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Still pictures blurry in FCP

I'm having a similar problem to other discussions I've seen on here, I just can't find the correct solution for me.

My still pictures are coming out blurry. It may look great in the viewer but in the canvas it looks blurry. This is not the case with all still pictures, just some. It doesn't help to export the final video out to QuickTime and view it on a tv or computer. (I've read some formus that say that fixed their problem.) I'm assuming it's the issue of the canvas/sequence has a lower resolution than the picture that's coming out blurry. But how can I fix that problem? Is there a something I can change in the sequence settings to make it look like it's supposed to? And if I do change the settings will that mess with anything else in my sequence? (I mean the video as a whole- there is video, still, pictures, effects, etc on the sequence.) Also, I do not have Photoshop to mess with the picture.

Oh and yes, I've rendered my face off so that isn't the problem either. 🙂

Thanks so much in advance!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 15, 2011 9:44 PM

Reply
23 replies

Mar 16, 2011 12:40 PM in response to Meg The Dog

No fractions on my scaling, they are whole numbers. And it doesn't matter what scale I set it to, it still comes out blurry.

The pictures are jpeg form, imported in FCP from a file on my hard drive.
After you mentioned the size of the original pictures I checked that....and I thought I might have found a common theme, but I'm not sure now.
For example:
Dimensions of a really great photo in Final Cut: 2272 x 1704
Dimensions of a really blurry photo: 479 x 639

I started checking a lot of the ones that come in blurry and this is the case...with most. But there are still dimensions like 604 x 453 that come in great. And 708 x 1064 that come in bad. Also, most of the blurry ones have a tendency of being vertical pictures rather than horizontal. Is there a way I can try to correct that if the dimensions are the issue here? (Keeping in mind I don't have Photoshop.)

Thanks!

Mar 16, 2011 1:27 PM in response to Meg The Dog

Sequence settings:
Frame size: 720 x 480 Aspect Ratio: NTSC DV (3:2)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: NTSC - CCIR 601 / DV (720 x 480)
Field Dominance: Lower (Even)
Editing Timebase: 29.97
QuickTime Video Settings- Compressor: DV/DVCPRO-NTSC 100%
Audio Settings- Rate: 48kHz Depth 16 bit Config: Channel Grouped

I've never changed these before, just kept it on the default.

Mar 16, 2011 1:33 PM in response to Brooke77

Well, the really blurry foto is low resolution... so if you are using it larger then 100%, it will look blurry. You can try and increase the pixel count (as I stated earlier, you can use Preview) But don't expect fantastic results.

As for the big images, try to keep you images no larger than 1440 x 960 as images that are scaled down considerably tend to look bad in FCP.

Mar 16, 2011 1:38 PM in response to Brooke77

Hi -
Are you scaling up the vertical images (479 x 639) to fill frame? If so you are enlarging them quite a bit, and anytime you enlarge an image, you will see the sharpness decrease.

Couple this with your DV codec, which is at the bottom of acceptable imaging codecs to begin with, and your expectation may be exceeding what the combination of small source images and editing codec can supply.

And, to add to the problem, jpegs can range from very high quality to very, very compressed images. If your original images are highly compressed jpegs, that may be adding to the problem.


The best way to help with this problem would be to obtain higher quality source images - the same images in a large frame size. As you have already discovered you get much better results reducing a large image to fit the screen then enlarging a small image to fit the screen.

If this in not possible, you just need to use your judgement as to how far you can enlarge the image before it starts to look objectionable.

MtD

Mar 16, 2011 2:01 PM in response to Brooke77

Hi -
When you are reducing an image, you are removing excess pixels to have it display in the correct frame size. All the pixels that remain in the image are the same pixels that were in the original image, there are just fewer of them.

When you enlarge and image, FCP must add pixels that it best guesses belong there - sometimes by repeating adjacent pixels, sometimes by applying algorithms to best guess what the pixels should look like that it is adding in. But these are just guesses.
So when you enlarge, you end up with pixels that were never in the original photo.

MtD

Message was edited by: Meg The Dog

Still pictures blurry in FCP

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