I fixed the link. Apparently the link feature of this forum, or my server has a problem with spaces and caps. I decapitalized (is that a word?) and despaced the file name and all is well now.

Thanks for posting. I have been seriously considering this camera as my next purchase.

Nice clarity of the video - I have the TM 700 and have been pleased with that too.

What your video does show is the challenge of using a gradually decreasing speed in Vegas during your slow motion segment. You might try disabling the resampling on the clip and see if it reduces the stuttering that occurs on these speed ramps. I was messing with Debug Frameserver and MvTools2 last week and saw quite a difference in the smoothness of slowmotion once you drop below 50% speed.

It's would be interesting to see you just cut to 50% half way through the clip - it will be smooth with the TM900 (resampling disabled) since there is a frame still for each frame in slomotion because you are shooting 60p.

Mike

Here is quick comparison using Debug Frameserver and MvTools2 within Vegas (for part of the process..) vs just slowing things down in Vegas alone at 25% speed.

]

Mike

Resampling was already disabled in Vegas prior to my rendering the .mp4. Learned that a couple of weeks ago at the race track when shooting perpendicular to cars passing by in excess of 125 mph. Major ghosting when resampling is enabled. Stuttering? I think you're refferring to the original camera shake. I'm still learning the camera and what mode of OIS to shoot in for ultra fast pans. Believe me panning perpindicular to an F18 traveling at 500 mph is tough to do to begin with not even considering fighting the OIS.

Ah . . ... I see what you mean by stutter now. Those tools did make quite a difference. Do you think it'll be as effective on something that moves as fast as an F18, or a race car?

"or my server has a problem with spaces and caps"
Filenames in all unix/linux servers are case sensitive, and space characters are not allowed.

Sorry, but no. I have plenty of internal links on my web site that have capitalized characters as well as spaces in their file names. It's something to do with the interaction between this forum and my web site.

Nice shot! I see those vapor trails most of the time at these shows. I've haven't gotten as good of footage out of my FX1 of these shows, I don't believe, though I have some dramatic F22 Raptor footage if I ever capture it and review it closely.

Nice cam, and nice shooting.

I'd say so.
I've run tests on things that move a considerable distance between frames and they can cope very well. What they don't cope with very well is with things beging occluded, a plane against a blue sky should be no problem at all.



The orignal is timelapse so it's a pretty good test as it's difficult for the trackers to work out which bit of the closed flower has moved to in the next frame as it's the same color. Speedo does better than AE:



The above is a frame by frame analysis of what can happen in AE.

You'll probably get similar results from the free tools however both these tests are quite extreme.

Bob.

Thanks! I will try that next time. I like the smoothness of the play back much better!

First, what impresses me about this video is your ability to hold the jets in frame at that speed.

Second, if you'd like me to put a few seconds you video thru the Debugmode Frameserver/AviSynth/MVTools2 process, I'd be happy to. (imho, it produces a much smoother SloMo than Vegas alone). Can you put your original footage in a downloadable location (my hosting service requires me to zip it first, yours may not - I think it's a MIME issue)? Size is not a concern as I have a 25Mbps connection.

...Jerry

Thanks very much for the offer, but I have already formatted the card. I'm not concerned about losing the video as the Blue Angels as well as the Thunderbirds are all over Florida this time of year. Since I'm still learning the camera I also considered the video as "experimental". To be honest most of the video I got from the Florida International Air show was not usable. I'm still learning how to interact with the OIS when panning ultra fast. It's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation with this camera. Without OIS it's too shaky at extreme zoom and with it I end up fighting it. I think I'm going to have to get a mono pole for the extreme zoom fast stuff? I've already came to the conclusion that Hybrid OIS (optical and electrical) does not work well with a very fast pan. I fight with optical OIS alone much less. Hybrid is great for extreme zoom when the camera is not panning fast, but not so much with a fast pan.

Yep, Jerry is the master of this stuff - I'd love to see what you can do with it Jerry.

All hail, the slomo master...


Mike

"Yep, Jerry is the master of this stuff - I'd love to see what you can do with it Jerry.Ha! I appreciate the compliment, but I must say johnmeyer is the master - I'm a mere grasshopper.

...Jerry

I guess that makes me the tick on the grasshopper!

"I think I'm going to have to get a mono pole for the extreme zoom fast stuff?"

That's probably not going to help at all.
With a monopod you have to use one hand to hold the pole stationary which in itself is no easy task. Then you've got only one hand left to operate a pan handle and no hands left to control anything on the camera.

What you need is a rock steady heavy tripod with a very good fluid head. That does cost serious money but on the upside think of it as an investment not an expense. Have a look on eBay and you'll see that such kit even though a decade old still goes for good sums of money.
A remote zoom control is mandatory and you need a decent sized monitor with a sun hood, either on the camera or better yet mounted off the side of the head so it pans with the camera but doesn't tilt with the camera.

With such a rig you can stand back from the camera giving you enough room to move the pan handle a long way without you tripping over the tripod legs. The monitor is always in view even if you tilt up to verticle.

You could also look into using a "zero gravity head", they give you a bigger range of movement for the camera. You'll also find that head as a "cygnet head", 'cause it looks like a swan's head.

Bob.

I've already got a good SLIK tripod. The problem is with the Blue Angels as well as at the race track I did not have the room to deploy a tripod. I love the small form factor of the camera, but the unintended consequnce of the smallness is it's difficult to hold steady at extreme zoom. I'm not one that uses the flip out LCD. I use the view finder. To hold that tiny camera up to your eye and fast pan is like diving off the diving board at the YMCA pool into a childs float ring 50 yards away. I need to desgin something like the HANS device that race car drivers use. Something that I can wear around my upper body that'll keep the camera steady as I move. I've seem something similar in the making of Hollywood movies, but of course that device comes at a Hollywood price.

"I've already got a good SLIK tripod"

That's not a good tripod, you need be looking at > $2K for tripods and heads for this kind of work. We regularly put our $500 HC5 camera on a $3K set of legs and it does make a difference and we're only shooting stage shows. OK, I'm very lucky, I get to use the good stuff for free but I can also atest to the value of using it without bias.

"The problem is with the Blue Angels as well as at the race track I did not have the room to deploy a tripod"

Work on getting accreditation, then you have access to the best locations and will have all the space you need.

"I love the small form factor of the camera, but the unintended consequnce of the smallness is it's difficult to hold steady at extreme zoom."

Indeed and nothing beats a honking big camera designed from the get go to sit on you shoulder but I still wouldn't swing one in a crowd. You're quite likely to injure someone with the lens on the front or the battery on the back.

"Something that I can wear around my upper body that'll keep the camera steady as I move. I've seem something similar in the making of Hollywood movies, but of course that device comes at a Hollywood price. "

I think you're talking about a Steadycam rig. Good ones are not cheap and it takes a lot of practice to use one. Unfortunately of zero assistance for what you're trying to do.

The reason you cannot hold a camera steady and track a fast moving object while holding the camera to your eye is just human physiology. Look at other things used to shoot things, bows and guns for example. Watch how someone shooting s-k-e-e-t uses their weapon keeping in mind they've only got to be on target for a very short period of time. What you're trying to achieve requires a considerable amount of skill combined with the best engineered support systems money can buy.
You need to keep both eyes open so you can locate the target quickly, that why using the EVF gets you into trouble. Also you'll be doing this for a considerable period of time and muscles get tired and start to shake.

Bob.

ps, can someone tell me in what alternate universe s-k-e-et became an offensive word???

farss/Bob,
English is not my native language, but I got interested in the etymology of the word too. Googled and I think I found a possible alternate universe through Wikipedia. Totally OT of course, but you did ask :)