. And now, if you’re a fan, you can buy one of the stills from the shoot! Read below!

And there’s a link to the BTS video down at the bottom too – that’s pretty cool.

First, the video

For feedburner daily email readers: watch the video (note: feedburner and other email systems disable the javascript embed tags so the videos won’t display.

The PR about buying a still

The Creators of the Grammy Nominated Her Morning Elegance Launch the First Global Excision Art Project

The Her Morning Elegance Gallery has, for the first time ever, taken a music video apart frame by frame and begun to distribute the video as photography all over the world. Through the online Her Morning Elegance Gallery, each photo-quality ‘excised’ frame is being offered as a single edition, signed and numbered photograph.

With over 18 million YouTube views, Her Morning Elegance is the most successful stop-motion video ever made. It has been screened at The Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity, Pompidou Center, Le Hors Piste Film Festival, SXSW and The Los Angeles Film Festival. It has inspired the art community and in return gained a nomination for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. Together with the music video’s success and the opening of the Her Morning Elegance Gallery, a new form of art has been born.

“The video was created using a technique called stop motion photography. This means each one of the 2096 still photos [frames of the video] were shot using a digital SLR Camera with the highest attention to detail and composition,” said Eyal Landesman, the photographer. “The frames were then sequenced together to create the feeling of motion. Our initial idea to create a video that would later be excised allowed us to use a singular narrative approach so that Her Morning Elegance can stand alone as photographic art.”

Guy Laor, the gallery curator added “Letting people choose their favorite frame from the larger piece is a very interesting experiment, it demonstrates in a very strong way how the decision to choose one piece of art over another is subjective. Some choose the “perfect” frame while others connect to the more abstract ones. We always try to imagine the kind of person standing behind each frame we send out.”

At the same time, on Facebook, photos taken by patrons of the gallery are being recollected and shared online. Hundreds of frames have already been sold across North America and Europe, as well as South Korea, Japan, Australia, UK, Brazil, Singapore, Israel and more. When all the photographs are sold, a singular video will have been split 2096 ways across the globe.

Photos are available online via the gallery in three sizes and prices ranging from $100 to $480.

For more information about the artists or the process please contact:
Daniel Rotman – Gallery Curator Assistant
E-mail: info@hmegallery.com
Phone: +972-54-3464-668

Stay tuned for further developments.

Links
Video: http://www.hmegallery.com/
Gallery: http://www.hmegallery.com/photos.php
To better demonstrate the process involved in the project, the artists have released The Making of Her Morning Elegance which is available online at: http://www.hmegallery.com/makingof.php
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Gallery-of-Her-Morning-Elegance/396928617526?sk=wall
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hmegallery

(cover photo credit: snap from the video)

Everyone remember the “Pay it Forward” movie? Well, hopefully you do and understand the idea of passing along something good to someone else. The folks at Drobo are going to give away 100 Drobos and we’ve submitted our entry (see video below). Our entry is a bit different than the others that are being submitted in that we’re not just submitting one charity or group to win all the Drobos. We’re going to expand the contest (when we win) by dividing the 100 Drobos into a new contest where 10 of you would win – and you’d get to keep one Drobo and then give 9 of them to your favorite charity or deserving organization or school etc.

Voting is simple – go here and enter your email address.

Drobo 100 description

This is your chance to change the world… what would you do with 100 Drobos?

What would you do with 100 Drobos?

That’s right. 100 Drobos. Enough Drobo storage for your local school district or a national charitable organization. We’re going to give away 100 Drobos to someone who can put them to the best use – improving schools, addressing hunger, fostering the arts – you tell us.

In fact, we’ll also give away 10 Drobos to submitters and one Drobo every day of the contest to a randomly selected voter.

To win 100 Drobos for your cause plus some for yourself and your friends, just convince the Drobo community that your cause is worthy.

Our Pitch

Drobo100 from planetMitch on Vimeo.

Voting

Voting is simple – go here and enter your email address – our entry number is automatically placed in the box – just press the submit button and you’ll help us win!

(cover photo credit: snap from the drobo site)