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Dazzling video!

Hi again Rich. Yes, the autofocus in video can be a problem. If you want to use your DSLR primarily for video, that's a big consideration. Some cameras handle it more gracefully than others. My Canon is a little better this area, but I wouldn't recommend a Canon to a Nikon guy. We all have our comfort zones and I believe that in cameras it's probably best to stay in your comfort zone. This issue will continue to be addressed by the camera manufacturers, I'm sure.

About crop factor, you can use any lens on a crop factor camera and get good results. However, if you put a lens designed for a crop factor camera on a full frame, you will get the vignetting as you said. Crop factor cameras are the more entry level and the only affordable choice for someone like me who is just getting into it a little more seriously.

A decent crop factor lens can be sold when you upgrade. Even today's kit lenses are generally decent. But it is important to consider all of that stuff. My new camera is crop factor and with Canon that crop factor is 1.6. With Nikon and most others the crop factor is 1.5. Go figure.

All I can do is send best wishes on your sorting it out and finding a camera and lens(es) that do best what you need it for most.

Hi again Karl. The only thing about autofocus is that the DSLR cameras don't have some of the tools, like that little split thingy in the viewfinder (prism?) that we used to use for manual focus. In most cases, the camera can focus more accurately than we can.

I don't usually go full manual and instead use aperature priority. I only use shutter priority if something is moving fast. One nice thing that I love about DSLR is that touch screen makes changing a myriad of settings easier than ever before.

In some ways analog was better, but we live in an internet world. 99.44% of my keepers never see paper.

Under certain circumstances a picture taken with a phone or point and shoot is visually indistinguishable from a picture taken with a DSLR.

I view most of my pictures on my iPad and most of the pictures I share, I share in the web. But for me the bottom line is that choice of DSLR is so personal. While some people are evangelists, all I can say is find the camera, analog or digital,that is best for your needs and comfort levels. None of them, and I mean *none* are perfect.

In the meantime, I'll keep practicing with my little entry level camera :)
 


https://youtu.be/IsWGkUT5A_Y

Here's a video that addresses some of what has been discussed here. I like this guy and I like that he gives information that you can ultimately use make up your own mind, though he definitely has opinions. If you use the link he's got an index with times so you can just skip to the parts you want.
 
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Karl_Mcknight said:
Auto focus and programmed shooting, and Full Auto this and that are fine. The Canon I have will do all that, but I don't want to be Lured into the belief that anything "Auto" is better than anything manual, nor do I want to have to rely on my camera to make decisions for me. I try whenever possible to "Turn Off" all the auto gizmos and put the camera in Manual mode and select my own aperture, shutter speeds, and focus myself. This is the way I used to take pictures with "Real Cameras" and although I've bitten the bullet and dove into the world of Digital, I don't necessarily believe digital is better.

I only have to break out my cell phone and CDs to understand the quality of digital comes nowhere close to the quality of analog, and so I believe that also holds true with photography.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess I look at this a bit differently than you do. Personally, I WANT to be able to take advantage of what new technology can offer in the way of labor saving devices and services. Back when I was taking video of the baby snakes I was hatching out, it was pretty much impractical to try to manually control both focus and zooming at the same time I was doing the videos. I needed three hands to do that. One to activate the zoom control, one for the focus, and the third one to keep the baby snakes from bolting out of the containers. Auto focus just made the task much easier to do..

Basically, taking video of anything that is, or likely to, move pretty much requires the speed of processing that goes beyond what a human brain and reflexes can realistically handle in order to get the shots wanted. Flying birds, fast moving animals, or fast paced sports events pretty much are (as far as I know) pushing the requirements for the photo/video equipment used to ensure that a sizeable proportion of photos taken will not be rejected because they just missed the mark. Can some people do this manually? I'm sure there are, but I'm just as sure they are few and far between. Quite frankly, electronic processing is certainly going to far exceed what the human brain can do with fast paced motion in unpredictable directions.

In any event, it seems to me that Nikon still hasn't embraced the fact that video is here to stay. They seem stuck in the rut of old school still photography, and the concessions they are making towards people who WANT video appears to be luke warm, at best. Obviously decent auto focus during video is a practically attainable goal, simple because other manufacturers seem to have done so.

Speaking of which, I stumbled upon a different brand of camera that I actually felt a bit excited about, even though it is a 2 year old design.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._fz1000k_lumix_dmc_fz1000_digital_camera.html

The specs look pretty nice, and I was quite impressed with the videos I looked at on YouTube. I know it doesn't accept removable lenses, but dang, with a 25 to 400mm lens incorporated into the body, that would likely take care of easily 95 percent of everything I would do with a camera/camcorder anyway.



So hopefully Nikon will either fix the deficiencies with the D500, or maybe come out with a new model that does better autofocus with video. I just think that for a $2K camera body, it SHOULD do better than it apparently does with video, ESPECIALLY when they are touting the 4K video as being a desirable function provided. Just fix the autofocus algorithm so that it doesn't jump PAST the focus point and then back up to being in focus. Just slide TO the new focus point and STAY there until needed to refocus.

I once bought a Sony camcorder years ago that pretty much did the same thing, and seemed to pick random times to refocus. I got rid of that turkey in a hurry. Every video I took with it was ruined by that nonsense.

Anyway, while waiting to see if Nikon fixes the D500, I'm going to play around with that Panasonic. I went ahead and ordered one today. Heck, I might even find that I don't even need a Nikon camera body at all.
 
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