Not sure if anyone else has had his issue but the image from my NX5U in full HD mode is not crisp and sharp. It almost looks flat and smeared. I've set up my picture profiles and maxed out the DETAIL and other settings with no luck. It's only in 1920x1080 mode. SD, 720, and 1440x1080 modes all look fantastic. I posted this on b-roll.net and some have suggested it could be the aperture but that doesn't explain why only 1920x1080 mode is affected. Right now I'm shooting everything in 1440x1080 mode until I figure this out. Anyone else have this problem? Anyone know what's going on?

I've never had issues with 1920x1080. I normally shoot 1920X1080 30p FX, GAMMA=x.v, COLOR LEVEL=6 and DETAIL=2.

What are you using to view the results?

I agree that the camera's image is soft in general, would love to hear others input and geting a better image. Is the AVCHD codec playing a part in this issue?.........seems like a lot a people have sharpness issues, maybe thats just the way the camera is...

I did a quick test where I dual recorded SD to the SDHC card and 1920x1080 FX mode to the 128GB flash drive. SD image looks fine but the HD image is awful. It's clearly a problem with the codec and not the optics or sensor. I have no idea what is going on. Calling Sony tomorrow.

Cool, let us know what Sony has to say.

Thanks
Ben

I'll know for sure tomorrow but I think I've figured it out. There is a flicker reduction setting in the camera that is on by default when the camera ships. I somehow did not notice this option before. I turned flicker reduction off and did a test shoot and the issue seems to have gone away. Not sure why it only affected full HD modes. I have a half day shoot scheduled tomorrow so we'll see how it turns out.

I believe flicker reduction is just blending frames. If so, that definitely will blur, soften, and flatten an image but it should have affected all modes.

Nice find Michael, I think you made a break through, I just did some testing with different settings. Here is what I think is the best for getting a sharper picture.

1920X1080 60i
Flicker reduce off
Detail 6.

I personally am very happy with picture quality here. It might actually be over sharp for some applications but It will work great for a lot of what I do. Now just need to tweek the color a bit.

Ben

One other thing. I turn skin tone detail off. This is meant to soften faces only, but I think it softens the whole picture some.


Ben

UPDATE: Issue solved. It must have been the Flicker Reduction setting

Michael...Were you shooting interlaced or progressive?

This issue was with both i and p

Uh-Oh, I've had flicker reduction on since day one. Not had a problem with iffy sharpness, but it's definitely turned off now.

So what's it for? 'On' when you're shooting under fluorescent lights maybe?

tom.

Like many people I had flicker reduction turned on since day one, turning it off made a significant difference.

I have an NX5E, I don't see any difference in any of the cases described here.

Same here Cristian. I did a bunch of testing and didn't see any difference in sharpness due to having the flicker reduction turned on or off.

Alec Moreno

If you film two identical scenes in 60i, one with flicker reduce on and one with it off, then play back through hdmi on a good size lcd you should see the difference. I for sure do on my cam anyway, Maybe it was a bug and has been fixed in newer cams......


Ben

I'll be sure to check it before the next time I'm called to shoot interlaced. Thanks.