Decrease zoom-in vibration effect

[SearchQuality]

Hi. I use a Sony Handycam DCR-SR37 HDD. It produces output in MPEG2 format. I sometimes zoom-in to a distant object. The more I zoom-in the more the vibrations affect the quality of the film. Now I am looking for some means of decreasing the effect of these vibrations. I converted the MPEG2 into AVI using Vdubmode and stripped the audio from the AVI using Vdub. Then using Avisynth I increased the number of frames 5 times, thinking that this will give a slow-motion effect to the film and decrease the impact of vibration. But this did not help. I wish to know what can be done to solve this problem. As a continuation of the solution what should be done to resynchronize the audio and video. As video software I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 and Sony DVD Architect 4.5. I also a have an extensive collection of tools. Help will be deeply appreciated. Thanks.

[liquid217]

Try Deshaker (virtualdub) or Depan (avisynth). I just had a wedding I shot that had this problem with one of my angles. Depan worked well for me.

[jagabo]

Try using the DeShaker filter in VirtualDub. Or DePanStabilize() in AviSynth.

By the way, did you use the camcorders image stabilization feature? If not, be sure to next time.

[manono]

Also available within AviSynth is the Stab filter (which uses Depan and DepanStabilize), and which also does a good job on this sort of thing:

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Stab

[Cornucopia]

Those are decent AFTER THE FACT repair options. Here's some BEFORE THE FACT options...

1. BUY A TRIPOD! Best accessory purchase for you cam you will ever make.

2. If your cam supports it, get an attachment that allows remote stop/start, zoom, focus (either via cable or wireless).

3. I'm assuming that when you're talking about vibration, it's NOT DURING the zoom-in. If it is, your zoom optics don't have a calibrated optical center ((and there would be nothing you could do other than getting a different cam/lens).

4. Remember, your cam is a little special in that it has a supposedly 60x optical zoom ratio! That's beyond what is common for many pro zoom lenses (~20x). That means you should EXPECT some amount of vibration wobble (especially at the most zoomed in setting). Plus, at consumer price points, there's going to be SOME compromises in the design, and vibration dampening is probably one of them. Try getting closer and zooming in less.

Think about these factors/rules: The greater the zoom, the greater the vibration. Vibration can be dampened by ISOLATING it from the source(s) of the vibration(s). Vibration has a FREQUENCY that can be lowered ( and thus made less noticeable/objectionable) through increasing the MASS.

Scott

[SearchQuality]

Thanks a lot for the responses. Let me give some explanations to the various suggestions and questions:
"did you use the camcorders image stabilization feature?" = yes I did
" BUY A TRIPOD" = I have a tripod. The trouble is I can not take it with me always. I shoot most of the time during long journeys to different parts of the world.
"Try getting closer and zooming in less." = I try to do exactly that, but when I shoot from the 11th deck of a cruise ship aiming at a building on the mountain overlooking the shore I do not have much choice.
I'll try the suggested techniques one by one. Could someone please tell me whether I can run Avisynth script to manipulate an MPEG2 file without converting it to AVI?

[jagabo]

Could someone please tell me whether I can run Avisynth script to manipulate an MPEG2 file without converting it to AVI?

The output from the AviSynth script will be uncomrpessed video. You don't have to make an AVI. You can feed the output to an MPEG encoder, an AVC encoder, or whatever encoder you want.

[liquid217]

You can use dgdecode to open your mpeg2 file directly in avisynth. Directshowsource would work too, but may be unreliable, depending on the mpeg2 directshow decoder you have installed.

[Cornucopia]

Thanks a lot for the responses. Let me give some explanations to the various suggestions and questions:
"did you use the camcorders image stabilization feature?" = yes I did
" BUY A TRIPOD" = I have a tripod. The trouble is I can not take it with me always. I shoot most of the time during long journeys to different parts of the world.
"Try getting closer and zooming in less." = I try to do exactly that, but when I shoot from the 11th deck of a cruise ship aiming at a building on the mountain overlooking the shore I do not have much choice.
I'll try the suggested techniques one by one. Could someone please tell me whether I can run Avisynth script to manipulate an MPEG2 file without converting it to AVI?

A monopod, then. Seriously, they're like $20 bucks and can easily fit inside a backpack. Why is that not feasible for a trip?

You do have a choice. Put the camera on a sandbag (photography models around) and rest it on a table -or the deck itself! Get a heavy duty velcro strap and one of those gel Dr. Scholl's insoles and strap it to a pole. Remember, ISOLATION & MASS.

If those others' post- suggestions don't help, I'm not sure what will.

BTW, if you do a video slomo, you either have to also do an audio slomo at that point or insert something else (maybe silence) to fill the gap and retain synchronization. This is best done from within Vegas (what you said you had).

Scott

[SearchQuality]

I have just tried the Deshaker filter using VDub. The result is amazing. That part of the clip has become usable. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Nelson37]

Just want to add to the "use a tripod" suggestion. That or some other brace-type device is really essential.

[SearchQuality]

Here is a tutorial for decreasing vibration effect in a clip using DeShaker filter in VirtualDub.


[Attachment 5153 - Click to enlarge]
You can experiment by modifying the parameters for pass1 and pass2.

[Gavino]

Here is a tutorial for decreasing vibration effect in a clip using DeShaker filter in VirtualDub.

You don't need to save to a temporary file to run Pass 1.
Just "Run video analysis pass" from the File menu.

[jagabo]

Jeezus! Large print for vision impaired?

[SearchQuality]

Jeezus! Large print for vision impaired?

Better to display visibly and clearly instead of not displaying at all. Additionally the vision impaired have the right to use computers.