Digital stabilizing software: all about the same?

[Persistence]

Various software products purport to help stabilize shaky video. Other than by using a tripod or buying an expensive stabilizing device, just about all video will have wobble or jitter. I try using a monopod when working in the field, but still see movement that makes it look hand held. Affordable devices to stabilize a hand-held camera in motion, using weights and gimbals, work only if you master them carefully, if the wind isn't blowing, and if you don't shift directions and induce pendular swing.

Do all the software stabilizers work about the same? Are the results a bit "hit and miss"? Do all stumble, or sometimes yield little more than IQ degradation, when applied to HD video, especially if in native AVCHD?

Have any MAC users out there tried a product called Smoovee. Does it work any better or differently than the iMovie or FCP products?

Do users of Vegas or Premier buy a plug-in stabilizer, perhaps Mercalli, because they "don't get no satisfaction" with the built-in stabilizer?

My theory is that at least one videocam maker, perhaps Canon, will unveil a fantastic new OIS or camera-based DIS in late 2010, making all existing cameras or hardware obsolete, as dramatically as color TV replaced B&W. Adobe may eventually put something similar in Premier, but the key breakthrough would be to have it in the cameras themselves. Anyone else following this: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~fliu/project/3dstab.htm ?

[rallymax]

I have the same problem.

2d3 unfortunately has end of lifed it's SteadyMotion Pro which is very good and I only got a chance to use the trial.
I trialed proDAD Mercalli and was not impressed.
I'm currently trying DeShaker for VirtualDub.

I work in Adobe though so I'm currently coding a Premiere plugin to consume the VirtualDub DeShaker plugin. I'll post here when it's working (it's close).

Having seen your link, I'm thinking I should contact them and get that into plugin asap since it looks like Adobe is dragging directly.

I should would like to see great Optical Image Stabililzation (OIS) in the cameras. In the mean time I don't have a solution and am playin with DeShaker to do the job. - well, that is, when I get the plugin working in Premiere.

[Soopafresh]

Sony has announced an "ultra" ois for their new camcorders but the initial reviews haven't been stellar. The link you posted provides some pretty amazing results with their (perpetually experimental?) software. I've also seen an experimental app by The Foundry which corrects rolling shutter artifacts.

Any post production stabilization app introduces additional delays in getting a final product out. Stabilizing an HD clip is time consuming. The results are almost never as good as stabilizing during the shoot.

I also found that monopods didn't help much during camcorder shooting. Steadicams require practice and are tough on the arms.

[rallymax]

has anyone tried a monopod with a weight at the bottom and not touching the ground? (I've asked this over in camera forum too)

I shoot steam trains so the size and weight of the rig is important since I have to hump it into some pretty remote places.

[poisondeathray]

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1115262#post1115262

I remember reading a translated version of that magazine review a while back, but the website archive seems to be inaccessible

The conclusion was basically deshaker was much better, a lot more configurable, free, but a low slower

[Xpenguin17]

Various software products purport to help stabilize shaky video. Other than by using a tripod or buying an expensive stabilizing device, just about all view will have wobble or jitter. I try using a monopod when working in the field, but still see movement that makes it look hand held. Affordable devices to stabilize a hand-held camera in motion, using weights and gimbals, work only if you master them carefully, if the wind isn't blowing, and if you don't shift directions and induce pendular swing.

Do all the software stabilizers work about the same? Are the results a bit "hit and miss"? Do all stumble, or sometimes yield little more than IQ degradation, when applied to HD video, especially if in native AVCHD?

Have any MAC users out there tried a product called Smoovee. Does it work any better or differently than the iMovie or FCP products?

Do users of Vegas or Premier buy a plug-in stabilizer, perhaps Mercalli, because they "don't get no satisfaction" with the built-in stabilizer?

My theory is that at least one videocam maker, perhaps Canon, will unveil a fantastic new OIS or camera-based DIS in late 2010, making all existing cameras or hardware obsolete, as dramatically as color TV replaced B&W. Adobe may eventually put something similar in Premier, but the key breakthrough would be to have it in the cameras themselves. Anyone else following this: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~fliu/project/3dstab.htm ?

Why does that Adobe 3D stabilizer have to zoom in so goddamn much? Can't it compensate for the blank edges? Deshaker does -- it's not perfect but it does. I also don't see why the video has to be maximally stabilized. The idea is to reduce shake, not confine the camera to one point of direction.

[M Bruner]

I use After Effects Stabilize Tracker. Once it completes its function, you decide how much to zoom the video end.

[Persistence]

quote="Soopafresh"]The link you posted provides some pretty amazing results with their (perpetually experimental?) software.[/quote]

My guess is that it will remain "experimental" until some big company writes the developmental unit a big check with lots of digits, maybe even giving a few developers lavish consultancy assignments, enabling them to enjoy the best of both worlds: executive compensation and academic tenure.

has anyone tried a monopod with a weight at the bottom and not touching the ground? (I've asked this over in camera forum too)

I do this all the time. However, the only "weight" is the semi-extended monopod itself. It cuts some jiggle out of stationary shots, and maybe a little of the jogging motion of a shot taken while walking, but does not stabilize entirely. All I can say is, the shots would look worse otherwise.

Most digital stablizers crop the image or create a blurred frame. There is just no other way, except perhaps with a green screen overlay, or against a very stationary background, which would be special situations. To reduce shake of the focal objects, the software has to induce counter-adjustments, which forces it to exceed the existing frame. The dilemma is that some image quality loss is inevitable. Sometimes the IQ falls without any noticeable improvement in the stability! Or sometimes part of a clip will appear stable, but then suddenly wobble or warp in a way that betrays the effect, looks fake, and makes the overall result less pleasing than the natural shake.

Again, I'm curious if any MAC users have opinions about Smoovee. There is no PC version. Is it any different than other products?

[jagabo]

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~fliu/project/3dstab.htm

Yes, I read about that a while back. It sounded quite interesting and the sample videos looked pretty good.

[lordsmurf]

I've never found anything that works well for anybody that didn't design the software and/or under cherry-picked conditions.