What is it? by Cat Russell - UWOL 36

[Kevin Railsback]

Could be as simple as the editing software is interlacing interlaced footage when it imports giving you a ghost image that's only seen when something moves.

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Trond!

Thank you! I'd much rather see a new camera from Santa than sticks and ashes!

Sadly, the camera, purchased many years ago, has had issues from the start. It doesn't bode well when you have to send it back the day it arrives because the focus was severely out of whack. It has always severely ghosted, pixilated in motion.... the list goes on. The company refused to refund, but I got a memory card out of the bad situation (oh joy!) ;-). Ah well! Making the best of it till I can afford an upgrade. I've used it many years and I have learned a lot on it.

I've read up on the cameras you all are using, and am very impressed with your tools! You guys are testimonials for what good cameras can do! Cheers!

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Kevin:

Well, I'll look into this. I'm shooting progressive and strangely the file format it collects in is TOD which must be converted before anything can read it. No matter what I convert to: progressive mov, mp4, avi ... the footage shows ghosting and other problems.

Any ideas? It would be awesome to find a solution and learn that it was post processing all along!

Thanks friend!

[Trond Saetre]

I remember reading here in the forum years ago that some editing software, at least back then, converted progressive to interlaced (or was it the other way, I can't remember details).
Maybe something like this is causing the trouble for you?

[Kevin Railsback]

You should send me some raw footage and let me look at it.
What kind of card does it record to?
If I have some extras laying around I'll send you one to send back with some forage and seen if there's anything you can do.
What do younger to edit the footage?

[Trond Saetre]

If it helps, in addition to Kevin, I can have a look at some raw footage too, so we can check out if the different editing suites give different results.
If you use Dropbox, that's an easy way to share footage online.

[Catherine Russell]

Trond and Kevin:

I'm there! You are both awesome. This would be Christmas come early if you can help me find what I'm doing, if it's not the camera.

I will send you both a short clip to look over. I will look into this more closely myself as well. As it is, it's rare I'm even able to grab a still frame from video footage it looks that bad. The subject must be completely still for me to do that.

Thanks for everything! This being said, I am honestly well overdue for a camera upgrade and need to start doing what it takes to make this a reality. Perhaps all of you in the UWOL community can help me out with some good suggestions for a camera in the $2,000-$2500 range? What do you think?

Look for my email directing you to my problem clip. Yay, help is on the way :)

[Trond Saetre]

Here is a collection of cameras.
Professional Camcorders | B&H Photo Video

For Canon, maybe the XA25 or XF100?
My camera is the Canon XF300 and I am very happy with this one. (The price tag is above your specified range)

Others can probably suggest cameras of other brands.

[Catherine Russell]

Thanks Trond for the suggestions!

Okay Kevin and Trond:

Well here goes. I looked into my clip problem one more time. When I brought the original TOD file (with the pigeons flying close to the camera) into MPEG Streamclip, the footage of the pigeons ghosted as what I've grown accustomed to. This is why I was thinking it was my camera because the original TOD file didn't look good.

Spurred by your input I forged ahead, changing codecs and changing processing selections. And ... Here you go! Still not the greatest still footage, but no more ghosting.

I can't thank you enough for picking up on this and pushing the issue that it could be a post processing problem and not a camera problem. This is a huge relief and better late than never rooting out the problem and finding a fixable solution. You are the best! And I am very humbled I was ignorant for so long... years!

[Kevin Railsback]

That is fantastic news Cat!
So glad you pushed to see if there was a solution!
You're ready for February now!! 😀

[Tim Lewis]

It is interesting Cat that you have had this problem. We are not all shooting on the latest and greatest, but these discussions help us all get more out of our work. I had some problems with my camera too and didn't even realise what it was until I stopped for a breath during final rendering.

I am in Canada with only a minimal equipment list and do have to make allowances for the fact that my camera does not allow me to control everything. The Canon HF200 is a well featured camera for an amateur piece of kit, but it is not at the same level as a pro camera for controls. The lovely shot in my film of the silhouetted out of focus duck is there because I couldn't get the bloody camera to focus on the duck! It is sometimes seeing the serendipity that counts most.

[Trond Saetre]

I'm glad it worked out for you. Happy days ahead!

[Catherine Russell]

LOL! Tim, that's a humorous confession -- I liked the duck shot and would never have guessed it was not quite how you intended it to be :). And I never would have guessed by your video that you weren't shooting with the latest and greatest, either.

This is a fantastic forum to hone skill, because it really is an accepting community. We can get a lot of wear and tear out of the gear we have before we reach for something a bit better. If something stumps you along the way, post it and I'll bet you will get very good answers! I've just launched into a whole new world of filmmaking because of solutions found for my issues today!

Trond and Kevin -- I owe you one. Look out for February 'cause here I come. ;-)

[Bryce Comer]

That is great news Cat!!!
Actually, on that note, i think i have a problem with my camera too. In fact, the camera that Kevin uses would be best i think. Alas, i cannot afford to replace the gear i have currently, so i am proposing that Kevin shoot all my footage for me from now on?? :)

[Gordon Hoffman]

Cat that's good to hear that things are looking up. Yes this is a good place to be.

Gordon