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Smooth motion video with Canon 7D
Hi all. I am an amateur photographer who periodically takes his own personal videos. I used to take my videos with a DV film based camcorder like the Sony TRV-900 (SD) and later the Sony HDR-HC7(HD).Now I want to switch taking videos with my Canon 7D and 5D MkII cameras and play back from folders on a computer via HDMI cable to a 1080 HDTV.
The problem I am finding is that in scenes with fast motion or panning taken with the 7D the images during the panning portion get blurred a lot more than for the same scenes taken with my Sony HDR-HC7.
The other problem I am finding is that when I download the video files from the 7D to a PC with i7 processor, 8GB Ram, via USB cable by clicking and dragging to a folder on the PC and the play back the unedited files from the PC with Windows Media Player the playback in the scenes with motion is much more “stuttery”, not smooth compared to playback directly from the 7D via HDMI cable to a 1080TV.I am trying to find out what I am doing wrong in the taking of the video with the cameras or the playback to be able to take videos with the cameras that in scenes with heavy motion I get a playback as smoothly as in the same scenes takeb with a DV film based camcorder.
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3 Replies
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First off, is the hard drive you are copying the files to for HD playback the OS drive or a separate estata drive? Your stutter could simply be the need to offload this hd format files to a separate drive.
As to panning problems, it’s possible, but I would post the pans you are experiencing so we can evaluate whether you are panning too fast or not. I assume, for instance you are using a professional level tripod with a video head on it?
I would recommend getting one of the excellent video overviews of your new camera(s). These professional level cameras have an enormous range of settings, much more than the Sony camcoders, and it will really help you to go through some training by a pro on what to set, with regards to exposure, shutter etc. It’s really beyond the scope of posts like this. I’ve learned a huge amount from some of these videos, because it’s advice from professionals with a lifetime of knowledge.
Al
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Thanks for the response. The hard drive is an internal drive, Hitachi HDS721010CLA332, 1 TB, 7200rpm, 32 MB buffer. Would that be a problem?
The panning is moderate in my scene. The point is that the image is fuzzier with the 7D than with my Sony camcorder, not the other way around.
On which websites would I find the overviews for the Canon cameras you are referring to? for camera reviews I would normally go to dpreview, but they do not go into specific settings for video. Ans where do I find a professional who is familiar with the problems I am reporting.
Uwe Schmalenbach
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If the hard drive is the same as your OS, then yes, that could be causing the stutter. Try offloading it to another external drive. Preferably estata.
I think it would help anyone here wanting to give you advice to post the offending video (or a clip of it) onto Youtube or Vimeo so we can see what you are describing. “moderate” might mean something different from you to me.
We have many ‘pros’ on Creative Cow. I don’t claim to be an expert in 7D, though I have shot a lot of footage with it. I also have an XF305 which is a broadcast quality camera. I don’t yet totally understand what the ‘fuzziness” is that you are describing. Is your Sony have a more recent CMOS based camera or is it a CCD sensor? (I assume a CMOS but I don’t know how old your camera is). The 7D is CMOS. It can exhibit some ‘jello’ like affects if panned too fast, or even normally to some degree!
Take a look
https://www.eventdv.net/Articles/Editorial/Features/CCD-Versus-CMOS-for-HD-Production-56033.htmAl
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