-
Nighttime Jitter Issue with HVX 200
Jan,
I encountered a couple strange phenomena while shooting with the HVX 200 at night in a downtown city area. I do not want to jump to conclusions, but there are a couple technical issues that need to be resolved in regard to my particular unit.
First Issue: The most troubling was that some of my shots experienced extreme jitter in playback in Final Cut Pro. I did not notice the jitter while shooting through the viewfinder or LCD. I do not recall playing back the shots in camera, so my first playback look was in FCP.
The jitter consisted of the entire picture shifting up and down very rapidly, sometimes for the length of the clip, sometimes for only two seconds and then returning to normal within the same clip. I was shooting in 720P/24PN with no VFR (scene file set to “film cam”). I’m using FCP 5.0.4, and the camera shoots amazingly in daytime. There have been no import troubles with any of the clips from the camera. The shots in question were either static shots or medium zooms. Given that it was night in the city, all of the shots had areas of extreme brightness and darkness. The jitter did not seem location-specific as most of the shots I acquired over the five or so locations were solid. Again, some shots were solid for most of the clip and jittery for just some of the clip, as if something turned itself off and on. I shot in both auto and manual modes throughout the evening.
Second issue: I took a number of shots of traffic coming to and from the camera. On one of the traffic shots (with headlights, taillights and traffic signals), it was as if someone had put a cross filter on the lens. Every single point of light in the image (there were many) was a 6-point star, across the board. This is interesting, because this only happened in a single shot out of probably ten from that very same camera position. I do recall seeing this phenomenon in the viewfinder at the time of shooting. My next shot was something on the ground. When I came back up to shoot traffic again, the star filter effect was not there.
Third issue: This is less of a technical malfunction and more of an observation. I noticed that the camera is not sensitive to partially lit areas and has a tendency to dump them off to black. An example is a large walkway leading up to our state capitol. It is lined with pedestrian lamp posts that bounce light off of the pinkish walkway. None of the walkway showed in the camera, no matter what my iris setting was. It was simply all black. I am not disturbed by this, as I’ve seen only a couple handheld cameras perform better than this at that location, but I would appreciate any advice on capturing partially lit subjects at night.
For anyone else reading this, please note that my experience with this camera has been nothing less than spectacular. As with any new product, there will no doubt be issues that need to be addressed as these units hit the real world. If you have one, you might try recreating these same types of shots in order to help bring about resolution or single-out my unit.
Jan, I am happy to submit my clips to Panasonic if that would help.
Thanks,
Chris Elley
Austin, TexasElectro-Fish Media LLC
bbqfilm.com -
14 Replies
-
wow… that doesn’t sound good.
btw, where did you get your camera?
-
First guess: auto focus or/and optical stabilizer was on?
-
Toke,
I think auto focus and image stabilizer are great guesses for this issue. That is something I certainly was not thinking about while testing the unit that night. Because, I didn’t notice the jitter in camera, I did not specifically troubleshoot for it in the field.
I will re-visit the scene as soon as possible to try to re-create the phenomena, testing with these features on and off.
If anyone has any additional theories, I will be happy to test those as well. My hope is that it is something simple like that, but obviously it needs to be pinpointed. Since that night, I feel like I know the camera a million times better.
Thanks!
ChrisP.S. Danny, I purchased through Texas Media Systems here in Austin. They are an incredibly customer-oriented dealer and receive my highest recommendation. I cannot speak to their order status at the moment, but they may be reached at 512.440.1400. Dial extension 203 for Terry Nixon. Tell him I referred you. He’ll be glad to help out where feasible.
-
I have a theory.
You go to the location, its outside, you get out of the car, its colder then you thought it world be, your not dressed properly, you start shooting, slowly you get colder, and then colder still, your hands start to shake ever so imperceptibly, you get back in the car.
Everything seems right in your world, you with your new camera, but, you’ve got what you’ve got on the P2 and nothing will change that, you screen it and, OH MY GOD something
-
Chris Elley: First Issue: The most troubling was that some of my shots experienced extreme jitter in playback in Final Cut Pro. I did not notice the jitter while shooting through the viewfinder or LCD. I do not recall playing back the shots in camera, so my first playback look was in FCP.
Hi Chris, I would love to see the footage, can you drag and drop your Contents folder from the P2 onto a DVD and send it to me. I can’t visualize the problem. So send it to me here:
Jan Crittenden Livingston
Panasonic Broadcast
One Panasonic Way, 2E-7
Secaucus, NJ 07094>Second issue: I took a number of shots of traffic coming to and from the camera. On one of the traffic shots (with headlights, taillights and traffic signals), it was as if someone had put a cross filter on the lens. Every single point of light in the image (there were many) was a 6-point star, across the board. This is interesting, because this only happened in a single shot out of probably ten from that very same camera position. I do recall seeing this phenomenon in the viewfinder at the time of shooting. My next shot was something on the ground. When I came back up to shoot traffic again, the star filter effect was not there.
This I do not see as a problem but one of video, it is one of the telltales of somthing being shot with video vs. film, so you just need to know what to look for. It is the same as the IT chip and its vertical smear. It doesn’t always happen but it is a certain set of conditions that make it happen.
>Third issue: This is less of a technical malfunction and more of an observation. I noticed that the camera is not sensitive to partially lit areas and has a tendency to dump them off to black. An example is a large walkway leading up to our state capitol. It is lined with pedestrian lamp posts that bounce light off of the pinkish walkway. None of the walkway showed in the camera, no matter what my iris setting was. It was simply all black. I am not disturbed by this, as I’ve seen only a couple handheld cameras perform better than this at that location, but I would appreciate any advice on capturing partially lit subjects at night.
Well the only way that you can learn and gain control is knowing how you got the results you did get. So, if that set got this, then what else could you change to alter the picture? Redestal? Gamma Mode? Little of both? Iris combination? Shutter speed?
Include these on another DVD so that I can take a look.
The only one that bothers me here is the description of the first. Please also include the settings that you had your camera operating in, along with shutter speeds, which frame rate? etc. Have you been able to recreate it?
Anyhow, I should be back in the office fulltime next week so get that to me asap. I really want the raw, non-imported files.
Best regards,
Jan
Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems -
Did you have two way radios with you? I found that some cameras record funky things when you try using these.
Just a thought.
Tim
Tim Langston
Cryin’ Out Loud Productions
Fort Wayne, IN
http://www.colproductions.com -
I’ve had similar problems and discovered we were shooting near a cell tower. we moved the camera a few hundred yards away and everything returned to normal.
-
Christopher,
[christopherkarcher] “I’ve had similar problems and discovered we were shooting near a cell tower.”
Oh my, I can see a 3rd party supplying tin hats for these camcorders. (g)
Ron Shook
-
Hello Guys,
Received my camera last night… Wow, what a build!!!! Much bigger than I expected which I do like! While I love Sony’s refined design & finish legacy, I have come to really appreciate Panny’s commercial grade build.
Jitter-
So, I quickly dialed in the scene file for Cine (F5 & F6) and set it to 720/24P to simulate my DVX setup but w/ HD in the mix… shot some low light, in my house shots of my 2 year old and quicly ran to my PB to G5 tranfer set up (PB 17″ to G5 w/ decklink HD/multibridge/Sharp Aquos 26 LCD) and imported the clips. While I was blown away, i quickly noticed the 24P strobe but worse that that is that I immediately noticed a back ground Jitter that looked very much like interlacing jitter. The camera was relatively stable because it was on my dining room table and the jitter got better or worse depending on the focus.I am not formaly complaining yet because as with my first DVX shots a couple of years ago… It was user error why all my shots sucked. I later aquired some of the most stunning images that I had ever produced w/ a video camera. I will be testing it hard core today because I have some spots to shoot (Miami Int’l Boat Show) in the next 24 hours that I want to shoot with the HVX… Outdoor, full Miami light shots on helicopters & boats.
Note on P2-
P2 is just awesome!!! No doubt the winner of new formats!!! However, 8 gig cards are near useless!!!! 8 minutes (16 for 2) is just pointless and premature. It’s okay if they cost $200 bucks but $2000 is just not right! Stopping and downloading after 8, 10, or 16 minutes is just not acceptable for any kind of “video” workflow. 30 to 40 is in the range of acceptable. Even if Panasonic gave us all a P2 Store I still think it’s not cool. Velcro-ing a Firestore to my HVX is another bandaid that I just don’t see! I am super down with P2 but??? I may be returning my P2- 8gigs.I will update you guys over the next couple of days.
Cheers to all HVXers!!!!
Prio
Carlos Prio
field dominance
prio(at)fielddominance.com
305/971-7037 ext. 208
cell. 305/785-7746
Miami, FL
G5 Dual 2.0 w/ 2.5 gigs of ram, 160hd
OSX 10.4.3
FCP HD 5.0.4
Lacie 320 & 1T d2 extremes
BMD HD w/ Multibridge HD
Cinema Display
100a, fx1, hc-1, and waiting for the HVX200 -
Jan,
Thank you for your prompt reply. I will definitely send you the footage for analysis. I look forward to your findings.
Thanks again,
ChrisChris Elley
Austin, Texas
Electro-Fish Media LLC
bbqfilm.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up