Canon has had an ongoing relationship with industry professionals like Shane Hurlbut and Vincent Laforet, but now it seems Nikon is getting in on the action, calling on frequent Steven Spielberg Director of Photography Janusz Kamiński to shoot, and Guillermo Arriaga, writer/director of The Burning Plain and writer of Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel, to direct a horror film shot only with the Nikon D800. This is a big step for Nikon, who has lagged behind the rest of the DSLR video world until this generation of cameras.
Here is a little bit about the project from the Broken Night website:
The Nikon D800 produces video so extraordinarily cinematic it can find beauty anywhere—even in a nightmare. To prove it, we invited critically acclaimed writer Guillermo Arriaga, writer of Babel, 21 Grams and Amores Perros, to team up with two-time Academy award winning cinematographer, Janusz Kamiński, the DP on Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and War Horse. The challenge? Push the limits of the ultimate movie-making HD-SLR to create a short movie as frightening as it is drop dead beautiful.
This is an interesting move for Nikon. Obviously they see that having quality video inside their DSLRs is essential to competing in this market, and having exceptional video quality can actually bring them an entirely new audience. Just as with the other films produced by professionals on DSLRs, there is no doubt someone like Kamiński will get every ounce of quality out of the camera.
I've already expressed my thoughts about the D800 many times on this site before, and besides some moire and aliasing (nothing worse than on the Canon 5D Mark II), the image quality is top notch, with tons of dynamic range and a clean 8-bit 4:2:2 HDMI. A small difference between the Nikon and Canon DSLRs, the D800's LCD remains active even when an external monitor is attached -- which may not seem like a big deal, but in practice, it makes operating the cameras that much easier.
I'm excited to see what these guys will come up with because of their exceptional resumes. They are also producing an excellent behind the scenes series, so head on over to the website to check out what these guys have been up to.
What do you guys think? If you own a Nikon D800, what have you thought of the image quality?
Link: Broken Night -- Short Film from Janusz Kaminski and Guillermo Arriaga Shot on Nikon D800
