Image Stabilization Software

[V10TDI]

Anyone have any experienced with image stabilization software like 2d3's SteadyMove or Dynapel's SteadyHand? Pointers?

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

There is a plugin from BorisFX for Vegas. Then, there is Avid's solution. Then, there is a freeware plugin for VirtualDub but it's somewhat difficult to understand and use. I don't know of others for Windows although there should be a plugin for After Effects too.

[Terfyn]

The best image stabilization is a tripod. How does the software discriminate between intentional and unintentional movement?
I use a closed monopod under the camera and find it very good for a stable "handheld". Still looking for the perfect "handle".

[Lunchbox]

I used SteadyMove plugin comes free with Premiere Pro before. It did the job well.. however, it lower the resolution and is noticeable.

[VideJo]

No wonder. The stabiliser figures out the area in the clip, that is commonly present over the whole clip and than blows up the pixels to fill the whole screen.

[mik]

The best image stabilization is a tripod. How does the software discriminate between intentional and unintentional movement?

the software makes difference between pan, zoom, roll etc shaking. if you have a panning sequence you can only stabilize for vertical movement.

as always, there will be an amount of cropping, that's why you have to make sure when you shoot that the amount of shaking is as low as possible.

[V10TDI]

The best image stabilization is a tripod...

Yes, of course.

I was at the beach last week and had the opportunity to film some surfers from an observation tower. I was using the HV20, the TL-H43 telephoto lens and a manfrotto tripod (701RC2 head). The telephoto makes the impact of camera motion more severe. I wanted to see about options for removing as much of the motion as reasonably possible.

I don't have an NLE yet, but I thought I'd pick up Vegas at some point.

For what it's worth - The 701RC2 works fine most uses, but it has a very slight bit of "start up" friction on the left-right pan dimension. It's very, very annoying. I think it wouldn't be noticeable if the HV20 + TL-H43 combo were heavier.

The up-down tilt for the 701RC2 is flawlessly smooth with no friction at all.

[VideJo]

When shooting in tele, you shoot shut down the camera's Image Stabiliser.

[V10TDI]

When shooting in tele, you shoot shut down the camera's Image Stabiliser.

I've tried both ways and I think it depends.

[Lunchbox]

I always have my camera on tripod and was told you should turn off OIS when use the camera with tripod. It isn't really the case especially in telephone mode. It might not be too big of a problem with HV20's 10x zoom, but for my GL2 and XH-A1 20x zoom, any small movement cause shaky results in tele mode.

Since there isn't a quick button to turn on/off the OIS, I leave them on all the time even have it on tripod.

[FreddieZ]

.....

[SalaTar]

turn off ois on a tripod...just standard OP

[Lunchbox]

I tried.. I did turn off OIS on tripod. that's what everybody said including the user manul. However, it makes many of the footage unusable especially when I'm zooming in.

Also, I have the tripod on a platform in the banquet room for a wedding. People walked on the platform few feet away causing the tripod to shake. Those shakyness were not noticeable at the time on the cam's LCD screen. They all turned out pretty bad when viewed on my computer.

Again, since there isn't a quick button to turn on/off OIS without stopping the recording, I am going to keep the OIS on even the cam is on tripod. Too many unusable footages with it off.

[SalaTar]

get a better tripod...?

[Anx]

I've been trying to make a determination about which one of the stabilizers I would buy recently, and here's what I've ultimately decided.

I originally purchased Dynapel's SteadyHand a few years ago, so it was my first stop - unfortunately it kept crashing on me, and I couldn't get a straight answer from them as far as what even the latest version is. When I'd call up, they would say "Oh, that's our branch office in Florida, they handle the software.", then the branch office would never call me back. Either way, not workable for me.

I have PP2.0, so I gave SteadyMove a shot - it's pretty cool, with it's lack of options it's nice to just drop it on a clip and see if it works, but for my footage (most of which was shot on a boat), it didn't do much. I typically got the best output out of it when I put it in it's fixed camera settings, but it would introduce some strange jumpy effects that weren't usable.

I finally settled on BorisFX's Optical Stabilizer - it has loads of options, which can be a bit daunting, but if you read the docs you should get a good grip on what they do. I got the best results out of it, although you need to tweak it a bit for each clip to get what you want out of it.

Hope that helps...

[Lunchbox]

get a better tripod...?

I already have a bogen/manfrotto tripod/ballhead. It is not top of the line but is quite decent. If I need to buy a better tripod in order to have OIS turned off, I rather have OIS turn on.

Besides, what's the big issue of having OIS on while on tripod? I might cause jitter when starting panning or zooming. I don't even notice that was an issue.

[AvalonMan]

I have used DeShaker, a plugin for VirtualDub, with much success.

The latest version, which I haven’t tried yet, is at

http://www.guthspot.se/video/deshaker.htm

I initially used John Meyer's guide to get my settings right for the version linked in his guide
http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/articles/deshaker_guide.htm

There is also a discussion on doom9
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=49597

One thing that is good to ensure when filming is use of the maximum shutter speed for the conditions. Blurry video is less noticeable on shaky video and when deshaked, it can be annoying as the focus can appear to move in and out of focus!!


There is also a plugin for AviSynth (one pass) but I recall that it doesn't handle rotation (probably less important) and it doesn’t do as good a job as DeShaker in filling in the edges, but it is one pass and fast.

Enjoy
Peter

[veg]

If you do go with Vegas, John Meyer has written a brilliant script to enable you to deshake with Virtualdub straight off the timeline. I think its downloadable (and free) from the Vasst site.
www.vasst.com
Vasst is free also but you have to register.

[V10TDI]

I have used DeShaker, a plugin for VirtualDub, with much success...

Thanks, Peter!

Deshaker worked great!

[Rikki]

I had OIS turned on and was filming some cars racing = unusable footage :(