A small Youtube sample of things to come in my 3D movies. I'll have two coming within a few months featuring my new macro 3D. Hope you guys enjoy it, looks best viewed at 1080p on a 3D TV.
I had trouble with the 3D convergence on every scene except the following:
1:50 3:22 3:59 4:10 4:53 5:14
Watched on Vizio 32" at 1080p Even the above were not perfectly converged but well enough that I could watch them with no strain. I'm sure you will get different opinions on this as different people perceive 3D differently.
Macro 3D seems to be very challenging and I have seen very few presentations that I can watch without eye strain. I know my own work with wide stereobase trying to get the look of a great range of depth in the shot causes eyestrain for many. I believe if your project is to satisfy yourself you can get away with whatever makes you comfortable, but if trying for general public approval, eye strain must be eliminated.
Because you have a couple really comfortable shots in a collection of many uncomfortable ones, it must be something you can control and increase your ratio of comfortable shots. This assumes you can see it the same as I can. If you can't figure out what makes those work, then you may need to just rely on what makes some photographers great which is to shoot many shots to select a few that work best.
Keep us posted. Someday I may want to get into the macro world too and I will rely on your experience refining the process.
For the first few closeups of tree branches I was like 20-25 feet away and used maybe a 3 or 4 inch interaxial if I recall correctly.
I believe I used a 1.5 inch interaxial (the minimum for that rig) and was 6-10 feet away, for shots of the grass blades, dandelions, bush with the pink blossoms, fence, etc.
My main goal was to avoid excessive positive or negative parallax, so I tried to get all the layers in a scene to reside within the comfort zone. Generally I don't like stereo window violations (where popout gets cut off by the window frame) but I do allow it when it's subtle and when it's for the sake of reducing background eyestrain (if said background is important).
There are several ways to correct shots with excessive parallax when your rig's interaxial won't go any narrower.
Shoot from a greater distance and use zoom
Compose so that the distant background elements are obstructed by something in the middleground
Tweak the convergence! I love this aspect. You want to push and pull the scene in and out so as to get as much of the stage as you can to reside within the physiological comfort zone. The more aggressively you shoot your 3D content, the less of the scene you'll be able to get to reside within that comfort zone. So if you can barely even get a 3 inch long creature to reside within the comfort zone, you need to go reshoot from a greater distance and/or narrower interaxial. Edited by cakefoo - 9/2/12 at 2:15pm
Yes macro 3D is great but very hard to shoot. I am using the JVC and a +3 macro lens for now. The big problem I have found is background. When you shoot an object up close the background blurs muh which can hurt the eyes. Zooming in trying to get rid of the background also is a problem because if you get to close the 3D looks bad also.
I am trying to find that fine line or sweet spot to get the best macro shots without eyestrain. The Youtube videos were not edited yet but I have edited some that look pretty good so far and working on more.
Here is an older video that was unedited as well from my first time trying macro.
Alright, I am curious what you guys think look better. Please view this macro video, the first video is unedited straight from the cam. The second after is exactly the same video but edited with Edius. Which do you think looks better?
I did mess up at the very start, the first praying mantis video is the edited then unedited. That is the only one I messed up on.
I think you are wasting your time in editing with convergence tools. Better to concentrate on staying within a range of distance for your macro lenses. You should set up some highly controlled lab grade bench tests to see what those distance ranges are. Once you know these limits for each of your Macro lenses and zoom settings, you will better be able to nail your shooting down to a science. In other words, get the shot right, don't try to fix it in post. Once you know what works, then go out and use those settings to grab nature.
You have some really good shots in your collection so you have the system, but by the large number of diverged bad shots that look double, you show that you are not really in control yet. Eventually you may figure it out bit I think you will get there faster if you set up a controlled test bench to understand what works.
I haven't done Macro photography for many years and then it was all underwater using a Nikonos and extension tubes to get in close. These tubes had a wire frame that you held around the subject to measure the predefined distance. Often these frames would spook the tiny animals but one thing they did was make every shot perfect. In air it is easier to determine or estimate short distances. But you need to find out what those are first.
I agree, the first time I went out the footage was amazing. But for some reason the last few times they turned out not that great. I have measured the distance but it also seems weather, brightness and cam settings really effect the shots.
The first time around I used manual mode with touch priority on to focus on the object, it was a very sunny day.
Second time I used auto mode and often touch priority as well but it was pretty cloudy out.
I agree, the first time I went out the footage was amazing. But for some reason the last few times they turned out not that great. I have measured the distance but it also seems weather, brightness and cam settings really effect the shots.
The first time around I used manual mode with touch priority on to focus on the object, it was a very sunny day.
Second time I used auto mode and often touch priority as well but it was pretty cloudy out.
Doesn't the JVC have a manual convergence dial like the TD10?
