By site editor Dan Chung:
Adrien Farrugia of SteadXP has been in touch with a new demo of their stabilisation system, which we have covered in the past. It combines a small box with sensors that attaches to the camera, and some pretty fancy post-processing software that stabilises after the event.
He has taken the system for a ride in a James Bond style gyrocopter, with some amazing results. The craft swings around and the camera must be subject to several Gs acceleration at points. These conditions are pretty much as tough as they could be for a stabilisation system. Any other in-camera system like the 5-axis ones from Sony and Olympus simply wouldn’t work as well, and brushless gimbals might struggle with the wind and vibration of the open cockpit. Only a full gyro-stabilised system like those from Kenyon or an enclosed gimbal like the Cineflex might do better – at a vastly higher cost.
In the demo, two cameras are used: a good old Canon 5D mkII fitted with Voigtlander 20mm lens that is simply handheld, and a GoPro Hero4 on a fixed mount on the control panel. The 5DmkII was running the Magic Lantern hack at 1080/25P and the GoPro was shooting 2.7K . A SteadXP box was attached to each and everything was covered in layers of gaffer tape to keep it secure.
It is really interesting to see how well the system not only stabilises the shots, but also reduces rolling shutter. The overall resolution isn’t that good, but I’m told that if a 4K or even 6K camera is used then the results will improve dramatically.
The footage was processed using SteadXP’s software on a standard PC.
The system still isn’t available to buy, but SteadXP is aiming to keep it affordable. The company expects to launch a crowd funding campaign very soon that will offer the units as rewards.
