Prepare to be amazed - SLR Motordrive first test

[John Gaspain]

its kinda jerky, why didnt you leave it at 30p?

[Stephen van Vuuren]

The jerkiness is mostly from the high shutter speed (probably 1/500th or more) on handheld used in the original footage. If they used a ND filter and slower shutter speed, it would had better motion blur. Since it's not interlaced, high shutter speed and progressive equals jerkiness.

The 29.97 is just the default NTSC. I was trying to disguise it :)

[Jeff Donald]

Stephen, here's your ND filter for the camera. It works with just about all the digital point & shoot cameras. The kit doesn't have an ND filter, just buy an "A" series Cokin ND.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

I don't have the camera - just got the footage off a review site.

[Agus Casse]

buy a dv camera man... thats a beatiful digital camera.. that records video.. but how much time you can get recorded ??

but it really amazed me how 2 technologies are mergin... dv cameras takes pictures.. and digital cameras takes video... how beatiful.

[Frank Granovski]

Stephen, there are a lot of good older cams around for cheap.

[John Locke]

<<I don't have the camera - just got the footage off a review site.>>

Stephen,

Did you get permission to post this footage?

[Stephen van Vuuren]

This cam with 4 GB microdrive runs under $1000. That gets you 40 minutes recording time highest quality.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

It was freely downloadable without copyright in an online review. It's not part of anyone's footage etc.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

I'm continuing to work on new motordrive tests (have a couple to post in the next day or so), but one issue that has come up is lighting.

Right now, I'm basically using avaible light but often have a mix of color temps. Because I'm taking a rapid series of frames, if I move the camera during the "take", my color temperature changes. Since I'm shooting 35mm stills, obviously I can't white balance and correction in post has proved unsatisfying.

What I would like to do is be able to measure light levels and color temp and filter according (I have 80B and 85B for my lenses) and be able to take creative advantage of the mix.

Is a some type of metering system the best way. I have the built in meter in my Elan 7, but since I'm concerned about maintaining motion blur (i.e. shooting as close to 1/45th), a cine meter would give me feedback that my Elan does not.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

Here's a short test, have a wide angle test coming soon:

If you are on a modem/dialup connection or have an aging computer, download this link:

http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mo...lowers-reg.wmv

For faster connections and computers, check out:

http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mo...st-flowers.wmv

or

http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com/mo...st-flowers.mov

The process is a I shoot rapid fire images with the camera's motordrive which is roughly 3 frames per second. I then use this software plugin (Twixtor) which was designed to generate slow motion footage. However, I use it create an extra 21 frames per second which give me 24 frames per second standard film speed.

I have a couple of short films planned using this method and should have some more clips available soon.

peace,

[Frank Ladner]

WOW!

That looks excellent, especially considering 3 frames being interpolated to 24.

I would like to get my hands on something that'll shoot 8 or more frames per second and see what kind of results that would give.

It's worth the extra work to get that kind of resolution.

Nice job!

,Frank

[Stephen van Vuuren]

Yeah, I amazed how good the results are with 3 to 24. The problem with faster frame rates is two fold. One is that 35mm film is only 36 exposures, so shot length gets reduced.

Second is cost of developing and scanning. Also, higher frames rates mean more tweaking as since still cameras lack registration pins, I have to realign about 50% of the frames by hand.

But my plan is once Canon develops a digital back that has full frame imager, shoot 4 to 8 fps full rez with all camera functions intact for 100 frame bursts or more, I will move to that.

Until that time I will use the 3 or 4fps (depends on what batteries I load) that I get on the Elan 7e body.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

My latest tests of motion footage created from 3fps motordrive shots taken with a Canon Elan 7e. Footage is Fuji 100 Daylight Pro stock.

Processed with Twixtor Pro 3.2.

http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com

This process is working so well - I'm very excited. I hope to have couple of very short shorts done soon.

[Stephen van Vuuren]

*until proven otherwise (grin)

Our local film group is sponsoring a "Short Shorts" film festival in June, so I thought I would take my footage and turn it an entry for the 10 second category.

You can see it at http://www.sevensmilingsharks.com

Basically, this is the basic conversion of 3 fps motordrive footage into 24fps footage, down-rezzed to 1080 HD. Camera moves added in post. (more details in earlier posts, though I've yanked the other test files).

Seriously, does anyone know if anyone has have used this technique before? I realize films have been made with still images, time lapse, still sequences - but since frame interpolaters have not been on the market that long, I'm not heard of anyone who's turned stills into full motion.

I have two more ambitious shorts planned, one 10 second, another probably 5-10 minutes (oh, how I dread the photoshop work on that one :)

Here's to hoping Canon releases a digital body that shoots 100 or more full-rez frames at least 3 fps...that does not cost over $1000...