Canon T2i Video Quality
 

Hi, I recently bought the Canon T2i.. After making a few videos of my own, and posting them to Youtube, I have noticed that my quality could be WAY better than it looks.. I have seen other peoples videos that look crystal clear and mine is noticeably not as good looking as theirs. Here is my workflow: First I put my memory card into my SanDisk car reader. I then copy the video from the memory card to my external harddrive. I open up Final Cut Pro 7, and drag and drop the folder with my video into the column on the far left, where the video stays.. I then drag one of my movie clips into the timeline, and it asks me if i want to change the settings to match the file type, i then click yes... after i finish editing my video, I then export it using an h.264 file type and set the size to 1920x1080. also i record with 30fps.

PLEASE if anyone knows what I'm doing wrong, or what I could do to better the quality in my video, PLEASE let me know.. Such as settings, file types etc.. your guy's help is much appreciated! Thank you so much,

Joseph

Are you talking about the quality of your export vs. the quality of your source (ie. your file for YouTube doesn't look as good as it does in the preview window of FCP?)

Or your picture quality (as it shows in FCP) isn't as good as other videos you have seen shot with a T2i? Because of this is the case, there are a lot of things to consider...mainly lenses. Are you using the kit lens to shoot video?

It's mainly my Youtube Quality vs. other peoples Youtube quality which is bugging me. I do notice a decrease in quality when i export from FCP to my desktop. Yes, I am using the kit lens (18-55mm) but I don't think this is the main problem. I have watched other peoples videos and they used the same lens as me, and it looks soo much better.. I'll give you an example.


Here is my work done with the Canon T2i 18-55mm lens:

YouTube - Ode to SM Music Video


Compared to someone else's work using the same Canon T2i with the 18-55mm lens:

YouTube - Location scout (Canon EOS 550D/t2i)



Hopefully you can notice a difference to tell me what I could do to make my picture better. Also, thanks a lot for your reply!! Your help is MUCH appreciated (:

The differences I see in those videos:

1. Camera movement. The video you like has very deliberate and professional camera movement. This is frankly what is missing from 99% of amateur videos with a moving camera. A dolly, slider, or steadicam makes things go a LOT more smoothly, and the results are obvious.

2. Lighting. That lighting in the video you liked was excellent. You can tell that someone with significant experience was doing it. The music video looked like it was not lit, butterflied, or controlled at all.

3. Actor movement. The warehouse video used a careful selection of blocking and framing for dramatic effect. The music video looked like the lens focal length never changed, and the angles never changed.


What it boils down to honestly is experience and effort. Combine them both with talent, and you get the warehouse video. But just like shooting film, it's not the gear that's making the most difference.

On a positive note, I thought the music video showed a promising start. But it was only a start. The concept needs to be more fully developed before camera comes out.

Besides the fact that you are using the wrong aspect ratio, the difference doesn´t really have much to do with the camera itself. IMO it´s all about the lighting. Your outside shoot shows the studdery effect of a high shutter speed. And the cam (as any other would) has problemes to handle the high contrast. You would need to use relectors and a big sun bounce to make it look better. Outside shots can actually be a lot harder to light than indoor situations.

Which aspect ratio do I need to use then?

Square pixels... 1.0000

How do i set the pixels to that? i'm using fcp 7

You will also find the editing is much smoother if you convert your footage to ProRes before importing the clips into FCP.

Your video really looks beautiful. Other then you have the wrong pixel ratio and if you weren’t trying to get that strange color look, you might possibly have over exposed everything. The whites, sky and highlights all seemed to have been clip while shooting and I don’t believe there is anyway to bring them back.

The clipped areas aappear on a waveform as flat lines in the colour range (R,G orB) and you could create a Luma key, soften it and desaturate that to simulate roll off. But it is pretty hopeles. Good face exposure though.

Also waaaaay to much wobble cam (hand held) for these cameras. They will distort vertically as well as horizontally (jello cam).

Confusion
 

I think everybody is forgetting something here. According to the described workflow the footage mentioned has been edited in H264 when it should be logged and transferred (converted to appleprores). That´s the problem with the footage. Of course light is important aspect ratio also but try to IMPORT the footage to prores edit and only after that export. You will see a big difference.
Hope it helps

You guys keep telling me about my pixel ratio, and that it is wrong, how do i change it to the correct setting?! please help

How do I change my square pixels to that, I'm using FCP 7

Using laptop as monitor
 

Has anyone done this? What do I need to do to implement this?