GoPro image stabilization

[Hatul]

Since I am starting with a 4 black, sounds like it is a reason to update.

I have the Gopro 9 and the 4. If you can do image stabilization in software, as I was doing with PowerDirector, you can get decent results with the 4. The 4 housing is better with its 3 button controls than the 9. The 9 has Custom Presets which are handy, a front facing viewfinder handy for selfies and a bigger rear viewfinder. The 9 touch screen is very finicky I find to use with my fat fingers. And of course the 9 does 4K 60fps videos which is what I use now. The 4K is handy for pulling stills.

I use the 9 with Hypersmooth with Boost stabilization, but as I say I was getting good results with post-software stabilization on my PC with the Hero 4.

Also while debatable, with the 9 I don't use a red filter, just use Auto white balance and correct colors in software.

 

[Hatul]

I have 7, 9 and 10 gopros.

I don't particularly like the software stabilization (vs mechanical), as it kills details. Say you are shooting at 5K. The footage after being stabilized by the camera is no longer crisp on the sides of the video. It becomes kind of 720p stretched to 5K. The center is fine but further away you are from the center, more loss occurs.

Example, in the video below, set to full screen and explicitly select 5K stream. When the video is moved from side to side, do you see how the motion blurs the details? Is it not magical at all. If you don't settle the camera, the footage would look in total like it was out of focus.

Shot in 5K@60fps on GoPro 10 Black.


I have another video where I am at a convention center going around with my camera. I am always on the move, not too fast, panning, approaching tables, moving away to their neighbors. Overall the footage looks bad as the details not in the center are lost and it is hard to make sense of a full scene and all the objects I thought I captured but got softened instead.

Shot in GoPro 7 Black long time ago but I see that GoPro 10 is not much better:

I see what you mean with the underwater footage, There is also distortion as you pan the camera around. IMO especially in the convention footage you're moving the camera around way too much. The subject is what's supposed to move in video not the camera, unless your panning a moving object. It's very uncomfortable to watch video when the camera is moving around so much.

 

[Texasguy]

The subject is what's supposed to move in video not the camera

I'd like you to prove your claim.

 

[Hatul]

I'd like you to prove your claim.

Here are photos of professional camera operators in a movie set.

camera operator in movie set - Google Search

The cameras are mostly on tripods. Do you see any waving the camera around?

 

[Texasguy]

You do know that a gopro is in a completely different weight category? Look at all gopro promotional videos, where did you see a gopro on a tripod? It is all about the movement.