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First test of Nikon D800 uncompressed HDMI output


Andrew Reid
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[img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/nikon-d800-hdmi-header.jpg[/img]

Slowly the new DSLRs are giving up their mysteries as they land in the laps of lucky pre-orderers who thanks to Canon and Nikon have had to blindly throw $3000 in their general direction, hoping that the camera does what they want. So next time if you are listening Canon and Nikon, tell us right from the start about things like image quality, scaling to 1080p and HDMI output quality.

Anyway, rant over! Here is the first professional test of the Nikon D800′s mythical uncompressed HDMI output.

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/content/7489/first-test-of-nikon-d800-hdmi-output/"]Read full article[/url]

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EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
For those who care about stills from the D800 imaging-resource posted lots of samples - and they are stunning.  They were very impressed.

[url=http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d800/nikon-d800A.HTM]http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d800/nikon-d800A.HTM[/url]

"We received the 36.3-megapixel Nikon D800 and Luke immediately got to work shooting our Still Life target. Peering at the images, we were astonished to see enough detail to capture and clearly render the threads in our dreaded Red Leaf fabric, a feature of our standard Still Life target. Awesome."

And the D800E will do ever better.
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I'm extremely disappointed, for two reasons:
* Interlaced? really? That's so 20th century... Thanks, but no, thanks.
* See those horizontal lines in the notebook page? See how they randomly change from green to red? Guess what that is. Exactly. Any camera movement and you'd be watching full-rainbow psychedelic footage. Can't wait for the brick wall tests to appear.


By the way, completely off topic: I tweeted you about a short film shot with my Flaat picture styles for Canon DSLRs. Did you get to watch it? I think it looks absolutely lovely, and most commenters seem to aggree :)
[url=http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-picture-styles/real-world-tests-3.html]http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-picture-styles/real-world-tests-3.html[/url]
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I still can't wait to see proper comparisons to see what is the real difference between the two systems.  IMO as long as the resolution is close to what the 5Dmk3 and GH2 put out, the 4:2:2 color is still a major plus for me.  If we can somehow get someone to make a LUT for Nikon cameras that would be awesome.  I can't see a clear winner yet, but it's really interesting.  I'm also very intrigued by the possibilities of a GH3.  This is going to be a landmark year for DSLR Video IMO.
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Well ive seen a d800 connected to atomos ninja and i think the ninja showed 1080i50 / 1080PsF25

So Im pretty sure uncompressed hdmi is capable of 1080p25 , but in an interlaced wrapper. I think its highly unlikely that the footage itself is interlaced.

Im also pretty sure that its 8 bit because thats what Nikon said earlier.

well time will tell.....
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What is the obsession with interlaced wrappers and HDMI, can someone please enlighten me? These camera companies want their heads banging together they really do! Just give us 1080p, it is 2012 and if your TV / box doesn't accept the signal, stuff it - get a new one. Or even better how about Nikon providing us 176Mbit ALL-I in camera like the *$500* GH2 does!!

It's a no-buy for me with the D800 at the moment.

However D4 has a tasty trick I will reveal soon, just waiting on Nikon's clearance of my source's footage.
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I was really hoping for something nice from Canon, but they let budget DSLR filmmakers down with the 5D MKIII, so the D800 shined a little light into my eyes with the HDMI 422 10bit Uncompression, but now when i compare the h.264 and HDMI, there is no big difference and who even thinks about the interlaced anymore. 7D outputs 1080p via HDMI. So now im waiting for the 4K Canon which i definitely cannot afford, at least hopefully i'll see some great looking video coming out of this thing, and maybe one day be rich enough to afford it.
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Nikon D4 reviewed on DigitalRev!


[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcRiNm1sbzc#ws]Nikon D4 Hands-on Review[/url]


They also review the D4's video mode.  Wish they would do a proper review on the uncompressed hdmi output.  Video looks pretty clean though.  Can't wait to see more footage and a proper comparison - 1DX vs D4 - 5DmkIII vs D800.  Interesting times we live in!!
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I love that digital rev guy.  To each their own.

:)

And Nikon themselves claim that the HDMI out on the D4 and D800 is 8 bit color - not sure why everyone is saying that it is 10bit.  I thought any 10 bit you see is a conversion from the external recorder and not actually captured by the cameras sensor.

I would LOVE to be wrong on this - so if someone can show me otherwise, please do!

It is tricky to understand because of the wording on the page of the Atomos Ninja:

[url=http://www.atomos.com/press/articles/press004-NikonD4.xml]http://www.atomos.com/press/articles/press004-NikonD4.xml[/url]

Basically says the Ninja can collect 10 bit color - but doesn't specifically say that it will, when plugged into a Nikon D4.

[url=http://youtu.be/LZATZwojnKM]http://youtu.be/LZATZwojnKM[/url]

And to make matters worse, we have this guy who shoots for the BBC in the video below.  Nikon let him test the camera and the results were terrible.  Even he complained that the picture quality was soft and mushy and that Nikon told him there was nothing they could do about it.

[url=https://vimeo.com/35858338]https://vimeo.com/35858338[/url]
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Youtube is flooded with D4 video tests from dozens and dozens of people.

[url=http://youtu.be/MRUx4OozWjY]http://youtu.be/MRUx4OozWjY[/url]

Every video is poor, but at least most of these D4 owners admit that they will use the camera mostly for stills.  Mushy, low contrast, virtually no color depth, blown highlights, plugged shadows with tons of harsh pixels. 

Andrews initial skepticism of Nikon internal processing and hiding high quality videos from the public was criticized months ago by other blogs, forums and Nikon fanboys...but he is now being proven right.  Those people have egg on their face right now.

NOBODY is able to get quality video from the D4 or D800 internally right now.  My local shop has given up and now warns buyers that they are imposing heavy restocking fee's - a few people have already tried returning D4's because of mush video.  I would post samples I took but there is no point - they look exactly the same as the sample above - lifeless and videoish. 

So the only hope left is a $1000 Atomos Ninja or the Blackmagic Hyperdeck (also expensive when you add a decent SSD) and I don't own one of those.

Canon MK3 is the last hope for this round of cameras I am afraid though I am hoping to be proved wrong.

Bummer!
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