I suck at DSLR image quality...help!

rayortiz313

rayortiz313

Active member
I know the h.264 codec is limited but geez I see gorgeous images coming out of dslrs and mine just suck.

I'm clearly doing alot wrong.

My situation:

- Canon T3i
- 10-18mm lens
- Shooting SD PAL (is shooting HD and downconverting better? I don't have the software/hardware to edit HD and no interest in upgrading setup now)
- Use a steadytracker for dolly shots (creating focusing problems)?
- "Detavision" black- and-white picture profile (which I think adds noise and pumps up contrast, I believe). I lowered sharpness down in the profile then realized maybe I shouldn't have if the final output is youtube (is sharpening in post for online distribution standard practice?) I toyed around with a sharpen filter in Vegas and it did seem to help alot. Is lowering sharpness in cam and then sharpening in post the thing to do?

I hate asking such a broad question, but what are the general guidelines for maintaining good image quality (sharpness, maximum use of dynamic range, just general good-lookingness)? Do I just suck at cinematography (focus and exposure)? I cant tell its my imagination but I feel like the original .mov files look pretty good and as soon as they go through the editing process (I use Sony Vegas) I somehow turn the image quality into crap.

I know it doesn't have to do with just rendering in HD cause I see SD videos from these cameras that still look great.

Thanks...

uncompressed .avi render from the work in progress:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvcJJ-uYBvo&feature=youtu.be
 
rayortiz313 said:
I see gorgeous images coming out of dslrs and mine just suck.


- Shooting SD PAL
Click to expand...


Well, the reason everyone else's footage looks better is that nobody else is shooting SD on DSLR's. Of course there will be a difference between your footage and the 1080p images everyone else is shooting.

The Canon DSLR's are very soft even in 1080p mode. 720p is an aliased mess. SD is, I would expect, another step down from that - though I wouldn't know, because I never had reason to switch any of my DSLR's to SD recording.
 
1- Shoot in 1080p 25p. Sub 800 ISO. Set aperture one stop down. Lens to MF. Magnify LCD, focus.

2- Shoot in Neutral Picture style with sharpness +2, contrast -4 and Saturation -4

3- Ingest to Vegas

4- Set project settings to 1080p 25p. Not SD. Set Preview window to Preview: half/quarter. Something that let's you get the job done.

5- Add "Colour corrector" Plug-in and set Saturation to Zero (since you want Black and white)

6- Add Brightness and Contrast Plug-in and then play with the sliders until it looks good for you.

7- Render out in AVI but click on custom and type in the custom Resolution (640x480)

8- If your footage has any noise issues, download Neat Video from their official website (it's free up to 720p) and it'll get rid of any noise even up to 6400 ISO.


Shooting at HD and oversampling to SD gives a HUGE image quality boost vs shooting shitty Canon SLR SD. Plus, don't us these shitty Picture Styles. Use Neutral and create the look you want in Vegas in a couple of seconds instead of baking-in a Profile that might be crap.
 
If computer processing power is what is holding back from shooting HD, you can try converting the footage to something more CPU-friendly, like a Prores, Cineform, or DNxHD. There's a few programs which do this, but I'm not sure which ones are best these days. Cineform Studio used to be a good choice for this task but is now defunct.

Anybody else able to chip in with a good, current transcoding software?
 
deltoidjohn said:
If computer processing power is what is holding back from shooting HD, you can try converting the footage to something more CPU-friendly, like a Prores, Cineform, or DNxHD. There's a few programs which do this, but I'm not sure which ones are best these days. Cineform Studio used to be a good choice for this task but is now defunct.

Anybody else able to chip in with a good, current transcoding software?
Click to expand...

I'm mostly using Footage Studio 4k these days, transcode H.264 from my iPad to Cineform. It even reads and passes the .MOV timecode atoms in standard timecode format so NLE's can read it. Very powerful flexible program for up/downscaling as needed. You need the free GoPro app too for Cineform codecs. That has Cineform Studio, but the video import options are much reduced from the former pro version. It only supports formats that GoPro's shoot, but will import those from other cameras too. Love Cineform. For casual editing with typical H.264 video for web posting, the "low" quality is more than adequate. Roughly equal to Prores LT.
www.acrovid.com
 
Last edited:
Man, other than seeming a little overexposed in the highs, didn't think it looked bad.

But if you want a blown highs look, consider getting it in post where you have control. (Couldn't tell if it was the intended style of this piece or not).

MPEG Streamclip is about the best swiss-army-knife converter for most footage types and free. EditReady is really awesome and you can transcode (say, 60p to 24p).

But what everyone else said - shoot in 1080. Avoid using profiles. Get the most robust exposure you can, shadow detail and hold on to highlights. Often you want to get as close to your final grade in camera with 8-bit, but not for going monochrome.

I'd also research methods of going B&W that aren't just "turn the saturation off". Go to a gallery of old-school B&W prints and you'll see an amazing range of tones from cool to warm, split-toned images with cool shadows and warm highs, from subtle to very noticeable. I'd be interested in playing with that, an almost subconscious way to control the feel of scenes in a B&W film.

I don't think you're that far off.
 
thanks for all the help guys.


I have to learn to use my "SD system" (vegas home version running on an old pc, etc) to do this short film and at least one or two others I have coming up, before I have a chance to upgrade everything.

Learned a tiny bit over last few days I hope. I'm sure this is all terribly basic to most of you guys but again I didnt know the first thing about codecs, video formats etc even a month ago:
workflow for now (determined that I can't do CC work in the low bitrate space of vegas home studio):

-use vegas to convert .mov files from the T3i into .avi for use in virtualdub...
(tried mpeg stream but didnt know what I was doing)

..when converting, was real careful with the vegas settings (proper pixel shape etc) to make sure vegas doesn't recompress/resize or do anything to the H.624 file, just change the container. I'm pretty sure it's not doing anything to the footage since it blasts really fast through the render, as if the PC is not doing much processing.

In virtualdub, set to 32 bit RGB (right???)

- neatvideo (actually purchased it)noise reduction and touch of sharpening
- levels


Back onto vegas for the edit, just cuts, nothing that'll ask vegas to recompress, If I need something on a shot I go back and do it in virtualub (had to flop a shot, for example)

little better

thanks again
 

Attachments

  • DOV GRADE.jpg
    DOV GRADE.jpg
    52 KB · Views: 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top