Pierre said:
Something's wrong with your last video link? I get a binary dump.
Works fine here.
Right-click, save as?
D3s Video Problems
(33 posts) (15 voices)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Buggy said:
This camera can produce some beautiful video, but the 'macroblocking'(thanks for the term) in this file and others like it really do leave me scratching my head how anyone could rely on it for professional (read consistent) video production.At some point we just have to accept the camera's limitations. The D3s is probably not "the" camera to rely on for professional video/film production, outside some specialized or supplementary uses (e.g., for low light).
Posted 1 year ago # -
Ade Barkah said:
At some point we just have to accept the camera's limitations. The D3s is probably not "the" camera to rely on for professional video/film production, outside some specialized or supplementary uses (e.g., for low light).Thanks Ade,
I certainly do accept the camera's limitations and I use it professionally for stills only. I am just curious about the huge variation in the D3s's video quality, depending it seems on the complexity of the scene being recorded.
There are many who are using this camera for short "films" and they look beautiful. My concern, or curiosity perhaps, is just that I can't imagine how you could count on this camera for video until you know exactly what circumstances cause the 'macroblocking'.
Have these short fimmakers discovered the safe parameters of the camera's video function and are they comfortable working within them? If so, I wish they would publish those parameters somewhere because for me it's a real stumper to get such beautiful images sometimes (I'll post some 'good' video momentarily) and such bad images at other times.Posted 1 year ago # -
Yea, that is bit starvation. And that is MJPEG, so you are out of luck, there is no fix except softening such a scene. f/1.4 is your friend. :(
But, as I said, that scene is one which is VERY hard to encode. Lots of fine detail in chaotic movement.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I haven't seen a list of safe parameters for D3s video.
Generally speaking you will get poor results with MJPEG on most "complex" scenes: those dominated by large areas of fine detail, having sharp transitions, areas with smooth gradients, etc.
Unfortunately many "everyday" scenes are dominated by complex details, and even in a studio (depending what you're shooting) it might be hard to simplify the scene enough to avoid these artifacts completely. Or put it another way, it might be easier just to rent/use another camera.
A few other thoughts:
- If you've simplified the scene but still have minor artifacts, then a good noise reduction software might help. (I use Neat Video).
- For some types of shooting, getting the shot is often more important than pure video quality. We'd easily tolerate rough artifacts in a gripping war documentary, but not in that romantic close-up of the bride & groom.
- As you know, the camera you have on you is better than any other. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot some "bonus" or "extra" footage (perhaps unplanned) with the D3s if the circumstances arise.
If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend watching the Zacuto Shootout 2010 series on the web (just google for them, there are three episodes I believe). Zacuto collaborated with some prominent experts to evaluate DSLR video (including the D3s) and how they stack up against film.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Fantastic info everyone.
I shoot stills professionally and have just been messing about with the video function, more for fun than anything else. But it is very nice to gain an understanding of the technical reasons behind the wildly differing video qualities of my D3s.
I think if I were a wedding photographer, or similar, who had reason to switch to video mode once in a while for professional output, I would probably consider a D7000... or wait to see what's coming next?
Again, very helpful and thank you very much!
BuggyPosted 1 year ago # -
Buggy,
I had the exact same thing happen to me.
Mounted it on a tripod, shooting outdoors...I was grabbing footage of some new outdoor power tools so lots of detail in the background (leaves, branches etc...)
Got the exact same pixelation you were seeing but at the 640 size. 720p mode wasn't too bad (but surprisingly grainy for the outdoors at ISO 200), but at 640 x 424 - the image quality was horrendous shooting in that scene. Yet if I zoomed in a single leaf - no issues.
Shame about the compression effect of high detail scenes...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Here's the footage.
D3s on a tripod. Sun was directly overhead slightly camera left about 1pm in the afternoon.
Again - 720p was fine but 640 x 424 was unacceptable. The above video was shot at 640 and transcoded to an mp4 then uploaded to Vimeo. What you should note is that the fidelity of the original versus the copy on Vimeo are practically identical to my eye.
Posted 1 year ago #
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