I shot a couple of quick movies using my 32mm lens. The main thing I noted was how shaky it was. I tried panning hand held and it was just too shaky to be watchable. I tried some stationary shots and even those were too shaky to my liking - I am assuming there is no stabilization feature to turn on so I was wondering how others shoot their video and what is an economical solution to minimize the shaking? Thanks.
Since you asked exactly the same question again in another thread, this time after trying DIS (which is NOT the answer). I will repeat my response
1. The M6 ii only has digital stabilization when you use a lens that has no IS.
I see what you might have 'meant' but the sentence could be read several ways, and at best is unclear, at worst someone can reach the wrong conclusion.
The M6ii onlyhas digital stabilization when you use a lens that has no IS.
I can logically conclude that if I use a lens that has IS, the M6ii does not have digital stabilization, since it does not satisfy the <only> condition specified of using a lens with no IS.
The sentence would have been clear with the clauses reversed:
When you use a lens that has no IS, the M6ii only has digital stabilization.
Even this would read correctly:
The M6ii has only digital stabilization when you use a lens that has no IS.
DIS crops the sensor and thus degrades resolution (less than 4K). This could be why your video looks soft. It is.
2;. Digital stabilization requires shutter speeds that are relatively high (like 1/200th). otherwise you get blur that looks bad when the algorithm is stabilizing.
3. Your best bet is to use lenses that have optical stabilization and to turn off digital stabilization, so you can shoot at the optimal shutter speeds for your frame rate.
Here is a handheld video I shot in 4K using the M6 ii:
I just used the optical stabilization of the lens. Choose to view in 4K, no matter what the resolution of your viewing device.
Note: Walking with the camera while shooting is impossible for stable video using only DIS, OIS, IBIS or all together. and panning almost always looks bad, especially at low frame rates (24p).
As I mentioned in the other thread, it's not true that Digital IS for the M6ii only works with non-IS lenses --- it works in conjunction with the lens IS for IS lenses and performs extremely well --- especially the EF-M 18-150 is a fantastic lens for video all around on the M6ii.
First off it's important to use good camera holding technique, both when shooting video and still photos. I have found all around that using the EVF really, really helps in this regard --- it's so hard to stabilize video with the camera held out awkwardly in front of you, this is physics as the camera is now on 'extended arms' which will amplify motion.
In fact one of the main reasons I moved from the 70D to the M system was because I could shoot video using an EVF for far better stability. With the EVF your camera has three points of contact with your body, two hands plus pressed up against your face/eye. Tucking your arms in and using a stable stance also helps. If you must use a microphone on the hot shoe consider a smallrig cage to hold the microphone so you can use an EVF.... they make one that is only a bottom plate and lets the mike sit to the side. See Mark Wiemels great Youtube videos on shooting with the M50ii and M6ii.
As an aside I just bought the Sennheiser MKE-400 mike. A little expensive but wow the sound quality is night and day better than the on-camera mics. Bye-bye wind noise most days, even not using the deadcat that comes with it.
If you must shoot video from the rear screen, as I must with the M200, I found that one way to keep the camera more stable is to use a neck strap, tilt the rear screen up, and hold the camera taught on the strap, tucked right in to your body. This kind of gives you three points of stable contact again.
I also use the Digital IS a lot when shooting hand-held, for wide shooting I use the 'enabled' setting which crops a little and reduces the video quality some. I always shoot in 4k and then downsample to 1440p before uploading videos to Youtube, and they still look great and take a lot shorter to upload and download! (I use HitFilm Express which is free and does surprisingly a lot).
When shooting with the EF-S 55-250 IS STM, especially with a 1.5x or 2x teleconverter, or with the EF-M 55-200 IS STM, if shooting hand-held I will usually use the 'Enhanced' digital IS mode which REALLY stabilizes things, almost like you're on a tripod, but reduces the video quality further, almost to 1080p quality if you're shooting in 4k. Still, you can downsample the entire video to 1080p and nobody would know you used a cropped video mode (although the whole video is not as sharp as a 1440p or 2160p video).
The best thing when possible is to shoot on a tripod which is quality (stable) and has smooth fluid-motion for clean panning and tilting. I will bring a tripod if I know I will likely be shooting a lot of telephoto. I've gotten great footage with the EF-S 55-250 IS STM stacking both the 1.5x and 2x teleconverters, for 750mm equivalent shots, very stable using the tripod.
I just bought the Crane M3 gimbal and have tried it out once so far in the field, and a lot around the house. It's absolutely amazing what it can do -- again see Mark's video on that gimbal. it takes a lot more work to use it, you have to balance it with the lens each time you change lenses, and it takes some getting used to, but you can really do a lot of pro-level things with a gimbal that are not possible hand-held or on a tripod.
Here's a link to my most recent 1440p 'sample' using these techniques. Shooting trains far away and close illustrates how much easier it is to get stable video when they're close with a wide-angle lens, or the zoom at the wide end. "Sunday' train shots were with the m6ii hand-held with Sennheiser mic on the top (no EVF = shakier video! even with first tier of digital IS). Monday's train shots are mixed between the M6ii with the mic and the M200, some of the shots from a tripod, pretty obvious what was and wasn't shot on tripod. Also you can hear the difference between the Senny on the M6ii and the M200's mic.
Again, I never claimed that DIS could not be used along with lens IS. Read my sentence again. Only that without lens IS you only have DIS. Get it? Unlke the R7, for which you have non-degrading sensor-based stabilization (IBIS), with DIS as an additional option (don't!).
I am glad you admit that DIS both crops and degrades video quality. You can avoid both by using IS lenses and turning off DIS.
Lens IS only with no Digital IS works fine at wide focal length, probably the range for the kit zoom 15-45mm. With the 18-150, in the long end of the range the lens stabilization is not enough, the Digital IS in Enable mode works pretty well. Beyond 150mm hand held, in the 200 - 500mm range, the Enhanced mode is best for steady hand-held video.
My posted video clearly shows that lens IS alone stabilizes well and the image quality is great in full, but line-skipped, 4K. I did not use an evf, as the M6 ii does not have one. Thus, it is not necessary to buy the evf for the M6 ii to achieve stable video, as demonstrated, not just asserted.
Someone recommended using DIS, and my post was to inform about its shortcomings, as you agree and your video demonstrates very well. You do need to understand more how DIS works to understand why slow shutter speeds do not work well with DIS.
I don't have to read more and understand more, my direct experience tells me you can use slower speed with digital IS and you don't really see issues. Is your direct experience different than this? I practice good camera holding techniques, perhaps that allows me to do it.
Your claim about lens IS at focal lengths beyond 45mm is SHOWN to be wrong in the video I posted. Lens IS, at least on the 18-150 lens, does well across the full range. Video demonstration trumps talk. DIS is destructive of resolution at all focal lengths as you know and have found.
Sony, GoPro and Blackmagicdesign all say to not use slow shutter speeds when employing digital gyro-based stabilization. It has been shown also in countless YouTube videos. You are just wrong, and obviously do not understand how DIS works in making the claim that slow shutter speeds are ok.
I have used gyro (digital) stabilization in cameras (Sony, GoPro, Canon) and in post (DaVinci Resolve, Catalyst Browse, ReelSteady). I have shot and posted many videos using digital stabilization. I say this about my experience and what experts say so that any reader of this thread can make a better judgement about who to trust in this dialogue.
And yes, I am known to be among the best in shooting handheld, with and without gimbals. Steady Eddy. 😀
Well, I guess if you need to be seen as the expert, then I give up. Looks like there's only one right answer, and everybody's video experience must be exactly the same even with different subjects, equipment, needs, technique, lens type, copy and age variation, etc.
There is only one right answer about technical matters, obviously. This does not mean your videos are bad, or your general experience in shooting video is not valuable. You had lots of useful tips about shooting video. But, your experience on this issue is evidently limited, as is your knowledge of the theory and literature on gyro stabilization IBIS, and lens IS. This led to incorrect inferences.Read more about all these mechanisms. You do not have to grant me any superior knowledge, do more study to see if I am giving correct information.
Btw, I like gyro stabilization. Here is a video I shot to show how well it works in post, shooting in 6K so even with the crop, the 4K video was pristine:
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