I have been away from using Studio for several years.  The last real editing I did was using version 9.  I upgraded to the basic Studio 12 several months ago but it wouldn't run on my old computer very well.  New computer now, Studio 12 runs just fine.

We recently took a vacation and shot about four hours of video and took more than 1300 still images with my Nikon D40.  It is their low end digital SLR, 6 MP, nothing really fancy.  My plan is to mix the still images with the video.  I have tried resizing the still images to several different sizes, and have tried using the images at full size.  But they are still very blurry in Studio.  The images are not blurry in other applications or when printed.  When I was using Studio 9 I occasionally read similar complaints, but I never did experience the problem myself so I didn't pay much attention to the solutions.  Now I have the problem, and I'm looking for a solution.

I briefly searched the FAQ section.  Nothing seemed relevant to this issue.  I apologize in advance if I didn't look close enough.  So if you want to flame me for asking this question please don't be too brutal.

Here's a couple of things to check. Go into the setup settings of Studio and make certain the there is a check mark in "use full resolution preview". Even with this checked, the preview is not absolutely full res. To see how the finished product will actually look, you should render out to an avi file and view on another program, or even better, make a dvd and play it on your TV. If you use DVD-RW disks, you can use them many times over.

Remember that the slides will not look as sharp on your TV as they do on a computer screen. The standard def TV sets can only display 640 pixels wide. Many are disappointed with this loss of quality.

Don

Is your project HD or SD?  Will the output take the form of a standard DVD, a Blu-ray or AVCHD-DVD disc, or perhaps a file you intend to upload to some site?

Of these various options, only the HD discs would yield a result whose IQ remotely resembles what you see with the DSLR files on a XVGA PC screen.

If your destination output is a low res file for YouTube or a standard definition DVD, you will lose something.  However, I have seen some slide show results from Studio in SD that look good on a VGA screen and even pretty good on an HDTV screen.

 If your project set-up parameters are HD at 1920x1080, and the output is an HD disc at 17mbps or higher, your stills should look good.  If you crop and zoom some a lot, some users report it helps to add a "_HQ" to the end of the file name, changing, say, DSC8050.jpg to DSC8050_HQ.jpg.    I tried this and did not see material difference, but perhaps because I was working with only 3mp stills taken with an older pocket digicam.

 

Well, I have upgraded my computer, upgraded my Studio, and my Nikon D40 is an upgrade from the camera I was using before with Studio 9.  In the old version on the old computer with the old camera my still images looked sharp and played well on my 4:3 TV.  I don't have Blue-Ray yet, and it's questionable when or whether I will ever have it.  I'm an old guy, 66 years old and counting.  I'm not computer illiterate.  I was just hoping to get as good of quality from this version of Studio as I used to.  I mean, they aren't just a little fuzzy, the still images look terrible regardless of what size I try to use.  I wasn't expecting HD quality at all.  And I haven't created a DVD yet that includes any still images.  But even an old TV set has the capability of displaying images more clearly than what I'm seeing in Studio.  I don't know, maybe it's time to look elsewhere.

Jim Hess:

Well, I have upgraded my computer, upgraded my Studio, and my Nikon D40 is an upgrade from the camera I was using before with Studio 9.  In the old version on the old computer with the old camera my still images looked sharp and played well on my 4:3 TV.  I don't have Blue-Ray yet, and it's questionable when or whether I will ever have it.  I'm an old guy, 66 years old and counting.  I'm not computer illiterate.  I was just hoping to get as good of quality from this version of Studio as I used to.  I mean, they aren't just a little fuzzy, the still images look terrible regardless of what size I try to use.  I wasn't expecting HD quality at all.  And I haven't created a DVD yet that includes any still images.  But even an old TV set has the capability of displaying images more clearly than what I'm seeing in Studio.  I don't know, maybe it's time to look elsewhere.

Hi Jim,

In what resolution are you importing your photos in Studio 12? Have you attempted to actually making a sample render? Output sometimes look better than that of the preview you get in Studio. Any chance you could send over a screenshot of what the output will show along with the actual photo that you used in the sample project? This way I could compare it and reproduce it and hopefully find a suitable solution.

By the way we have the same camera.

Regards,
Marc P.

A theory to test: that a still photo file 6mp or larger gives the Studio preview screen trouble and makes it appear fuzzy.  Perhaps the output quality is affected, or perhaps not.

If the output is truly impaired, one workaround may be to use a still photo utility to export your 6mp still files downsized to 1mp or 2mp.

I was able to do standard definition projects with still shots that size, or up to 3mp, and get very good results.

If Marc P. has the same camera, he can certainly try to replicate your situation, if you give him the import and project specification details he requests.

Thank you for all the suggestions.  I have not rendered a project yet, so I'm just going by what I see of the Studio preview screen.  I will try to post some screen shots tonight.

As I mentioned previously, so far I've tried resizing the images down to 600 pixels and 800 pixels on the wide side, and reduced the resolution to 72 ppi.  I have compared these against the full 6 MP image and have not been able to see any difference in the sharpness of the images.  I will try rendering a small project tonight and evaluate the results.  Thank you all for the suggestions.

Jim Hess:

Thank you for all the suggestions.  I have not rendered a project yet, so I'm just going by what I see of the Studio preview screen.  I will try to post some screen shots tonight.

As I mentioned previously, so far I've tried resizing the images down to 600 pixels and 800 pixels on the wide side, and reduced the resolution to 72 ppi.  I have compared these against the full 6 MP image and have not been able to see any difference in the sharpness of the images.  I will try rendering a small project tonight and evaluate the results.  Thank you all for the suggestions.

We'll wait for your update, Jim.

Okay, this is a typical image from my camera.  This is a reduced size image, 1000 pixels on the long side, 72 ppi.
[click to view image]

 This is a screenshot of that same image, same size, from the preview window in Studio.  I enlarged the preview window as much as I could, and this is typical of the sharpness of my images in Studio.

[click to view image] 

This is a screenshot of that same image, same size, from the preview window in Studio.  I enlarged the preview window as much as I could, and this is typical of the sharpness of my images in Studio.

[click to view image]

 I apologize for this second post, got a little confused.

First of all, I'm not trying to be a troll.  But just to compare, I installed the trial version of Premiere Elements, and loaded the same image into that program.  The crummy notice is plastered across the middle of the image, but I think you can see that the image is much sharper.  So I'm just wondering what I should do.  I really don't want to have to learn a new program.

[click to view image]

Okay, this is the last comment I will make on this issue.  I changed to full-sized previews in Studio (as was suggested previously) and all is well now.  Thank you all.  Sorry for the bother.

Jim Hess:

Okay, this is the last comment I will make on this issue.  I changed to full-sized previews in Studio (as was suggested previously) and all is well now.  Thank you all.  Sorry for the bother.

Thanks for the update Jim. I'm glad it's all working now.