"Where I think the Sony/Mercalli stabilization will be useful for me is when I am starting with HD video, but delivering on DVD"John,

I've been playing with the Sony "Stabilize Media" tool and I like the way it stabilizes, but don't like the way it zooms and does not build the borders like Deshaker. I'm beginning to think the best use of this tool is when the camera is pretty steady already and doesn't need to zoom to achieve near tripod like steadiness.

Here's another test I made using a point & shoot Canon SD960 IS. I held the camera as steady as possible and the stabilized version is almost tripod-like with very little zoom.

And the best part of the integrated stabilizer is... it's very simple to use.



...Jerry

PS: All that said, the built-in "Media Stabilizer" is not the tool to use if zooming causes a cropping or resolution problem.

John, you don't need it for any of those instances. You just THINK you do.

All I hear from you is excuse after excuse as to why you can't hold a camera steady. If you're too hold to keep the camera still, then hire someone that can.

All I hear from you is excuse after excuse as to why you can't hold a camera steady. If you're too old to keep the camera still, then hire someone that can. Thank you for your kind and considerate words and useful advice. This is something I can certainly use right away.

John, you've already pegged the situation, it's very clear from the posts what's of value and what isn't. Don't waste your time replying to childish prattle. Too, many here appreciate your input.

Thanks Jay. Good advice. This is my last post in this thread. Time to watch the ball game (baseball playoff game, for those not in this country).

There are a multitude of reasons why one might have to do all manner of corrections in post and I personally find it utterly ridiculous for anyone to suggest otherwise, unless of course its simply a languished attempt to demean another. It's nice to see others call it for what it is.

John, don't sweat the small stuff, and in this case its pretty clear what the "small stuff" is. Haters will hate, thats what they do, throw out little dig's here and there and than pat themselves on the back for how smart and witty they are, I've yet to meet one that was either.

Regardless of all else totally stoked to have Sony throw this in the mix, being the lazy sot I am it's nice to have another tool in the toolbox to fix my lousy footage. =)

Thanks Kevin R for posting the sample, looks great.

- Ray
Underground Planet

Stabilize Media is going to be a big help to me (I,m 73 and just standing still makes for deep breathing LOL. I just got a Sony XR 550 and really appreciated its image stabilizer on the recent Rocky Mountain and Alaska trip but notice as I edit it seems to have lured me into more panning and zooming than I should have, but as its only for my own records (gee its hard to get your kids to watch your holiday vids : ). Incidently AVCHD seems to run better in 10a than 9e.

"The "jello" effect (artifact) is lens perspective distortion. Stabilization is easy compared to correcting pincushion and other distortions. My clip was framed full wide, but was also a cheap camera (Canon S10) with cheap optics."

You are probably right in your case, Kevin. Fortunately, by serendipity, we have learned that Vegas 10 has the specific Rolling Shutter correction option which I must use with my Canon HV20. The difference is huge for those unavoidable portable shoots where one cannot use a tripod or sandbag, etc....

"Anyway to control not to zoom? Or does the Deshaker works in Vegas 10."

Yes, Deshaker works very well but I use it as a plug-in in another program. I do not know how well it works inside Vegas (as a plug-in).

The main reason for different opinions is that the other program needs AVI, which Vegas can provide rather well, but uses a lot of storage space (uncompressed) which may not be an issue for some nowadays. There are other more space efficient AVI codecs which seem to be recommended for use with Deshaker within Vegas .

My personal preference for now is that, if I am going to the trouble of Stabilizing a clip, why not do the best possible.

If you are in a rush, that is a different story. Plus, I am sure that Stabilization within Vegas will get a lot better with time.

Edit. To be clear, I use Deshaker with VirtualDub, which are free. In addition, there is a lot of flexibility in settings, such as the vaunted Rolling Shutter. Deshaker does not use excessive zoom and you can adjust it anyway. It may require more attention but the results that can be obtained are quite good.

Hi,

My experiments with the built in deshaker in Vegas Pro 10 all zoomed too close. It seems that the deshaker does not like if there is a part of the video that has much movement of the cam. Fairly steady shots are cleaned up neatly - but then again - those might not need any further stabilisation...

Additionally, I am missing the opportunity to view as split screen the effect before/after - as you can do with Mercalli, when installed as a plug in... As takes - there is no way of doing that...

So, this is a very good start, but in my opinion SCS needs to fine-tune this built in stabilizer further, for it to become a full fledged serious (professional) tool.

Christian

NOTICE: This is not a complaint, only an observation.

I've been an owner/user of Vegas since December, 2001. At the time I bought Vegas, I was within an hour or two of purchasing Avid Express. Nine years ago, one of the "tools" in Avid Express' tool box was image stabilization. And it appeared to work very well, too.

It has taken nine years for Vegas to include an image stabilizer in its tool box. One would have thought after nine years (with all of the technical advancements) the first stabilizer would have been more robust and flexible than the one provided.

Has anyone tried the new deshaker pug-in with V10? While the built in stabilizer may be handy, it will be nice to have an old standby waiting in the wings.

Jim,
Just went through the mechanics with VDub 1.9.9 and Deshaker 2.5.
Worked just like on VPro 9.
Tom

Reply by: Christian de Godzinsky, Date: 10/17/2010 8:03:14 PM
My experiments with the built in deshaker in Vegas Pro 10 all zoomed too close. It seems that the deshaker does not like if there is a part of the video that has much movement of the cam. Fairly steady shots are cleaned up neatly - but then again - those might not need any further stabilization...
I have found the Stabilizer to be very usable.

Here's a demo of a just the kind of stuff I get from friends and family all the time.. My friend wanted to know if I could stabilize this video. I didn't tell him he SHOULD have used a tripod and better camera technique for this trek up the mountain. Also, Deshaking this whole video event in New Deshaker would have produced a HUGE file.



This is probably not the final stabilized version of this clip but is in the ball park imho. (;
I'm going to have him review it and see what he thinks.

The setting used for this fast panning video:
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu208/bk-vegas/stabilizersettings.jpg

Profile setting: "Handheld camera very smooth" seems to give good panning results w/ out the choppiness.
The more to the left the Pan/Tile and Roll sliders are the less zoom and less stabilization.

I also trying my hand at cleaning up the wind noise using izotope. Original audio on the Left, de-noised audio on the Right. I think I over did it a little on some sections but it's much better than the original wind noise.

Anyway hope this helps.

I remember that stabilizer demo from Avid from years ago myself. Footage from Venice if my memory serves me well.
Agree with your sentiments but we are talking about Vegas here.

Bob.

DGates,

All I can say is I couldn't disagree more. Not all video can be shot like on a movie set. If I'm shooting video while travelling, do you think my wife or friends will wait while I setup the tripod or dolly???

What about projects where you have to take shakey video from others?

JohnMeyer said it well...so I won't belabour the points he made further.

DGates, troll somewhere else.

With over 1300 posts, I'm far from a troll.

As for helpful advice, some people take it accordingly, and some get bent out of shape.

Bring on the post production stabilizers.

I did a favor for someone, rendered their home video of some lions and stuff to DVD. It looked as if the handycam guy was being mauled by the lions while he was filming, in any event the next day they wanted to know what I had done to the footage as it was all over the show.?????

For many home users the footage looks ok on the small screen on the cam during playback but are very shocked to see it on the big screen

Also filming events, it’s real time, you only have seconds to react, you see it… shoot….stabilize in post.

All,

This is getting old. Why can't we just ignore posts that we feel are inane? This endless bickering is getting old.

...Jerry (who has said his piece and will now be quiet on the subject)