Do I have a faulty camera?

[NBC]

Hi All. Brand new to the game but blew my brains out and bought a V2 last month. The footage I am getting out of it is garbage. It seems it cannot deal with straight lines. Please take a look at this clip I put on Youtube as an example of what is going on .

. The problem is the same on any ' close up' footage I have done.
That clip was in 720. I have tried everything. Shot in 1080, 720, 25fps 50fps 120fps, shutter 50, 100, 240 etc etc. Tried different filters , everything. Dare not go near 4k. Thought it was my laptop so uploaded file to Youtube to convert but still crap on my ipad air 2. Could it be I have a faulty camera.? Any info would be much appreciated.

 

[The Editor]

Hi All. Brand new to the game but blew my brains out and bought a V2 last month. The footage I am getting out of it is garbage. It seems it cannot deal with straight lines. Please take a look at this clip I put on Youtube as an example of what is going on .

. The problem is the same on any ' close up' footage I have done.
That clip was in 720. I have tried everything. Shot in 1080, 720, 25fps 50fps 120fps, shutter 50, 100, 240 etc etc. Tried different filters , everything. Dare not go near 4k. Thought it was my laptop so uploaded file to Youtube to convert but still crap on my ipad air 2. Could it be I have a faulty camera.? Any info would be much appreciated.

Video marked as private so cannot view it.

 

[unyks]

Yep, nothing to see here...

 

[NBC]

Sorry Guys. Will get that sorted.

 

[NBC]

should be on now

 

[Baron1964]

Can you confirm which firmware you are using , and I'm assuming V2 , X3?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[bujaman]

Do you know the frame rate and shutter speed of the video posted? My first guess is Frame rate vs Shutter speed. If your shutter speed is really high compared to your frame rate then the image will be super crisp. I think the general rule is about double your frame rate to get a smooth beta movement. ie 24p should have a shutter speed of about 50 or 1/50th of a second. There is a lot of reflected light in the shot. My guess is that there is a high shutter speed for the frame rate. I am fairly new here as well. Someone with more experience can correct me if they believe I am wrong.

There is a good explanation of this here:

How Shutter Speeds & Frame Rates Can Be Used to Change the Look & Feel of Your Film

Let me know if that helps as I am curious!

 

[NBC]

Thank you both. The camera is an x3 and firmware is the latest which I think is 6.
Every video I shot I stook to the rule of shutter twice the frame rate but nothing stopped the patterning.

 

[bujaman]

What was the shutter speed and frame rate of the attached video? I did some more searching on this and I think it may be linked to few things I found in this article Panning Best Practices. I found the calculation for shutter angle here as I did not know what this meant: Pro Video Coalition - Shutter Speed vs. Shutter Angle. The calculation is Frame Rate * 360 / shutter speed. So if the frame rate is 24 FPS and shutter is 50 then 24*360/50~172 degrees.

It looked like the sample footage at 45 degrees was better than the sample footage at 270 degrees from the first link. However in the sample videos from the first link, it looks like the two items that had the larges effect on judder were actually slowing down the camera movement (ie fly slower) and increasing the frame rate. I know you said that you tried 120 FPS, but did you try flying slower? the reccomendation on the first link is to move no more than 1 frame in distance every 7 seconds. If your flying is smooth and you need a shorter clip you could always speed it back up in post.

Honestly, these are just things to try. I found I had similar issues in one of my videos

. I do have a slower video of it I will have to look at it tonight and see if the slower video has better results.

 

[unyks]

I would reset the settings to factory defaults and give it a try with 4K and do the resizing (if needed) in post.

Chris

 

[bujaman]

I would reset the settings to factory defaults and give it a try with 4K and do the resizing (if needed) in post.

Chris

I had to do this recently for photos. Good call!

 

[NBC]

Many thanks for getting back. Really appreciated. The clip was 720, 24fps and shutter 50.
But as I say I tried every possible combination. Even the boards below the uprights are shimmering. Up to now I have filmed around 70 different videos and all awful even the aerial ones.
Even got a new sd card in case it was that.
Its very depressing.

 

[NBC]

Am I deluding myself. Is it just that the X3 is incapable of shooting footage I am trying to do.? Have I fallen victim to all the hype and all those green field and blue sky videos out there.!

 

[andrew259]

The x3 camera is NOT a high end camera ... It's effectively a GoPro and a tiny sensor ... There are limitations on what it can achieve, but plenty of major benefits. The x5 is a major step up in camera quality, and the MFT sensor is far more capable.
Always shoot in 4K where possible!


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[The Editor]

Am I deluding myself. Is it just that the X3 is incapable of shooting footage I am trying to do.? Have I fallen victim to all the hype and all those green field and blue sky videos out there.!

What you are seeing is stair step aliasing and is probably being caused by how the footage is being transcoded.
List your workflow including what software/NLE you are using.

 

[unyks]

Am I deluding myself. Is it just that the X3 is incapable of shooting footage I am trying to do.? Have I fallen victim to all the hype and all those green field and blue sky videos out there.!

I see two options there:

1. you messed your settings up
2. your cam is broken

Do you have the possibility to get another X3 for testing?

Maybe this LINK will give you some answers about the inspire video settings. Reset all settings to factory default, do an IMU calibration, check if your props are balanced, check if you have unusual vibrations (check your HANDS if your touch your I1 with running motors!!). Maybe there is someone in your area where you can test another X3 on your copter OR use another and try to reproduce the same footage for comparision.

The X3 is for sure not a high end camera bot not as bad as you are experiencing it. There can be cicumstances where you get poor results but like 70 garbage videos? Nah, there is something wrong...

Chris

 

[NBC]

Thanks Guys.
Mr Editor. I havnt got as far as post production as too fed up to look at that. Just uploaded that sample to youtube so you could take a look at it.
Double double checked my settings and certain they are correct. Every video I have has tons of moire and aliasing.
Reproduced shot to a degree with my old go pro and all ok.
Unfortunatly dont know anyone round here (Lake District) with x3 to try.
Will reset all settings and try again at weekend.
Much appreciate all your input.

 

[DennisR]

Thanks Guys.
Mr Editor. I havnt got as far as post production as too fed up to look at that. Just uploaded that sample to youtube so you could take a look at it.
Double double checked my settings and certain they are correct. Every video I have has tons of moire and aliasing.
Reproduced shot to a degree with my old go pro and all ok.
Unfortunatly dont know anyone round here (Lake District) with x3 to try.
Will reset all settings and try again at weekend.
Much appreciate all your input.

im an editor and have seen it before but not that bad and usually from a photo thats too large. Tell you what... send me a clip and Ill see what its like in my system. If its not good your camera is not right. Ill tell you right away. I have been producing commercials for 18 years. upload to Dropbox and send to [email protected]

 

[NBC]

Ok Dennis. Will do. Good of you to offer. Cheers.

 

[AllanM]

Looks to me like a bad case of moire (aliasing)... I found the X3 awful (to barely usable) for that at times.

Fly (or pan) slower and speed up in post if necessary.