[Konvas] IMAGE STABILIZER PLUG IN (off-topic)

[Adam Frey]

Pierre,
I meant to comment on the stabilizer yesterday, but got sidetracked.

I've used both Combustion's and Final Cut's stabilizers. Each has it's 
strong and weak points. But nothing beats getting a stable shot while on 
set.

They didn't compare the Mercalli stabilizer to Combustion. I wonder why? 
Combustion's stabilizer is really nice, but not automatic like the 
Mercalli or Final Cut stabilizers. I think it is more similar to After 
Affects, so maybe that's why.

I think I've said this here before, but I used Combustion's stabilizer 
in Hunting Dragonflies on a handful of shots. The Konvas registration 
was fine, the tripod the Konvas sat on was fairly stable - but it was 
the camera operators that kept shivering (due to the cold weather), and 
that showed up in a few shots (mostly due to the smaller resolution of 
NTSC). Go figure. ;-)

Final Cut Studio now has a similar stabilizer to Mercalli - about the 
only major difference I saw was the speed; Final Cut's appears to be 
much slower.

Either way, what he's doing looks pretty bad when the image is caught 
using slower shutter speeds. There's just too much streaking for me. The 
only way you can really try to fix the problem, is to use a higher 
shutter speed - but that's the really big issue right there. Since most 
people capture their video at the standard 60 or 90 (at 24p, I believe 
it's 48; at 25p, I believe it's 50), it'll leave a streaked image which 
practically isn't worth fixing.

Basically, you'd have to plan in advance for your issue and shoot with a 
fast shutter speed, and that's not likely: especially in low light 
situations.


Cheers,

Adam Frey
Director/Cinematographer
Crimson Chain Productions
http://crimsonchain.com

Crimson Chain Productions
PO Box 35
Libertytown, MD 21762