IS settings

[jabeita]

I have a PowerShot A3400 IS.  What settings would be best to stabilize shake while shooting video from a vehicle dashmount? I've experiemented using both auto and live settings, and with the IS off and the IS on, but have not yet hit on the correct combination.  I'm still getting a lot of jump, shake and wobble in the final video product.  I have not yet tried a different resolution because I'd prefer to stick with 720p if possible.

[smack53 · Accepted solution]

I'd check to make sure the camera is really well secured in the dashboard mount. Any movement will be greatly magnified if the camera is not secured enough. Most people I know that use the camera in the car have it mounted to the windshield with a suction mount to reduce vibrations.

As to the settings, usually the IS is turned off when the camera is on a mount or tripod, but I see that you've already done that, so that's why I suspect the mount itself.

Steve M.

[cicopo · Accepted solution]

I'm a pretty serious photographer & a full time auto mechanic with almost 50 years of experience & I'd mount the camera in something isolated from vehicle vibrations & the road vibrations that get transfered to the car through the suspension. That may take some experimentation but I'd start by mounting it in relatively dense foum & go from there & I agree that IS off may be the better choice but I'd still try on & off.

[smack53 · Accepted solution]

I'd check to make sure the camera is really well secured in the dashboard mount. Any movement will be greatly magnified if the camera is not secured enough. Most people I know that use the camera in the car have it mounted to the windshield with a suction mount to reduce vibrations.

As to the settings, usually the IS is turned off when the camera is on a mount or tripod, but I see that you've already done that, so that's why I suspect the mount itself.

Steve M.

[cicopo · Accepted solution]

I'm a pretty serious photographer & a full time auto mechanic with almost 50 years of experience & I'd mount the camera in something isolated from vehicle vibrations & the road vibrations that get transfered to the car through the suspension. That may take some experimentation but I'd start by mounting it in relatively dense foum & go from there & I agree that IS off may be the better choice but I'd still try on & off.

[jabeita]

Today I experimented strengthening the mount.  However, I'm still seeing a lot of video-jump.  I understand from Canon support that IS is automatically turned off when using the 1/4" tripod mount threads.  So, I'm wondering if that could be part of the problem?  Is it possible to overide the auto-IS-shutoff feature, so that the IS is running even when using the tripod socket?  I'm also wondering if there are other camera "holding" devices out there that would mount the camera, but NOT use the tripod 1/4" socket, so that the IS (image stabilization) continues to function?

[smack53]

From looking at the owner's manual it appears that there are two settings for IS that may need to be turned off, the IS mode and the Powered IS. I have to assume you have both off, even though the manual indicates that Powered IS won't operate when IS is off. I don't see where the IS automatically turns off when you connect to a tripod using the tripod mount threads. I've never heard of that before for any camera, especially for a basic point and shoot. That sure would be useful if true.

You may be exceeding the capabilities of the camera to avoid the "shakes". It seems that there are different mounts for video that are made for reducing video jumping. Since I don't do much video at all, I'm hoping that someone in the community may have a recommendation for what type of video tripod head would be best for what you are doing.

Steve M.

[jabeita]

I was actually thinking that I might have better luck if the IS were actually running, assuming that using the tripod socket-mount could be disabling the IS.  To me, it seems like the IS should actually remove a lot of the shaking...if it weren't being disabled by using th tripod mount.  Page 55 in the manual says, "No image stabilization, because the camera is mounted on a tripod or held still by other means."  That's a little unclear.  Canon support supplied this info, "Disables image stabilization when the camera is attached to a tripod. However, image stabilization may be applied depending on the shooting conditions."  Still, a little unclear.  However, that last comment leaves me wondering if there isn't some way to enable the IS, even when you are using the tripod camera mount socket.

[jabeita · Accepted solution]

I have the solution.  First, the problem:  The problem is that when you use the camera's tripod 1/4-inch screw socket with any kind of metalic screw, you automatically disable the Image Stabilization (IS). You don't want to disable the IS when you are recording in a moving vehicle.  I found a suction-cup windshield mount that uses a plastic 1/4-inch tripod screw.  The plastic screw lack continuity, so it doesn't disable the IS.  My videos are now nice and smooth, with no shake or wobble thanks to Canon's IS. For my first experiment I used standard widescreen, no zoom, live, shooting mode.  It came out fine.  I'm going to try some of the other modes, such as vivid color, to see what kind of movies I can make.  Incidentally, the mount I used required me to hang the camera upside down.  The viewer automatically corrects, but the video still comes out upside down.  But, I was able to used Microsoft Movie Maker to rotate the image 180 degrees, no problem.  Bottom line: You WANT image stabilization enabled when you are shooting video from a PowerShot mounted in a moving vehicle.  If you use the camera's tripod mount you will want to make sure you use a plastic screw so that it doesn't disable the camera's IS.

[cicopo]

That's very useful info. Thanks for letting us know.