Shubhro Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Hi, I am a newbie from India. Got recently interested in cameras for video. Have been researching a lot about them on the internet. I am on the verge of buying my first one and the toss up is between canon 600d and nikon d5200. The T3i comes with a double lens kit for roughly $573 and the Nikon is to be had for around $605 along with the standard kit lens. In both cases the body only versions do not come with enough price reduction. In the prevailing Indian market, these are the only two which is within my affordable limit. Now, what I plan to do with the camera I ultimtely buy is, shoot a lot of videos in different conditions to get some practice. And then start offering my services for free to my friends who plan to make short films. I do not plan to buy extra lenses as I eventually would graduate to a BMPCC and further to a Panasonic GH4. I would rather Invest in MFT lenses at that time. My questions are: Does Magic Lantern add enough functionality to T3i to justify going for it? I have read that Nikon's slow mo at 60fps is not good. How is the Canon's? Please let me know. Any other information is also welcome. Thanks, Shubhro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Magic Lantern doesn't improve the Video Quality much on a 600D unless you mess around with encoder settings, which is not completely reliable. Tragic Lantern does help with that to a certain extent. The video quality out of the box with the D5200 will be much better including better low light sensitivity. What Magic Lantern does is improve features and usability of the 600D. Manual audio meters, focus peaking, Kelvin White Balance, more ISO options, Histograms, Waveforms, etc the list is huge. I wouldn't be able to use my 600D for video if it didn't have magic lantern which I have gotten used to now. ISO and White balance can be changed with a single click. Helps with run and gun. The D5200 has very bad usability (at least for me) and at this point I am making the sacrifice for picture quality due to my main requirement of having 80% quality with the shot 5/5 times than say having 100% 4/5 times. Also I got my 600D+18-55 kit lens for under 28K. Look for more deals, don't get the 55-250/300. You can use the digital zoom of the 600D with the D5200 doesn't have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shubhro Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Thanks so much. This settles a lot of questions for me. I think i will go for the Canon T3i/600D. Thanks again. :) More information/opinions are most welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shubhro Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Still holding on....! A few more opinions please! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ebrahim Saadawi Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 The d5300 is a newer generation, yes the image quallity is noticeably better in every respect, and gives you 1080 slowmotion if you need it. However, usability is an issue with the camera, you would be very surprised to know that when I go out to shoot something, I find myself picking up the t3i instead of the d5300 despite the inferior image quality. But that's just me, my priority is usability rather than absolute image quality, you might care for image quality more. It comes back to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ebrahim Saadawi Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Oh just noticed it's the d5200 you're speaking of, so remove the 1080p slowmotion note from my comment above, the d5200 and the t3i are equal in that regard (they do 720p at 60p) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shubhro Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 what i would eventualy do is shoot fiction in more or less controlled enviornment. So asking from that perspetive. Of course i need to get a lot of practice before that. Yes it is the D5200 i was talking about(more within my budget). According to the prevailing opinion, the image quality is better in the Nikon D5200 than the Canon600D and the choice would have been a no brainer, if not for ML/TL. The added functionality has really confused me. So..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinegain Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Yeah, kinda depends on what's more important to you... the final recorded image or the process of filming itself. If you're all about pixelpeeping and quality, there's no budget-line dSLR as good as the D5200 (or newer D5300). That is, if you don't mind the handling limitations. Me personally, I would still rather go with the D5300 though, since in the end it's about what you'll be showing on screen, even if that means getting the image is a bit of a hassle. Too bad there isn't Magic Lantern for Nikon, else the choice would be super easy. It does add a considerable level of ease and functionality to your filmmaking. But just, you know, the 18MP sensor in the 600D hasn't changed much between it the 550D, 7D, 60D, 100D, 650D and 700D. So you're basicly using a sensor that's been around for a few years and hasn't seen much technical improvement, whereas the sensors in the D5200/D5300 are pretty brand new and that's definitly a difference. Just look at the scores they both get at DxOMark. But! If you're pretty serious about filmmaking, there are some stunning options that make use of the micro four thirds sensor and lenses. They are capable of delivering serious image quality with a very small formfactor, allowing for very flexible and bare minimum style shooting. There are some really nice gems hidden between all the lenses availlable for the system. And most are very affordable! They're not fullframe and their resolving capability may not always be the greatest and you won't get as much shallow depth of field, but they do stand their own and are very well worth considering. And your money in glass is good invested, since you'll have some nice upgrade possibilities within the system (Panasonic (GH4), Black Magic (BMPCC), et cetera), whereas there's no real upgrade APS-C-wise from a D5300. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 As I said (or maybe didn't) if you are shooting in a controlled environment then go for the Nikon. An extra few seconds required for changing the aperture should hopefully not compromise your shoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danyyyel Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I think if you want to sell yourself as a cinematographer the best thing is to get the best image quality you can. For this the D5200 will be better than the Canon. No one is going to ask you if you had focus peaking but a cleaner by 2 stop image noise will be much more visible. The D5200 also does not have moire/aliasing, better resolution and much better dynamic range. Now in term of usability the camera can also grow with your need. You can get an external monitor for 250-300 nowadays that will help you focus much better than any magic lantern Canon camera. Just the size of the screen will make a big difference. The uncompress hdmi out will also give you the possibility to record high bitrate proress and 422 for better image quality in detailed scene and it will be better also for grading. The last thing I would add is that the D5200 has been replaced by the D5300 which has removed the Fix pattern noise (which is the only annoying thing in the d5200) and added 60fps in 1080p (no canon has this). But I think it will be costlier. But on the other side Nikon has also launched the D3300. Which on paper looks the same as the D5300. That is you will have much better slow motion. But I did not see any firm test of the D3300. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danyyyel Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Just look here for the difference in ISO. One is at ISO 3200, the other one at 800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 So are you saying that the Canon is two stops brighter at ISO 800? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inazuma Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 No the reviewer would have changed the aperture to comepnsate for the exposure difference. I think the point of those videos is to show how clean the ISO 3200 of the Nikon is. I havent looked properly but it looks like the nikon at that iso is as clean as the canon at iso 800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Maybe he should have shot at identical ISOs, aperture and shutter speed so that we could get a better idea, but I understand what you are saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danyyyel Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Hi, there is a whole series of video he did from both camera at different ISO. You just have to click on his vimeo profile. What I was showing is how the D5300 at ISO 3200 is about the same noise level as the T5i at ISO 800 (2 stop difference). This is a very big difference. You can see the Canon at 3200 ISO here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Yep I just saw them as you posted. Looks sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shubhro Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Well! the D5300 i definitely out of my budget. In Indian currency terms, even a 300-400 dollar price difference bloats into quite a considerable sum. So for now, have to stick to either 600d or d5200. Nikon D3300 is still not launched in India. I do want to move on to cameras more suited for film making. But that's in future. I am sure by that time more exciting models would come out. One more thing; your opinions about Sony SLT A58 compared to 600d and d5200. it is again a camera within my budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danyyyel Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Can't you wait a little bit at least for the D3300. It has the 60p in 1080p which you can't find on any Canon and most Nikon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shubhro Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Of course i can......up until a point :) . But my mistake! Nikon D3300 is launched and is priced a shade lower than the d5200. Will try and find some reviews....please post some review links if you have. And Sony A58? is it worth considering as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 The 600D will be better than the sony IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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