Evo 3G Video Comparisons.

[SeauxCrazy]

**WHOOPS!!, typed 3g instead of 4g lol**


After reading many reviews saying that the camera doesn't live up to the hype, I did a little research into other phones, whom camera is never downed on or mentioned much about.

***Don't forget to switch the videos to 720p***

Evo: backfacing
YouTube - EVO Video Sample: Creeping on a Cardinal

YouTube - San Francisco in 720p on EVO 4G #2

Evo: Front facing:
YouTube - HTC EVO 4G Camera Test - Part III (Front-facing camera)

3GS:
YouTube - iPhone 3GS Video Samples Set 1

Droid:
YouTube - Moto Droid video sample 2009-11-07

Now for some of the designated mini HD cameras:
Flip Mino HD:
YouTube - flip mino hd, pocket camcorder video footage by river

Kodak zi8 720 30fps:
YouTube - Kodak Zi8 Raw Footage - Flowers 720p 30fps


You know, I'm thinking that the public has been pretty rough on this phone's video camera. Possibly b/c it says it's 720 and people are expecting 1080 type quality or HD hand held SONY type quality. They aren't taking into consideration that it's packed into a thin package along with other 'phone' components and not a device designed ONLY to video record. From my little research (20 minutes or so), it's obvious that the Evo video is definitely the best out there right now for recording, even though it's not HD enough for some folks. Of course it won't replace our Kodak zi8, but if it's forgotten home, I'll have something to step up to the plate and provide decent quality images/videos.

Hope this helps yall out. Can't wait for tomorrow!

 

[bgro]

looks pretty damn good to me

 

[suprmallet]

I've got a Creative VADO flip-style camera and I think it's awesome. However, I wouldn't hesitate to use the EVO's camera in a pinch. Just as long as it's easier to get the video files off than the phone than it is for the Droid.

 

[SeauxCrazy]

Forgot to add, it's better if you make the video full screen ... it shows the difference in the cameras pretty drastically. I was especially surprised by the junk quality of the droid.

 

[KoukiFC3S]

Those 720p movies look really good! Thanks.

 

[iamfunkyz]

I work as a video editor for a living, so maybe I can shed some light on some of the Evo's 720p shortcomings. There's no such thing as "fake" 720 or HD-quality video. HD designation is strictly by resolution. The Evo puts out 1280x720 video. Its legitimate high definition. That doesn't mean its very good HD though. Its pretty flawed to be honest. First, most of the videos i've seen are extremely compressed. Its really noticeable when you look at solid colors, like a blue sky for example. Second, the frame rate is too low. And third, and my biggest gripe with the video quality, is that the iris adjusts WAY TOO SLOW. The video also suffers from the "jello" or "rolling shutter" effect (Rolling shutter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), but thats to be expected with cheap hd cameras. However, and this is a big however, we all have to remember that this is coming from a cell phone. If you keep in mind that you are shooting HD video with a cell phone, then you should be pretty damn pleased with the quality. Here's a couple tips to help with composing good video with the Evo despite its shortcomings:

Perhaps the most important thing is having good lighting, especially if you are indoors. Natural light works the best. Video shot outdoors in daylight with cameras like this will almost always look better than when shot indoors.

Keep it steady. The steadier it is, the less you will see the rolling shutter effect, and the less the compression will be noticeable. Fast moving shots make compression artifacts much more apparent.

Don't use the zoom function. I don't even know if the Evo can zoom while shooting video, but if it can, don't use it.

With all that said, I am stoked to use the 720p video capability. As long as you don't expect it to replace your dedicated canon/sony/whatever video camera, you should be pleased as well. The only thing I'm hoping they fix after the phone is released is less compression. I noticed you can choose different encoding profiles (mp4, h264) so i'm hoping theres some settings i can mess with to improve things.

 

[SeauxCrazy]

Plus you never know if HTC will push out a firmware update to correct some of the compression issues. They did it with the HD2 to correct some coloring issues when it first came out. We'll see.