EIS not so great on HC1

[Ian Campbell]

Can some of you run a simple EIS (Steadyshot) test?

I shot some test footage last night using all three HC1's. To check to see if lower shutter were a problem I zoomed all the way in on an object. I used a light (chandalier) with glass prisms that was turned on as my subject. Standing about 18 ft. from the light I zoomed all the way in and held the camera as still as possible -- and then introduced just a LITTLE movement. The same result occues with any object . . . the glas prisms were easy to find the shimmering / slight jerking in.

This test was shot at 1/60th shutter speed with manual focus.

I shot the same test as above but with 1/100th and 1/25 shutter speed.

The image is MUCH more stable at 1/00th - perfect. If others find this too, I doubt this is the fault of all three of my cameras. But it might be.

I only noticed a few months ago that some of my footage looked a little jumpy, at times. But I can see that this test clearly shows the advance (with Steadyshot) atat higher shutter speeds.

If a few of you with good HC1 or A1U cameras can see if such a test proves lesser Steadyshot quality is found at 1/60, I would be greatful.

Thanks . . .
Ian

[Andy Wilkinson]

Hi Ian,

Just tried it on my (PAL) HC1-E at the 3 shutter speeds, Steadyshot (EIS) switched on and manual focus & zoomed in as suggested, all hand held of course....I don't have a chandalier in my house but a large conservatory with Victorian lantern lights hanging from it's high ceiling was as close as I could get (turned on of course as it's night time here in England right now!)

I've just viewed all three clips on full screen captured as HDV in Vegas 7 and all are absolutely fine (at least to my eyes.) No shimmer etc. Everything looks totally normal/as I expect at all 3 shutter speeds.

[Ian Campbell]

Thanks Andy!

Thanks so much for doing a test of your Hc1E. Since my cameras are now out of warranty, I am hoping to find as much info. about the problem as I can - especially when it affects all three cams. Perhaps the HC1E is free of the issue.

Before summer rolls around, I will have to get the units fixed -- if it's possible at reasonable rate.

Thanks again Andy . . . happy shooting!

Ian

[Mikko Lopponen]

That actually sounds pretty familiar, but I'll test it out soon.

[Tom Hardwick]

I don't have an HC1, but in earlier days whenever I turned on my Panasonic's EIS it always bumped the shutter speed up a notch, so that you'd lose a stop simply because you wanted it to look smoother.

All EIS systems suffer from several problems. One is that because the
actual image is moving across the face of the chip, image shakes induce
motion blur. Even though the position of an image may be perfectly
stabilized, you can often notice a transient blurring of the image along the
direction of the shake. Sometimes it's quite noticeable. To get around
this, the shutter speed was increased when the EIS was turned on. This
not only meant a wider aperture was used, but fluid motion (of camera and/or subject) was harder to achieve with the higher shutter speed per frame.

And why the increase in shutter speed? Well it's not as you might expect to
"make the movie sharper" and therefore somehow steadier, it's because
subject movement - especially when using a tripoded camera - is seen by the
EIS as movement that must be corrected, so the EIS does its pixel search and
actually destroys the static steadyness that you've used a tripod for.

So, on replay of the HC1's tape, is the shutter speed raised with EIS turned on or have they overcome that handycap these days?

tom.

[Mikko Lopponen]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

but fluid motion (of camera and/or subject) was harder to achieve with the higher shutter speed per frame...

I really like the 1/100 image. More than 1/50.

And why the increase in shutter speed? Well it's not as you might expect to
"make the movie sharper" and therefore somehow steadier, it's because
subject movement - especially when using a tripoded camera - is seen by the
EIS as movement that must be corrected, so the EIS does its pixel search and
actually destroys the static steadyness that you've used a tripod for.

This is totally wrong. The EIS on the HC1 doesn't look at the picture at all, no searches or anything. It uses gyros as do OIS devices. It doesn't calculate anything, just moves the frame around the image. Some panasonic and Canon EIS's have been poor but even the EIS in my Sony D8 was pretty ok. It didn't look at the picture either, but used gyros to see movement.

The HC1 is steady for me even when using EIS if the image is steady.

But yes, I believe the thread starter is referring to the motion blur caused by slower shutter speeds. Here's a good rule. With 1/25s just disable EIS. With 1/50 try not to zoom over halfway through. With 1/100 do what you want.

So, on replay of the HC1's tape, is the shutter speed raised with EIS turned on or have they overcome that handycap these days?

You can use manual shutter on the hc1.