I finally got my family's old 8 mm film home movies (1930s-1960s) back from the transfer shop (see thread http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4131), but they are a little jerky. I guess my ancestors didn't splurge for the cameras with SteadyShot.

Well, actually, the jerkiness is the type associated with film-to-video transfer (frame-to-frame misregistration) and not really the fault of the camera operators.

Is there a painless way to stabilize this footage? I would assume there might exist a software package or plugin that replicates the SteadyShot algorithm to auto-stabilize footage without laboriously tracking a lot of points by hand. Has anybody done this before?

http://steadyhand.dynapel.com/private/sh_overview.htm

I use Dynapel steadyhand from time to time. Not perfect but it works and at $70 it has occassionally saved the shot I needed but was too clumsy to hold the camera still.

70 Dollars is a great price for image stabilization. If it works well.

I have Image stabilization in my Avid Powerpack. Works like a dream. You can choose the point in the frame you want it to stabilize on. Used it for just such transfer problem with Super 8.

But unless you already have Avid XpressDV, the 70 dollar deal looks pretty good.

There is a free downloadable trial version so you don't even have to risk the $70 to see if you like it. It has some nice, simple controls on how the edges are handled and the extent of motion you want to be damped. There may indeed be better though from my experience Steadyhand is at least pretty good.

Rick

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but the SteadyHand didn't seem to do anything at all. The footage seems just as shaky, and there isn't a watermark.