How often does moire affect your shooting?

[wildside50]

So, in my life shooting, I've found myriad causes to deviate from the plan. One simply has to learn to roll with the punches. I'm cool with that.

What I'm asking of any DSLR users is, how often does the DSLR cause a setback, be it overheating, moire, bad focus, etc? The last thing I want is another cause of setback while filming, but my camcorder simply isn't cutting it for some of the shots I want anymore. Gotta do a cost/benefit analysis here...

So let me know how often shooting DSLR has had a negative impact on your shooting schedule. Thanks guys.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

It definitely requires more work to get it right, rather than pointing and shooting with a camcorder in "auto". Especially the focusing is more involving. So it depends what you're shooting. If you're doing art, you go with a DLSR. If you're doing news/weddings/corporate stuff, you keep your camcorder.

[BarteS]

@Eugenia Loli-Queru, if you're doing news you take a what...? Weren't H-DSLR initially introduced to help the poor reporters without a cameracrew supposed to make use of H-DSLRs? Actually, it depends on the news itself, if you have a reporter in front of you talking about something, I'd opt for the DSLR. The limited DOF helps you out to more easily separate the reporter from the background. But if you wish to capture whats going on, sure, a DSLR is more challenging.

If you're in control (filmmaker) you can work around the issues of moire, focus, .. Regarding moire it should be part of the preparation of the DP. A (couple of) day(s) prior to the shoot the person should check out whether the background is prone to issues. At such a moment the DP should call the shots whether to reposition the shoot (increase distance), use different lenses, ... or whether its subtle enough.
Focus is a thing which comes with experience and tools/habits. You can use loupes, peaking/focus assist (on Canon by means of the hack) and the zoom buttons to get a good focus. And again, if you can plan the shoot, you could make use of a follow focus with a marking disc to know what should do if the talent is moving / you want to get something else in focus (be ware of lens breathing).
And finally overheating is a matter of making sure it doesn't happen. If you can, get a camera which doesn't (such as the t3i, 60D, ..) or get a second camera. With a 5D Mark II you'll have to time it yourself, know when it will start producing noise as the camera doesn't warn you.

Personally I'm not into filmmaking, more an event shooter myself. In my case the only real troublesome bit is moiré and aliasing and it's a dealbreaker. I can't always control the environment enough and I still have to respond (simply opening up the lens is not usable all the time as I might end up with a DOF of a couple of hairs...totally unusable if you have to anticipate). That's why I did not get a Canon/Nikon/.. HDSLR yet. Possibly if prices come down I might get one and get the anti-aliasing filter with it. But for the moment I did get a GH2. Far from perfect (for starters inability to change shutter, iso, .. whilst recordings) and somewhat fiddly to use, but it complements my camcorder, so its worth it as I otherwise wouldn't have the shot the way I wanted it to be.

[Janke]

I've had a problem with mu T2i/550D just once, shooting a fellow with a Corduroy jacket. I had to mask it out, apply a blur and some desaturation. Fortunatley, I shot in HD, and they only required an SD DVD.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

>Actually, it depends on the news itself,

Exactly. The kind of news I have in mind, like reporting stuff happening live, a camcorder is much better than a dSLR. If there's a big clash between the police and anarchists for example, the last thing I want is to try to find the right lens, and focus with the DSLR. The camcorder will just let me easily zoom a lot and keep in focus at all times.

[Bif]

But for the moment I did get a GH2. Far from perfect (for starters inability to change shutter, iso, .. whilst recordings) and somewhat fiddly to use, but it complements my camcorder, so its worth it as I otherwise wouldn't have the shot the way I wanted it to be.

Getting the GH2 might be a step in the right direction. Many of the faults found with other DSLR type cameras generally don't plague the GH2. It doesn't overheat, far less susceptible to moire and aliasing, and is definitely easier to have with you due to small size and light weight. Same goes for the m4/3 lenses.

It gets less "fiddly" as you get to know your way around it, I find the "touchscreen" implementation to be the best I've seen yet (and I've been no fan of "touchscreen"). Just about any image making parameter you need to access can be immediately and directly accesses from the LCD's "Quick" menu, OR you can do it with the buttons, your choice. I like it.

Interestingly enough it looks like the new Canon will do the same from the basic INFO screen.

Bruce Foreman

[BarteS]

It doesn't overheat, far less susceptible to moire and aliasing

These were indeed the reasons I did get the GH2. I did consider getting a Canon HDSLR, but the filter was at the time only available for the 5D Mark II, which did result in a far too expensive package. One which I couldn't justify.

[Simmy_M]

I am using nikon D800 it incorporates optical glass between its OLPF substrates that eliminates the blurring effect of the OLPF. This optical glass reorganizes the path of light reaching the sensor and essentially un-polarizes it, causing it to strike the sensor in a straight path. By eliminating this effect and straightening the path of the light, images are recorded with higher sharpness and resolution. But higher sharpness and resolution is creating problem of increase in moire. Please advice me what to do for it?

Wedding Videographers

[Bif]

GH2. It doesn't overheat, far less susceptible to moire and aliasing

These were indeed the reasons I did get the GH2. I did consider getting a Canon HDSLR, but the filter was at the time only available for the 5D Mark II, which did result in a far too expensive package. One which I couldn't justify.

I have to admit I only really got moire once with the Canon T2i. It was a shot of an actor walking away from the front doors of a Catholic church with "sand/adobe" colored brick wall. The moire was not heavy but noticeable, however in 1920x1080 and 1280x720 renders it disappeared entirely.

I made the switch to a pair of Panasonic GH2s primarily for the better sharpness in video (I can shoot "soft" when I want to) and for the smaller lighter more compact system including many of the lenses.

Bruce Foreman

[BarteS]

Sure, it's not there all the times. But personally I don't want to have to deal with that one anyway. I'm simply a run-and-gun kind of shooter, no plan or so. Unfortunately I did encounter the brick issue a couple of time. And in a few months I'll be shooting Amsterdam. Possibly the worst place to shoot with a first generation Canon HDSLR (bricks, cable lines, water).

Detail was indeed the second reason. Although a 5D Mark II is a total different camera in my book. In that case the in-camera softness can help you with some interviewees.

[brunerww]

wildside - here's another vote for the GH2. Had it since a little before I sold the T2i a year and a half ago. No moire or aliasing in that time. So I don't have to waste time scouting locations or wardrobe for moire issues. And no more out-of-focus shots because it autofocuses.

If I were a camcorder shooter doing a cost/benefit analysis of moving to DSLR/DSLT/DSLM cameras, I would be very interested in the only DSL camera with a camcorder's lack of moire, unlimited video clip length, ability to autofocus in video mode, and viewfinder that keeps working while shooting video.

Cheers,

Bill

[wildside50]

Yeah, I've pretty much made up my mind to get a GH2, or wait till the GH3 is announced (if not released) later this year. I am worried the GH3 will be out of my price range, as the GH2 was around 1500 for the body only when it was released, and now the GH2 can be had with a 14-42mm lens for 750.

My main reason for wanting to go Canon was the lenses. But as a plus to the GH2/3, It seems like relatively cheap manual Nikon lenses are the best compliment to it for video. So I can get a larger assortment of lenses for less money, its just that if/when I move to a 5D Mk3 or whatever the new flavor of the year is when I eventually upgrade, all of those lenses are going to be more or less worthless. Oh well...

And when I played with the GH2 in a store, I was underwhelmed with it's photo performance. It seemed like the shutter lag was very long, and the burst was pretty lousy. I might be better off getting a GH2 and 60D for the cost of a GH3, one for video one for photos.

[brunerww]

Yeah, I've pretty much made up my mind to get a GH2, or wait till the GH3 is announced (if not released) later this year. I am worried the GH3 will be out of my price range, as the GH2 was around 1500 for the body only when it was released, and now the GH2 can be had with a 14-42mm lens for 750.

My main reason for wanting to go Canon was the lenses. But as a plus to the GH2/3, It seems like relatively cheap manual Nikon lenses are the best compliment to it for video. So I can get a larger assortment of lenses for less money, its just that if/when I move to a 5D Mk3 or whatever the new flavor of the year is when I eventually upgrade, all of those lenses are going to be more or less worthless. Oh well...

I think you're making the right choice, wildside. Of course, I made the same choice, so I'm prejudiced Please let us know how it turns out.

I was confused by one thing in your post, though:

...And when I played with the GH2 in a store, I was underwhelmed with it's photo performance. It seemed like the shutter lag was very long, and the burst was pretty lousy. I might be better off getting a GH2 and 60D for the cost of a GH3, one for video one for photos.

What lens did the camera have on it? With the 14-140, shutter lag is almost nonexistent. My experience with the T2i/T4i shows no significant advantage for the Canons. See these numbers from imaging resource:

Shutter Response (Lag Time)

Prefocused

GH2: 0.068 second
60D: 0.063 second

Continuous AF
GH2: 0.257 second
60D: 0.251 second

Manual Focus
GH2: 0.077 second
60D: 0.083 second

Reference links:
GH2: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PROD...2/DMCGH2A6.HTM
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E60D/E60DA6.HTM

Also confused on burst. The GH2 gets 5 fps at full resolution and 40 fps at 4MP, according to Panasonic (and my experience), while the 60D gets 5.3 according to Canon.

If you're talking buffer time, I agree with you. It's horrendous. But the shutter lag and burst rates for the camera are not an issue (especially with fast autofocusing system lenses like the 14-140).

Cheers,

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution