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Canon 600D Video Digital Zoom Crop Mode x3 to x10


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The cloud thinned last night and whilst not perfect I wanted to try taking video in Digital Zoom Crop Mode on my 600D. Unlike other Video crop modes this works in Full HD and allows you to increase the magnification of any lens by 3x to 10x. From what I have read quality is good up to 5x after which it starts to deteriorate.

I started off with 20 x subs of the moon in still mode for comparison and having stacked them, cropped to match the video crop mode taken afterwards.

I have posted the two stacks for comparison. 

This is the original 20 sub still stack, converted to JPG no other changes.

post-34685-0-23077100-1425424491_thumb.j

This is the result of stack from Video in Digital Zoom Crop Mode, again converted to JPG and no other changes.

post-34685-0-10833900-1425424781_thumb.j

Not sure why they have come up as different sizes on the post but have tried to keep resolution about the same.

This is a slightly sharpened version of the Video stack.

post-34685-0-76366000-1425424967_thumb.j

By this time the cloud was thickening but I did just try a quick video of Jupiter and this is the result. Not brilliant but then the conditions were not ideal. First time I have registered moons and detail in Jupiter although focus is suspect.

post-34685-0-91985700-1425425156_thumb.j

and here is a 10x Video Crop stack through the clouds.

post-34685-0-31901300-1425425438_thumb.j

I am quite encouraged by the results and am looking forward to a clear night to try again.

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Trouble with this mode is it's not a one to one pixel ratio so you lose out on quality straight away.

Recording 5 times Liveview would be better but you will need a pc/laptop connected.

When trying to beat seeing you want every little bit of help.

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Trouble with this mode is it's not a one to one pixel ratio so you lose out on quality straight away.

Recording 5 times Liveview would be better but you will need a pc/laptop connected.

When trying to beat seeing you want every little bit of help.

Thanks, yes I appreciate it is not 1 to 1 but as close to as I can get without computer attached. The 600d does not have true crop mode built in, instead it offered this digital zoom mode. Will be interesting to try in the light as means at minimum zoom mode my 300mm becomes a 900mm. Pity only available in video.

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T

it's always worth experimenting.

The sharpened image has come out quite well.

Be interested to see the daylight images.

This is my 75-300mm @ 300 x 3 digital zoom = 900mm (1400mm 35mm equiv).

post-34685-0-70689100-1425485886_thumb.j

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Trouble with this mode is it's not a one to one pixel ratio so you lose out on quality straight away.

Recording 5 times Liveview would be better but you will need a pc/laptop connected.

While Canon has been silent on this subject (and removed the function on later cameras) the evidence suggests the 3x HD Crop Mode is actually a ~2.7x crop mode with one-to-one pixels taken from the center of the sensor on the 600D.

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While Canon has been silent on this subject (and removed the function on later cameras) the evidence suggests the 3x HD Crop Mode is actually a ~2.7x crop mode with one-to-one pixels taken from the center of the sensor on the 600D.

Thanks, I had read that somewhere but was not sure enough to comment. 

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While Canon has been silent on this subject (and removed the function on later cameras) the evidence suggests the 3x HD Crop Mode is actually a ~2.7x crop mode with one-to-one pixels taken from the center of the sensor on the 600D.

I have done a test, suggested by Jerry Lodriguss in his planetary dvd, to see if this is correct.

I set the 600D up so it could'nt move and tethered it to my laptop.

Then I took a still image followed by a short video at 3x digital zoom.

One frame from the movie was extracted and pasted on top of the still image in Photoshop.

If the video frame is 1to1 it should line up exactly on top of the still frame.

If I have done this correctly it appears that it does not line up and by a long way.

Here is the image from PS and the opacity of the video frame is at 40% so it's easier to see the misalignment.

The video frame is the gray portion.

May be someone would like to give it a try to confirm it.

1to1.jpg

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While Canon has been silent on this subject (and removed the function on later cameras) the evidence suggests the 3x HD Crop Mode is actually a ~2.7x crop mode with one-to-one pixels taken from the center of the sensor on the 600D.

It would appear that they reintroduced the function on the 70D in 2013 so it isn't entirely dead. Everything I have read points to it being a crop from the centre of the HD format and at 3x (or 2.7x) whichever you wish to believe, is cropped directly so there is no loss of quality. Above 3x then quality suffers as it is a digital crop.

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