A fussy 'what camera' thread

[Fordo]

Hi all, Ive got quite a fussy set of requirements for my next camera.

I picked up photogrpahy a year ago, as a by-product of being a video cameraman. I quickly out-grew my Nikon D40, which i love to bits, but after using bigger and better cameras, I can see I need to upgrade.

I have the stock lens that the camera came with ( something to 55mm) and a 55-200mm with VR, so it would be nice if my next camera could take this- so i want to stay Nikon. Although I understand that if I had a full frame sensor that I wouldnt be able to utilise the full sensor area, until i got better lenses.

Being a cameraman, I also require a Nikon that can do time lapse. At the moment im using a laptop and cam control pro, and its a pita dragging laptop around. Also, do any Nikons have the ability to gave really short time lapse, like 1 sec eposure, every second? A lot of the work I do requires night filming, and time lapsed stills camera gets far better results than any pro video camera under 5 grand. Currently ive been using my d40 with gaffer tape over the button (very ghetto, i know), to get wonderful light trail time lapse, in the city. But the camera has a 100 frame buffer, which is only enough for 5 sec clips. Using the camera control doesnt work here either, because the camera pasuses too long while it downloads the image to computer, so the next 'light trail' from a vehicle, has a gap bewteen it and the last frame. Still makes nice time lapse, but its not the flowing motion that I want to capture. (I can get this holding down the button, but again, 100 frame limit.)

Hope this makes sense, I feel im rambling on.

So in short, Looking for a Nikon, next step up from a D40, with time lapse, and ideally, ability to rapid fire shots until the card is full (without holding down the button)

Forgot to say, bugdet isnt fixed, but im interested to see what Nikon cameras have the features im after!

Edited by Fordo on Monday 16th February 09:38

[VxDuncan]

Nikon D300 has a built in timer for sequential shots and should probably be able to take constant shots in JPEG until the card fills. Obviously you'll need to disable the long exposure NR, as this will take a second shot after the first and subtract it, so making your 1 sec exposure take 2secs. I'll check the specs tonight to see what the specs of the time/burst mode are. You could also look at other cameras with one of nikons fancy timer remotes (which are pretty expensive), though in reality I'd recommend going for something like the D300 upwards as the shutters going to last longer doing this type of work (the shutters are rated at anything between 15,000 and 250,000+ actuations, depending on the model, though there's a bit of mystery surrounding these numbers as they are only a mean and they are not freely available).

[GetCarter]

I used a D2X to make a time lapse film. It can do up to 999 frames - minimum interval 1"

Second hand D2Xs are now on e bay for about £500 - £600. If you are not worried about noise over 800 ISO It's a great camera. (Big and heavy mind... it's a proper pro camera).

[andy-xr]

I've looked at this as well, albeit briefly off the back of one of my mates picking up a cheap intervalometer from ebay for his Canon. I think Stigmund Freud has done something similar as well.

Doesnt seem to be a way to do the same with Nikon SLR's, Digisnap is probably worth a look though

[Fordo]

thanks for the posts guys, just the sort of info i was after.

D300 looks pricey, but could be a good investment if I plan to branch out into photography.

I like the d2x idea too- more in my price range, and it has a dx sensor size, so I can utilize my current lenses (i think)

[_dobbo_]

The D200 has an intervalometer setting allowing you to configure it for timelapse by setting frequency and number of photos. Obviously you'll want to be in full manual mode but that's easy enough to set.

jpeg/basic resolution is about the same as 1080p video, and will fit 5,000 or more images on a 8GB card so should give you plenty of scope for long movies, if your battery is up to it!

Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 16th February 12:31

[Fordo]

_dobbo_ said:

The D200 has an intervalometer setting allowing you to configure it for timelapse by setting frequency and number of photos. Obviously you'll want to be in full manual mode but that's easy enough to set.

jpeg/basic resolution is about the same as 1080p video, and will fit 5,000 or more images on a 8GB card so should give you plenty of scope for long movies, if your battery is up to it!

Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 16th February 12:31

d200 is looking like a winner:

http://www.vimeo.com/981311

just what i need to be able to produce

I like the more compact body shape of the d200 too

Edited by Fordo on Monday 16th February 13:10

[arej]

Sorry, a quick O/T question, is time-lapse possible with Canons and if so how? Thanks

[sgrimshaw]

arej said:

Sorry, a quick O/T question, is time-lapse possible with Canons and if so how? Thanks

Some can:

http://www.breezesys.com/DSLRRemotePro/index.htm

http://alkenius.no-ip.org/Cam4you_remote/index.htm...

http://granitebaysoftware.com/Product_gbt.aspx

[cottonfoo]

Fordo said:

http://www.vimeo.com/981311

Ooh nice. I took a picture of that junction just last month,

[Fordo]

cottonfoo said:

Fordo said:

http://www.vimeo.com/981311

Ooh nice. I took a picture of that junction just last month,

niice photo- you must have been really high up- what building was that from?

I always think citys look incredible from high up. i love the way you can see the ebb and flow of traffic

[cottonfoo]

Fordo said:

niice photo- you must have been really high up- what building was that from?

I always think citys look incredible from high up. i love the way you can see the ebb and flow of traffic

It was from the upper deck of Auckland's Sky Tower.

[MartinP]

arej said:

Sorry, a quick O/T question, is time-lapse possible with Canons and if so how? Thanks

Was having a play with it today and remembered seeing this thread - the remote shooting part of the EOS utility software that came with my 40D includes the ability to do time lapse. You just have to type in the interval between shots and how many you want it to take.