14

Capturing Video with the Z6

Shooting movies is as easy a flipping a switch—the Photo mode/Movie mode switch located to the right of the viewfinder. If you’re looking for no-fuss, casual video, after you’ve selected Movie mode, just rotate the mode dial to the green Auto position and press the red Movie button located on top of the Z6, just southwest of the shutter release button. Capture will start; press the Movie button again to stop recording. That’s all there is to grabbing good video clips.

But if you want to go beyond “good” to “excellent,” you’ll want to read this chapter and the next one, which will introduce you to the full range of the Z6’s sophisticated movie-making capabilities. While I listed and briefly described all the options in the camera’s Movie Shooting menu in Chapter 11, there’s a great deal more to learn and put into practice.

Quick Start Checklist

The following is a list of things to keep in mind as you improve your movie-making skills and take your video work to the next level. Some of these items are recaps of information you learned about still photo shooting; others are of special concern for movie-making. Even if you decide to just skim through this chapter for now, and come back for more after you’ve explored movie-making, you should at least read this section before you begin your epic documentary or feature production.

Lean, Mean, Movie Machine

The Z6 is an awesome video camera, one of the best ever offered by the company that introduced the first movie-making capabilities in an interchangeable-lens still camera—the Nikon D90—in 2008. And how far we’ve come since then! The D90 captured monaural movies using manual focus at a fixed 24 frames per second for up to five whole minutes at 1280 × 720p (standard HD) resolution. If you dropped down to coarse 640 × 424 and 320 × 216 frame sizes, you could shoot a clip as long as 20 minutes.

Your Z6, on the other hand, is packed with features that owners of many dedicated video camcorders only dreamed about a few years ago. I’ll explain all the features in detail later in this chapter and the next, but you should check out this list if you want an overview:

Capturing Video

In the Movie Shooting menus (see Figure 14.1), you can make the following choices, also described in Chapter 11, along with a description of the various options each entry offers. I won’t repeat that information here. Many of these entries are like those for still photography in the Photo Shooting menu.

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Figure 14.1 Movie Shooting menu.

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Figure 14.2 FX-based and DX-based movie formats.

USING DX LENSES

If you use the FTZ adapter to mount a lens that the camera recognizes as a DX/APS-C lens, the Z6 will switch to DX-based movie format automatically (without the need to specify FX or DX with the Choose Image Area entry, which is grayed out, in any case). As in still photo mode, you cannot force the camera to use the DX lens as if it were a full-frame optic. Remember that the Z6 may or may not detect APS-C (DX) lenses from third-party manufacturers.

When Electronic VR is selected using the i button menu or Movie Shooting menu, the Z6 provides a slight additional crop (to allow adjusting the frame to compensate for camera movement). Slow-motion movies are always cropped, as I’ll explain shortly.

WHAT FRAME RATE: 24 fps or 30/60/120 fps?

Even intermediate movie shooters can be confused by the choice between 24 fps and 30/60/120 fps, especially since those are only nominal figures (with the Z6, the 24 fps setting yields 23.976 frames per second; 30 fps gives you 29.97 actual “frames” per second; 60 fps yields 59.94; while 120p yields 119.88 fps). The difference lies in the two “worlds” of motion images, film and video. The standard frame rate for motion picture film is 24 fps, while the video rate, at least in the United States, Japan, and other places using the NTSC standard, is 30 fps (60 interlaced fields per second). Most computer video-editing software can handle either type, and convert between them. The choice between 24 fps and 30 fps is determined by what you plan to do with your video. Your camera can also shoot at 25/50/100 fps for use with PAL systems, which don’t use NTSC standards.

The short explanation is that, for technical reasons I won’t go into here, shooting at 24 fps gives your movie a “film” look, excellent for showing fine detail. (I’ll have more to say about that later in this chapter.)

However, if your clip has moving subjects, or you pan the camera, 24 fps can produce a jerky effect called “judder.” A 30/60/120 fps rate produces a home-video look that some feel is less desirable, but which is smoother and less jittery when displayed on an electronic monitor. I suggest you try both and use the frame rate that best suits your tastes and video-editing software.

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Figure 14.3 Microphone sensitivity can be set manually, using the Z6’s audio meter as a reference.

Slow-Motion Movies

Slow-motion video is a cool feature that allows you to reduce the apparent playback speed of your movies by 4X or 5X, so you can analyze movement, or apply the effect to your next video involving fast-moving superheroes or those intrepid Baywatch lifeguards.

In the Frame/Size/Frame Rate entry of the Movie Shooting menu, you have the option of scrolling down to select 1920 × 1080 settings at either 30/25p × 4 (slow-mo) or 24p × 5 (slow-mo) (both NTSC). Video intended for use in PAL countries can select 25p × 4 and 24p × 5 instead.

In slow-motion mode, the Z6 records Normal Quality video in DX-based (cropped) format, at 120/100 frames per second (NTSC/PAL) for up to no more than three minutes. When 120/100 fps video is viewed at 30/25 frames per second, the clip takes four times as long to play back; at 24 fps, the clip requires 5X the normal time. As a result, a three-minute clip will stretch to fill 12 minutes when shot at 30/25 fps, or 15 minutes at 24 fps. You can analyze your golf swing or add a slo-mo effect to your movies. While the three-minute capture rate may seem like a limitation, how often do you really want to watch 12 to 15 minutes of slow-motion “action?”

Shooting Your Movie

By this time, you’re ready to capture some video. To shoot your movies, follow these steps:

  1. 1. Plug in the microphone. If you want to use an external monaural or stereo microphone with a 3.5mm stereo mini plug, attach it to the microphone jack on the left side of the camera.
  2. 2. Choose an exposure mode. Select Program, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, or Manual exposure. The Z6 uses Matrix metering based on readings from the sensor itself to determine exposure.
  3. 3. Adjust exposure. The adjustments you can make depend on the exposure mode you select. You’ll find more about exposure in the section that follows this one.
    1. Program/Shutter-priority. Adjust only exposure compensation by pressing the EV button on top of the camera and rotating the main command dial. The screen image will brighten and darken as you make adjustments. Shutter speed and ISO sensitivity are selected for you by the Z6.
    2. Aperture-priority. You can change the f/stop by rotating the sub-command dial, and adjust exposure compensation with the EV button and the main command dial. Shutter speed and ISO sensitivity are selected for you by the Z6.
    3. Manual exposure. The main command dial changes the shutter speed (from 1/25th to 1/4,000th second), and the sub-command dial adjusts the aperture. Press the ISO button and rotate the main command dial to change the ISO sensitivity.
  4. 4. Enable movie recording. Activate movie recording by rotating the Photo/Movie switch to the Movie position.
  5. 5. Choose a focus and AF-area mode. Select from autofocus or manual focus with the i menu or Fn2 button. Then choose AF-S or AF-F. Select an AF-area mode.
  6. 6. Set audio level. Use the Microphone Sensitivity entry in the Movie Shooting menu to specify audio recording level, using Auto Sensitivity to allow the Z6 to set the volume, or Manual Sensitivity to adjust using an audio meter (seen at the bottom of Figure 14.3). You can also turn off audio to record a silent movie, say, if you plan to add a voice-over track, music, or other audio in post-production using your video-editing software.
  7. 7. Start/Stop recording. Press the red-dotted movie recording button to lock in focus and begin capture. Press again to stop recording. The LCD monitor display as you’re capturing video looks like Figure 14.4. The viewfinder display has the same information, arranged slightly differently, and not overlaid on the image area. You can press the DISP button to increase or decrease the amount of information overlaid on the screen during movie recording.
  8. 8. No flash. You can’t use electronic flash during movie recording, but you can use the built-in LED movie light on the Nikon SB-500 unit.

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Figure 14.4 The LCD monitor display during movie capture.

Using the i Button

The i button, which is so useful in Photo mode, also offers real-time adjustment of parameters and controls while you capture your video. These are not only important for fine-tuning your movies as you capture them, but allow for some special tools that veteran videographers will know and love, but which may be new to still photographers. Here’s a description of the useful options that pop up when you press the i button. (See Figure 14.5.) Many of these are also available in the Movie Shooting menu as explained in Chapter 11. I’ll point out which settings are those you might want to use during actual capture. As I described in Chapter 12, there is a Custom Setting g1: Customize i button menu entry that allows you to swap out and change Movie mode i menu items.

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Figure 14.5 i button options.

Stop That!

You might think that setting your Z6 to a faster shutter speed will help give you sharper video frames. But the choice of a shutter speed for movie making is a bit more complicated than that. First, you can’t select the shutter speed at all for your movies when you’re using Auto, P, S, or A exposure modes. You can select a shutter speed only if you switch to Manual exposure. Here’s how it works:

SEMI-MANUAL EXPOSURE?

The ISO Sensitivity Settings entry in the Movie Shooting menu allows you to enable a feature called Auto ISO Control (Mode M). When activated, the Z6 will attempt to adjust the ISO setting to provide the correct exposure based on the current shutter speed, aperture, and exposure compensation values you’ve specified. That means you can select a suitable shutter speed (subject to the recommendations described next), and an f/stop, and the Z6 will effectively provide you with autoexposure in Manual exposure mode.

So, how do you select an appropriate shutter speed? As you might guess, it’s almost always best to leave the shutter speed at 1/30th second, and allow the overall exposure to be adjusted by varying the aperture and/or ISO sensitivity. We don’t normally stare at a video frame for longer than 1/30th or 1/24th second, so while the shakiness of the camera can be disruptive (and often corrected by VR), if there is a bit of blur in our subjects from movement, we tend not to notice. Each frame flashes by in the blink of an eye, so to speak, so a shutter speed of 1/30th second works a lot better in video than it does when shooting stills.

Higher shutter speeds introduce problems of their own. If you shoot a video frame using a shutter speed of 1/200th second, the actual moment in time that’s captured represents only about 12 percent of the 1/30th second of elapsed time in that frame. Yet, when played back, that frame occupies the full 1/30th of a second, with 88 percent of that time filled by stretching the original image to fill it. The result is often a choppy/jumpy image, and one that may appear to be too sharp.

The reason for that is more social imprinting than scientific: we’ve all grown up accustomed to seeing the look of Hollywood productions that, by convention, were shot using a shutter speed that’s half the reciprocal of the frame rate (that is, 1/48th second for a 24 fps movie). Movie cameras use a rotary shutter (achieving that 1/48th second exposure by using a 180-degree shutter “angle”), but the effect on our visual expectations is the same. For the most “film-like” appearance, use 24 fps and 1/60th second shutter speed.

Faster shutter speeds do have some specialized uses for motion analysis, especially where individual frames are studied. The rest of the time, 1/30th or 1/60th of a second will suffice. If the reason you needed a higher shutter speed was to obtain the correct exposure, use a slower ISO setting, or a neutral-density filter to cut down on the amount of light passing through the lens.

A good rule of thumb when shooting progressive video (as opposed to interlaced video, which is not offered by the Z6) is to use 1/60th second or slower when shooting at 24 fps; 1/60th second or slower at 30 fps; and 1/126th second or slower at 60 fps.

Viewing Your Movies

Once you’ve finished recording your movies, they are available for review. Film clips show up during picture review, the same as still photos, but they are differentiated by a movie camera icon overlay and “Play” prompt. Press the multi selector center button to start playback. During playback, you can perform the following functions:

Trimming Your Movies

In-camera editing is limited to trimming the beginning or end from a clip, and the clip must be at least two seconds long. For more advanced editing, you’ll need an application capable of editing AVI movie clips. Google “AVI Editor” to locate any of the hundreds of free video editors available, or use a commercial product like Corel Video Studio, Adobe Premiere Elements, or Pinnacle Studio. These will let you combine several clips into one movie, add titles, special effects, and transitions between scenes.

In-camera editing/trimming can be done from the Retouch menu, or during Playback. The procedure is the same. To do in-camera editing/trimming, follow these steps:

  1. 1. Start movie clip. Use the Playback button to start image review, and press the multi selector center button to start playback when you see a clip you want to edit. It will begin playing. Then follow the instructions beginning with Step 2.

    Or, you can access the Edit Movie choice in the Retouch menu when you see the clip on the screen that you want to edit.

  2. 2. Activate edit. To remove video from the beginning of a clip, view the movie until you reach the first frame you want to keep, and then press the down button to pause. The movie progress bar at the bottom left of the screen will show the current position in the movie. You can move back and forth frame by frame while the video is paused by pressing the left/right buttons or rotating the main or sub-command dials.
  3. 3. Trim move. To trim video from the end of a clip, watch the movie until you reach the last frame you want to keep and then press the down button to pause. You can jump to the next saved index point in the clip by rotating the main command dial.
  4. 4. Select start/end point. When the video is paused, press the i button to show the movie edit options, and select Choose Start/End Point (see Figure 14.6). You’ll be asked whether the current frame should be the start or end point. Highlight your choice and press OK again.

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Figure 14.6 Choose editing options from this menu.

  1. 5. Resume playback. Press the multi selector center button to start or resume playback. (See Figure 14.7 for the viewfinder display; the LCD monitor display is similar.) You can use the Pause, Rewind, Advance, and Single frame controls plus the main control dial (to jump to the next saved index point) as described previously to move around within your clip. Note that your trimmed movie must be at least two seconds long.
  2. 6. Confirm trim. A Proceed? prompt appears. Choose Yes or No, and press OK.
  3. 7. Save movie. You have four choices when saving the trimmed movie:
    1. Save As New File. The trimmed clip will be stored as a new file, and the original movie preserved.
    2. Overwrite Existing File. The trimmed clip replaces the original movie on your memory card. Use this option with caution, as you’ll be unable to restore your unedited clip.
    3. Cancel. Return to the editing mode.
    4. Preview. View the trimmed version. You can then save as a new file, overwrite, or cancel. You’ll see a Saving Movie message and a green progress bar as the Z6 stores the trimmed clip to your memory card. Storage takes some time, and you don’t want to interrupt it to avoid losing your saved clip. So, make sure your camera has a fully charged battery before you start to edit a clip.

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Figure 14.7 Edit your movie.

Saving a Frame

You can store any frame from one of your movies as a JPEG still, using the resolution of the current video format. Just follow these steps:

  1. 1. Pause your movie at the frame you want to save by pressing the down button.
  2. 2. Press the i button and choose Save Selected Frame.
  3. 3. Press the up button to save a still copy of the selected frame.
  4. 4. Choose Proceed and press OK to confirm.
  5. 5. Your frame will be stored on the memory card.