Test camera control on Sume: five 5-second prompts for $3.13 a row

The short answer

Vidu's launch release says Q4 Preview follows creator direction with stable camera movements. That is a claim you can only check by running prompts. Sume does not list Vidu, but you can use the same five camera prompts on Sume rows to see how they behave. Five 5-second clips cost 25 seconds of output: $3.125 on Wan 3.0 or Gemini Omni Flash 1.1 at 720p, and $2.50 on MiniMax H3 Max at 768p.

The five prompts

Keep the subject and lighting fixed, and change only the move. The point is to see whether the move happens, stays steady and stops where you asked.

• Locked-off: a fixed frame, with the subject walking through. The camera must not drift.
• Push-in: a slow move toward a face over 5 seconds. Watch for the face changing size unevenly.
• Pan: a left-to-right pan that follows a moving car. Check for horizon tilt.
• Orbit: a quarter circle around a product on a table. Check that its labels stay legible.
• Handheld: a mild shake. Check that it reads as handheld and not as warping.

What the test costs

Each row is five clips of 5 seconds, one take each. Prices are Sume's catalog rates.

Scoring it

Score each clip on three questions: did the move happen, was it smooth, and did the subject keep its shape. Mark each as yes or no, so the result is a count out of 15 per row. Do not average across prompts; a row that fails the orbit may still be right for a locked-off product shot.

At about $3 a row, the whole test across the three rows is $3.125 + $3.125 + $2.50 = $8.75. For comparison, five 5-second clips at Vidu's 540P list rate would cost 25 x $0.045 = $1.125. Send the prompts with the POST /v1/video-router/generate call in the Video Router docs, and keep duration at 5.

Keeping the test honest

Log the job id, the row, the prompt and your yes or no for each clip in one sheet, so you can reproduce a result later. Watch each clip at full screen and at the size you will deliver, because camera shake that is obvious on a monitor can vanish on a phone. If a row fails more than one prompt, stop spending on it. Budget a second round for the best row only, with harder prompts such as a move that starts mid-action, and expect that round to cost about the same as the first.