Canon 600D video quality

[tonysaf]

Hi, I have kind of problem with my video, I think. It's hard to describe it, so watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhLb2VCYUak

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCwKMco1VMo

I think the video quality is terrible. I used auto focus but then I tune the focus by my hand because I know the auto focus is not very good. So I think the problem must be somewhere else. I have only kit lenses, that means the 18-55mm and 50mm f1.8. The first video was shot with the 18-55mm and the second with 50mm. I really don't know what to do with this. Can anyone help me please?
Thank you in advance and sorry for my English.

[albuswulfricbrian]

This might be a silly question (but might as well start simple and go from there), but did you choose the 720p HD version when you played it?

[tonysaf]

yes, of course. :D

[andy lee]

so tell us all the setting you had the camera on to shoot these test videos

then we all can let you know how to improve them

 

picture style

iso

file size - 1080p 25 fps on the camera

shutter speed

apperture

kelvin setting

 

 

let us know

[tonysaf]

OK, so, on picture style i had sharpness on 0, contrast on -4, saturation on -2 and color tone on 0
ISO on 100
it was 720p 50fps
I had shutter speed on about 1/640 I think, the F-stop somewhere about f5,6 or maybe f6,3
I dont set WB, I let it on auto, because WB can be repaired in post production.
I don't know exactly the settings, because that was not test videos  :D , but after I saw it in PC I realize that the video quality is not as good as it might be. I saw a lot of videos from 600D that was shot on 720p and I think they had better video quality...

[Jenkly]

Ah, well, you can start by using a shutter speed of about 1/100th since you are doing 50fps.  That would help with motion.  Unless of course your intention was to twixtor it.  But yes, keep with a proper shutter speed according to your frame-rate.  Also, you are playing it back to us at 25-30fps.  If your intention is to just throw it online and have slow motion, you need to first conform it to 25fps on a timeline and then export it at 25fps.  Even with their 2.0x slowdown, Youtube won't do that for you.  Your footage looks pretty sharp at 720p, some color correction and getting that shutter speed under control might help your video look like those other ones that you have been watching. 

[tonysaf]

My intention with those clips is to make an edit at the end of the year, most of the clips will not be in slo-mo, but I don't know which clip will be in slo-mo and which not. I will decide it at the end of the year when i will be doing the edit. OK then, I will try some tests with lower shutter speed and I will see if it is better... but I still think that the quality, the amount of details is not very good. And I think it is not as sharp as it might be, do you think it will not be sharper than it is now?

[Zach]

My intention with those clips is to make an edit at the end of the year, most of the clips will not be in slo-mo, but I don't know which clip will be in slo-mo and which not. I will decide it at the end of the year when i will be doing the edit. OK then, I will try some tests with lower shutter speed and I will see if it is better... but I still think that the quality, the amount of details is not very good. And I think it is not as sharp as it might be, do you think it will not be sharper than it is now?

 

It will be sharper if you film it in 1080

[jgharding]

I can't call it. It doesn't look the quality I'm used to... Are they this fuzzy before uploading to YouTube?

 

A separate tip: I personally set white balance manually using magic lantern for maximum accuracy. In raw you can do what you want in post, with this much compression, if you get too red especially, it'll be hard to fix.

[tonysaf]

Yes, it looks the same before uploading to YouTube.
And I haven't got installed magic lantern yet. I want to be sure that the 600D is OK before installing it.

[jgharding]

Good idea to make sure it's ok first!

 

Hmmm... if you could upload a shot straight from the card to WeTransfer we can have a look closer...

[tonysaf]

http://we.tl/O6B0fHas3X

Here it is. I hope you can download it, that was for the first time I used WeTransfer.

[jgharding]

Yes they are what I'd expect with lots of wide angle detail and lines: a lot of aliasing! The 600D doesn't do too well for that kind of video. I'de recommed RX100 for that kind of thing. Lot's of detail and 1080p/50 or 60. Very good

[tonysaf]

Oh, is there any other solution? I will try set the right shutter speed and I will try it on 1080p 25fps, and I will see if there is better result. I hope it will help. Also the kit lenses aren't so good as some more expensive lenses for sure. If noone have any other solution, then thank you all for your tips, I really appreciate it... :)

[tonysaf]

When I look at this: http://vimeo.com/67466444 I still think the amount of details is way better than what I post there in my first post. And I know that this was shot on canon 550D (720p, 50fps) with canon 18-200 and with samyang 8mm. Is it better just because he have better lenses?

[jgharding]

There's still loads of aliasing which makes it gritty. I do use it as my main camera, but only ever in 1080p 25 and only ever with a Mosaic Engineering anti aliasing filter in it. I'm afraid the old EOS 720p is just quite poor by modern standards.

[Zach]

You can knock a lot of junk out of the image by getting closer to your subject and using a wider aperture so that less in focus. At that distance at 5.6 everything is going to be in focus, which the 600d doesn't do well. I think better composition is a huge part of what you're missing. 

 

You only posted 2 very short clips so its hard to judge by that, but thats really what comes to mind when watching them.

[jgharding]

Indeed, it's really "horses for courses". If you want wide, sharp slow motion with deep depth of field, the RX100 is the best for budget. 

 

If you want cinematic portraits for narrative film-making with shallow depth-of field, then the 600D can nail it.

[tonysaf]

OK, thank you very much again. I must try the 1080p 25fps. I hope it will help.