Just playing around with the Nikon D3S (just arrived!), a 50mm 1.4, and listening to Rachmanioff plays Rachmanioff. The video is kind of choppy with a weird square in the middle — not sure why yet. I didn’t record it at highest quality. It also serves as a mini-tour of my office.
The rotor noise is the lens when I change the focus, I forgot to turn it off of auto-focus mode so it was louder than it needed to be. All sound is coming from the built-in mic.
Matt on Not-WordPress, mostly photos 
The motor noise and focus hunting remind me of very early motion pictures.
Did I catch a glimpse of a book by Sebastiao Salgado?
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Yep, Workers.
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What happened to your Nikon D3?
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Nothing, though I think it’s a little jealous of the high ISO, video, and quiet mode of the D3s.
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it’s pretty cool actually … the auto-focus almost suggests the POV of some sort of android discovering his new surroundings
the music only adds to the effect
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It was manual focus, which is why it goes in and out a lot as I was playing around.
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Amazing. Like film footage quality. Gorgeous work. Very calming to watch.
Oh I wonder if you like Ravel too. If you do, you may check out Katia & Marielle Labeque playing some of his pieces.
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I played this piece before! Good choice of music.
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Like it very much.
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Amazing… I love the music combined with the artistic beauty of the shots. Breathtaking!
Makes me want to trade in my Canon for a Nikon. 😉
E.
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My Nikon (an old coolpix 5700, not even DSLR) made the same kinds of focusing noises in videos. Is there a good way to avoid that other than fixing the focus beforehand? Do all nice digital cameras with built in video do that?
BTW, I love that song. I used to think if I stretched my fingers -every day- I may actually be able to grow them long enough to play it without breaking the chords. hehe
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There’s no real way to avoid the mechanical noise of a camera focusing. Gotta lock it’s focus if you want to avoid it.
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Actually I found if I turn the auto-focus magnet thing off I can change the focus without it making too much noise. I should have clarified that I was manual the whole time, just the focusing ring was noisy.
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Thanks for getting some video of the D3s up so quickly! I’m anxious for my order to come through 😉
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love the video. beautiful, and the bokeh too! What was the ISO? Because if I made the same thing with my K-7, it would probably v. noisy.
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Matt, is that done with the new 50 1.4?
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Nope the older one.
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What I find interesting is the vignetting effect. I wonder if that’s because of the very shallow depth of field.
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Pretty cool camera.
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Your office seems really calming 🙂
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I’ve just tried Canon 500d (an entry level camera), nothing to do to my old 30d or 5d (and to nikon d3s) that i use for sport photo, but the quality of video is similar.
Obviously better on 720p 30fps because 1080p is limited via firmware on 20fps.
My only tip to the great MA.TT is to use manual focus and to avoid motion to still scenes. See a great work of Luca D’alessandri from my city with a canon 5dmII: http://www.vimeo.com/5634063.
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Nice blog. Boy, I’d give my eyesight for a Nikon D3x. On the other hand, a nice Panasonic GF1 would be sweet, and smaller. Congrats on the camera. All the photos on my blog were taken with a 5-yr.-old Panasonic point & shoot. Better that than no camera at all, right?
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I have the GF1 and I would highly recommend it, the video can look just as good as the D3S.
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Thanks Matt. I’m not much for video, though. My biggest concern with the GF1 is the lack of in-body image stabilization. That sweet 20mm prime also lacks it, as does the Panny 7-14 wide lens, which is a drag. Do you find it difficult to get crisp photos sans tripod?
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Not too bad, especially during the day. In twilight hours I usually brace against my body.
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what kind of stereo system?
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Where did you acquire the photo of the woman and man at the dance (ballet?) rail? My guess it’s a Man Ray print? Nice video and audio system BTW. I’m sure the Shindo/DeVore system sounds very good in person.
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From a photography gallery, it’s actually Audrey Hepburn.
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