Canon EOS R7 Unbearable Video Shake On Tripod

[coastline]

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.

[rs-eos]

What focal length are you primarily using? If you're at 150mm, that could be leading to making any shake much more obvious.

You may want to try experimenting with hand-held shots while incorporating any lens IS and/or IBIS.

A gimbal setup may also be a better solution.

[coastline]

Ricky, 

I am primarily going for wider landscape angles between 18-50 MM. I did take some hand-held footage from a moving train with IBIS enabled and it was fine. A test shot I did on my tripod with IBIS on also experienced the same shaking, around the same amount. 

A gimbal would not be possible for my style of shooting. 

[shadowsports]

Hi Coastline,

When you say you've tried upgrading the firmware, does that mean to v1.3.0? (latest that is currently available as of this posting).

I have been following posts and video from others who claim to experience this phenomenon.  Yours sounds different in that it happens when a train goes by and not at other times?  I have seen video of Ibis wobble "jello" at shorter FL's.  Does this happen with stationary subjects?  Or does it only happen when a train passes?

When you connect a RF lens with IS to the camera the ibis settings menus are disabled when you activate the lenses IS switch.  This automatically combines stabilization by the lens and camera.  Movie mode (Movie IS) is the same.  

Given that you are unable to consistently reproduce the behavior and that ibis appears to work handheld, I would suggest resetting the Camera's main settings to defaults, including your custom shooting modes (C1~C3) and retesting.

[coastline]

Hi Rick,

Yes, I am on Firmware version 1.3.0.

It will happen when a train is going by, approaching, or even if it is sitting idle sometimes.

Movie IS is disabled in the menu options, along with the IBIS, etc.

The results are the same after resetting the camera.

[Waddizzle]

The others have made good suggestions.  Your issue sounded like a vibration issue.  But, it also sounds like a settings issue.  Do you feel ground vibrations from passing trains?

What AF mode are you using?  How many AF points are active?  Since you are shooting wide angle, you should be able to capture most of the scene within the large DOF.  I also think the could focus without the need for AF tracking.  

I recommend focusing with a single AF point at an area of the track Once you have set focus, try disabling AF.  However, I am uncertain if that will also disable IS.

[coastline]

Waddizzle, 

I don't always feel the vibration in the ground when it goes by. I've been using single point AF, which I believe is called 1-point on the R7 and one point is active. 

[Waddizzle]

Hmm.  Try disabling AF, like I suggested.

Does this happen when the camera is unattended?  No one is touching it?  There is a known issue that produces results that are almost similar to your issue.  It happens during video recording with a wide angle lens, and then someone tries to turn the zoom ring.

[coastline]

Waddizzle,

The issue persists on Manual Focused video.

The camera is unattended at the times I am recording video and I walk more than 20 feet away usually well before the train goes by. I do not zoom while recording. 

[coastline]

I also tested my Nikon Z5 which is a mirrorless of a similar enough form factor on the same video tripod today shooting 4k 30fps video with all stabilization disabled. Compared to the R7 footage at the same location and angle and it's a night and day difference. The Z5's footage has a much, much less subtle shake more similar to the old camcorders.