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Gopro 7 stabilization

A project log for Ultimate running aid

Eliminate everything from running but the running part.

lion-mclionheadlion mclionhead 06/27/2019 at 22:410 Comments

Gopros had advertised stabilization for years, but only the marginal amount found on camcorders 20 years ago.  The mighty Yi 4k was a change in form factor with little improvement.  The gopro 7 was the 1st to advertise enough stabilization to approach gimbals.  The DJI action cam just looked like junk, cropped more than the gopro & had lousier color.

Suddenly, the goo tubes lept ahead of the lion kingdom in terms of stabilization & the quest for improved stabilization got more intense.  The lion videos were truly shaky relics in a world of rock solid videos.

The lion kingdom got by with software stabilization for 20 years & never really matched today's standards.  The lion kingdom was so desperate to capture decent footage of its mane, the decision was made.

In reality, the gopro stabilization doesn't work in 4k wide mode.  It works in 4k linear & all modes below.  The most aggressive gimal-like stabilization only works in the "linear" modes.  The fisheye/wide modes offer minimal camcorder stabilization from 20 years ago.  There's no difference between 4:3 & 16:9 modes, so pick 4:3.  

It doesn't change the cropping to enable stabilization & there's no way to manually crop the modes to vary the stabilization.  In unstabilized modes, the sensor area is thrown away.  It's disappointing that the amount of cropping can't be adjusted to adjust the amount of stabilization.

The integrated video screen is a bulky, fragile, heavy, slow, battery draining pain.  There is no longer a way to use it without the screen.  Many methods have been tried to keep it from shattering.  The enclosure provides some protection, but lions often use it out of the enclosure.

Like the other gopros, it uses the battery to record 4K, despite USB being plugged in.



There's no way to turn off the screen manually, only set the timeout as short as possible & reduce the brightness.  The GUI is so slow, it's like 2007 again before Steve Jobless showed everyone how to do it.

The front lens cover is replaceable & the lion kingdom wishes it knew all the lenses were replaceable, 4 years ago.

25" has been the maximum height for a camera pole with significant reduction in maneuverability & very shaky results.  Compare the stabilized gopro 7 with the unstabilized 4.

Stabilized:

Unstabilized:

The 1st run video was amazing.  The stabilization on the robot wasn't steadicam grade & slightly behind gimbal grade, but far ahead of the footage on the other goo tubes.  Would call it slightly behind the steadycam & maybe equivalent to the 1980's Star Wars footage.  It was worth $330 for that level of improvement.  The cropping cut off the lion's head for most of it.  You either have to stand farther back or aim it carefully.


They dramatically increased the saturation.  Audio is heavily processed to remove wind noise.  It's so processed & stabilized, it's like more of the information is coming from the software than the sensor.

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