Skip to main content

Back of Camera: Movie Mode

Lesson 12 from: Nikon D500 Fast Start

John Greengo

Back of Camera: Movie Mode

Lesson 12 from: Nikon D500 Fast Start

John Greengo

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

12. Back of Camera: Movie Mode

Lesson Info

Back of Camera: Movie Mode

Alright, let's switch over to the movie mode. So, we're going to turn the collar to the movie setting and then we're going to press the Live View button to activate the movie setting so that we get what looks like Live View on the back of the camera but it will be cropped into a 16X9 aspect ratio. We can start and stop our movies. It's one press to start, one press to stop and a lot of the controls that we've already talked about in Live View are going to be applicable here. So, we don't need to stop and talk about these a lot but you can zoom in, you can check focus, then you can start recording or confirming that you have best focus. You'll be able to navigate with the focusing bracket by using either the little touch pad on the back or the joy stick and there is a little thing on the camera called Indices and this is done with the preview button up in front and if you were recording, let's say you're recording a football game and every time somebody made a score you wanted to kind o...

f mark where that was, you'd just reach around to the front of the camera and press that button on the front of the camera, this little preview button right up here in the front and it's going to mark an invisible little index. It's a bookmark so that you can come back to that when you play your videos back because when you play your videos back there will be a little secret control that you jump to those sections that you pressed that little index. If you press the i button you're going to have access to changing a bunch of the settings for movie recording. We're going to go through this when we get into the menu setting. You can also press the Info button, that changes your grids and your virtual horizon and how much clutter you have on top of your image depending on which information you're needing to look at so very much the same controls that you would see in Live View. So, the focusing system works the same way. You would press the auto-focusing button on the side and the controls are going to be basically identical. You'll have the single versus full time. In the video I would say that you're going to be kind of split into two different camps and let's go with the mom and pop's weekend video shooter, who just occasionally shoots a little bit of video, you might like the camera in the AF-F mode because as its recording video, I'll constantly be searching for focus and so little Junior comes running towards you, that focus is going to adjust for that subject that has come closer. For the more serious photographer, they're going to want to have it in AF-S or probably go all the way to full manual so that you're adjusting your manual focus before each and every shot. By turning the front dial you can change the area mode on this so it does work pretty well with the tracking and the Face-priority, we saw earlier. I like it in the normal or the Wide-area for most basic shooting so that I can be very specific about where I point the camera and having it track that particular subject or at least pick up on it. We also have our Touch Screen settings which we looked at earlier. Those can be used in the video as well. As far as video play back goes, you're going to get to a video. There will be a little circle with the arrow through it and then you'll be able to hit the play button which is the center button and then the various controls around that are going to be for pausing it, stopping it, going Fast Forward and backwards. So if you remember, the indexes that we talked about just a moment ago, you can jump 10 seconds forward or back with the back dial but with the front dial you can jump to the indexes. So, if you've recorded an event that has several events that you marked you can just jump back and forth and find those marks very quickly with that front dial. Over on the left side, the plus and minus become volume controls. So, if you want a little bit more volume when you're playing your movies back over there and then with the i button you can do a bit of editing so if you want to change the start point or the end point of your video you can do a little in camera editing, you might say. So, some of the stats about shooting movies these come in MPEG-4 files, which are pretty common files that you should be able to work with on most all devices out there right now. There is a 4GB limit, if you go over 4 gigs it makes a new file with the next frame so you don't lose any video information, they're just in different folders of information. There is a full 30 minute limit so you're not able to go beyond 30 minutes. Now, the camera does shoot 4K in camera but you can also shoot it external if you wanted as well and it's an uncompressed 4K video that's going to be sent out through the HDMI port on the camera. Talked about the preview for the indexes so the resolutions, its a 4K or its a full HD or its a standard HD format on this and getting into, we're all kind of new into 4K at least I'm kind of new into 4K now and I don't know if you know this but there's two different 4Ks and this is using 4K UHD, which indicates that it's 4,000 pixels but it's not really 4,000 pixels, it's 3,840. So Nikon went with what is called 4K UHD, which has the same 16X9 aspect ratio as HD. There is something else that is used in other parts of the movie industry, TV industry called DCI 4K, which is 4,096 pixels by 2,160 pixels and has an aspect ratio of 17X and is a little bit different, it's pretty close but there are some subtle differences. For those of you in the video world who are organizing all this data, get your things in a line and make things similar. Alright, so there are a variety of bit rates that you're going to get which is how fast data is being stored to the memory cards and so you can see at 3840X2160, 144 Megabits per second, you are having a lot of data stored to that memory card very quickly so if you are wanting to shoot 4K, plan on buying bigger and faster memory cards. There will be a variety of frame rates that you can choose. Not all frame rates are available at all resolutions. You'll see those limitations when we get into the menu. This device is a still-photography machine. When you're shooting photos if you want to take a photo you can press down on the shutter release and take a photo, albeit, it will be cropped a little bit into a 16X9 aspect ratio. If you are wanting a different white balance with a wide view of the camera that can be set then the actual white balance when you're shooting the movies or shooting video. So, the HD recording area has a slight crop from the normal DX frame because we are shooting in a 16X9 aspect ratio so there will be a little bit of crop on the top and the bottom. In order for the camera to record 4K, it cannot record in the entire image area of the sensor so you are getting a 1.5 crop of our sensor which is already a 1.5 crop, giving you a total of 2.25 crop when compared to full frame cameras. This camera is not real good at shooting wide angle 4K because you're going to have to have a very wide angle lens on it but it's fantastic for shooting telephoto 4K because it gives you a little more telephoto capabilities and so it depends on if you're wanting to shoot in the HD format or the 4K format. Now, these controls will be for turning these things on and off and selecting the different options we are going to go by these in detail when we get to the movie shooting menu in the camera. Alright, well before we move on to the back side of the question, we'll have a couple come in from earlier in this segment and the first one we Wi Tong-Li is, "Does the AF Fine-Tune work with third party lenses?" I haven't had a chance to try it with third party lenses, let me just think for a moment. The problem is, is that Nikon, I don't think is able to register that information because they don't know which lens it is. When I stick this 16 to 80 on there, it immediately knows it's my 16 to 80, it's got my serial number on it and when you stick a Sigma lens on, it doesn't recognize that information and I haven't had a chance to test it but my guess is that it's not going to work. Okay, great. And one more question, this is from Jim B, can you show us again how to turn the touch screen icon on? Okay, so let's go to the back of the camera and let me put my camera in the standard Live View mode and so there is a symbol over here but it may not always be visible so if we hit the info button, let's see if we can make that because it was disappeared so when I just have a nice big open screen to look at here without any of the displays on there, we don't have that information so right now, it looks like it's going touch for focusing, let me put in the auto-focus but I don't have any control for turning it on or off. So, you'd have to hit the info button until you see that symbol and then you're able to cycle through the three different options which are, of course, off, where the touch screen no longer works, focusing and shooting a photo and then simply just focusing. Alright.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Nikon D500 Recommended Settings

Ratings and Reviews

Carl Vanderweyden
 

John Greengo is the best! I purchased a Nikon D500 and this course around the same time. Because of this camera being so complex, I felt that a course would be beneficial. This course that John teaches is exactly what I needed. His knowledge of this camera as well as photography in general is exceptional. In fact, I own a couple of other courses presented by John and I also bought a couple of his books! I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to know the ins-and-outs of this D500! Thanks again John for a great course and your great way of explaining things with clear dialect and great visuals!

M Jo
 

Wow! What a great class! John is a natural teacher, moving at a good pace and explaining things carefully, never assuming you already know more than you might. I just got my D500 last week and am so pleased to have gone through this entire class. I learned a LOT and took some notes to refer back to. I've also just bought a Z6 and have purchased John's class for that. Can't wait to dive in!!!

Christina Brittain
 

By The class. John is the gold standard for teaching. He repairs lessons to perfection. He speaks in ways students comprehend all that he presents. Never waste words. Never bores. Always demonstrates his points. I will continue to purchase his classes as they provide the best learning I have found. He is making me a much better photographer, both technically and creatively. You can't make good images if you don't know your gear. Hope he teaches lessons in Portland Oregon one day. I know Pro Photo Supply would sponsor him.

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES