Jerky Pans with XL2
 

I am a great fan of the XL1 and XL2 and have been using them for awhile. I have recently been shooting with a different style (lots of long panning shots) and have notice that I am getting a jerky look to them on my XL2. I don't remember ever noticing it with my XL1. At first I thought is was because I didn't turn off the auto stabilizer while on the tripod but found the problem when I used the Canon 3x wide angle lens which doesn't have auto stabilize. I am shot the video in 60i at a shutter speed of 60fps. My question is whether or not a higher shutter speed would solve this problem? I know at lower shutter speeds you can get jerky pans if you move the camera too fast during the pan but I figured I wouldn't have the problem at 60fps if I kept the pans slow and steady. Also, I am using a high quality fluid head on my tripod.

Any suggestions? I have an important shoot on Saturday and want the footage to be great.

Thanks!!

I don't really have any advice, you've said all the things that I would look at already in your post. I just wanted to introduce myself to another XL2 user in Columbus, Ohio. Nice to "virtually" meet you.

You already covered all the potential causes of "jerky" video yourself, except drop-outs. Try posting a clip and someone might be able to help you.

One more thing: perhaps you're confusing stop-motion video with "jerkiness"? If that's it, try reducing your shutter speed to 1/60 and see if the motion blur is the look you're trying to attain.

I noticed a stuttering pan also. But what turned out to be a great pan was ruined by my lack of attention when dropping the footage onto the timeline with a differing frame rate. The pan was recorded in 23.98fps but my timeline was set at 29fps. A mistake I will no-doubt never repeat :-]

Thanks for the replies...I appreciate them.

Nice to "Virtually" meet you to Kevin. Nice to know there are other people on here from Columbus.

Daniel, I actually was recording in 1/60...sorry for the confusion. I know that by dropping the frame rate below that you can have problems so I was wondering if increasing it to say 1/100 or 1/500 if that might help.

I will check to see if I am using a 24p setting in my editor. I use that alot and maybe I have captured my 60i into 24p timeline.

Thanks for the advice!!