Your fortune told, $.02 !

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/find/newsLetter/NikonD90-Video.jsp

 

The lines in your palm tell me you rarely make prints of your own, or even post online...and you mostly

photograph family, bugs, ducks, sunsets, Paris...and of course, backs of heads, as in this example.

 

So this is your future. Oooooohhhmmmm.

 

A good thing.

 

It'll also be a good thing to see what our best do with this.

....if anything's a "photo philosophy" issue or observation, this is one.

 

Your thoughts?

Even with a camera that can shoot both stills and video, I won't use it. I had a Fujifilm s-5100 that had superb glass, could shoot video and produce remarkably good stills for the sensor size. It was little more then a novelty in which I quickly lost interest. Our camcorder is still much better at doing video especially with 4 hours of recording time. My wife likes it a lot.

 

I'm proficient with motion and video, but I don't like to use either. I feel removed from my connection to the subject, since I'm always experiencing everything through a monitor or eyepiece. Holidays become history before I ever get any sense of participation. Every one has a good time but me.

 

FYI, I know one professional photographer that purchased the D90. He needed video of the one of the events he was covering. When he was finished shooting the event, he sold the rig. It served the purpose, but he felt it hindered his ability to shoot stills.

 

Unfortunately, the best may not find much interest in such a dual purpose camera because the learning curve for shooting effective video and editing the result is steep and long. There is a very different thought process required for motion/video which is not really in harmony with still concepts.

 

My $.02.

I still find it hard to hang videos in a frame and put it on the wall.

Robert...any digital frame http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photo_frame will allow you to 'frame' your videos and put them on the wall.

 

Don't really know why you'd want to...but you can do it.

I hate to have to mention this, but....anybody hear of flat screen TV? :-)

Robert- John said it- use your flat screen TV, or maybe a computer monitor? I use both of mine for slide shows and

video all the time- those pics look great blown up to roughly 20x24, and you don't pay for prints!. Its just a natural

progression.

John- Who knows- it sounds like it could be a great tool for the one man show who shoots events- like weddings. As

Glenn mentioned, it could hinder one's abilities- or open them up. I would use it- the video sample looked pretty nice and

I already have lenses (Canon though). Wedding photographers who offer "packages" generally spend loads of time

putting together prints and albums, or outsource it, and I think they would especially benefit from adding a "video to

music" to their package. Just imagine being able to add another $500-$1000 (or more) just for putting together a 5 minute

video. Better yet, just give the couple a video and don't charge them- see what kind of referrals come in- might as well,

you already have the lenses. Of course this is all dependent upon the shooter and their abilities, and of course having an

assistant will help too. Generally though sound is also important and that will come along in the next couple of years.

Martin, regarding sound...it's already perfected digitally. Sony, Roland, Olympus (I happen to use the Oly

LS-10). Noiseless, fidelity way beyond tape (ie infinitely better than the old Nagras). They work with all

possible mikes, feed into total editing capability on desktops etc.

 

Your comments about weddings are interesting...I hadn't thought in those terms. Same with portraits/recordings of

elders, combined with old family photos and interviews...a market that's barely touched.

 

Photojournalists have been superb videographer/filmmakers for decades, at least as far back as Vietnam War and

Civil Rights Movement. Today's video technology has, like all digital tech, gotten incredibly simple (ie little

more learning curve than Lightroom). Major motion pictures have been released this year that have been shot

mostly or entirely on high level prosumer video cameras that didn't produce imagery to the quality of Nikon D90.

 

Some of us do hate tech convergence, but motorized biplanes will replace their hot air balloons no matter how

loudly our oldsters wheeze.

 

We'll see all sorts of new imagery. Something much better than Youtube is already underway, and ABC's live,

online coverage of last night's election process was considerably better than network TV.

 

In addition to flat screen HD TV that most of us will shortly have, digital projectors are becoming better and

better...are already better than 16mm film ever was.

John: "Photojournalists have been superb videographer/filmmakers for decades, at least as far back as Vietnam War and

Civil Rights Movement."

You bet ya. Eddie Adams famous image of the Vietnamese General executing a man: a still from film footage. Super

powerful any way you see it. It was a surprise to me though that it wasn't from a still camera- kind of a mythology

surrounding that image.

John -

 

You keep touting videography as "The New Big Thing" - if it really is, instead of pimping it - why don't YOU do something with it and show us the alleged advantages?

A slide show is a slide show is a slide show. It may be nice for me to watch what I've shot as a slide show on the TV, but I would never subject any of my friends to watching one at my house. It harkens back to the carosel slide shows of the neighbor's vacation. My experience has been, people like to look at prints of my work. The family likes to look at the videos.

 

John, just because something becomes incredibly easy doesn't mean the results automatically become incredibly good. The vast majority of videos will remain just as mundane and boring as any previous film or videotape produced at home. Hell John, my bicycle's got pedals.

 

Martin, at least around here there are already studios offering wedding packages with stills and video combined. They use a separate video crew then have the post production work done by one of the local specialists.

 

The video revolution is right around the corner, down the street, in the next county, across state lines and out of the country.

Steve, Videos aren't on my horizon, any more than reversion to large format (though I'm intrigued by what I've

seen of platinum printing from dslr digital contact negs). Sorry about your hostility...you usually contribute

more usefully.

 

It'll be fun to see what others do with D90 video (not to mention Scarlet!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/14/red-unveils-scarlet-mini-camcorder/), flat screen TV, digital projection, and

the emerging higher-quality successors to Youtube. These techs have huge aesthetic ("philosophic") potential...I

think they'll free photography from historic constriction and timid aspirations (scenery, porn, snaps).

 

Most of us will be enjoying those technologies in some way within the next year or two, one way or

another...they're inherent in DSLRs, HDTV etc, much more so than printing is.

 

Few photographers print these days, glowing digital techs are the future. And of course, many/most museums and

fine galleries only use print exhibitions as lures for DVD and book sales (their real business).

 

My printing craft's high, I like paper, and I like stuff on walls ...AND I love essays, so Soundslides.com and

the like is a plus. My first Ss project ran into a brick wall (New Mexico Livestock Board), but I'll outline

another in Hudson River area during the holidays...I think of this as something like film production because I

like deliberative photography.

 

Thanks for asking. How about you... actively making photographs...or thinking about photography?

Glenn, I may never shoot video (did once shoot film, badly, and for $$..a rush for Zoetrope).

 

Differing experiences: I've dodged family-type slide shows ever since I left home so they don't weigh on me, but back when E4/E6 and Kodachrome were same-day-turnaround (San Francisco, 70s) my friends and I were deeply engaged in multiprojector slide shows. As to personal slides, 30+ Carousel trays full of once-interesting images, mostly involving Sierra backpacking and what some call "street photography" gather dust...taking up space. I'll eventually have one last marathon projection, save a dozen slides, burn the rest :-)

"Some of us do hate tech convergence, but motorized biplanes will replace their hot air balloons no matter how

loudly our oldsters wheeze."<BR><BR>Thats just plain silly. Biplanes will not replace hot air balloons. Biplanes

have had their day. Haven't seen one for years. Hot air balloons are very popular, a frequent sight.<BR>

There is no way that noisy old fashioned biplanes are going to replace the magical tranquility of modern balloon

flight.<BR><BR>I might prefer a gas guzzling, oil spitting, roaring engine, biplane myself, but it appears to be

a minority interest.<BR>

<BR>

There has been a good video on the web, taken with an Eos 5D2. However, the man had a budget and a crew. And a

car and a helicopter. And models. Most of the work was done with the camera fixed, not handheld, I don't recall the

soundtrack, but I'd expect any sound recording was done with an external mic.<BR>

So outstanding video is possible with these cameras, but I don't suppose most people will achieve it.<BR>

I like the idea of video, but its whole different ball game, and I don't have time to do everything.<BR>

Also, I don't think the ergonomics of a dslr are right for most things I would do with video.<BR>

I suppose if the future DSLR comes with video, and if I ever bought another DSLR, I'd use video sometimes.<BR>Its

not a big deal though.

"Sorry about your hostility...you usually contribute more usefully. "

 

I'm not the least bit hostile John ...sorry to hear about your over-sensitivity....

 

I'd like to say that you sometimes post things that are moderately useful.

 

In this case, the constant regurgitation of a single subject is wearisome...it's not new...it's been around...you don't need to continually bring it back up one more time like a too many bad sausages at a beer festival...uuurrrrppp...

 

How many more times are you going to flop this 4-day old fish out for reconsideration as something "new"?

Steve,

 

It's telling that you don't want "that subject" brought up.

 

Why are you so fearful?

 

"Something is happening and you don't know what it is...do you, Mister Steve?" (tip o' the hat to Bob Dylan)

Glenn- "Martin, at least around here there are already studios offering wedding packages with stills and video

combined. They use a separate video crew then have the post production work done by one of the local specialists."

 

This I know, but wouldn't it be nice to not have to hire specialists and shoot it yourself- if you want to- and put the money

in your pocket instead of the next guy (especially in these economic times)? Also, think about those times a

photographer may not have access to a videographer- maybe a photojournalist say- and they realize the action is better

suited for video and not stills- what a way to open up your market: this time I don't sell to New York Times but instead

CNN. Maybe some hoo-haa, not a photographer, can document their process (what ever it may be) in stills and video

without having to make 2 purchases. Maybe a photographer "on set" wants to do interviews with their subject. Maybe

they are doing interviews and want some stills from the same angle. Maybe I just want to shoot high quality pics and

video of my kids for my big fat flat screen slide shows! :)

"Manhatta," one of Paul Strand's films (showing now at MOMA)

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/movies/09kehr.html (in today's NY Times)

 

http://reframecollection.org/blog_post.jsp?post=40 (more context)

Martin, I can see your point, but having had to do two things at once in the past, neither of them were of acceptable quality as far as I was concerned. The customers were happy, but I wasn't. Having been the photographer "on set" I can't see any advantage. My subjects were models hired to put in an appearance. Interviews were not something in which I or the clients had much interest.

 

As far as my grandchildren go, I shoot the stills and my wife shoots the video at the same time. Both look good on my flat screen TV or my son's 80 inch projection system. It all comes down to priorities. I'd much rather play with my grandchildren then take their pictures. Somehow, I do seem to be able to get a lot of each done.

I once had my photographic fortune told. The Madam told me that after 2012, no more film will be shot. By anyone. She showed me a ancient Mayan calendar to prove it.