Just Got my XM-2

[Hagop Matossian]

Its Sweeet - looks a bit shiny and stealable though.

Took it with me to the Notting Hill Carnival this weekend and was a bit worried about taking it out of its bag! Ended up on a rooftop videoing a capoera session (sorry if its spelt wrong!) as the sun was setting.

I got the canon Wide Angle adaptor with it, which is sweet too.

Bought from Jacobs digital (www.jacobs-digital.co.uk) on new oxford street.

can't wait to start some serious work with it. There is a 90 sec film competition on which people might be interested in - http://www.depict.org

[Steve McDonald]

Give us a report on how the 25fps Frame mode looks and how the still captures from it are. Tape over all the insignias that indicate "Canon"
"DV" and "3-CCD" and get a big "VHS" label to put on it. That may dampen the interest of some dumber thieves.
Carry it in the scrappiest-looking bag you've got. If you have a slick bag that has "Canon" on it in 4-inch high letters, it might as well say,
“steal me!”. A nice Century Optics 2x telextender might be a good addition-----wonder how much you'd get nicked for it over there?

[Peter Butler]

Nice one that's where I got mine from as well, picked it up on Saturday. They said they'd had 3 in and both the others had been pre-ordered and been picked up so I'm guessing yours was one of those.
Steve the 25fps progressive scan I find to be a bit crap. I've heard on this board that if you pan really fast then the picture will jerk quite a lot but mine seems to jerk even if I move slightly. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, if so could someone tell me. But I thought it would be better then the NTSC version seeing as it's running at 25fps.

Peter B

[Peter Butler]

Nice one that's where I got mine from as well, picked it up on Saturday. They said they'd had 3 in and both the others had been pre-ordered and been picked up so I'm guessing yours was one of those.
Steve the 25fps progressive scan I find to be a bit crap. I've heard on this board that if you pan really fast then the picture will jerk quite a lot but mine seems to jerk even if I move slightly. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, if so could someone tell me. But I thought it would be better then the NTSC version seeing as it's running at 25fps.

Peter B

P.S I've already posted this but it didn't seem to show up si if you get a double post sorry.

[Graham Bernard]

Oh yes Notting Hill Carni. Didn't see you there! Ha Ha

Just came back from Tottenham Court Road and played with ASK's first to come in - what a machine! Yeah I'm interested in the jerkiness too. If you come up with a solution then let's hear it.

Lens adapters? Came back home to Wembley via Oxf.St - where is this place?

Grazie

[Barry Goyette]

Peter

Here are a few ideas about the frame mode.

I think the key with frame mode is to avoid panning across high contrast vertical edges, as they will cause the most strobing of the image, also I find using a good shoulder mount is very helpful at minimizing rotational movements (side to side tilting) which can also be annoying. Also, if you are using an automatic mode, I'd recommend the tv mode...as you need to make sure your shutter speed isn't creeping up on you..the ntsc should be 1/60 or 1/30.(I guess the pal setting would be 1/50 or 1/25?). Otherwise keep it in manual, and set your shutter speed on the low side.

If you experiment, you'll find that in lower contrast situations with little "architectural" or man-made structure, that there is little if any problem most of the time. I've found that with high contrast vertical edges, as you said, virtually any speed of motion (except VERY fast) will cause the strobing. Frame mode is excellent for motion that has limited "angular" movement...motion moving towards or away from the camera.

Regarding the Pal 25fps assumption, actually you've got it backwards..the lower pal frame rate will typically be less smooth than ntsc given the same shutter speed, as there are essentially less pictures each second. I think you are thinking that because 25fps is closer to film that it would be smoother like film. The real issue is the type of shutter used on video cameras versus film camera's. The rotating 180 degree shutter of a typical film camera is what causes film pans to be much smoother, as each frame of the movement is inherantly blurred. Speilberg and others have experimented with 90 and 45 degree shutters (essentially increasing the shutter speed) to induce a jittery look in films like "Saving Private Ryan" and the HBO Series Band of Brothers. Unfortunately for the frame mode, video cameras use electronic shutters that produce a much cleaner individual frame, which is the root cause of the stuttering that you are seeing.

Barry

[Hagop Matossian]

at shutter 1/250:

If i put the camera in frame mode and pan around the room, it does look quite jerky.

If i then record the pans around the room and play back, it appears less jerky, more flickery. It definitely gives the footage a filmic look, and would be great for extreme sport and that kind of thing when you may wish to use slow motion & freeze frames.

As far as stills - For some reason the camera has less functions in memory card still mode than when shooting still or video onto tape. When I have the camera in record mode and click the slider from tape to card, I am restricted to:

minimum shutter speed of 1/50 (instead of 1/6 when shooting onto tape)
iris 2.0 (instead of 1.6 in manual when shooting onto tape)
maximum gain 12dB instead of 18 (although who really wants that much gain on their images?!)

This makes shooting stills onto the memory card pretty limiting if you are shooting in low light. I also found the stills from the memory card appeared quite a bit darker on my laptop screen than on the camera screen.

I can't understand why canon introduce these limitations. Shooting stills onto tape gives you exactly the same features as when videoing in manual mode, but for some reason they have restricted these when shooting onto the card.

Its also a shame I can't shoot MPEG clips onto the card, but I guess thats a complaint from the domestic end of the market...


I love this camera! I think I'll get a bulky looking rain cover to conceal the shinyness and protect the cam from the elements. And next year I'll go down to carnival with a bit more of a crew to watch out for me!

[Peter Butler]

Barry I'll give that a go, incidently if you move the shutter any higher the 1\50 then you get a strobe effect no matter what the light situation. Whats the point of having 1\25 and lower when it always becomes jerky. Also you were saying that 25fps would make the frame mode worse, do you think that's why it's jerky simply because that's the best result that 25 can achieve? I'll try experimenting with different shutter speed tonight and post my result tomorrow.

Cheers


Peter B

[Barry Goyette]

I'm just suggesting that in theory, 25fps would be slightly less smooth than 30fps, and I think you need to keep your shutter speed at 1/50 or 1/25 to minimize the problem, in concert with paying attention to your subject matter.

good luck with it. Let us know your results.

Barry

[Hagop Matossian]

Went out on my skateboard with my xm2 and tried frame mode at 1/25 and 1/800 shutter speeds, with my canon 0.7x wide angle adaptor attached.

I have longboard with big rubber wheels which helps give a smoother ride. I was going about 15 mph while holding the xm2 from the handle.

1/25th looked great, and as I held the camera close to the ground the asphalt made a wonderful whooshing pattern. Not too jerky and very film-like if thats your ticket...

1/800th also looked cool, if somewhat more shaky. At one point I freezed the footage and was able to read a manhole cover on the road below me.

great fun. One of my ideas for a short film is to shoot longboarders at night bombing hills.