Trembling image in movement

[Gisela Richter]

Camera movement seems to cause a sort of trembling or slight flickering, what the French so nicely call "fourmillement". No matter how slowly and smoothly you pan or zoom as soon as there is movement in your clip this slight trembling of the image seems to be inevitable. Could it be due to interlacing? Would progressive recording avoid this?

[Black Lab]

If you are not already shooting progressive, then it sounds like a field order (interlacing) problem. If you are using a DV cam it is most likely Lower Field First, so make sure your burn properties are also LFF (when you click Share>Create Disc you will see a cogwheel icon in the lower left - this is where you can modify your burn properties). An analog, hard drive, or DVD cam is most likely Upper Field First and you should be burning to UFF.

Interestingly, this article claims shooting progressive can cause problems when panning and zooming.

[Ron P.]

About the only sure-fire way to prevent any unwanted jitter while panning, is to use some sort of camcorder stabilizer. If you do not need to move around, then the good old tripod will work. If you need to be mobile, using a Steadi-cam would work. Most pros always use them, and if you Google Steadi-Cam or Steady-Cam, you'll find numerous sites, and ways to build your own.

For a home-video hobbiest, just filming family events, buying a pro-steadi-cam is cost prohibitive. I made one for under $30, and seems to serve my purpose.