*** Fix or Sharpen severe OUT OF FOCUS ***

[David Fuku]

Hi to me it looks like he shot on SD not HD…you can try photoshop but it would literally take you over a week to try a blur/sharpen edges layer technique…

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

This looks like pretty standard SD from a SD native camera from the early 2000’s, such as a XL1 or 2 or a PD150.

Also, to compound the problem, in your first sample image the camera is focused on the music stand in the background, although the DOF is so big on this kind of camera that it makes little diference.

What you see is what you get. There’s basically nothing you can do.

[Nick Ag]

Yes, it was recorded in SD video but this problem has never happend to me before even with the same camera sony HVR-VX2000, it had a very low sharp preset, but if I try photoshop which of the filters or 3rd party plugins should I use to try to improve the focus ? or o you guys know any other software or hardware that can help in this out of focus problem ?
Thanks you guys

[Nick Ag]

it was a sony HVR-VX2000 by mistake using a low sharp user preset, do you know any software, external plugin or hardware that could help to rescue, even a company in L.A. that can do the miracle, I have 4 tapes of this problem
Thanks a lot for your time !!

[Chris Borjis]

no.

what you see is what you get.

all you can do now is learn from it.

It actually doesn’t look too bad for what it is.
if it was really badly out of focus it would have to be reshot.

[David Fuku]

What I think is the guy turned the focus off and was out of focus which is why you can’t fix it…

Beyond that issue you can try Red Bullet instant HD that might do something, in photoshop you would create two layers (maybe you can try this in video I’ve never tried) you sharpen a lower layer not the original!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you then erase the edges on the upper layer so the middle of the skin is softish and the edges are sharp you do this with a soft brush on about 15-30% opacity so you brush the edges away so it’s smooth from sharp to blurry… it creates an illusion of sharpness….

[Ann Bens]

I use to own a vx2100
Does not look that out of focus to me.
You can try this:
Duplicate video track and superimpose.
Add sharpen effect (or unsharpen mask) set it to about 30-50 and lower opacity between 50-70.
Might work, might not.
I used to do this with analog video.

———————————————–
Adobe Certified Expert Premiere Pro
Adobe Community Professional

[Nick Ag]

unfortunately this was a wedding, not a TV spot, so I can not shoot again

[Walter Soyka]

[Rick Ag] “it was a sony HVR-VX2000 by mistake using a low sharp user preset”

This is not just an issue of low in-camera sharpening, which is a post-processed effect even in-camera (though this would be pre-compression, which admittedly makes quite a difference with DV). The operator is just a little bit off on focus.

It really doesn’t bother me that much in the wide shots here. Just a touch of sharpening (Unsharp Mask) or a high-pass filter should make these more tolerable.

Here’s a hint for sharpening close-ups: worry mainly about the eyes. A little softness across the rest of the face is usually tolerable (and sometimes even flattering), but most viewers will instinctively watch the eyes of the subject. Do your sharpening in a power window or feathered adjustment layer around the eyes for an instant improvement to the shot without exposing all kinds of nasty compression artifacts elsewhere in the image.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Chris Tompkins]

When you make the jump to HD, you’ll be amazed at how good your wedding video will look…
Your samples stills are not THAT blurry.
Customer will not even notice in the edit.
It’s SD!!!!!

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC