2. D850 Online Manual
3. Movies
4. Recording Movies

Movies can be recorded in live view.

1. Rotate the live view selector to 1 (movie live view).

   

   Live view selector

2. Press the a button.

   The mirror will be raised and the view through the lens will be displayed in the camera monitor, modified for the effects of exposure. The subject will no longer be visible in the viewfinder.

   

   a button

   The 0 Icon

   A 0 icon (0 The Live View Display) indicates that movies cannot be recorded.

   White Balance

   White balance can be set at any time by pressing the U button and rotating a command dial (0 White Balance Options).

3. Choose a focus mode (0 Choosing a Focus Mode).

   

4. Choose an AF-area mode (0 Choosing an AF-Area Mode).

   Pinpoint AF

   Pinpoint AF is not available in movie mode.

   

5. Focus.

   Frame the opening shot and press the AF-ON button to focus. Note that the number of subjects that can be detected in face-priority AF drops during movie recording.

   

   AF-ON button

   Focusing

   Focus can also be adjusted by pressing the shutter-release button halfway before beginning recording, or you can focus manually as described in “Manual Focus” (0 Manual Focus).

6. Start recording.

   Press the movie-record button to start recording. A recording indicator and the time available are displayed in the monitor. Exposure can be locked by pressing the center of the sub-selector (0 Autoexposure (AE) Lock) or altered by up to ±3 EV using exposure compensation (0 Exposure Compensation); spot metering is not available. In autofocus mode, the camera can be refocused by pressing the AF-ON button or by tapping your subject in the monitor.

   

   Movie-record button

   Recording indicator

   

   Time remaining

   Audio

   The camera can record both video and sound; do not cover the microphone on the front of the camera during movie recording. Note that the built-in microphone may record sounds made by the camera or lens during autofocus, vibration reduction, or changes to aperture.

7. End recording.

   Press the movie-record button again to end recording. Recording will end automatically when the maximum length is reached, or the memory card is full (note that depending on memory card write speed, shooting may end before the maximum length is reached).

   

8. Exit live view.

   Press the a button to exit live view.

   

• Indices
• Using the i Button
• Image Area: Choosing a Movie Crop
• Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality
• The Live View Display
• The Information Display
• Taking Photos in Movie Mode

Indices

Using the i Button

Choose image area

Choose image area for movies (0 Image Area: Choosing a Movie Crop).

Frame size/frame rate

Select a frame size and rate (0 Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality).

Movie quality

Choose movie quality (0 Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality).

Active D-Lighting

Adjust Active D-Lighting (0 Active D-Lighting). Not available when peaking level is displayed or at frame sizes of 1920 × 1080 (slow-mo) and 3840 × 2160 (0 Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality).

Microphone sensitivity

Press 1 or 3 to adjust microphone sensitivity (0 Microphone sensitivity). Both the built-in and external microphones (0 Other Accessories) are affected.

Attenuator

Reduce microphone gain and prevent audio distortion when recording movies in loud environments.

Frequency response

Control the frequency response of the built-in or external microphones (0 Frequency Response).

Wind noise reduction

Enable or disable wind noise reduction using the built-in microphone’s low-cut filter (0 Wind Noise Reduction).

Destination

When two memory cards are inserted, you can choose the card to which movies are recorded (0 Destination).

Monitor brightness

Press 1 or 3 to adjust monitor brightness (note that this affects live view only and has no effect on photographs or movies or on the brightness of the monitor for menus or playback; 0 Using the i Button).

Multi-selector power aperture

Select Enable to enable power aperture. Press 1 to widen the aperture, 3 to narrow the aperture.

Multi selector exposure comp.

Selecting Enable allows exposure compensation to be set by pressing 1 or 3.

Highlight display

If Pattern 1 or Pattern 2 is selected, shading will be used to indicate highlights (bright areas of the frame). The level of brightness needed to trigger the highlight display can be selected using Custom Setting g2 (Highlight brightness, 0 Highlight Brightness). Peaking level is disabled when highlights are displayed.

Highlights

Pattern 1

Highlights

Pattern 2

Headphone volume

Press 1 or 3 to adjust headphone volume.

Electronic VR

Select On to enable electronic vibration reduction in movie mode. Not available at frame sizes of 1920 × 1080 (slow-mo) and 3840 × 2160 (0 Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality). Note that if electronic vibration is on, Peaking level will be disabled, the angle of view will be reduced, and the edges of the frame will be cropped out.

Peaking level

Choose whether objects that are in focus will be indicated by colored outlines while manual focus is in effect.

Area in focus

Choose from 3 (high sensitivity), 2 (standard), 1 (low sensitivity), and Off; the higher the setting, the greater the depth shown as being in focus. The peaking color can be changed using Custom Setting d8 (Peaking highlight color, 0 Peaking Highlight Color). Peaking is not available when highlight display is enabled or at frame sizes of 1920 × 1080 (slow-mo) and 3840 × 2160 (0 Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality) or when Active D-Lighting (0 Active D-Lighting) or electronic vibration reduction is enabled.

Image Area: Choosing a Movie Crop

You can choose an image area using the Image area > Choose image area option in the movie shooting menu. Select FX to shoot movies in what is referred to as “FX-based movie format”, DX to shoot in “DX-based movie format”. The differences between the two are illustrated below.

FX

DX

The sizes of the areas recorded are approximately 35.9 × 20.2 mm (FX-based movie format) and 23.5 × 13.2 mm (DX-based movie format). Movies shot with a DX-format lens and On selected for Image area > Auto DX crop (0 Automatic Crop Selection) in the movie shooting menu are recorded in DX-based movie format, as are all movies (regardless of the lens used or the option selected for Image area > Choose image area) with a frame size of 1920 × 1080 (slow-mo). Enabling electronic vibration reduction by selecting On for Electronic VR in the i-button menu reduces the size of the crop, slightly increasing the apparent focal length.

Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality

The Frame size/frame rate option in the movie shooting menu is used to choose the movie frame size (in pixels) and frame rate. You can also choose from two Movie quality options: high and normal. Together, these options determine the maximum bit rate, as shown in the following table.

Slow-Motion Movies

To record silent slow-motion movies, select 1920×1080; 30p ×4 (slow-mo), 1920×1080; 25p ×4 (slow-mo), or 1920×1080; 24p ×5 (slow-mo) for Frame size/frame rate in the movie shooting menu. Movies recorded at 4 or 5 times the rated speed are played back at the rated speed for a slow-motion effect; for example, movies shot with 1920×1080; 30p ×4 (slow-mo) selected will be recorded at a frame of roughly 120 fps (120p) and play back at approximately 30 fps (30p).

Actual frame rate is 119.88 fps for values listed as 120p, 29.97 fps for values listed as 30p, and 23.976 fps for values listed as 24p.

The Live View Display

“No movie” indicator

Indicates that movies cannot be recorded.

Wind noise reduction

Displayed when wind noise reduction is on (0 Wind Noise Reduction).

Electronic VR indicator

Displayed when electronic vibration reduction is on (0 Electronic VR).

Headphone volume

Volume of audio output to headphones. Displayed when third-party headphones are connected.

Frequency response

The current frequency response (0 Frequency Response).

Microphone sensitivity

Microphone sensitivity (0 Microphone Sensitivity).

Sound level

Sound level for audio recording. Displayed in red if level is too high; adjust microphone sensitivity accordingly.

HDMI recording indicator

Displayed if movies are simultaneously being recorded to a device connected via HDMI.

Attenuator indicator

Displayed when the attenuator is enabled (0 Attenuator).

Time remaining

The recording time available for movies.

Movie frame size

The frame size for movie recording (0 Frame Size, Frame Rate, and Movie Quality).

Highlight display indicator

Displayed when highlight display is on.

“No power aperture” indicator

Indicates that power aperture is unavailable.

The Information Display

To hide or display indicators in the monitor, press the R button.

Virtual horizon (0 Virtual Horizon)

Information on

Information off

Histogram

Framing guides

Taking Photos in Movie Mode

Photographs are recorded in the format selected for Image quality in the photo shooting menu (0 Image Quality). For information on image size, see “Image Size” (0 Image Size). Note that the exposure for photographs cannot be previewed when the live view selector is rotated to 1; mode P, S, or A is recommended but accurate results can be achieved in mode M by previewing exposure with the live view selector rotated to C.

Image Size

The size of photos taken in movie mode varies with the image area (0 Image Area) and the option selected for Image size in the photo shooting menu (0 Image Size).