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Leveling the horizon

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:02 pm
by Lorenz
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]

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:02 pm
by Black Lab
There surely must be a simpler way to do this.
Stand on a level surface while taping. :wink:

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

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:01 pm
by Lorenz
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

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:57 pm
by Black Lab
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. :shock:

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:30 pm
by Ken Berry
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...

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:17 pm
by Black Lab
That is a great feature. Wonder why it hasn't caught on?

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:33 am
by sjj1805
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.
:shock: :shock: :shock:

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:11 pm
by Black Lab
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... :roll: I'll give that a try at my son's baseball game this afternoon.

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:34 am
by Lorenz
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 :wink:

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.

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:40 am
by Ron P.
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 :wink:

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...;)

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:55 am
by Ken Berry
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.... :lol:

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:05 pm
by Black Lab
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. :)

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 7:57 pm
by paul56
sjj1805 wrote: It is surprising how many people you see wandering around trying to film things with that LCD panel stuck out.
:shock: :shock: :shock:
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.