HDSLR Scorecard

[Hallvalla]

Thought it would be nice to have a list of the current and upcoming HDSLRs (TM Rogue) in one place:

Available:

CANON 5D MARK II: 1080 30P
Pros: amazing image quality, low light, audio jack.
Cons: No 24P, no manual controls, some jello, no autofocus in video, expensive for its limits.

CANON T1i/500D: 1080 20P, 720 30P
Pros: cheap, nice image @ 30P
Cons: no 24P, no stereo audio, no audio jack, no manual control(?), jello?, 20P a slap in the face to hopeful purchasers.

Nikon D90: 720 24P
Pros: nice image, 24P
Cons: jello-cam, no manual control, no autofocus in video

Coming soon:

Panny GH1: 1080 24P (60i), 720 60P
Pros: 24P, 720 60P, movie lens w/autofocus + silent, audio jack, mic hotshoe, some manual control
Cons: minimal 4/3 lens options, pulldown required for 24P, low'ish bitrate 17, skew?, lowest shutter 1/60?

RED Scarlet:
Pros: kitchen sink
Cons: vaporware, 4K kit price

Rumored:

Nikon D400: rumored 1080P @ 24P. Nikon has a chance to hit a homerun here. Simply adding some audio features, manual control, and limited jello will be a huge hit. And they won't compromise their video division because, eh, they don't have one. It's been rumored for a while, so maybe they are making some tweaks after the Panny GH1 release? Probably not, so this generation might be a slight step up from their D90.

Olympus 4/3: rumored to be coming up this year

Samsung NX series: competition to the 4/3s of Panny and Olympus, this one sounds interesting: http://www.1001noisycameras.com/2009/03/samsung-nxseries-has-apsc-sensors-with-evf.html

I like this part: However, by looking at the top view of the camera (see picture) we see that there is a movie mode, hot-shoe (investigate the contacts!), and "PASM" (manual exposure, shutter and aperture priority).

* I realize the Panny GH1, Olympus, and Sammy aren't actually DSLRs, but close enough in my book because of lens options.

[Hallvalla]

Please feel free to add any pics or links of the above list, or let me know of any omissions. Thanks!

[Hallvalla]

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_pics/17668/Samsung_NX_Series_004.jpg

http://img1.focus-numerique.com/focus/news/1/1228/samsung-nx.jpg

[Hallvalla]

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0903/09032002olympusinterview.asp
http://www.digitalcamera.jp/html/HotNews/image/2009-03/26/olympus-002-L.jpg

[Hallvalla]

http://panasonic.jp/dc/gh1/movie_quality.html
http://panasonic.jp/dc/gh1/movie_photographing1.html

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/03/panasonic1_gh1.jpg

[Hallvalla]

http://www.redgrabs.com/up/1236274637.jpg

[Hallvalla]

The mystery cam:

http://timsphoto.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/nikon_d400_1.jpg

[Hallvalla]

http://i.frazpc.pl/pliki/2002/auto/1237972714314525.jpg

[booggerg]

Scarlet caught out on the street in secrete endurance testing..

http://blog.mlive.com/onthetown/2008/01/medium_WoodenCamera.jpg

[spideralex90]

I'm hoping for the D400. Although i want to play with the new canon because it'll be pretty cheap. And the GH1 is shaping up pretty nice, plus i'm used to pulldown by now.

[HankW]

I wouldn't say that the D90 has a 'nice image'. To be honest, it's pretty damn shitty and almost useless. Fingers crossed for the future!

[tehellet]

I wouldn't say that the D90 has a 'nice image'. To be honest, it's pretty damn shitty and almost useless. Fingers crossed for the future!

What if the desired output is SD? How does its 'sketchy' 720 fare? I watched that recent Sabi film 'Model and Photographer' by Zak Forsman some days ago and it didn't look too bad.

[Chicken Warrior]

I think if you're going to ad no audio jack as a con for the rebel it should also be noted as a major limitation for the d90.

[HankW]

What if the desired output is SD? How does its 'sketchy' 720 fare? I watched that recent Sabi film 'Model and Photographer' by Zak Forsman some days ago and it didn't look too bad.
I wouldn't even use it for that. The image is just too soft; the details are completely washed out, not to mention the flickering you'll have in most indoor lighting conditions. And on top of that you can't move it around because of the rolling shutter. I guess if you take your time you can work around all this, but for me, the limitations are just too great.

[Braceface]

Wow, Hank, I'm not having any of those problems with my D90. I've got some things on my vimeo you can check out, and stuff. It's pretty sharp, (sharper than an HV20, ((once you put an adaptor on it))). The flickering is a non issue once you get to know the camera, and I don't have any problems with rolling shutter,(then again if I go handheld with it I go full wide). I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with yours.
The Lumix might be a good buy for you though.

[HankW]

Yeah, going full wide obviously eliminates most of that problem, but if you do like me and use a 50mm or something similar the effect is quite noticeable and to my eyes, very ugly and unusable.

[tehellet]

Wow, Hank, I'm not having any of those problems with my D90. I've got some things on my vimeo you can check out, and stuff. It's pretty sharp, (sharper than an HV20, ((once you put an adaptor on it))). The flickering is a non issue once you get to know the camera, and I don't have any problems with rolling shutter,(then again if I go handheld with it I go full wide). I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with yours.
The Lumix might be a good buy for you though.

Sharper than an hv20, seriously? Do you have any full rez grabs so I can compare? Based on what I've seen, downrezzed to 720p24 hv20 footage is miles beyond sharper than 720p24 d90 footage.

It's basically why I asked if it would look good for SD projects, given that almost everywhere I've seen, the general census is that even though it's 720, it's nowhere near as sharp as camcorder 720 footage, or 1080 scaled down to 720 at that. But I'm wondering if for SD project it's sharp enough.

[Braceface]

Sharper than an hv20, seriously? Do you have any full rez grabs so I can compare? Based on what I've seen, downrezzed to 720p24 hv20 footage is miles beyond sharper than 720p24 d90 footage.

It's basically why I asked if it would look good for SD projects, given that almost everywhere I've seen, the general census is that even though it's 720, it's nowhere near as sharp as camcorder 720 footage, or 1080 scaled down to 720 at that. But I'm wondering if for SD project it's sharp enough.

Not sharper than a bare HV20. Sharper than one with my Letus. I don't know about other adaptors though, but I lose a little bit of sharpness with the Letus.
The HV20 without an adaptor is tack sharp, yeah.

[Braceface]

I don't know, but I get a really nice picture with it. I don't notice any difference between the stuff I've shot with my letus HV set up and Nikon, besides the positive aspects of the Nikon. I don't really use the HV20 now. I can only speek for myself though. I too, have seen really bad footage with the D90, but I don't think the owners knew what they were doing.

[Luxaltor]

http://panasonic.jp/dc/gh1/movie_quality.html
http://panasonic.jp/dc/gh1/movie_photographing1.html


Wow, that looks great. Just the right amount of DOF. I honestly think that a 4/3" sensor is the "sweet spot". Too bad Red didn't get that memo...

[spideralex90]

I want to play with a GH1. The videos they've put out look pretty good.