Leveling the horizon

Lorenz · Post by **Lorenz** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:02 pm

Hi everyone,

I've a footage where the horizon is tilted. To correct that, I placed the clip on the overlay track and adjusted the horizon by tilting the clip using the distortion handles. Then I used the anti-shake filter to expand the clip to get rid of the black parts.

There surely must be a simpler way to do this.

If this is not the case then I would like to put dedicated filter on the wish list for the next version. If Magix can provide a simple to use filter to do so (I recently switched from Magix to VS X2), then why not Corel?

Lorenz[/b]

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:02 pm

There surely must be a simpler way to do this.

Stand on a level surface while taping.

There is not an automatic way to correct this within VS. Your solution sounds as good as any.

Lorenz · Post by **Lorenz** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:01 pm

Jeff,

Thank you for your speedy reply.
I know now that I will have to learn to live with it for the moment.

And of course the most simple way is to level your camera. I know you put it forward as a joke, but it is so darn true.

Kind regards

Lorenz

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:57 pm

And of course the most simple way is to level your camera. I know you put it forward as a joke, but it is so darn true.

But not always easy to do when looking thru the little viewfinder.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:30 pm

In fact, when I bought my last mini DV Canon 3 years ago, I was surprised and pleased to find that the viewfinder contained a horizon line which of course showed if you had the camera tilted. It is an easy addition which camera manufacturers rather stupidly don't include as a normal feature -- including, I am afraid to say, Canon itself in my more recent high definition HV20...

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:17 pm

That is a great feature. Wonder why it hasn't caught on?

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:33 am

Going on from the above "Stupid but True"
USE the viewfinder!!

It is surprising how many people you see wandering around trying to film things with that LCD panel stuck out.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:11 pm

I ALWAYS use the viewfinder, for two reasons. Number one, I do a lot of my work outdoors, and the LCD screen is hard to see in the bright sun. Number two, using the viewfinder saves on battery consumption.

Although, now that I think about it, it may not be a bad idea to use the LCD to make sure everything is level first...

I'll give that a try at my son's baseball game this afternoon.

Lorenz · Post by **Lorenz** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:34 am

Gentlemen,

It's nice to see that my little question got reactions of all moderators, although the issue that VS did not have a simple provision for leveling the image was gracefully sidestepped by a subtle change of subject

Nevertheless, it was the remark of Ken about his camera with a horizon line in the viewfinder, that triggered my memory.

I owe a Canon XM2 (GL2 in the US) that has two modes when working in 16:9. You can choose for using the full 4:3 viewfinder where the image is slightly vertically compressed (not on tape) or you can choose for an undistorted image with two horizontal lines between which lies the 16:9 area.
I bought this camera 6 years ago and have always used the first mode as being the only mode. I had totally forgotten the possibility of using these lines as leveling aid.

Thanks again.

Post by **Ron P.** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:40 am

Lorenz wrote:Gentlemen,

It's nice to see that my little question got reactions of all moderators, although the issue that VS did not have a simple provision for leveling the image was gracefully sidestepped by a subtle change of subject

Nevertheless, it was the remark of Ken about his camera with a horizon line in the viewfinder, that triggered my memory.

I owe a Canon XM2 (GL2 in the US) that has two modes when working in 16:9. You can choose for using the full 4:3 viewfinder where the image is slightly vertically compressed (not on tape) or you can choose for an undistorted image with two horizontal lines between which lies the 16:9 area.
I bought this camera 6 years ago and have always used the first mode as being the only mode. I had totally forgotten the possibility of using these lines as leveling aid.

Thanks again.

Yes, I guess when we don't know why Corel does not do, or does some of the things they do, we must side-step a little...

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:55 am

And just to explain a little further, none of us here work for Corel. We are all volunteers who are just users like you. In other words, as Ron has already suggested, we have no idea why Corel does certain things a certain way, or omits to do other things....

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:05 pm

And who sidestepped the issue? My reply was:

There is not an automatic way to correct this within VS. Your solution sounds as good as any.

Seems a pretty direct answer to me.

paul56 · Post by **paul56** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 7:57 pm

sjj1805 wrote: It is surprising how many people you see wandering around trying to film things with that LCD panel stuck out.

I think this is an age thing with all types of cameras. Younger folks seem to prefer using the LCD but we oldies never had such things in the past and have stuck with old habits.