hi folks,
What setting's on the XL1 do people recommend when Im videoing soccer matches.
Im thinking along the lines of manual / auto focus, and what recording option - eg full manual, tv or av setting.

There would be alot of zooming involved and obviously moving objects, but the camera would be in a stationary position on a higher point than the action - eg from tv gantry in stand.

any help on this and further advice much appreciated.

Scott,

I'd go with TV mode and 500+ on for the shutter speed depending on the light. Manual focus is a must as the movement of the players will confuse the auto focus. Before you start shooting, zoom to the far side of the feild and set your focus. From there everything in your zoom range should be in focus.

Just make sure you keep one eye open to watch for flying bottles, falling stands and agro English fans.

Adrian,

I agree with you on everything but 500+ on the shutter speed. I tape a lot of auto races and have found that fast pans with high shutter speeds cause the background to look pretty bad. It seems to crawl (don't know how else to explain it). I use TV mode and stick with shutter speed of 60, even in bright sun and have had much better results.

I've never noticed the background crawling, I'll have a closer look next time.

High shutter speeds are recommended when there is a lot of motion in the frame, but when panning, tries to freeze the background as well, causing the "crawl". Slower shutter speeds smooth out the background while the subject remains sharp. Maybe this is just a personal preference, but it sure looks better to me. The problem may be more or less noticable depending on the background color and texture as well as the speed of the pan.

hi guys,

thanks for your help,
ive tried our all your suggestions during a recent recording of a match.
I had it on TV mode and manual focus with good results.
It was a bright sunny day ( yes in Scotland I know that does not happen often), so shutter speed was at 120, but i think i should have had it on 60 as some of the shadow shots againt the sunny backgorund are a bit dark.

One more thing, is it best shooting in frame or normal mode. I shot in normal mode but the still images i want to take of a paused frame are jumping beacuse of the motion. So is it best in frame mode??

thanks for your help

Stick with normal mode lad. When shooting in frame mode and you pan quickly the footage will be jerky. It's because it is capturing a full 25 times a second and not 50 half frames and interlacing them.

Where in Scotland are you from. My family is originally from Sterling. What more could you expect with a name like McDonald Douglas.

Im from Stirling also,

small world eh

To overcome the jerky motion on the still images, de-interlace the still in premiere

>load image into the timeline
>>right click the still image in the time line
>>>select video options
>>>>field options
>>>>>deinterlace
>>>>>>click OK.

I'm sure other programs are able to do this.

Hope it helps,

Ed Smith

Thanks Ed,

i work with Final Cut pro 2,

im relatively new to this game and dotn know if FCP2 has this option, I will go and take a look and try it out though.

thanks