A plea for useful TEST videos

[Andy600]

Sorry, this is a little rant/plea..

With all the excitement surrounding the new ML raw video shooting features there is also the inevitable deluge of poor quality 'test' videos.  I don't know about you guys but I'm tired of seeing videos that look like they were shot by a 2 year old during an earthquake. They serve no other purpose than to show the world your camera can shoot raw.

Test video are great when you're actually testing something but so many are extremely poor quality, handheld affairs that are a waste of time, especially if they are uploaded to Vimeo where some of us have to wait to buffer before watching.

If you're going to shoot a test video please think of the viewers!

It's not hard to get a half-decent shot that shows off the potential of ML raw video (or ML features in general). If you don't have a tripod or a rig/cage etc why not put your camera on a stable surface, a fence, a car (but not mine) or even the floor. Try shooting something that TESTS the function(s) you are using. Try shooting a brick wall,  diagonal power lines or patterns etc to test for moire. Try shooting foliage and flowers for detail and landscapes to test for resolution (this will also improve your manual focusing skills). Shoot a friend (not literally) or people in the street to test for skin tones (this will help a lot with learning or improving your  color correction/ grading skills in post). Shooting in low light or at night is a good test for noise and DR but don't try shooting with a slow kit lens (we all know it looks crap because it can't capture enough light). If you want to pull focus don't rely on your camera to do it. Watching a kit lens hunting for focus is tedious. Switch into MANUAL on your lens body and do it yourself, after all, that's how the vast majority of professional DPs and focus pullers do it.

If all you want to do is have the features to play with then OK, that's great but please don't upload your crappy videos that do nothing to demonstrate the amazing features the ML developers are gifting us or helping in any way to solving specific problems. If you want to run around and not care about what you're shooting, use your phone but if you're using ML you probably have an interest in becoming a better film maker, cameraman/woman etc  so why not start today?

[N/A]

I've been working on some beach footage the past few days and I've literally scrapped entire days' worth of shooting because they weren't perfectly focused, not stable enough, etc... I probably looked like a damn fool on the floor of the aquarium trying to get a steady shot.

Damn OCD.

[Andy600]

I've been working on some beach footage the past few days and I've literally scrapped entire days' worth of shooting because they weren't perfectly focused, not stable enough, etc... I probably looked like a damn fool on the floor of the aquarium trying to get a steady shot.

Damn OCD.

LOL  Hey, could make for some interesting angles. Aquariums are another great thing to shoot for detail and colour.

[1%]

There are stabilization plugins.

[N/A]

I use a lot of what I learned from recording and mixing music in videography, and fixing it in post is usually a BIG no-no. But yeah, for test footage something like FCPx's stabilize is just fine.

[AnotherDave]

It really isn't worth posting "test videos" of your raw footage if it isn't something that benefits from being shot in raw.

Stable, in focus, and scenes in bright daylight (in high contrast conditions) or low-light at night make the most sense to post.

I've noticed that lots of people are posting videos that they didn't color correct and I don't understand the point of that...

If you're aim is just to test the workflow, you don't always have to post... but make sure to report on any issues or odd instances
that you encounter.  Let the developers know so they can make it a more stable 'upgrade'.

Make sure to have fun!

[mvejerslev]

I'm updating this footage almost daily with new tests. I updated my Vimeo account to display HQ 1080p.