How to stop occasional wavy ripple distortion

[dfw111]

I am using a recently purchased HD Handycam HDR-PJ10E. On many, but not all, distance shots I am getting a slight wavy rippling effect causing slight distortion on parts of the video picture when I view it by running it on my computer and on the image projected from the camera. It is not evident on  most close-up shots and does not always happen on distance shots.

I tried to attach a clip of a scenic view as an example of this but got a message saying this is not allowed and had to type this again.

I would much appreciate advice on this please.

How do I prevent this distortion happening?

Is there any way of stopping the wavy ripppling effect on shots I have already taken?

Message was edited by: dfw111

Message was edited by: dfw111

[Mick2011]

Hi dfw111, welcome to the Sony Forums

It would be very useful to see your video. Can you upload it to YouTube or Vimeo and post the link here?

It could be anything from de-interlacing to an internal fault, very hard to say without seeing an example of the problem.

In the meantime, can you check to see if this is happening only on playback, or can you see it during recording? Is it exactly the same each time you play back, or does the rippling change slightly each time?

Cheers

Mick

[cmosse]

I think what you are experiencing is a combination of camera shake in tele mode and the "Rolling Shutter Effect" which is described here in detail:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter

[dfw111]

Thank you for your input which is much appreciated. I will soon investigate the points you mention and how to upload an example so you could comment further.

[dfw111]

Thank you for the information about Rolling Shutter Effect. Apart from ensuring the camera is steady, is there anything that I can do to avoid this effect?

[cmosse · Accepted solution]

I have found the following tips to minimize the "jello effect" ("wobble") caused by the rolling shutter

1. Shoot at slower shutter speeds. The motion blur associated with slower shutter speeds masks rolling shutter.

note that not all cameras allow manual setting for shutter speed. I am afraid the PJ10 does not.

2. Stabilize. Use a steady rig or a tripod.

3. Shoot with shorter lenses.

4. Use plug-ins in postprocessing. Sony VEgas HD Platinum has a Rolling Shutter correction option but honestly I ahve not tried it out yet. You can download the demo and test it on your own videos:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope

5. Don’t whip pan. Be slow and smooth when you pan.

6. De-focus the background.

Again, not all cameras allow manual setting of aperture and due to the small sensor of most handycam, defocussing background is not possible to the same extend as it is when using cameras with larger sensor like Sony Nex or SLT.