Steady Shot, Smoothcam, both or what?

[Dean Sensui]

Originally Posted by Dave Morrison

I'll be doing model home "walk-thru's" handheld so I was curious to see what you all thought ...

If at all possible, you will want to do this with a Steadicam or Glidecam. Stabilization in post can't compare.

[Simon Wyndham]

If at all possible, you will want to do this with a Steadicam or Glidecam. Stabilization in post can't compare.

True, but for the occasional shot Smoothcam can be very useful.

The only thing to be careful of with Smoothcam is that if you have any camera shake the Smoothcam filter will get rid of the camera movement but it *won't* get rid of the motion blur as the result of a sudden movement. So your original footage must be fairly smooth to begin with.

[Keith Moreau]

Originally Posted by Simon Wyndham

True, but for the occasional shot Smoothcam can be very useful.

The only thing to be careful of with Smoothcam is that if you have any camera shake the Smoothcam filter will get rid of the camera movement but it *won't* get rid of the motion blur as the result of a sudden movement. So your original footage must be fairly smooth to begin with.

Or you can shoot with a very fast shutter speed if you know you're going to use smoothcam in Post. You could even add motion blur in post, not quite the same as in camera but passable.

[Keith Moreau]

Originally Posted by Keith Moreau

Or you can shoot with a very fast shutter speed if you know you're going to use smoothcam in Post. You could even add motion blur in post, not quite the same as in camera but passable.

But... with the EX1 rolling shutter you'll get very sharp but jello images, especially if vertical lines are part of your subject. With CCD you don't get the jello.

[Kevin Duffey]

Have you looked at the myriad of DIY camera stabilizers? Steadicam Merlin is a great option for not too bad a price..but you can make one for < $50 in a couple hours. Do yourself a favor and look up on youtube for home built steadicams and DIY steadcams and Merlin steadicams. They work great, very cheap even if they don't look as stylish as the merlin. Couple of them show a cheap $14 tripod being used with putting weights on the bottom and a second small tripod (one of those cheap $5 table-mount ones) as a handle due to it have a ball-bearing joint in it. There are many videos showing how well they work and I think you'll find it work well for you.

[Dave Morrison]

Speaking of stabilizers, has anybody in here put the EX1 into a Fig Rig? I'm just looking for options here. I spoke with another member here who had the CineCity steadicam rig:
The CineCity
but he said that I'd spend as much time trying to avoid hitting walls and door trim as I would shooting. I didn't know if the Fig unit might give me a more balanced way to hold the camera instead. Ideas?

[David Esp]

Deshaker, the VirtualDub plugin by Gunnar Thalin, has a de-jello option for rolling-shutter-ed footage. Also it is multi-threaded, which really helps reduce the processing-time. Experimentation may be necessary with config (as for any such thing) and also compression (codec, default uncompressed) and possibly levels-related settings.

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Dave Morrison

Speaking of stabilizers, has anybody in here put the EX1 into a Fig Rig?

Yes - too heavy.

The sweet spot was PD150 or DVX100. Even the Z1 was a bit of a handful.

Like the Zacuto and similar systems, it partly works on leverage, in that it takes micro-shakes from your hands and arms, and scales them down so they all get soaked up.

However, as the weight increases, so does fatigue, so your wobbles get much greater.

I still use the FigRig with the EX1, but in odd ways - including that wheelchair trick, with the FigRig balanced on a lap-based cushion, or suspended over a walkway, or clamped in an odd corner using an Arri Magic Arm, where a tripod wouldn't fit.

The traditional 'hold it like a steering wheel' use hasn't really happened for the EX1 as, like Owl, I 'lack the necessary dorsal muscles' in my dotage.

[Chad Johnson]

I say both together is just fine. OIS helps, but it only goes so far. If OIS covers what you need - cool, but if you need more you have Stabilize in Motion. And any use of Smoothcam or Stabilize will look better if you had OIS on in the first place.

The Smoothcam in FCP is pretty good, but it's much better in Motion (which you have if you have FCP). What I don't like about Smoothcam in FCP is that it needs to analyze the whole file, not just the clip. So if you captured a 10 minute file, but your clip to smooth is only 20 seconds, Smoothcam still needs to analyze the whole 10 minute file. That's where the long render/analyze times come from. Motion only works with the clip you want to smooth, and you have more control too. Check it out.

It's called "Round Tripping". In FCP you just set an in and out point around the clip you want to smooth, select the clip, then do a "Send to Motion" command. Save the motion file in your project folder (I make a specific folder just for motion files). Then when in Motion I apply the "Stabilize" behavior to the clip - adjust the parameters to taste then I'm done. At that point you can just drag the motion project file into your FCP project, right above the original clip - then render. No need to render out a new file from Motion.

Emeek is a great instructor who has lots of free lessons. Check out his YouTube channel.

Round Tripping
YouTube - Motion 3 Tutorial: Round tripping

Motion 3: Steady Cam Made Easy and Simple
How to Use the Steady Cam Feature in Motion 3 Video ? 5min.com

Emeek's Channel
YouTube - AppleShakeGuru's Channel