My first test

[mdw]

My first video from my HV20 (88 MB, XviD, 720p, 25p mode, no audio, 5'25"). Nothing serious, it was taken during short evening walk through downtown of where I live. Some shots are taken with tripod, some are handheld. There's number of errors, but I am a neophyte as far as video is concerned.

http://hactar.ujep.cz/~mandevil/video/usti.avi

-mdw

[Worley]

Lovely colour, and your town look very nice. Where is it? (cz=Czech Republic?) I especially like the evening shots; the golden hue cast by the sun gives a wonderful warms to the footage.

Why do the buildings in different countries always so much more beautiful than those in the UK?

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Here are a few tips that I hope you find useful.

The wind is buffetting your tripod and causing the picture to shake a little. The effect is really weird - you nay need a heavier tripod.

Turn off the image stabilisation when using a tripod - as you pan, the image 'jumps' in very small steps.

Lock your exposure before you zoom into a subject. This will prevent over exposure when you zoom out again.

Invest in a polarizing filter - this will reduce reflections from water and glass.

Invest in a UV filter - this will reduce atmospheric haze.

[mdw]

Lovely colour, and your town look very nice. Where is it? (cz=Czech Republic?) I especially like the evening shots; the golden hue cast by the sun gives a wonderful warms to the footage.

Why do the buildings in different countries always so much more beautiful than those in the UK?

Thanks for reply, Worley.

It is Usti nad Labem in Norther Bohemia. Unfortuntely our city was mostly demolished in the final days of WWII (Allied bombing, the church's tower is over 1 meter off vertical because of bomb damage, it's quite apparent in the footage) and then by 40 years of communist rule. So I'd prefer an English town any time for a camera test :)



Here are a few tips that I hope you find useful.

The wind is buffetting your tripod and causing the picture to shake a little. The effect is really weird - you nay need a heavier tripod.


I can see that -- it was fairly windy that day. The tripod vibration invokes a little bit of that infamous "jello" effect. I have fairly sturdy Manfrotto tripod (that was not at all cheap), but still does not prevent some vibration. I think heavy professional tripod is out of question, both financially and practically, so I wonder how I will deal with it.


Turn off the image stabilisation when using a tripod - as you pan, the image 'jumps' in very small steps.

OIS was switched off for all panning shots and the footage was run through deshaker to further smoothen all camera motions. Actually, can it really be smoother at 25 fps? I'd really like to know, because the pans indeed don't look as smooth as I would like.

BTW, what to do when you want eg. begin with static shot and than pan? I would say that if panning is incompatible with OIS, then the OIS's usefulness is quite reduced, don't you think?


Lock your exposure before you zoom into a subject. This will prevent over exposure when you zoom out again.

I know, I just wasn't very familiar with camera's controls to quickly find it.


Invest in a UV filter - this will reduce atmospheric haze.

I never observed much haze-reducing effect of UV filter in my photo-camera use. Polarizer is much more effective for that purpose in my experience. Are camcorders more sensitive to UV part of spectrum?

Anyway, thanks for tips.

-mdw

[Worley]

I'd prefer an English town any time for a camera test :)

Your town has character. Most English towns have very little. The shops are the same - not just in name, but in look. Just concrete and glass fashioned into a corporate style.

I was in our neighbouring town last week, and I walked into the shopping centre there. It's on two floor, and I was on the second. I thought I'd look to see how much variety there was. All but two of the shops were clothes shops! And only one was exclusively for men! Most were exclusively for women, and all were chain stores! Not a single independent, and no real variety.


I have fairly sturdy Manfrotto tripod (that was not at all cheap), but still does not prevent some vibration.

Ooh. I'd have thought a sturdy one would have been less susceptible to windshake. It must have been quite a breeze!

Actually, I noticed in one shot that you seemed to have a hight shutter speed (wings on birds was not blurred) so this may have contributed to the wobbles.


OIS was switched off for all panning shots and the footage was run through deshaker to further smoothen all camera motions. Actually, can it really be smoother at 25 fps? I'd really like to know, because the pans indeed don't look as smooth as I would like.

I think deshaker must be making the footage jerk. If it were a side to side motion, deshaker may have done a better job, but the constant panning is causing it trouble, I would guess. It doesn't want to zoo in too much, and it doesn't want to produce a border, so the only thing it can do it lock onto a different portion of the picture, hence he jerkiness. What does the original footage look like?

25P or 25i...? Swings and roundabouts. P will be jerkier than i, but i will have interlace artefacts, especially if the pan is fast.


BTW, what to do when you want eg. begin with static shot and than pan? I would say that if panning is incompatible with OIS, then the OIS's usefulness is quite reduced, don't you think?

As I understand it, the stabilisation is meant to work when holding the camera. We all tend to shake a little, and the OIS is supposed to compensate for that. On a tripod, there is virtually no shaking, so no need for OIS. A Pan is smooth motion, not high frequency random movement, so the OIS is not really needed.


I know, I just wasn't very familiar with camera's controls to quickly find it.

It takes time. I still fumble around trying to find the correct joystick movement for what I want!


I never observed much haze-reducing effect of UV filter in my photo-camera use. Polarizer is much more effective for that purpose in my experience. Are camcorders more sensitive to UV part of spectrum?

My UV filter is always on, so I can't say what the video would look like without it. I use the polarizer very infrequently (whenever I'm near water, I'm keeping an eye on my sons), so I can't make any observations on how it reduces haze.

I enjoyed the footage, and as I said, the evening shots were really beautiful. The shot of the sun shining on a stone carving (on the church?) was 'heavenly'. I love that golden glow.

[mdw]

I think deshaker must be making the footage jerk. If it were a side to side motion, deshaker may have done a better job, but the constant panning is causing it trouble, I would guess. It doesn't want to zoo in too much, and it doesn't want to produce a border, so the only thing it can do it lock onto a different portion of the picture, hence he jerkiness. What does the original footage look like?

Original is much jerkier (I have 3D photo head which isn't very suitable for panning). And as for Deshaker - apart from reducing shake it also smoothens camera movements - it detects panning, zooming and rotations. I am using it for SD footage and trust me - with a little effort it is capable of perfectly fluid steadicam-like results.

And BTW, I have just browsed HV20 manual and found no mention of exposure lock (and no mention of fully manual exposure, for that matter). Is it really so or I am missing something? EDIT: Oh, I know now - what I thought is exposure compensation is actually an exposure lock/setting.

-mdw