[Ken Jones]

The Neutral setting won’t look all that different on the camera LCD. You will notice the difference when you transfer the file to your computer.

I like the D800 a lot, but my background is shooting corporate videos with broadcast camcorders like Ikegami, Sony, Panasonic, so the D800 form factor is a pain to deal with, mainly because you do not have an XLR input built in. But the video capabilities are awesome. I like Nikon better than Canon because my brain understands the Nikon menu structure better. I have shot several projects with the 5D MkII with excellent results, but Canon cameras confuse me. Everything seems counterintuitive. When Nikon came out with the D800 I shot a couple of projects with another producer’s D800 and I was sold. I now own two of them and shoot tons of two camera interviews. For lenses I use the Nikon 24-70/2.8 and a Nikon 70-200/2.8.

Most of the work I do is internal corporate communications, but a few videos are external. Below are some links to videos I have shot over the last year or so with the D800.

eVgo/Nissan Pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIxgzRmu4cM

TransCanada
Energy Day 2012: https://vimeo.com/51926265
NBPL 30th: https://vimeo.com/52494954
Prague, OK: https://vimeo.com/64166268
Kountze, TX (Read Ice): https://vimeo.com/66659835
Beaumont, TX (Quality Mat Company): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMswnHQ6kDM&feature=c4-overview&list=UUc9XJFfPASK593DnDlUp3Og
Energy Day 2013: https://vimeo.com/77814350
Gulf Coast Pipeline Project – Vital to America: https://vimeo.com/60205791

FMC/”IQ Style”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T7WtxcE9Vz4

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[Ken Jones]

I shoot with a Nikon D800. I do not know if the D3100 correlates, but…

The first shoot I did with my D800 the blacks were all crushed and the highlights were blown out. I quickly figured out that you need to have your Picture Control set to “Neutral” instead of the default “Standard”. The other biggie (on the D800 at least) is to set your LCD Monitor Brightness to -2. This will give you a more accurate picture to judge exposure with. It also helps to learn how to read a histogram. I was used to reading a waveform so a histogram made no sense until I had a still photographer friend explain it to me.

Here’s my menu settings:

SHOOTING MENU
Set Picture Control: NL (Neutral)
I use these settings: Sharpening 3; Contrast 0; Brightness 0; Saturation 2; Hue 0

SETUP MENU
Monitor brightness: -2

[Ken Jones]

I hadn’t thought about using a short M/F extension cable. That might actually do the trick. I could tie off the female ends to the PortaBrace mixer bag as a strain relief and then shouldn’t have to worry about the cable getting pulled out of the side of the mixer. My only concern is that adding more cables adds another connection point that could cause a problem.

I am going to wait for a reply from Shure to see if they recommend a brand of plug that has a tighter fit. If they do, I will probably have a custom cable made that has a pair of 3.5mm male plugs at each end.

[Ken Jones]

Thanks Ty. I just sent them an email. I’m thinking that maybe a particular brand of plug might fit tighter. I will see what they say.

[Ken Jones]

Thanks for the quick response Ty.

My initial thought is that the FP33 jacks are too large. I have tried other brands of 3.5mm plugs and they all slip out just as easily. Do 3.5mm jacks have a “retaining spring” like 1/4″ jacks do? I wonder if there is way to open up the FP33 and tighten the 3.5mm jacks?

I was also hoping that maybe somebody knew of some kind of external clip that could be used to clamp the 3.5mm plugs tight in the jacks.

[Ken Jones]

I shoot with the D800. Use the “Neutral” setting. If you use the “Standard” setting your blacks will be crushed. I have been shooting with the D800 for over a year now and own two of them. I recently got together with another D800 shooter and we spent a day doing controlled tests at his studio. These are the settings we came up with:

SHOOTING MENU
Set Picture Control: Neutral-NL* (Sharpening 3; Contrast 0; Brightness 0; Saturation 2; Hue 0)

SETUP MENU
Monitor brightness: -2

Previously we had set the saturation on -2 to get a more “flat” image, but realized that we didn’t want to spend the time color correcting and just wanted to shoot to where it looks good straight from the camera. I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but slightly boosting the saturation has worked great for us these last few months. Frustratingly, the settings do not all utilize the same scale! Sharpening is “0-9”, but Contrast, Brightness, Saturation, and Hue use a “-3 to +3” scale.

The biggest thing for me was figuring out that the LCD monitor needed to be set to -2. I can FINALLY set my exposure properly!

[Ken Jones]

I have that same Pearstone charger and it works really well. I don’t think it is any faster than the supplied Nikon charger, but I mainly like the fact that when I am on the road I can go to bed at night and put two batteries on charge. I have two D800s and shoot lots of interviews with both cameras simultaneously. I have a total of six batteries, one Pearstone charger, and the two Nikon chargers. I find that is plenty to shoot continuously as long as I keep putting the dead ones on charge. I have also found that the Wasabi brand batteries last longer than the Nikon batteries and are about half the price. The only caveat is that I don’t think the Wasabi batteries communicate with the camera as well as the Nikon batteries. The Wasabi will go from “blinking red warning” to totally dead in about 60 seconds. The Nikons will run about 2-3 minutes after you get the “blinking red warning”.

[Ken Jones]

Did you try to search this forum for the word “Feather”?

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1159878#1159878

[Ken Jones]

Try using a 4-Point Garbage matte.

[Ken Jones]

FCP cannot handle native H264 media in real time. You need to transcode all your footage to a format that FCP can work with (such as ProRes 422) before you start editing.