Ive been trying to improve the look of my videos by getting more camera movement (thats delibrate movement rather than shakes :) ) into my shots. However the results never look very sharp.
in a quiet moment on saturdays shoot I tried lining up the three bridesmaids boquets one behind the other then got in close so that you only saw one of them I then slowly moved the camera about six inches to the side to reveal the other two.
Now the shot looks pin sharp tp start and ends pin sharp at the end but the actual movement looks rather "fuzzy"
Is that a "feature" of filming in HDV, or is it something with the Z1?
the same doesnt seem to be true if the camera is steady and the object moves i.e if i do a close up of a face and the head turns, everything stays sharp.
any ideas?
Are you using autofocus or any other 'auto' features of the camera David? Autofocus seeking will ruin any attempts at this kind of thing.
Are you sure that the image stabilisation was turned off?
I cannot for the life of me figure out what's happening in your shot David. I do lots of tracks around the table furniture to breathe life into the static wedding breakfast room before the guests destroy it, moving with the Z1 in its auto-focus and SSSS mode.
You're shooting in 50i? When you watch the footage at normal speed it still looks fuzzy?
tom.
Looks like steady shot could be the problem
Had a look at the Z1E settings and found that Steady Shot was turned on and the Steady shot type was set at standard.
Now I reckon that must be the factory default settings because I dont remember setting them and when you do turn them of an Icon comes on the screen which I had never seen before.
The manual also goes on to say that you should select of when using a tripod because more natural pictures are produced.
Now I'm not sure I quite understand that.
In the Steady shot type function instructions under HARD it says this setting is not recomended for recording with camera panning technique.
Ok that makes sense If I am deliberately moving a camera steady shot is going to have great dificulty working out what should be steady because everything is moving but I would have thought that would have applied to all settings if the camera is moving.
but why would why recommend turning it of if using a tripod? Or do they mean when using a tripod AND panning?
Now I know what might be causing the issue I had I'll have a play and see what is happenning.
If the camera's on a tripod, and the shot is locked, you don't need the image stabiliser. All it will be doing is consuming power and generating some acoustic noise.
If the camera's on a tripod, and you're going to be panning, you don't want the image stabiliser because it will interfere with the start and stop of the pan (trying to hold it steady when you start, and giving up with a shock when it goes out of range, other way round at the end).
Either way, if the camera's on a tripod, the stabiliser should be off.
But there are many other potential causes of blur during motion, e.g.:
- Using interlace.
- Using a long shutter.
- Compression artefacts (because the motion's suddenly difficult to compress, HDV is a "marginal" compression, it only just works)
Thanks for that Alan.I handnt thought that image stabilisation and the use of power but then again how else would it do it. Seems so obvious now I've been told.