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Newbie DSLR Video Question, Bad quality when moving
Hi,
I’m new to DSLR (duuh first post) video but not to photography or video in general.
I”m battling to understand why my DSLR video looks so bad. When the camera stationary things are fine but the moment the camera moves I’m getting a shuddering / flickering artefacts.
Here is an example pan, .mov file straight off the flash card. 60fps so 1/60th Shutter, F9 aperture.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cwxw6am0hgj8sxb/Flicker%20Pan.mov
Is the shuddering affect likely to be caused by my cameras compression? If so would capturing directly from my cameras HDMI port be the solution.
* Almost forgot, the camera is a Nikon D800 if that effects anything.
Thanks
Brett -
10 Replies
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CMOS sensors suffer from what is often called “JellyCam” which happens when you try to whip pan the camera…straight lines appear to bend. The only solution is to pan the camera slower.
Steve Crow
Crow Digital Media
http://www.CrowDigitalMedia.com -
Thank you for the feedback Steve.
Do you mind if I ask wether you looked at the sample or are commenting on my written description?
I has considered rolling shutter (my GoPro suffers a lot from this) but expected more of the distortion effect I see in fast horizontal movement than the jumpyness im seeing on the SLR.
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I just looked at your clip for the first time now and actually your pan was quite moderate in speed and I didn’t see the symptoms I normally associate with JellyCam. The shuddering could be your tripod head was sticking a bit, but I didn’t notice any flickering. Not much help I know.
Steve Crow
Crow Digital Media
http://www.CrowDigitalMedia.com -
I experienced a similar problem when I first started using a video tripod. It turned out that it was due to a less than fluid pan mechanism in the tripod itself. After lots of practice I am now able to pan perfectly smoothly handheld. To do this, hold the camera up to your eye, elbows in, put your legs apart in the position you want to be at the END of the movement. Then twist your waist to the start position and start filming. The pan then gets easier as you near the end. Go slowly and practice this movement often, even without a camera!
Ann Baldwin
https://annbaldwin.zenfolio.com/
‘Art Changes Lives’ -
Hi,
Thanks again for the feedback, and good advice for future panning.
I dont think the problem is related to my pan technique in this case, the pan in sample video was performed with the camera mounted on a Glidecam HD 4000, the camera is balanced and the rotation is done using momentum on the main gymbal. Also I see in any high motion scen, even when the camera is stationary and there is a fast moving subject.
I just did a test which I didn’t think of until now, I plugged the camera directly into my HDTV. Motion is a LOT smoother. Unless my TV (a relatively old Samsung) has some special signal processing magic this all seems points to a problem with the cameras compression?
I suppose knowing my gears capabilities is half the battle. I just find the effect distracting when trying to capture good looking b-roll.
I would love to hear from other D800 shooters if there are any out there.
Brett
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Hi Brett, to avoid stuttering (and motion blur), the rule of thumb for cinema (and video) is that your shutter speed should be about 2x your frame rate. So for 720/60p, your shutter speed should have been 1/125 and not 1/60.
You may want to do some reading on “the 180 degree rule”.
When I get a few minutes, I will post some links.
Cheers,
Bill
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Thanks Bill,
I’m shooting at 1/50th of a second and 1080/24p. I take it that this complies with the 180 degree rule?
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Yes, it does. 24fps is more susceptible to stuttering than 60fps, though.
Bill
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Honestly, it looks to me more like a playback issue. That’s pretty much what all my video looks like during the review and editing process.
Just to try it, record something like that and put it in a timeline. Then export a high quality but small video, like a widescreen SD. I usually just use the Youtube preset from Premiere. That’ll usually clear it up for me.
Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com -
I haven’t seen the clip mentioned, but another thing to keep in mind is that optical stabilization can often work against you when trying to make a smooth pan. I don’t know if you had “VR” engaged, but it can actually cause a pan to “stick” in places, producing jerky pans, especially at the beginning of a pan.
HTH
Jeff Beaumont
(Another Nikon D800 shooter!)Jeff Beaumont
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