Canon T3i Movie Digital Zoom demo

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I mean no disrespect, but that digital zoom is crap. You can do that in post. The reason it looks shitty at 10x is because you've cropped the image so drastically. You can do a "3x-digital-zoom" in post, and it will look just as sharp as what was demonstrated here (except you'll have greater control of what you're cropping).

If you're not pysically zooming with a lens, I see absolutely no reason to do it digitally in-camera. I believe this feature was added strictly for the non-filmmakers, the people who either don't know that this can be done quickly and easily in post, or who know it can be done, but don't care to, and/or don't own the software to do it.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to shoot you down. I think you just chose the wrong subject-matter for a video demonstration, cuz it's pretty much just marketing hype.
 
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Disclaimer: I'm at work and haven't watched the video. That said, CF, I believe you're mistaken. The sensors in DSLRs are capable of picking up far greater than 1080p, as they're designed for still images in greater resolutions. What the "digital zoom" in this case is doing is taking a full 1080p image, it's just taking it from a smaller portion of the sensor. At least that's how it works on the GH2, and I can vouch for it giving much better quality than just cropping in post. This only works up to a point, as you said 10x would be shitty because then it would be a true digital zoom as the sensor wouldn't have the resolution. The way it works on the GH2 is you're limited to a 2.6x crop zoom because of the resolution of the sensor.

When I get off work I'll watch the video and may edit my post if I'm mistaken about what I said.

EDIT: Alright, I'm home and I watched the video. My educated guess is that the 3x "digital zoom" is taking a 1080p crop from the center of the sensor. Going past 3x looks like a true digital zoom where you actually lose resolution, causing the image to get blurry.
 
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Yep, SinEater's on the money. As the sensors are so high resolution, you can take a 1920x1080 crop from the centre without having to do any upsampling. I think digital crop would probably be more accurate than digital zoom (as the latter usually involves enlarging a digital image rather than sampling a smaller, still full-resolution portion of the sensor) but it's probably not as consumer friendly. While I'm not sure how useful this is going to be amongst shooters with a decent lens selection, for macro shots and extending telephoto lenses it could be fantastic.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
I mean no disrespect, but that digital zoom is crap. You can do that in post. The reason it looks shitty at 10x is because you've cropped the image so drastically. You can do a "3x-digital-zoom" in post, and it will look just as sharp as what was demonstrated here (except you'll have greater control of what you're cropping).

If you're not pysically zooming with a lens, I see absolutely no reason to do it digitally in-camera. I believe this feature was added strictly for the non-filmmakers, the people who either don't know that this can be done quickly and easily in post, or who know it can be done, but don't care to, and/or don't own the software to do it.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to shoot you down. I think you just chose the wrong subject-matter for a video demonstration, cuz it's pretty much just marketing hype.
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Both SinEater and chilipie are correct. I have included another video so you can see what that image looks like if you were to use sony vegas for digitally zooming, or anything else for that matter, vs the T3i. It speaks for itself. I give vegas a valiant effort in trying to upscale the image.

Yes the 10x does look bad since it is blowing an image up way to large to to be considered HD. Maybe if someone were to only render out the video in 360p low res for youtube, then perhaps the 10x might be ok-ish.

Just for you "Non believer." :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwIXyAjYaIc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwIXyAjYaIc
 
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I once was blind, but now I see. Consider me converted. For the 3x, anyway.

So, all that being said, shouldn't that mean that if you shoot in 3x, you could do away with the moire effect? I think somebody needs to go shoot some chain-link fence. :)

Oh, and I agree with Dready. That is nice craftsmanship on the DIY softbox.
 
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Thanks Dreadylocks! Yeah, the softbox was DIY. I found a great tutorial on youtube for it. Here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPEzK1LL31E

For the end where he attaches the paper, I used small binder clips that you can get at walmart or officemax. A box of them was less than a dollar. Works great!

The stand is...well a random DIY that didnt turn out, but worked great to hold the light. :) But its basically the base of a utility light stand, with a shower curtain rod, and pvc piping on top shaped like a T.

Cracker, glad to see I cured a blind man. "Praise the Lord...Forehead palm slap." Haha. :lol:
 
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Seems a reiteration of Sineters comments, but for what its worth, 1080p is only 2 mega pixels of image (crazy but true) A 1:1 pixel capture of 2 megapixles worth of sensor in the middle of the frame should yield a perfect (the best the sensor can do) image. Of course, the image will be several cropped, and I suspect at 3x the T3i doing just that, but they've added a digital zoom on top of it.

The GH2 is a bit less obtuse about it, but has the same feature.. Extended Tele (EXT) mode and is visual perfect or so the test show. Ill try it out IF PANASONIC EVER SHIPS MY CAMERA !!!! GROWL>>


Seems like 1 upmanship on canon.. " Think your cool mister GH2? We'll see your EXT mode and raise you with crappy digital zoom...! Take that Panasonic!
 
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IndieBudget said:
QUESTION.. did you pull focus at 10x zoom ? might be some of reason it is blurry at 10x
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I think that that is not necessary, since you are zooming digitally on an alredy focused image, and not chinging the actual focal lenght.
Thus, if the spot was in focus when in 3x or without digital magnification, I think there's no reason for it to be out of focus in the 10x.
On the other hand, it might not have been in focus the first time. It looks foucsed, but when enlarged, it looks like crap, much like when an image looks in focus when in the camera screen, but blurry and messy on an external monitor.
 
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IndieBudget said:
QUESTION.. did you pull focus at 10x zoom ? might be some of reason it is blurry at 10x
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Well, before I performed any of this, I pinpointed on the jar, I believe it was, then magnified that spot and performed an auto focus. If I did it again I could probably get better results, as I am still new to this camera and dslr's in general. I do know I messed up and probably could of been in at least 200 iso, but I was deliberating on whether or not to shoot it all auto, just to show how fully auto would look...Then switched to manual and forgot to change some settings..Like the f-stop. It was way to low. I think I might perform another test of this with improved settings to see if I can push the resolution even better.

Being my first time actually recording myself, it was a bit weird. I felt like I was talking to myself, haha, and it took plenty of rounds to get what I got for the beginning.

Update - Just to double check things I setup the camera with my 50mm 1.8 lens. Put the settings at f 1.8, 100 iso, shutter 1/60, neutral color settings, and zoomed into the same spot with the magnifier before applying the digital zoom and auto focused. The quality is really the same, just that the 100 iso has less grain, but the blurriness remains as expected.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
Thanks for the link! I'm gonna scout out for those box tops and make a few, for sure. :cool:
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What I did was take a square box with sides I felt were large enough, and equally cut out the box flaps and sides. That way you will have 4 of each piece in equal dimension. Then just use a 30-60-90 triangle within those square boundaries at the same points. :)
 
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Most here , myself included, prefer manual focus. However your focus still looks fine. I will hit the mag button, zoom in tight and focus manually. Good information, thanks for sharing !
 
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Hey no problem, glad you liked it. Yeah, I will use manual focus for sure when I'm shooting out and about and mobile. But since nothing was moving it just seemed easier at the time to just lock on and go.

Question, does anyone know the term or have a link to something like an enlarged rubber ring that would go around your focus so you can easily adjust it by hand. Not an actual geared focus adapter or anything, just something that slips over the lens on the teeth of the focus and has some sort of grip?
 
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Whoa, a clamp, that would scare me, haha. But I do love the idea of marking your focus points. Perhaps I will have to build a custom setup. :D And of course share my results.
 
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