Red Motion Stabilizers

Motion stabilization

Motion stabilization

One of the key concepts of RED that may help in this work is using the camera's USB port to capture data provided by external sensors; then storing that as metadata with each frame, so that unwanted motion can be removed by using that data as input for post production image stabiliation tools.
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Stuart English
RED Workflow Wizard
 
Capturing the motion data is extremely easy. I've done this on a project awhile back and it took me all of a weekend to get the system up and running. My system was a totally wireless IMU that did not rely on line of sight to record the camera orientation. One downside is that the sensors drift over time so you need to zero out the system every 5-10 minutes. Another tricky part is correlating the data to the camera footage but it looks like Stuart & team have that covered.
 
As said in earlier discussions about this subject there are two major drawbacks to removing camera shake in post:
1. There will motion blur in the image unless you shoot with a high shutter speed.
2. Footage shot with a wide angle will be steady in the middle but wobble at the edges because of differences in perspective. Good luck trying to correct that.

My little Sony HC1 has electronic stabilization which on itself works alright but with the wide angle lens you have to turn down the level of stabilization or else you get this strange effect.
 
I've done a bunch of post stabilization using shake ... and, if it's a short clip, using FCP. All you have to do is zoom in on the image by a constant amount ... then you don't get that effect.
 
sndrk brings up a good point about post image shake correction, you will get smear with slower shutter speeds. most apps have a simulated edge sharpen filter to combat that, but it does happen.
 
Stuart English said:
One of the key concepts of RED that may help in this work is using the camera's USB port to capture data provided by external sensors; then storing that as metadata with each frame, so that unwanted motion can be removed by using that data as input for post production image stabiliation tools.
Click to expand...

This is excellent. Maybe I missed (or forgot) the details on this if they were posted, but what are the plans for an SDK and driver for this USB interface? Also, will we be able to query the camera through the interface, for info like shutter speed and other settings?
 
Or you could just use a stable platform to shoot from in the first place.


- Mikko ... prefers to avoid problems rather than fix them.
 
I won't stabilize a shot unless the camera movement deviates less than 2" in any direction and the shutter speed is <500th of a second. After that 90% of the time parallax and motion blur are just too bad imo.

The meta-data recording will be nice for inertial motion capture, but this could already be done using an XLR cable or a wireless mic as mentioned earlier, this is another example of RED taking the pretty jerry rigged solutions already available and making a cohesive product around it. And it's very welcome.
 
mikkowilson said:
Or you could just use a stable platform to shoot from in the first place.


- Mikko ... prefers to avoid problems rather than fix them.
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Shooting full frame, with edge to edge clarity and no artifacts or image motion flaws.

Gyroscope ?

Surely Jim, with his background in racing knows about acquiring high speed motion footage. I tend to agree with Mikko. Taking the time to film it without too much post correction leads to better results. Watching the behind the scenes of Miami Vice (cigarette boat racing) tended to confirm that.

I'd love to film those kind of events :beer: :beer:

When I get my Red, I'd love to ttest out its abilities in that respect - depending on gyroscopic modifications necessary - if its not too time intensive. :beer:
 
mikkowilson said:
I might have a better sugestion. :happy:


- Mikko
Click to expand...
Can you strap yourself and your gold steadi to the front of a helicopter, hang out the side of it, the hood of a car, or fit into a two person cabin of a cigarette boat ? If so , my friend, I need your number :laugh:

I wonder how much that Marine stabilizer goes for ? The one you put on your tripod. Looks expensive.

With all this talk about sensor information being relayed to the camera, I ran across this UCLA experiment - don't know if anyone posted it before -

http://www.instrumentationews.com/ucla_team_develops_sensor_system_for_filmmaking

If you include motion data along with lighting, movement, it could conceivably cut down on various departments labour costs. Not just steadi cam operators will be losing work ;)

:beer:

RED#'s cautiously optimistic
 
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