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Anyone have experince with iStabilize for FCP?
I downloaded the iStabilize demo, a video stabilizer program, and I must say I’m impressed with it at first look especially for the price. It seems to do a good job smoothing out some pretty shaky shots I had online. However I find the documentation a bit skimpy. It lacks any kind of real world advice or tutorial. The website lacks any forums and the FAQ is a joke. Does anyone have any real world experience with iStabilize? Having not paid for a license yet I can’t export the final product and view it on a NTSC monitor via FCP. Please post your comments. Very interested to hear what people who have used it think.
You can go to the iStabilize website at: https://www.istabilize.de/
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5 Replies
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I have not used the program that you have stated above, but I have used countless programs to try and attempt the same result, and this is what I have found.
First let me say that I have used Shake 3.0, AE 2-6.5, Fcp 1-4.5, commotion, and even hand done frame by frame stabilization. In all cases “quality” of the end result came down to two settings.
First, progressive recording of video. Interlaced artifacts destroy stabilization be maintaining the horizontal shift of the pixels without the frame actually moving. Progressive video is the way to go, and I have been able to utilize digital stabilization ever since I bought a GL1 in 1999.
And second, hight shutter rate. A shutter grater that 1/200th reduces blur that reduces the effectiveness of the stabilized footage. In other words, if the image is still, but the blur is still moving stabilization will make the audience trip out and vomit.
Something that impressed me about the software that you mention is that it works on panning shots. Most software will require separate key frames for a pan to be stabilized. The samples a impressive but also suffer from not being progressive, and are not shot at a high enough frame rate (see previous notes above).
In the end, I did buy a glidecam 2000 plus vest for all of my productions, and I have never looked back. Also optical image stabilization is the only way to go. All digital (computer or camera) stabilization reduces the resolution of the final product. Oh, and BTW, I just bought a Nikon D2x DSLR ($5,000) and a 70-200mm lens ($1500) that has optical “vr” stabilization, and I can shoot at 300mm at only 1/100 of a second, razor sharp. On a non “vr” lens I would be at 1/300 to 1/500 to shoot hand held.
Adam
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Dunno, this looks like all the documentation you’d need for such a simple app.
https://www.istabilize.de/download/documentation.pdf
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Today they posted iStabilize 2.1
iStabilize 2.1.0 (04/27/2005)
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[Barathron] ” I think if you down load the ap and play with it and then refer to the manual you will not find it much help when you really want to start tweaking. “
I felt the same way, like tweaking in the dark. regardless, I will buy it someday soon.
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Hello,
you can render stabilized movies with the iStabilize demo, they only have a watermark.
Eberhard Ammelt, Pixlock
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