Why is this video so noisey?

[spoolin215]

Hey guys I just got a Canon T3i Rebel and started getting into photography, but it also shoots 1080p video. I did some quick shooting with it and I noticed that the picture is kind of noisey. It shoots 1080p MOV files. I've never shot with a camera that was progressive scan before, nor have I ever done anything with MOV.



-Clip is unedited
-1080p
-.mov
-24fps

I edit with Premiere Pro CS5. Any tips on how to get the most out of the picture with that camera and software? TIA.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

The noise has to do with Low Light and High ISO.

Options are...

- Get lighting equipment. LED panel lights can be had on the cheap

- Get a faster lens, like 1.4 this way the ISO noise wont be as bad. I shoot with an Canon L Series 35mm 1.4 and even at 800 iso I get little to no noise. (but that's a pretty expensive lens and I'm not sure what your budget is)

- Use noise reduction filters. It will soften the image though so you may not want to go that route.

Let me know if you have any other questions, but I'm pretty sure the culprit is low lighting and a high ISO.

[spoolin215]

The noise has to do with Low Light and High ISO.

Options are...

- Get lighting equipment. LED panel lights can be had on the cheap

- Get a faster lens, like 1.4 this way the ISO noise wont be as bad. I shoot with an Canon L Series 35mm 1.4 and even at 800 iso I get little to no noise. (but that's a pretty expensive lens and I'm not sure what your budget is)

- Use noise reduction filters. It will soften the image though so you may not want to go that route.

Let me know if you have any other questions, but I'm pretty sure the culprit is low lighting and a high ISO.

Hmm I guess getting some lights for right now is the best option since I can't really afford to be going all crazy on new lenses.

Any recommendation for the LEDs?

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...LED_Light.html

$229 for 2 lights and stands. They have dimmers, and run off batters or AC adapter.

[spoolin215]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...LED_Light.html

$229 for 2 lights and stands. They have dimmers, and run off batters or AC adapter.

Awesome. Those look sweet. BTW, do you make pr0nz? lol.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

Awesome. Those look sweet. BTW, do you make pr0nz? lol.

Hahaha no I'd probably make more money if I did

[spoolin215]

Hahaha no I'd probably make more money if I did

haha sad but true.

[spoolin215]

So I got a canon 50mm 1.8 II lens. Just put it on the camera and shot some random **** just to try it out, and it definitely looks much clearer. Going to shoot a zombie short this weekend, challenging part is the DSLR doesn't have an auto focus in filming mode, and this 50mm doesn't zoom.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

So I got a canon 50mm 1.8 II lens. Just put it on the camera and shot some random **** just to try it out, and it definitely looks much clearer. Going to shoot a zombie short this weekend, challenging part is the DSLR doesn't have an auto focus in filming mode, and this 50mm doesn't zoom.

So here's a quick lesson on lenses....

A fixed lens (24, 35, 50) doesn't zoom because it's a FIXED lens. Zoom lenses zoom because there's a range of sizes 11-16mm for example.

Your shoot this weekend will give you a lot of practice at focus control. The 50mm on that camera should be very close focus increments. You just have to be aware of what you want in focus, and whether it's getting closer or farther away. Remember clockwise when things move closer, counter-clockwise when they move away. Once you get comfortable you should be able to maintain focus pretty close.

Another tip, the wider the angle of the lens the more focal depth you'll have. That 50 will be pretty unforgiving as far as what is in focus and what isn't. But the 35mm and 50mm are great for a cinematic look.

If you need anymore tips or advice about the filming, let me know.

[spoolin215]

Yeah I watched some test video with the 50mm and I liked how it looked, definitely has that cinematic feel to it, which is what I need for this weekend, and I figured for $100, hey why not.

I read some where that to get more of a cinematic feel to shoot with the contrast and sharpness settings turned all the way down. Thoughts on that?

I want to get kind of a dark/greyish look for this shoot, because it's supposed to be post apocalyptic. Don't really know **** about color grading/correcting. I use premiere pro cs5.

Thanks for all your help.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

Yeah I watched some test video with the 50mm and I liked how it looked, definitely has that cinematic feel to it, which is what I need for this weekend, and I figured for $100, hey why not.

I read some where that to get more of a cinematic feel to shoot with the contrast and sharpness settings turned all the way down. Thoughts on that?

I want to get kind of a dark/greyish look for this shoot, because it's supposed to be post apocalyptic. Don't really know **** about color grading/correcting. I use premiere pro cs5.

Thanks for all your help.

I've never heard about shooting with the contrast and sharpness turned down. Wouldn't that turn out black?

There are things you CAN do to stagger the colors and lightness.

Turn your camera to Manual mode and set the white balance to K (kelvin) and offset the kelvin temperature to the desired effect. Kelvin balance allows you to really cool down the colors into the blue range. Mess around with them and you'll see what I'm saying.

Also if you have a certain coloration in mind you could offset the white balance manually. Go to manual white balance and use a color wheel to see what color you need to balance to to get the color you want. They'll be opposing colors, for instance..

If you want your video to have a "yellowish" look, you would white balance your camera using a purple piece of paper or card stock. Orange will get you blue, red will get you green. Etc.



As for darkness, you can always just close your aperture more. Although if you're shooting in the semi dark anyway, you wont have too hard of time getting things to look dark Just keep your iso between 200 and 500.

I have never used Premiere but I use AfterEffects quite a bit for work. They should be pretty close, and both work very similarly to Photoshop. So you have all your normal color grading tools like Curves, Hue/Saturation, Levels, Gamma Correction. There are lots of tutorials online about color correcting video and photos. Either rules apply the same.

[spoolin215]

actually turning the contrast down (at least on my DSLR) didn't have a huge affect on the picture. Neither did changing the sharpness. I'll see if I can find the video again, and post it.

On a side note, I also have After Effects but...I don't get it lol. For some reason I have a really hard time using that program. Are you doing all your editing in AE or are you just using it for extra effects?

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

actually turning the contrast down (at least on my DSLR) didn't have a huge affect on the picture. Neither did changing the sharpness. I'll see if I can find the video again, and post it.

On a side note, I also have After Effects but...I don't get it lol. For some reason I have a really hard time using that program. Are you doing all your editing in AE or are you just using it for extra effects?

I use Final Cut Pro to do all of my editing, and then I do my post editing (titles, motion tracking, added effects, etc) in After Effects.

After Effects takes a bit of getting use to since it's not an inline editing method. I would never edit a whole movie in After Effects, it would make me want to rip my eyelids off. But for added effects and such, it's the best thing out there IMO.

This is my showreel combining FCP and AE

[spoolin215]

So you edit the whole thing in FCP and then bring the entire project into AE? Sorry if that's a stupid question. I would like to learn AE, but I guess I just haven't had a project yet that has easily allowed me to do so. Your showreel looked sweet, that must have taken some time to do.

Also here is that video I was referencing





I know in Premiere, a lot of people recommend color correcting with Curves, which I'm some what familiar with from photoshop, but it seemed to only be basic changes you could make.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

What I do is bring all my footage and audio files into FCP. I sync the audio files to the footage, and then I make my working edit. The working edit is the backbone for my project. It's essentially how I want the video to look without any color correction or motion work.

Once I'm done with that, I send my project into Compressor and I output my file as a self contained movie. Mostly for the web I will compress into a .MOV file using H.264 compression.

I'll then bring that file into After Effects to do color correction, titles, slugs, motion work.

Then I will out put that video as a lossless .MOV file. This will give you a huge video (~20 GB for a 15min video). After that I will pull the files into QuickTime and go to File>Save for Web, High Quality H.264. This will compress the file back down into a manageable size.

That's how I get the most quality and HD into the smallest file for web upload.

----

So the video makes sense to a point.

Under saturated better than over saturated. Flat exposure better than over exposed. Etc, but it's better if you expose and shoot your footage correctly first, and mess with it in post. Sure if under exposed and under saturated are something you're going for, and you're not comfortable with color correction in post, go that route.

There are a lot of powerful tools in AE to correct over saturation, and minor over exposure.

[spoolin215]

That makes sense. I guess I'll have to figure out a way to compress the footage back down if I do end up playing around with AE.

Thanks again for all your help, I'm pretty excited about this shoot on Sunday. Kind of nervous too, don't want to **** anything up, and it's the first time I'm actually shooting a legit movie of any kind.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

That makes sense. I guess I'll have to figure out a way to compress the footage back down if I do end up playing around with AE.

Thanks again for all your help, I'm pretty excited about this shoot on Sunday. Kind of nervous too, don't want to **** anything up, and it's the first time I'm actually shooting a legit movie of any kind.

Forgive me because I have no experience with Premiere but can't you go directly from Premiere into After Effects. I'm pretty sure AE can open a Premiere project file. Check into that. The only reason I down convert to go into AE from FCP, is that I can't open FCP files in AE.

As for shooting movies. Just take your time, I know it will seem hectic and go-go-go, but try to take a deep breath and take your time.

Plan everything first. If you don't have a script, write one. Once you have a script write a shot list for every scene. Think of the big picture first (coverage), then do your close-ups or medium shots, then do detail shots.

Let the scenes play out. Meaning once you start to roll on a scene, keep shooting until the scene is done. Even if the actor(s) screw something up. You might get some good usable footage that you can cut to. And once the actors are done with the scene keep rolling for a few more seconds. Remember you're not editing your movie with your camera, and it's video so shooting extra footage doesn't cost you anything.

If you're directing, but strong, and well understood about what you want to see. Don't let your actors direct the scene.

If you have any questions more about the process of film making, or editing. Let me know.

[spoolin215]

Forgive me because I have no experience with Premiere but can't you go directly from Premiere into After Effects. I'm pretty sure AE can open a Premiere project file. Check into that. The only reason I down convert to go into AE from FCP, is that I can't open FCP files in AE.

As for shooting movies. Just take your time, I know it will seem hectic and go-go-go, but try to take a deep breath and take your time.

Plan everything first. If you don't have a script, write one. Once you have a script write a shot list for every scene. Think of the big picture first (coverage), then do your close-ups or medium shots, then do detail shots.

Let the scenes play out. Meaning once you start to roll on a scene, keep shooting until the scene is done. Even if the actor(s) screw something up. You might get some good usable footage that you can cut to. And once the actors are done with the scene keep rolling for a few more seconds. Remember you're not editing your movie with your camera, and it's video so shooting extra footage doesn't cost you anything.

If you're directing, but strong, and well understood about what you want to see. Don't let your actors direct the scene.

If you have any questions more about the process of film making, or editing. Let me know.

I've written a script, albeit a loose one. There won't be a whole lot of dialogue, as it's a short, and mostly action based. I also have the shot list done, so I think I'm headed in the right direction haha

Unrelated to this weekends shoot, i wouldn't mind if you looked at/commented on this:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...accessory-talk)

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

Commented.

[spoolin215]

Commented.

You'll be getting a x-mas card this year.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

You'll be getting a x-mas card this year.

Haha, just post up your vid when it's done. I'm tired of being the only person who posts non car related videos in this forum.

[spoolin215]

Haha, just post up your vid when it's done. I'm tired of being the only person who posts non car related videos in this forum.

Will do.

Question: How would I remove the white or black backgrounds from stock footage like this?

http://www.detonationfilms.com/UnitK.htm

I understand you don't use PP, but I think it could be done in PS, and obviously in AE.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

Will do.

Question: How would I remove the white or black backgrounds from stock footage like this?

http://www.detonationfilms.com/UnitK.htm

I understand you don't use PP, but I think it could be done in PS, and obviously in AE.

You have to set the "blending mode" just like with Photoshop. For black background you set to Multiply, for white you set to Screen. Or maybe it's vice versa I'm rendering video right now so I can't check which is for which, but that's how you do it.

[spoolin215]

You have to set the "blending mode" just like with Photoshop. For black background you set to Multiply, for white you set to Screen. Or maybe it's vice versa I'm rendering video right now so I can't check which is for which, but that's how you do it.

I get that it has to some how do with the opacity, but I'm not really sure how that works.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

I get that it has to some how do with the opacity, but I'm not really sure how that works.

Nothing to do with opacity. It's the blending mode.

[spoolin215]

Nothing to do with opacity. It's the blending mode.

lol, way easier than I thought. Thanks

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

[spoolin215]

Had our filming today. It went...okay. Aside from working with a bunch of people that don't understand anything about filming, my camera was being a pain in the ass. It kept stopping the recording and saying "The camera has automatically ended recording."

I did a google search and some people said it's caused by the camera overheating (which is hard to believe because we were shooting outside on a cold winter day). Other people said it was due to the file sizes being too big, and the SD card not being able to write the data fast enough. I was using a 32g 20mb/s card. So that was kind of frustrating, had to redo a lot of shots.

Make up also took way longer than I thought it would.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

Had our filming today. It went...okay. Aside from working with a bunch of people that don't understand anything about filming, my camera was being a pain in the ass. It kept stopping the recording and saying "The camera has automatically ended recording."

I did a google search and some people said it's caused by the camera overheating (which is hard to believe because we were shooting outside on a cold winter day). Other people said it was due to the file sizes being too big, and the SD card not being able to write the data fast enough. I was using a 32g 20mb/s card. So that was kind of frustrating, had to redo a lot of shots.

Make up also took way longer than I thought it would.

Yeah the foibles of shooting with video.

I know that my canon 7d can only shoot 12min clips at time, are you sure that wasn't the issue?

How long did it record for before turning off? Also make sure you have the most up to date firm-ware for your camera. And make sure you format your card after dumping it, and before the start of every video shoot.

[spoolin215]

Yeah the foibles of shooting with video.

I know that my canon 7d can only shoot 12min clips at time, are you sure that wasn't the issue?

How long did it record for before turning off? Also make sure you have the most up to date firm-ware for your camera. And make sure you format your card after dumping it, and before the start of every video shoot.

It seemed to be happening at random. Sometimes it would be after 3-5seconds, sometimes it would be after a minute or two, sometimes it didn't do it at all.


Might sound dumb, but how do I go about formatting the card? Last camera I had was a GL2 which was miniDV

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

It seemed to be happening at random. Sometimes it would be after 3-5seconds, sometimes it would be after a minute or two, sometimes it didn't do it at all.


Might sound dumb, but how do I go about formatting the card? Last camera I had was a GL2 which was miniDV

Menu > Card Option > Format

And I would def look into updating your frimware. I bet that's the culprit.

[spoolin215]

Menu > Card Option > Format

And I would def look into updating your frimware. I bet that's the culprit.

thanks. I checked on Canon's website and they didn't have any info regarding the issue, but I'm going to update the firmware anyway. I'm also going to pick up a faster SD card. Everyone seems to recommend a class 10, you have any recs on brand?



EDIT: After some research it looks like people are recommending the SanDisk Extreme Pro which is a 45mb/s card. People also say to use the 16g as opposed to the 32g as the larger cards tend to over heat.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

Yep, I was going to suggest Sandisk. They have some bad blood with Canon as far as finger pointing when things go wrong, but they are industry standard for a reason. And as suggested I for SD I would go for 16g, now if we're talking about CF, then I would jump on a 32gb card if you could afford it.

Does the T2i shoot on SD instead of CF? I know some Nikons do as well.

And it's always good to keep your firmware up to date on these cameras, especially if shooting video is a big part of what you plan on doing with it.

[spoolin215]

As far as I can tell, my T3i does NOT support a CF card. $$$ isn't a huge issue though, considering I can get more than 50% off of retail from my friend who works for best buy.

[JacksSenseOfRejection]

Hope your next shoot goes smoother.