Video Help!!!!

[car61]

When I had my LT I would mount my video Camera on the "Tip Over" wings as an experiment, well the results were very good, a interesting camera position, I was pleased with the results.

So when I replaced my LT with an RT I figured I would do some more video on occassion, however no "Tip Over" wing to mount to, so I added a Ram Mount to the clutch resovour cover, great ready too go.

Mounted my Sony Camera to the Ram Mount and the results were OK, however I never cared for the video quality, so being a gadget freak I move up to an HD Video, WOW, what an improvement.

Now I have to mount the new camera to my bike and get some awsome video,.....NOT..... the video was horrible, jumpy as hell, and totally unusabe, changed shutter speed...no difference, went on to try it with every setting the camera has and still no good results, am totally discussed, if anyone has an idea why this camera (Canon VX ) produces such pood results I would be forever in tour debt.

[bflemingor]

If your camera does not have image stabilization (IS) you are toast. buy a $100 camera to mount on your bike with IS & go with your favorite diety.

[cws]

Tom, what exactly is a Canon VX..? is that one of the Vixia HD models? What is the model number?
Does it record to tape or flash media?
What resolution are you recording at... etc etc.
Bit more info might help to start nailing things down.

cheers

[car61]

It's a Canon VX30 HD and records to tape. It does have IS. I have tried it with the IS on and Off. Used HDV video mode an both 24fps and 30fps, same results. Also ran it in normal DV mode the results were always the same.

Tried it in manual mode and set the shutter as high as possible, this too had no effect on the quality of the video.

Don't know why my older video camera works fine and this new HD camera sucks. It might have something to do with the higher amount of data involved!

[cws]

Hi Tom.
The higher date combined with a very different tape write format for HDV is quite likely part of the problem, depending on what you area seeing.
Can you post a sample?
Newer tape formats tend to have much finer write tolerances, the tapes are thinner, and therefore potentially much more subject to vibration and the ability of the tape to remain firmly wrapped around the write head... so if you are seeng digital dropouts or some form of tape error than that could be a cause.
If by jumpy you just mean the image is unstable and vibrating all over the place, that sounds more like a combination of the format and the mount, you'll notice vibration jumpiness much more at HD than you will at SD.
Try making a smaller res qt and see if it "looks" any better...

I went for a flash format camera (Panasonic HDC-SD5) to avoid any tape problems, but still get vibration issues at 1080i, so downresing to 720p for editing helps to reduce the problems ( a bit like moving back from your huge HD telly so that you dont see the pixels and aliasing artefacts of standard def broadcast material blown up to 1920x1080).
A progressive format (as in 720p) rather than an interlaced format (1080i) blends the 2 sets of interlaced images that make a single interlaced frame together, smoothing the image slightly. Then posting a lower res 640x360 qt made from the 720p seems pretty smooth, it means just you've made the vibration errors much tinier...

Oh, and a guy I work with who has done a lot of work with racecams on bikes, advised me to always turn OFF the Image Stabilisation. If its not a mechanical stabilisation of the lens, but rather an imaging software stabilisation, what can happen is that the sequence of images are changing so fast that the software has to work very hard to try to estimate the variations from frame to frame to try to stabilise the image, but this can resulting in smearing of the image data, making it look more ugly. I think IS on consumer cameras is really more designed to eliminate some hand-shake, rather than intense vibrations from fast moving 2-wheeled tripods

[bflemingor]

Good comments on the tape issue - I tried my old Sony DV and the Canon point & shoot was tons better. However, IS on was 100% better than IS off on the Canon

[cws]

Bill, has the Canon point shoot got an IS lens, or is it a function built into the camera? If its built into the camera it's more likely to be a software based IS. (i'm pretty sure my SD5 is a software IS)
Post some vids guys so we can see what you get up to... thats the joy of doing it in the first place... :-)

[car61]

My internet connection has been down for couple days and am in the process of moving, but will try to post some examples.

[bflemingor]

I'm using the 850IS for the video & it really does a great job - I have an example posted on my "MYFACE" site, if you want to see it - "William Fleming"

[cws]

Bill, got a link?... don't want to have to join "My Anything" to have a look! :p

[bflemingor]

Try: http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=1387601081 - if that doesn't get you there, send me your E-mail address & I send it direct...