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Does anyone know how good the movie features in the D7000 is in real-life compared to a film camera to the same price? Is it very poor on autofocusing? Can one use it to shoot an action scene for instance?

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I was under the impression the serious videographers used manual focus techniques. – rfusca♦ Feb 8 '12 at 23:56
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Indeed. Autofocus and autoexposure (while shooting is in progress) are ordinarily considered to be undesirable and accidental special effects. Warning: serious video cinematography is an expensive hobby; a follow-focus (from the likes of Redrock Micro or Cavision) with lens gears will be about the same price as the D7000, and you'll still need a rail system (like a Redrock or Zacuto) to hold everything together. Then there's the mounting plates, matte box.... – Stan Rogers Feb 9 '12 at 2:14
Oh, so I should just go with the D7000 and try to manual focus? I don't have the money to do "serious video cinematography". I just need a better camera than my old analog DV-camera. – Friend of Kim Feb 9 '12 at 6:57

closed as off topic by Itai, John Cavan♦, ahockley, dpollitt, rfusca♦ Feb 10 '12 at 6:54

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1 Answer

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I am sure manual focus is used almost exclusively on a DLSR for video making. How good of a video can you make? I think a very good bordering professional which I did not know until yesterday when some kids in my town made THIS VIDEO using the D7000. This video should pretty much answer your question as it is of action scenes shot in low light (4AM in the morning).

BTW this is worth watching if you are interested what some Canadian teens do for fun in the winter; hockey in the day and street skiing in the night...

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Thanks for your reply! Was this movie shot with MF? And how would you do that? Do you let it autofocus like you do with pictures and just put a tape on the lens for reference? – Friend of Kim Feb 9 '12 at 16:00
BTW, that was nice! – Friend of Kim Feb 9 '12 at 16:03
Sorry i don't personally know these guys. I could probably track them down trough a few people. I am 99% sure its manually focused. Autofocus in video mode, especially in low light like this, will just keep hunting and adjusting. From what I hear it takes some practice. – Jakub Feb 9 '12 at 16:07
Thanks, but how do you do it? Do you just turn it until it looks good all the time? – Friend of Kim Feb 9 '12 at 16:14
Pretty much, that's why it takes some practice. You can see that in some of the shots the kids intentionally begun out of focus then turn the focusing ring until sharp focus. (convenient and looks good in the sequence) Judging by the bokeh and the fact that there is no zooming whatsoever, they probably used a fast prime lens, probably the 50mm f1.8. In the fast action shots they likely focused first to the correct distance while driving down hill in the car then clipped and assembled the video clips in post processing. You could probably ask them direct on You Tube. – Jakub Feb 9 '12 at 16:45
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