Nikon D500 or D810 - Video

[Brewtus]

Hello photopeeps,

I'm looking at upgrading my D3300 this coming February when I get my tax return and am debating whether to get the D500 (DX APSC) or a D8XX (FX Full Frame) series camera body.

I will be using it almost exclusively for filming a nature/landscape documentary of sorts and doing timelapses, specifically Astro timelapses. So most everything is going to be a fairly slow shot controlled by a motorized slider w/ pan/tilt.

The Astro requirement would suggest going to Full Frame, but the D8XX series cameras don't shoot in 4K whereas the D500 does. Also, the old wallet would suggest DX is the way to go.

I currently have the following lenses:

Rokinon 16mm f/2.0 ED AS UMC CS
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor IF-ED
Nikon 16-85mm F3.5-5.6G AF-S DX NIKKOR ED VR
Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR

My current thinking is to go with the D500 as it is getting amazing reviews and half of my lenses are for DX format. But I know that the best glass is going to be for FX even if it costs 8x as much. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sparse Gray Hackle]

I have a D810, and it is a fantastic camera, but has a relatively slow frame rate. If you're doing any wildlife photography, it might not be capable of capturing critters in motion the way you would like. The D500 is an superb camera, with top of the pack burst rates and focus points. It shares many of the features of the flagship D5. Given half your lenses are currently DX, and the difference in price, I'd recommend the D500. I'm selling my backup D800 and will probably pick up a D500 for wildlife work.

As an aside, start building your inventory of Fx lenses. The quality of the glass is worth it.

 

[workerdrone]

Unless you specifically need FX for very specific reasons, I'd go DX all the way. Cheaper, lighter, excellent quality.

 

[Kerensky97]

After seeing how many videographers are wanting things in 4k now I think I would prioritize that over the Full Frame.

If it's just for your own use and you're fine with 1080 then I think I'd like the 810 (I want one for stills so I'm biased); but for professional use 4k footage demand is higher. It's silly to me considering so few end users are watching 4k but if you needed a clip of stock footage and you could have it in 1080 or 4k which would use choose? Like anything it's better to have more to start with. Even if you output 1080 it's nice to have the 4k and shrink it in post yourself (or the options for cropping,etc).

 

[Brewtus]

Thanks all, I think I'm in agreement that the D500 is going to be the way to go. I know it's still APSC, but it's got to have better noise performance than the D3300 I currently have. And I can almost make that work well enough as is. And with the quality of that Rokinon Astro Glass, I think it'll probably do fine for producing 4k timelapse videos.

It's silly to me considering so few end users are watching 4k but if you needed a clip of stock footage and you could have it in 1080 or 4k which would use choose? Like anything it's better to have more to start with. Even if you output 1080 it's nice to have the 4k and shrink it in post yourself (or the options for cropping,etc).

I agree, however for my purposes, I'll be filming for the next several years and by that time, I'm sure my phone will play 4k. Assuming we survive the nuclear winter of course.

Also, I've noticed that the 4k video my drone takes, scaled down to 1080 looks much better than if I were to just shoot it at 1080... even at 60fps.

 

[Brewtus]

Also, I just picked up a Konova motion control rig... and given how much that thing weighs... If I'm going to be lugging all of this stuff up mountains on the regular, the more weight I can save, the better. And the D810 is a whole 120g heavier!

Also, the D500 has a tilt screen and the D810 doesn't. Something I thought was a bit of a gimmick on my P510, but sorely miss on my D3300.

Now if only Pentax would sell out to Nikon and put their K1 Sensor and Stabilizer in the D500... *Groaning Intensifies