wide-angle source

[JDługosz]

I just got a GoPro HERO3, and it features a fixed super-wide-angle lens. It also does high resolution video like 2.7K and 4K.

I'm using Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12.0 for my NLE.

I'd like to crop out the desired subject from a higher-resolution original, which I think I can figure out in Sony. But, I also want to un-fisheye the lens distortion. I do that on a still in Adobe Lightroom. I don't see such an effect in the Sony Video FX list, so I suppose I need to add a plug-in. Any suggestions?

[DB83]

What about 'Pinch/Punch' Video FX ??

[Cornucopia]

Avisynth can do it (sorry, am on the road & don't remember the exact syntax).

Scott

[racer-x]

There is also a debarrel plugin for Virtualdub that can do it. You can also crop it in there. Khaver wrote a nice plugin called Window Cropper for Virtualdub that works real sweet.......

[poisondeathray]

In vegas it's called "deform" ; not sure if the studio version has it

Other options in avisynth too, e.g. defish, debarrel

[smrpix]

Crop first, the distortion correction may become unnecessary.

[Cornucopia]

I don't recommend that, because the distortion isn't linear, it is proportional to the distance from the optical center, so you need to know where the optical center is. If you crop early, you lose that reference.

Scott

[smrpix]

Should have said, try the crop first. It's all nondestructive.

[budwzr]

Yeah, the center section is fairly normal. I've cropped mine before and just play them against a black background. Like in this promo I shot at Mammoth Mountain couple winters back: http://files.videohelp.com/u/135518/MammothSki.mp4

I didn't get the project due to lousy bunny slope footage, hahaha.

But you can see, for action shots it works.

[budwzr]

If you crop early, you lose that reference.

Scott

Nah, Vegas has "resize around center" and "maintain aspect ratio" checked by default.

Whoo-hoo, I win one! La Cucaracha, La Cucarachaaaa, nah nah nah nah nah nah nah.....

[JDługosz]

What about 'Pinch/Punch' Video FX ??

Nope, looks horrible. "wrapping around a sphere" is not the same thing as the fisheye effect.

[JDługosz]

Thanks for the tips. The low-end version I have does include the Deform filter, but I had no idea it could be used for this. None of the presets are anything like it. But, I can combine the available deformations to make a pretty good approximation of the un-fisheye distortion.

Here is the original frame grab: that's me turning on the GoPro using my phone as a wi-fi remote.



[Attachment 18860 - Click to enlarge]

Using the Adaptive Wide Angle filter in Photoshop, I pointed out some of the should-be straight lines in the image. It can do quite a bit of bending in complex ways to make desired lines straight and orthogonal at the expense of what lies between; but the first line or two set up the global parameters. So then I cleared that and just set a plain 6.5mm lens correction with nothing fancy:


Then, I used the Deform filter in Vegas to mimic the degree of curvature on the edges. The deformation pushes in from the edge rather than pulling out from the corners, so I then stretched the whole thing in the opposite direction. All done by eye and keeping symmetry, I got this:

You can't see the left/right curve because it's cropped off; but you might see that the top/bottom on PS is not as simple of a curve but is more strongly curved in the center and flattens out toward the edges. I think it might be the same if the frame were square, but the Distort is based on an edge period and not the distance from the center changing along that edge; it is a very close approximation for the short edge but not on the long edge.

My next step will be to do after-the-fact composition on this larger resolution image. That is, the cropping will not be, as one reply indicated, symmetric from the center, but will "pan and scan".

And, it looks like Sony didn't read the sound channel from the Hero3 camera. <sigh>.

[DB83]

What about 'Pinch/Punch' Video FX ??

Nope, looks horrible. "wrapping around a sphere" is not the same thing as the fisheye effect.

Twas but a suggestion

You have made a fairly reasonable fist of the problem but sometimes it is good to get other eyes on to the case. If you care to upload the video sample ..........