What’s Your Preference?

oneronnalee · #1 (**permalink**) 01-09-2012, 03:46 PM

Hey DPS, it's been awhile!

So basically I'm going to be upgrading to a D7000 in the next few months. I'm very keen to try out the video feature, so here's a few questions regarding the camera's performance and different accessories. Keep in mind that if I'm a student, so if I'll be getting any of these my desire here is "functional but affordable" so basically resulting in decent quality but not destroying my wallet completely.

- Is there an in-built mic, if yes, how good is it's performance, and what would be a good starter one that would provide (or improve) reasonable audio? Any tips or tricks?

- Do you record in RAW or not? How would you compare the performance and outcome depending on the above?

- So I have some vague knowledge about memory card speeds, but could anyone link me to some good resources which would hammer that knowledge in? Is a faster SD card necessary for video recording? Which one would be minimal/optimal? Both speed and size wise.

That would be all.

Thanks a lot.

Ronna

OsmosisStudios · #2 (**permalink**) 01-09-2012, 04:38 PM

Let's tackle this one section at a time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oneronnalee

- Is there an in-built mic, if yes, how good is it's performance, and what would be a good starter one that would provide (or improve) reasonable audio? Any tips or tricks?

Yes, there's a good mic, but whether it's performance is adequate for you or not will depend on your needs. For most of my videos, the audio gets ditched entirely in place of a soundtrack of sorts. So, for me, the built-in mic is fine. If you're doing interviews, or planning on doing any kind of dialogue, you're going to want an external audio system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oneronnalee

- Do you record in RAW or not? How would you compare the performance and outcome depending on the above?

You DON'T record in RAW, because the D7000 isn't capable of it. RAW video is a big deal, and not available on any DSLR. You can still make huge changes in post, when using various video editing software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oneronnalee

- So I have some vague knowledge about memory card speeds, but could anyone link me to some good resources which would hammer that knowledge in? Is a faster SD card necessary for video recording? Which one would be minimal/optimal? Both speed and size wise.

Assuming you're doing 1080p video, a high-speed card is gonna be a huge benefit. Anything labelled as Class10 should do fine. If you're doing 720p only, then you can get away with something as low as a Class4

ccting · #3 (**permalink**) 01-09-2012, 11:47 PM

@OsmosisStudios,
I think we should not look for "class 10" , but its transfer rate in MB/s. Class 10 ranges from 15MB/s to 90MB/s.
My SDHC card is 25MB/s, when I try to record full HDMI video for 20 minutes, it does not look fast enough. I am not sure what cause that problem, but i guess it is the transfer rate of the memory card. The buffer get full before it manage to transfer data to card. I think 30MB/s or 60MB/s is better for my D5100. I don't know about D7000, but i assume the same.

LOL, how about D4? USD6000 looks great..

Melguile · #4 (**permalink**) 01-10-2012, 12:12 AM

I upgraded to the 7000 last month, glad I did! The video and sound are great. The bonus about the camera is the 2 memory card slots as you can have one slot dedicated to photo and the other dedicated to video (or shoot with one/back up other, or one raw/other jpeg shots of the same image).

OsmosisStudios · #5 (**permalink**) 01-10-2012, 02:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccting

@OsmosisStudios,
I think we should not look for "class 10" , but its transfer rate in MB/s. Class 10 ranges from 15MB/s to 90MB/s.

Actually "Class 10" refers to a minimum of 10MB/s read and/or write speed. Anything ABOVE that is "Class 10" or better. Class 10 is, in all my experience, more than adequate for 1080P HD video. Obviously, faster will be better, but a minimum of Class 10 is a good benchmark.