EOS Rebel T7i 1080p video quality looks better on other cameras?

[elsataylorlong]

Hi!

I was wondering, why does some 1080p video look better on other cameras than it does on mine? I use the Canon T7i, with the 18-35mm 1.8 Sigma Art Lens. I always shoot in 1080p at 60fps (1920x1080 standard IPB MP4). I keep my aperture at 1.8, ISO under 800.

My question is that why does the1080p I shoot looks a little more blurry, and not as sharp as high of quality as others when they shoot in 1080p. 

For example; I'm a wedding photographer (in need of an upgrade lol), and worked alongside one of my friends who was working as the videographer with the R6; and she said she just shoots in 1080p. Her 1080p videos look SO much more crisp/ sharper/ higher quality than mine.

So I'm wondering (obvi her camera is a lot newer, and better lol), does having a higher megapixel make 1080p look better? Do I need a better lens? Does Shutter speed play a huge role in that? Is her's being a full frame, vs mine being a crop sensor make a big difference? Do SD cards affect video quality?

I would love to understand better! Thanks so much!

[Tronhard]

Hi Elsa and welcome to the forum:

There are a couple of issues here.  First your T7i is an older model, does not have IBIS and has a crop sensor.  All of these things count against it.  The R6 is in a different league: IBIS works with many lenses, full frame sensor, blazing fast autofocus and eye tracking.  You will benefit from the IBIS although it will likely not work your Sigma lens in combo.  The algorithms for video will have changed too. 

[elsataylorlong]

Thanks so much! I am wanting to upgrade to the R6 and have been curious on what the issue here was! The T7i tho great is indeed old! 

[rs-eos]

Two of the major issues affecting quality is the sensor itself and how video is actually recorded.   Most consumer video equipment (smart phones, camcorders, most consumer DSLRs and even some of the new mirrorless cameras) may not produce high quality video due to one or more of the following:

• No oversampling.  To produce very crisp HD (1080p), you really want at least UHD's worth of sensor sites.  Here, four sensor sites (or more) are used to create a single pixel worth of HD data.   I'm simplifying this alot, but that's the general idea.  Without oversampling, lines can appear quite jagged and overall the video won't look crisp.
• Limited color information being recorded.  To help reduce file sizes and possibly easier to process, 75% of color information is thrown away and never recorded.  This, at least to me, leads to video looking softer.  Areas of high details with lots of different colors can also look like the colors were smeared together.
• Less bit depth.  Most video equipment will only capture in 8-bit color since easier/faster to process.   Skies that have so many different shades of blue, as an example, will appear to have bands.  Things won't look smooth as you transition from one shade of blue to the next.
• Codecs are too agressive in their compression.  Saves on file sizes, but this compression is lossy.  Meaning that even more information is being lost.
• Other attributes of the equipment to include those with lower dynamic ranges.

In short, video is complicated and manufacturers typically cut several corners to keep cost, file size, heat generation, equipment size as small/low as possible for the consumer space.

[elsataylorlong]

wow this is great! thanks so much for this information!!!