Nikon D5300, or Canon 60D?

T

Theskiingguy

Member
Hey guys! I have a few questions regarding the Nikon D5300. I just found out about this camera yesterday, and it seems pretty underrated, but I'm not sure if that's for a reason.

I was looking at the Canon 60D, and was planning on buying it actually within a couple weeks. But I did some browsing around and I stumbled upon the Nikon D5300 which is able to shoot 1080p 60fps, while the 60D does 720p at 60fps. The D5300 also has a iso range up to 12800, while the 60D can only do 6400. A couple setbacks for me is that it's not weather sealed, I was planning on switching to canon, and the price range.

I could either get the 60D with an 18-135mm lens from craigslist, or I could get the body of the D5300 (it came out months ago so there's none used). My dad has three Nikon lenses, AFS Nikkor 18-200mm (he said I can't use), a Sigma 10-20mm (I can use on ocasion), and an AF Nikkor 28-85mm which would become "my lens".

I was really liking the 1080p 60fps option, but what do you guys think? Should I drop the cash and get the D5300?

Thanks NSers! +k to all those who answer :)

Enjoy kitty and puppy!

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not that i'm an expert, but is there any reason you're not just considering a t3i/t5i instead of the 60d? I mean it's a better price, and the only real differences i noted when I was doing my research were the weather sealing (which is pretty moot, unless you're planning to shoot in the rain), the top lcd, and the burst mode is faster on the 60d, but the sensor is essentially the same. The ISO on my t4i even goes up to 12.8k which is better than what you're saying on the 60d

anyway besides that i haven't used much of the nikon stuff. For me I wanted to be able to share lenses with my friends and i was planing on compressing my video anyways so 1080p wasn't as big of a deal. Good luck though
 
It's only underrated on NS, which doesn't matter because most of the kids shooting Canon here don't even know why they're shooting Canon. Here is where you should go to learn about this camera http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?143-Nikon-HDSLR

You didn't specify but it looks like you're mainly interested in filming. I wouldn't bother with the 60D for video, but for photos I'd take it over the D5300. The D5300 will give you better image quality, hands down. Better ISO performance, higher resolution, way more dynamic range, more colour depth, the sensor in that thing is the same as the D7100, it's a beast. It also has the larger LCD screen which I'd actually care about for video. The price difference is made up for in that you get a free lens and the ability to borrow another one, and I'm sure you'll be able to find a used one after Christmas now.

Now, if I were you, I would honestly get the Panasonic GH2. You will still be able to use your dad's lenses (although technically you could with the 60D as well), but the GH2 is dirt cheap now which will give you some money to buy more lenses or stabilization. Along with the legendary image quality, I repeat when hacked this thing will blow the Canon or Nikon away, it actually has video features built in to the camera which for me is huge, things like focus peaking, zebras, etc are really nice to have.
 
Oh just a note on adapting the lenses, you're going to completely lose the autofocus, and on the Sigma you definitely won't be able to check what F-stop you're shooting at since it doesn't have an aperture ring. Since you said 28-85 instead of 24-85 I believe that lens is a D lens and will have an aperture ring, so adapting that lens will just lose the autofocus. It's definitely nice to have autofocus sometimes so that's another thing to consider for D5300 vs. GH2.
 
Thank you VERY VERY much for your reply. I really do appreciate your time. Yes, I'm really using this camera for video. Of course I would LOVE to be able to use it for photos too, as I enjoy both a lot, but I really need this to be a good video camera for all sorts of videos. If I can get it to be a solid and well preforming photo camera too that's a great bonus for me (preferably high ISO for night time photography as well as high FPS for sports/action photography).

Well the price for both the D5300 and GH2 are about the same, $800ish since I'm not buying a lens for the D5300, just the body, and I would need to get a lens adapter for the GH2.

Are there any hacks for the D5300 to get such features or things? and how much better is the GH2 video quality?

Thing is the Nikon got a 69 rating, while GH3 got 38 here http://snapsort.com/compare/Nikon-D5300-vs-Panasonic_Lumix_DMC-GH2 so I'm a little concerned about that part...

Thanks :)
 
Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it!You do bring up a good point I never considered or realized, so I'll look more into that.

Yeah 1080p 60fps would be SUPER nice for me to have, so I'm hoping for that the most :)
 
The D5300 will definitely be a great photo camera, the GH2 not so much. I'm not sure where you're seeing GH2's going for $800, if you do a quick search on the DVXuser b/s/t forum you should find one for like $500 pretty easily. Lens adapters can be had for pretty cheap too.

It's extremely unlikely or maybe impossible for the Nikon to get a hack like the GH2 has for the higher bitrate footage, but Magic Lantern might be able to develop something for exposure/focus assist like they have done so well for Canons. To compare image quality, I'd recommend just searching around for a comparison video done with the two cameras, there should be plenty by now. I'll again stress using DVXuser, those bastards really know how to geek out over camera comparisons etc, it might be worth making an account and asking a few questions, they'll be able to help much more than NS can.

Don't worry about the ratings they got too much, those reviews are based on the photo capabilities, instead look into written reviews focused on video use.

You might also want to look into the GH3, probably not much more expensive than the D5300, definitely the best of the three cameras. Just something to keep in mind.
 
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