Hummingbirds at 120fps

E

EdRicker

Active member
Hi all,
Shot some random DVX200 footage in the backyard the other day of some hummingbirds and thought I'd share.
Exported at 4096x1714 (roughly 2.39:1) 24fps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaBYuPjLHvo

Shot at 4K DCI 24fps in Vlog and 1080 120fps VFR straight to high-performance SD card.

I kinda hoped to get a more slo-mo image of the hummingbird's wings, but they just move too fast! Impressive.

Enjoy!
Ed
 
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Looks pretty sharp for 120 fps on the dvx. I've been getting really mixed results, some of the stuff I've shot 120 on is completely unusable, even making sure my subject is in full focus. Anybody have any lens or iris tricks they've been using to get a good image?
 
dtocco said:
Looks pretty sharp for 120 fps on the dvx. I've been getting really mixed results, some of the stuff I've shot 120 on is completely unusable, even making sure my subject is in full focus. Anybody have any lens or iris tricks they've been using to get a good image?
Click to expand...

Most of mine was shot wide open. I do add some sharpening in post.
 
Here's where I'm becoming confused, although I'm assuming this has to be user error somewhere along the line.


All the 120 fps on this looks pretty good to me, however as you'll see the shots are tighter, I'm not sure if that helps with sharpness while shooting on the DVX.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY7MfX2oHiA

On the other hand, this shot. Nearly open iris, made sure to focus on subject using focus assist, lens is all the way pulled back. Shot is completely unusable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-P87BkVOTg&feature=youtu.be

Does anyone have any ideas as to why that shot is so poor? I have to be doing something wrong here! Thanks for any help, nice footage Ed!
 
There is a pretty noticeable degradation of quality with the 120FPS shots as well as a loss of dynamic range. Luckily I had my exposure set pretty well, so I didn't have to bring it up in post.
Every time I've tried brightening 120FPS footage from the DVX200, it's become nearly unusable from the grain.
Also adding camera gain with 120FPS makes it look really grainy too. That can be challenging to avoid though since you have to set the shutter to at least 1/250 to accommodate the 120FPS.
 
only now you notice
you should ask about Panasonic
FZ 1000 slow-motion is better picture quality
 
I think it helps to have the subject big in the frame at 120fps. I don't like to shoot wide overcranking past 60fps because afterward is where the cropping happens and the extra sauce that makes the image go blurry. Also, maybe it won't look so bad on a 720p timeline? As I understand it, the 120fps utilizes a sensor crop (you know? so the camera doesn't melt) at 1080/FHD, but it couldn't be a 2x crop. If that's true, then it's reasonable to assume that the 120fps footage would be larger than 720/HD, so if you cut it on a 720 timeline, then it'll be ensmallened and therefore look fine...certainly better than it would if it were the 1080 blowup which is what happens in-camera.
 
JRJphoto said:
I think it helps to have the subject big in the frame at 120fps. I don't like to shoot wide overcranking past 60fps because afterward is where the cropping happens and the extra sauce that makes the image go blurry. Also, maybe it won't look so bad on a 720p timeline? As I understand it, the 120fps utilizes a sensor crop (you know? so the camera doesn't melt) at 1080/FHD, but it couldn't be a 2x crop. If that's true, then it's reasonable to assume that the 120fps footage would be larger than 720/HD, so if you cut it on a 720 timeline, then it'll be ensmallened and therefore look fine...certainly better than it would if it were the 1080 blowup which is what happens in-camera.
Click to expand...

This seems like viable troubleshooting for what I'm experiencing, I will give the 720 timeline a shot and see if there's any difference. Thanks!
 
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