Video doesn’t look like HD quality…why?

[Steve Crow]

Look for an option to film in 1920×1080 24p mode instead – thats 24 frames per second progressive. I think you will like the results much better

Steve

Steve Crow

[Ann Bens]

Dont export with Match sequence settings.
You are exporting with a preview codec which is of lower quality.
Max render quality is only usefull if you do not have a supported GPU.
What is your final product going to be? I am not a big fan of mpeg.

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[Rob Manning]

Hi Erin,

How is the client displaying this content?

Online, in a point of sale loop, broadcast on cable, You Tube, Vimeo?

There are presets for export which you can adjust for bit rate to customize.

Ann would have a good idea should you let us know.

Thanks,

Rob

[James Kumorek]

Hello Erin,

There could be a variety of issues that could cause your video to look “soft”. The first is focus — DSLRs can have a very shallow depth of field, especially in lower-light situations. If you have your f-stop wide open (like f2.8), and you’re zoomed in a bit, your depth of field can literally be just a few inches for clear footage. Which means that if your subject is moving around a bit, they will go in and out of focus as they drift towards and away from the camera.

What’s your ISO setting? Higher ISO settings, which you would need to shoot as the available light decreases, will add noise and decrease the crispness of the video.

When you create your sequence, what settings are you choosing? If you were to pick a sequence resolution of (for example) 1280×720, but then export to 1920×1080, that would cause softness.

Are you shooting in fully manual mode, or are you letting the camera pick settings? If you’re letting the camera pick the settings, you’re not as likely to get the best results possible. If you’re not that familiar with how the different settings affect your results, that’s worth investing some time in learning. You might find this article I did helpful: https://www.churchproduction.com/story/main/how_to_shoot_better_footage_manually

My best guess is it’s a combination of the lighting levels that you’re shooting under, the camera settings, and the focus/depth of field. The stock lenses that come with the cameras like the 60D (what I own for a DSLR) or the 70D are really hard to focus manually with great accuracy, which makes lower-light shooting for video a bit problematic. Try getting more light on your subject, and find a good balance between a higher F stop value to increase the depth of field, and higher ISO setting to get some for image brightness back up to where you need it to compensate for the higher F-stop value without adding too much noise into the picture.

Set up early before your next shoot if possible, pick what you think are the best settings, and shoot a short sample clip of you at the podium. Then, load it into your laptop and look at it full-res to see how it’s coming out, and adjust your settings until you’re getting the best you can get.

Hope that’s helpful!

[Jp Pelc]

Hi Erin,

First of all as previously suggested you should try shooting in 24fps as that gives a more filmic and professional look. I think the biggest issue here is your lens. The kit lenses are pretty low quality glass, and rather slow. As a result you need to crank up your ISO in order to get appropriate exposure, which results in noise.

I don’t know what kind of video you mostly shoot, but a wise investment on solid glass would be a Sigma 30mm f/1.4. I bought it a while ago and for ~$500, you can’t get a better image. If you want to go even cheaper you can get the Canon 50mm f/1.8 for ~$100, just to see what it’s like to use fast lenses. Of course these will not be suitable for filming speeches as seen above, but as I said I don’t know what you usually shoot.

If you are weary about investing in a lens, you can always rent one pretty cheap for a day or two from borrowlens.com to test it out

[Jason Jenkins]

Hi, Erin:

Contrary to what a couple of other posters said, 24p is not going to solve any of your problems. I like the look of 24p, but it doesn’t have anything to do with your issues.

From watching your sample, I can detect a few problems:

1. Camera is shaking or jiggling. This indicates that you should stop touching the camera, or you need a better tripod/head.
2. Camera is on autofocus. It is better to set the focus manually so you know it isn’t going to shift without warning, or lock in on something other than the presenter. With DSLR’s, critical focus often necessitates an external monitor.
3. Camera position is not ideal. Try to find a spot where you won’t have people walking in front of the camera, ruining your shot. For a presenter, shooting more straight-on is usually better. If you have to get up high to avoid obstructions, then do so. Use a tall tripod and stand on a chair if you have to.

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

Check out my Mormon.org profile.

[Steve Crow]

Uhhh actually I have to agree with Jason (I somehow missed the link to your video entirely, sorry about that) He’s right on regarding the manual focus and keeping your shot steady…

What you are trying to do is first of all not easy but here’s how I would have approached it ideally

* Forget about trying to film both the presenter and the slides at the same time, very difficult to do both well with one camera – instead just set your camera up with a more or less straight on shot of the same speaker – the human is the most important part of the video – the slides are a distant second or even third, fourth

* THEN, arrange to get the slides from the speaker afterwards and use your editing software to show the slides as your “B-roll” – in other words put them on track two so that you still have the voice of the speaker underneath. Just a few seconds on each slide should be enough unless the slides are very dense with information, then cut back to the speaker.

* Speaking of that….Powerpoint type presentation slides are often very awful to work with in video. People try to cram as much text and small diagrams as they can on a slide. I often opt to recreate the slides in Photoshop or my video software rather than use directly the same slides used by the speaker.

The image looked a little washed out to my eye….so I would increase the contrast somewhat.

Steve Crow

[Erin Herbst]

Hi Jason, I apologize for replying so late. I’ve been out of town without internet access. Thank you for your advice! Unfortunately this was at a luncheon so there were people spread out throughout the room so I couldn’t have my pick of locations without blocking someone but I will definitely try standing on a chair next time.
This is probably an amateur question but can you explain what critical focus is and why it necessitates an external monitor? Thanks, Erin

[Erin Herbst]

Hi Rob, thanks for the advice!
She wants to use it for her “media package.” I think she’s trying to sell online training videos but I don’t believe they will be hosted through YouTube or Vimeo. For online playback… what kind of bit rate should I be using?
Thanks, Erin

[Erin Herbst]

Hi Ann,
I will give that a try and see if there is any improvement. Any suggestions for what format I should be exporting in for online playback? H264? .mp4? .mov?