D7 Test -Quality Question

[John Davidson]

The issue you’re referring to may be moire, which is the another problem the 7D faces. I noticed it when shooting a speckled concrete driveway the other week. I think maybe reducing detail level can help some. There are others who can possibly help you reduce this if it’s a major issue for you. Perhaps it’s best to think of the 7D as a tool for interviews, scenic broll, low light situations, and a camera you use in unconventional shooting environments where you still want great depth of field (like mountain climbing, time lapses, etc).

A 7D will never replace a RED. It’s important to keep in mind that it’s just one tool in your belt.

A friend once complained to me about the jello effect regarding the 7D. It’s another one of those issues that people contemplate before purchase. He asked me if it was something I noticed when shooting with the 7D – I told him I was aware of it but that unless he was planning to do lots of whip pans and action scenes, it wouldn’t be an issue. He said that he was planning to shoot action scenes with it.
My response to that was “if you’re shooting an action scene that requires choreography, multiple takes, maybe some wires, exhaustive lighting, etc., what the f$#* are you shooting that on a $1600 camera for?”
He ordered a 7D – and a RED – the next day.

[Drew Muir]

Thanks John,

I guess have looked too many samples on-line have been unable to get the same results. I’ll do a few more tests and play with the settings a bit more. The detail level makes sense as the likely culprit.

Sytem MAC Leopard 10.5 Dual 3Gig 4 Core, 8Gig RAM, Internal Software Raid FX4500 Video
Final Cut studio 2, Shake and Adobe Production Suite CS3

[John Davidson]

Pro video coalition had a great article about getting the most out of your 7D a few weeks ago. Maybe search their site archives? The included some links to custom setups that give you a better base for color correction in post. I’d post a link by that might be advertising for the competition :-).

[Drew Muir]

Thanks John, I’ll check it out.

Sytem MAC Leopard 10.5 Dual 3Gig 4 Core, 8Gig RAM, Internal Software Raid FX4500 Video
Final Cut studio 2, Shake and Adobe Production Suite CS3

[Nels Chick]

Those steppy edges really ticked me off the day I bought my 7D! I shot at 720 60p, and every straight line had jaggies! It’s called aliasing, and it has to do with how the imaging chip samples a scene.

Stu Maschwitz posted some good information about this on his blog:
https://prolost.com/blog/2009/12/3/you-didnt-believe-me.html

It seems to me that the faster the chip has to scan, the more likely you’ll see aliasing. It is much more pronounced in 50 and 60 fps footage, than it is in 24 fps footage. The 7D is able to give us beautiful footage with a very shallow depth of field for a fraction of what a RED One costs, but there are a few drawbacks. To scan fast enough for these frame rates (this is a still camera after all) the 7D chip has to skip lines. This is where we start to see aliasing and moire. I’ve noticed that the the more organic looking a scene is, the less pronounced the aliasing is. But if there are hard straight edges, there’s a good chance you’ll get stair steps, especially shooting at higher frame rates.

That’s what we get for our $1600. I’m cool with that. We can make it work, as long as we understand what we can and can’t do with the technology.

inconveniencethemovie.com

[Dane Silzle]

This is an issue with the 7D and T2i in 720 recording mode.
However in my experience shooting 720p60 on the Lumix/Panasonic GH1 is better Looking and holds up in editorial.

On the other hand, for 1080p24 5Dm2,7D and T2i are great, and there you have the reason I own both T2i and GH1 Love em’ both (they both serve different purposes.

That being said, I would never give up my HVX200
or stop renting Red and P2 Vericam, where the need be.

Viva La revolution !

Regards, Dane