Wobbly image?

Norbert

Norbert

Well-known member
I have recently got my HV20 and I love the image quality. However, I'm trying to figure out if there is something wrong with my camera because as soon as I move the camera I get an extremely wobbly image that resembles a jelly, even at full wide. Not even the OIS takes care of these wobbles.

Here's a handheld clip full wide with OIS ON where I am walking up a hill: http://files.filefront.com/7340877
Should it wobble like that? I did not expect such a wobbly image at full wideangle.

I put the camera on a home made stabilizer device and tried it with both OIS on and off, but that did not take care of the wobbles either. Here's a clip with stabilizer and OIS on: http://files.filefront.com/7340999

I have an old Sony DV handycam with EIS that produces far better results even with the EIS off. I've also owned a DVX100 with OIS which did not behave like this either. I've never seen anything like it before.

Am I just spoiled? Is it supposed to behave this way? Or is there something wrong with my HV20?
 
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Wish I could help you out but your server is SUUUUPER slow, and at 58.7MB for the file size I'm only getting 7.5kbps download, as comparded to 300kpbs normally. You might try and post a smaller clip.
 
I just watched the first clip and it looks like normal regular very shaky camera footage. The automatic stabilization is off, right?
 
I just watched the second clip and it DOES look weird! It's like the image stretches and shrinks at the time. Very weird. I have no idea what's going on, but it's the first time I've seen it on a HV20 video. Other than that the image quality looks amazing. Did you color correct it or is it stragith from the cam?
 
Both clips have image stabilization ON. It does look weird doesn't it? It's like half the image jumps and then the rest of the image follows.
No color correction or anything though, just straight from the camera. The image quality from this camera is amazing but it's a shame I can't get a stable image.

Just to be a bit clearer, this is the PAL version of the camera so I don't need to remove any pulldown or anything. I still see these wobbles when I connect the camera directly to my tv.
 
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I may be wrong here, but I'm thinking there might be something wrong with YOUR hv20. I've seen many moving HV20 clips online that don't look like this at all. Can't you call your seller and tell him the camera is defective so he'll take this one and give you another HV20?

I had an issue the first couple of days I bought my A1 and the minute I told the store they sent UPS to pick it up at my place and sent me a new one. I even wrote down the serial number to be sure it was a new one (hehehe I trust no one)
 
That's the kind of comment I was hoping for. I want this to be just a defective unit so I can return it and get a new one that works properly. I will contact my seller about this, thanks!
 
I dunno abotu your camera wobble, but this wobbly-ass image is the best I've seen from the HV20.

What are you doing in camera man? This brings up a question that I'm about to ask to this entire forum.
 
This is actually the first image I've seen from the HV20 PAL. I hope this is not some general pal thing, or I'm going to be pissed as hell.
 
I think if you put the camera on a tripod and shoot, and the wobbling is still there, then you'll know it's the camera. From the little I've shot with the HV20, I found that it's so light, any movement of your hand will show up in the footage. It's like a leaf in the wind. I put my Vidled light on it and the extra weight steadied the shots quite a bit. But you still have to be very careful with moving the camera. Having said that, your footage does look extra wobbly. And watching it is making me ill.

On a side not, I shot some random stuff yesterday, and I was blown away with how it looked on my 50 inch plasma. This camera has no right looking this good for $1000. I hope I never use the word wobbly ever again.
-Kevin
 
Were you at maximum telephoto or something? I tried just walking around with it and at full wide-angle the shots were very steady.
 
Kholi said:
I dunno abotu your camera wobble, but this wobbly-ass image is the best I've seen from the HV20.

What are you doing in camera man? This brings up a question that I'm about to ask to this entire forum.
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No magic here, I shot this with Tv mode, AWB and underexposed a tad. As for settings, contrast was set to -1, brightness +1, color depth +1 and sharpness left at 0. I found that the contrast affects the incoming image so -1 contrast actually appears to give you slightly more latitude.

rawfa said:
This is actually the first image I've seen from the HV20 PAL. I hope this is not some general pal thing, or I'm going to be pissed as hell.
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I don't know many owners of PAL HV20 so it's hard to tell if this is a problem with the PAL version. I'll try to return it and if I get one back that has the same issue I will send it back and wait until it's fixed. It's a great camera and I want to be able to use it but I can't use it with this unstable image.

Sacksnack said:
I think if you put the camera on a tripod and shoot, and the wobbling is still there, then you'll know it's the camera. From the little I've shot with the HV20, I found that it's so light, any movement of your hand will show up in the footage. It's like a leaf in the wind. I put my Vidled light on it and the extra weight steadied the shots quite a bit. But you still have to be very careful with moving the camera. Having said that, your footage does look extra wobbly. And watching it is making me ill.
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The image doesn't wobble when the camera is still. The thing is I have another handycam that's even lighter than the HV20 and I have no problems shooting a steady image with that one, even with it's EIS turned off. The HV20's image stabilizer doesn't seem to help getting rid of these wobbles at all.

Barry Green said:
Were you at maximum telephoto or something? I tried just walking around with it and at full wide-angle the shots were very steady.
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Nope, it's all full wide. That's what surpriced me. I would've understood if the footage was a little shaky at full tele but that looks even worse.
 
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I'd say it's broken then. At full wide that shot should have been relatively smooth unless you have, like, five knees or something... :thumbsup:
 
he norbert

i am in pal land i took my hv20 out today in the park footage on tripod was super duper but when i did some handheld shots with the pod connected something like a glidecam(but not as smooth)i got very unnatural jerky footage could not tell on small lcd but on playback monitor its weird so i am wondering if its the same as yourself its like the OIS was trying to correct any movement but i did not have OIS on so tried it on no difference tried other things new tape change settings but still the same any ideas ? anybody

camera was on wide set at 120 shutter speed tried 50 no change
 
San-Ban, I think we might have the exact same problem. I can't get any useful footage from my HV20 even at full wide with OIS and with a stabilizer.
I have talked to another guy that recently got his PAL HV20 and he has encountered the same problem. I think I am going to draw the conclusion that this is something that all PAL HV20's suffer from.

Also, did you notice a blue vertical line a little to the left in the picture when you shoot in poor light so the camera has to add gain? That's another problem I and some other PAL users have discovered.
 
jenningsp: If you encounter any of these issues (wobbly image and blue vertical line) with your HV20, please let me know.

I'm getting a new unit next week and if that unit has the same problems I will return it and try to get my money back so I can wait until these problems are fixed.
 
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