Handheld footage example - theEvent rig, Smoothcam, and Lock & Load at FreshDV

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Handheld footage example - theEvent rig, Smoothcam, and Lock & Load

Published by Matthew Jeppsen November 29th, 2009 in Hardware, News, Plugins, Software

Jem Schofield over at The C47 has posted a cool little impromtu handheld video stabilization test. He used Redrock Micro’s theEvent DSLR handheld rig to shoot some walking footage, and then compares FCP’s Smoothcam filter with the new Lock & Load stabilization filter from Coremelt. Watch the video below to see the results.

12 Responses to “Handheld footage example - theEvent rig, Smoothcam, and Lock & Load”

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1 Lee Berger Nov 30th, 2009 at 5:36 am

The original with in-lens stabilizer looked quite reasonable. The Smoothcam looked very good with no breathing (visible expansion and contraction). With the Lock and Load filter you can see subtle image breathing, especially in the beginning and end of the shot. Thanks for the demo.

Lee
2 David Nov 30th, 2009 at 10:56 am

I found the original handheld footage to be quite smooth, in comparison to the lens breathing accentuated by ‘Lock and Load’ and the glitchyness of the Smoothcam look. I wonder what frame rate the original handheld footage was shot in? I think if you use 60p on these DSLRs you can find the smooth look you want without all the post work.
3 Jem Schofield Nov 30th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

Hey David,

Agreed. 60p would have definitely produced better results. Unfortunately the 5DMKII only shoots 30p, which is what this was shot in.

I’ll be doing more tests in the future.

Stay tuned!

-Jem
4 Stefan Dec 2nd, 2009 at 7:24 am

I just bought my first IS lens. This may be a stoopid question, but I thought the shutter button must be depressed part-way for the IS to work. How to you turn on the IS so it’s always on for video work?
5 Jem Schofield Dec 2nd, 2009 at 5:04 pm

Stefan,

Canon IS lenses are either on or off. If on, the stabilization will be applied to stills and movie modes. The shutter button will have no affect on this.

Use only for handlheld shooting. If you use it when you’re on sticks (a tripod system), bad things can happen.

-Jem
6 Stefan Dec 2nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm

Hmmmm. I just tested my 5D Mark II with the 24-105mm IS lens and — unless all those years on the crack pipe permanently damaged me — you must press the shutter button halfway to engage the image stabilization. I bring this up because I think the IS is great and wanted to figure out away to use it in video mode without accidentally squeezing off a still image. Try it out yourself. Shoot on the long end of the lens so you can see the shake, press the shutter button halfway down and presto — smoooove. I was hoping maybe the imminent firmware upgrade would provide a means to turn it on when shooting video.

Anyone have the phone number of the guys at Canon?
7 Jem Schofield Dec 2nd, 2009 at 5:57 pm

Hmmmm.

Going into research mode.

I will report back.

-Jem
8 Jem Schofield Dec 2nd, 2009 at 7:45 pm

OK. Here’s the deal…

When IS is on in still mode, it will kick in when you press the shutter down. In movie mode, the shutter is effectively always “active” and IS will always be on. If you go into movie mode by pressing record, you will hear the IS lens doing its thing and it never stops.

If you find data contrary to this, please let me know. It was I have read, been told, etc.

-Jem
9 Jem Schofield Dec 2nd, 2009 at 7:53 pm

Stefan,

Here’s a link with an example using your lens…

http://vimeo.com/3808742

Hope that helps.

-Jem
10 Stefan Dec 2nd, 2009 at 8:14 pm

Whoop whoop! Problem solved. Nice work Jem!

No need to call Canon now. Oh, except to tell them to fix that 12 minute roll limit.
11 Matthew Jeppsen Dec 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 pm

Hey Jem, I can speak from experience about the Canon 70-200 IS f/2.8, it works automagically in video mode (of course if you have it turned on with the switch on the side of the lens).

Based on that, I’ve always assumed that other IS lenses would behave the same way. It’s the only IS lens I’ve used however, so take my anecdote with a grain of salt.

-MJ
12 Jem Schofield Dec 3rd, 2009 at 12:19 pm

Hey Matt,

“Automagically…” Brilliant! Love it.

Yes, that’s been my experience with all of my IS lenses. The curve ball was the way it works in still mode. It seems that once turned on, it will “go to sleep” until the camera’s shutter is pressed and then it wakes up and will apply to any shots that are taken.

Trying to find that data on Canon’s site? Not so much!

I think Stefan is sorted. His next mission is convincing Canon to put out two bodies (ala Panasonic), so that the 4GB recording limit is lifted in this country.

Damn that EU!

-Jem