Game On: Nikon's D4 & JVC's GY-HMQ10

For the past few months I've been living without a dedicated video camera in my camera bag.  This is the first time in a very long time I've been flying blind.  The reason for this is simple (as mentioned in previous posts): I'm waiting for the right camera.  As time passes and more and more great cameras enter the arena, I'm (ironically) less and less inclined to buy a new camera.  Why?  Today, it seems every client wants something different with budgets ranging wildly from project to project, there isn't ONE camera to fit the bill.  This climate begs the question: why buy when you can let your client rent?  This doesn't change the fact that I'm not just a shooter, but also a writer/director and when the time comes for me to go to camera on my own projects, then I don't want to rent...I want to own.

Two companies who've lost a lot of ground in the HD video game made a splash at this year's CES in Las Vegas: Nikon and JVC.  Nikon's brand new D4 is a low light beast with new HD video capabilities that leap frog Canon's current lineup of DSLRs.  For starters, the D4 boasts1080p at 30 or 24fps (or 720p at 60fps) with a B-Frame data compression allowing you to record h.264 clips for up to 20 minutes per take on dual memory card slots (CF and XQD).  The D4  also allows full manual control over exposure while shooting, along with a remote shutter and power aperture with silent operational adjustment.  

But the biggest selling point of all is a biggie: uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 HD output through the camera's HDMI port.  No on-screen menus, no letterbox, nothing but the signal you want to feed to an external recorder.  Big, but not as huge as it would have been if it were 10-bit.

Another great tool is the D4's ability to switch from full-frame to Nikon's DX format (a 1.5x crop factor) or to a 2.7x crop at the standard 1920x1080 resolution.  This provides whatever lenses you've got in your kit with and incredible amount of increased range and versatility.  Considering a situation where've only got room for one lens and this feature is a life saver.  Finally -- for added incentive -- Nikon's promising "less instances of rolling shutter distortion."  Not exactly sure what "less instances" will translate to in the real world, but any improvement is a welcome one.

While the D4 is pricey at $6K for a camera that still isn't a dedicated video camera, it is a viable option...for now.  My only concern is that Canon is quite certainly poised to return fire with a revamped 5DM3 and 7Dx.  The only questions remaining are: when and what will these next gen cameras boast for features?

Next up is the JVC GY-HMQ10, a dedicated prosumer video camera boasting a 4K image and competitively priced at $5K.  While this isn't a true 4K sensor, it somehow (the tech is beyond me) stitches together four quadrants of 1080p into a 4K stream.  The GY-HMQ10 delivers real-time 3840x2160p footage at 24p, 50p and 60p as well as offering a high speed 1/2 inch CMOS sensor with 8.3 million active pixels, a 3.5in touch LCD monitor, a built-in f2.8 10x zoom lens with optical image stabilizer, and shoots up to two hours of 4K video recording to SDHC or SDXC memory cards.  Pretty impressive.

These two cameras have definitely got me thinking.  Before I make any decisions I'm going to try to get my hands on both and once I do, I'll report back here (hopefully with test footage).