D3s Choppy Video?

[2dhouse]

<p>I know it's a photography forum, but I was playing with the D3s D-movie mode and I noticed that I'm getting fairly poor video quality. The shots are great and sharp except that when the camera moves at all, the edges of the picture became choppy and seems like I'm shooting something at framerate 12, perhaps it's just a problem with my settings? <br>

The D3s's are by far used primarily for stills, but it'd be nice if the video function was worth something too.<br>

Thanks for you help.<br>

David Dvir</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>My answer will probably not going to be very helpful, but I have shot video with the D3S and never noticed your problem. E.g. this is a short sample I captured: <a href="http://vimeo.com/10079156">http://vimeo.com/10079156</a><br>

I only had a regular tripod head for still photography instead of a fluid head so that the D3S did not pan very smoothly.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>That's called the "rolling shutter" effect, and is caused by the way CMOS video sensors are sampled line by line in real time rather than from a locked state like CCDs. DSLRs play other tricks to achieve video capture which probably contribute their own artifacts*. The trick is to hold the camera steady or pan smoothly and hope for the best with moving subjects.</p>

<p>Hmmh! Just when you thought dedicated video cameras were passe, and videographers didn't practice a worthwhile craft.</p>

<p>* Some of these artifacts are useful when emulating ghostly appearances and alien spaceships. The History Channel is a good place to see these "scholarly" presentations.</p>

[jay_poel]

<p>I read this article in Pop-Photo last month and it helped explain some thing to me: <a href="http://www.popphoto.com/video/2010/07/pro-dslr-video-tips-david-harry-stewart?page=0,0">http://www.popphoto.com/video/2010/07/pro-dslr-video-tips-david-harry-stewart?page=0,0</a></p>

[tbby]

<p>What kind of memory card you are using?</p>

[2dhouse]

<p>Using Sandisk Pro 64GB 90MB/S. I don't think it's the card. I did a factory reset out of confusion, I can't figure it out. I also shot something about 6 months ago and did not have this problem, I don't think it's rolling shutter either, it's just so ugly and choppy. I may be expecting more than I should perhaps. I was just hoping to capture a video tour of my studio and post the clip but I can't with this frame rate. The other bodies I have do the exact same thing, I was just hoping it was an issue with the settings or something.<br>

<br />Thanks for your replies!</p>

[dan_south]

<p>Another vote for the rolling shutter effect. You have to move your camera slowly and smoothly or this will happen. Video pros use special devices to help them hold the camera steadily and move it in a smooth motion.</p>

<p>Perhaps when you shot the "better" video 6 months ago you didn't move around as quickly.</p>