Camera Labs

Hey guys,
I recently bought a Canon 7d. Before that I was using the Canon XL1.
Quite a departure to go from a standard bulky video camera to an SLR but I couldn't help but love the footage I had seen from vimeo and youtube.
I'm using imovie 06 which may be my problem but my footage looks awful!
It seems to be in focus when i'm filming but when I import it it has a soft focus to it.

http://www.vimeo.com/8955491

I'm using a Nikon 50mm wide angle zoom lens that cost $130.
What's my problem?
When I plug my card reader into my mac it automatically reads it as a quicktime file which I import into imovie. The quicktime files look like ****, too. Is it my lens? Imovie?

Thanks

Hi momoskinnybrother, welcome on-board!

I've moved this to our video section...

The first thing I noticed on the video was it was uploaded as a letterboxed 4:3 file in standard definition - why didn't you export and upload in a widescreen HD format? If you edit the footage as a 720p or 1080p project, you'll keep it in HD and widescreen and vimeo will present it in HD and widescreen.

I can't comment on imovie though as I'm predominantly a Windows user.

As for focusing you have to be very careful as the 7D, especially with a lens like the one you're using, will have a considerably smaller depth of field than your XL1. So check your focus using the magnified assistance on-screen before filming, and watch the depth of field as your actors move back and forth. You may need to close the aperture down to f8 or even smaller.

Take a few stills with your 50mm too - if it looks ok, then the problem isn't with the lens.

Gordon

Thanks. I figured it out. Yea I wasn't importing HD into Imovie so I was obviously losing a-lot of quality. I found a tutorial on it and also bout a Tamron 17-50 2.8 lens. I'm sure I will be constantly referring to this site for questions. Thank you.