New stabilization tool for post

[Blair S. Paulsen]

I keep hoping that at some point RED will add a stabilization feature to RCX-Pro that utilizes the horizon/gyro metadata - and by extension put it in the SDK. Go RedTeam Go!

Cheers - #19

 

[Mark van Coller]

I keep hoping that at some point RED will add a stabilization feature to RCX-Pro that utilizes the horizon/gyro metadata - and by extension put it in the SDK. Go RedTeam Go!

Cheers - #19

+1 for this. Trying to shoot a red as a run and gun can be very tough. This type of feature wold really set Red apart from other camera manufacturers on yet another level.

 

[Ulf Krentz]

My experience with post stabilization only extends to some casual Warp Stabilizer use, so I'm not totally sure what you mean. Stabilization (at least with this approach, which I assume creates camera tracking data to match with your footage) doesn't require frame interpolation or anything, right? I'm a little lost with the concern over shutter speed, blur, shooting at a high frame rate, etc. Is the fear simply that stabilized footage might look artificial because the "stabilized" camera movement may not match the blur created by "real" camera movement?

No, it´s when the camera gets a shake or move that has to be ironed out, these frames usually have some additional motion blur. You can stabilize the movement but won´t be able to restore the non blurred frame. That´s why it was suggested to shoot with a short shutter speed and add motion blur in post (which of course opens another can of worms). I like the stabilizer of Resolve btw. but this is really looking promising!

Cheers,

Ulf

 

[Joe Kyle]

No, it´s when the camera gets a shake or move that has to be ironed out, these frames usually have some additional motion blur. You can stabilize the movement but won´t be able to restore the non blurred frame. That´s why it was suggested to shoot with a short shutter speed and add motion blur in post (which of course opens another can of worms). I like the stabilizer of Resolve btw. but this is really looking promising!

Cheers,

Ulf

Ah, I get it now! Definitely one of those things that only experience can teach you. Thanks for the explanation!

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Why not just shoot at a higher shutter speed (lower angle)? Works for me. If I shoot at around an angle of 100 instead of 180, the motion blur gets sharp enough to not screw up the stabilized shot.

100 degrees is pretty blurry so you'll still see weird motion blur zigging and zagging on a steady shot in random directions but it's also fast enough that it'll be noticeably choppier. By shooting highspeed motion blur you can shoot at a 60 degree shutter which is almost half of 100 which really gets into artifact free territory while also maintaining a perceptive 180 degree shutter.

In the end though the high compression ratios necessary IMO kill its usefulness. Not to mention it would be slooowwww to work with.

Someday we'll have cameras that have hardware stabilization in camera. Then they can perform the stabilization prior to compression and just output a 24p compressed frame (like the frame additive/averaging modes).

The above would give you 25fps with just 1/6 of the motion blur issue you normally would have.

* 1/3 the motion blur issue you would normally have. 150fps/ 25 fps = 6 but you're discarding 3 frames to get back to 180degree shutter.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

100 degrees is pretty blurry so you'll still see weird motion blur zigging and zagging on a steady shot in random directions but it's also fast enough that it'll be noticeably choppier. By shooting highspeed motion blur you can shoot at a 60 degree shutter which is almost half of 100 which really gets into artifact free territory while also maintaining a perceptive 180 degree shutter.
.

It depends on the shot. If you do a hand held shot just moving the camera slightly and want it to look like a dolly/steady shot you can shoot it at almost 180 degrees. If you walk hand held and try to get a steadycam-like shot you need to go under 90 degrees.
I've done a lot of tests on this. You won't see the blur artifacts as long as you keep the shutter safe to the amount of movement.

 

[Björn Benckert]

The trick is 360 shutter 100fps... for 25p

Basically Shoot 100fps 360 then apply the Stabilizer, then compound over two frames (frame 1 mix with frame2, frame 3mix with frame 4 etc making the clip half the length) then deal with 2 (basically take out every second frame).

You then get 1/4 of the issue with the motion blur and you remain with a perfect 180 shutter as the compound over two 1/100 exposures. and as the stab is done before the two motion blurred frames are compounded rolling shutter and shake motion blur will be far less.

Then you also have the option of using the material overcranked with 180 shutter 50fps or 360 shutter 100 fps.

You can also do the compound as a "additive compound" the the exposure of the 2 frames are added and in theory you dont loose any light compared to shooting 25p 180deg.
blend compound gives half the exposure but as you blend two frames together you also get away with far less noise.

I do this all the time with fast moco moves to get away with "jitter blur".

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I think that method is unpractical for a lot of regular situations though. I found it easier to just shoot at a higher shutter speed (lower angle), like at 90 degrees you get a sharper image and if the stabilized shot should look very smooth there won't be much motion that need that 180 degree feel of motion blur. If however I need motion blur I've found that good post motion blur will solve it most of the time, but I haven't had any real need for that.

Working with stabilization also demands that you compose your shots with some headroom for it. For that I need to go full 6K which doesn't support 100fps. Shooting at 6K or 6KHD with a 80-90% crop guide helps composing the shot with reframe and stabilize in mind. If I shoot in a place with enough lights I usually go to 135 degrees for most shots and 90-100 degrees for moving shots. As long as you try to get the most stable shot on set you know you will get it super smooth in post.