Canon EOS R7 Unbearable Video Shake On Tripod

Discussion in 'Canon EOS R Series' started by coastline, Apr 9, 2023.

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  1. coastline

    coastline New Member

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    My EOS R7 with the 18-150 kit lens is having major issues relating to the video footage it produces. I primarily shoot videos of trains and railroading environments. In the footage I record, when the train goes by there is a horrific shake that goes throughout the entire image. Sometimes it's jello, others not. My first thought was this could be related to my (now old) tripod, the Davis & Sanford 7518B, and upgraded it to the Manfrotto 546BK-1 with MVH502A head. For the 546BK-1 I have the rubber feet on, not the spikes and everything is tightened adequately. The 546BK-1 also weighs 12.5 lbs so the weight of the tripod is likely not a concern to the problem. To my surprise, the upgrade barely helped and almost every single video I record has the shaking. I also tried the EOS R7 on my photo tripod the Manfrotto Element MII and that ended up having the worst shaking out of the three tripods I tried.

    I have also tried updating the firmware on the camera, changing the way I have it mounted to the plate (normal vs. sideways), and trying the various video quality settings, all IBIS and Stabilization have been disabled along with the Auto-Leveling yet to no avail with the same results.

    Compared to my old video camera, the Sony AX53 Camcorder the difference is monumental. Footage shot at the same locations will be great on the AX53 (a little shake but nothing stabilization in editing can't fix) while the R7 will be a violently shaking unwatchable mess. Same tripods, same spots, drastically different results. I accept that there will always be an amount of shaking in a video of a train going by, but not to the amount that the video is unwatchable and has to be deleted.

    Any help would be appreciated for the issue I have occurring,
    Thanks.
     

  2. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

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    As far as i am aware those camcorders have a floating lens and built in stabilization. So that explains why the camcorder does way better given you have the dslr setup with no IS running is what it sounds.

    1. I would expect shake from the ground because of the train. An aluminum tripod is not going to dampen that at all, neither of your tripods different in that regard. But the heavier rig on a big aluminum tripod will amplify the problem.

    2. Why are you not using image stabilization, that would have been the first assumption i made if I was recording something that as going to cause enough ground shake to vibrate the tripod?

    3. You could dry some options to dampen the vibration like using some sort of cushioning under the legs to absorb much of the vibration. Using Tripod sandbags to anchor the tripod down from some of the shake. A carbon fiber tripod is pretty common gear in the camera word for being lighter weight and actually will handle vibration better.
     
  3. coastline

    coastline New Member

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    I tried the exact same shot today with my Nikon Z5 which is a mirrorless of a similar form factor size wise on 4k 30fps without any stabilization on and it was night and day difference compared to the R7. The Nikon Z5's footage is way less shaky and watchable roughly similar to the old camcorder's. R7 is still a big mess at the same location. The test was at the same spot, same time of day, same focal length. I'm thinking the R7's sensor is not fully locked into place when IBIS is off.

    I don't use image stabilization because it overcompensates on a tripod and ruins the footage. Plus I did also do a test clip with IBIS enabled, (not electronic stabilization) and it was still quite bad.
     

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