SteadXP employs gyroscopes and clever processing for smooth video footage

In cinematography, smooth stabilized footage is an absolute must... unless you're going all "Jason Bourne" with a shaky-cam look. While professional productions often employ camera cranes, dollies or wearable gimbal stabilizers, these things are often too expensive for independent productions and simply not feasible for the hobbyist videographer.

With the ubiquitous video functionality in digital cameras, more and more photographers are turning into videographers, be it for occasional holiday or family event videos, for more ambitious productions or as part of their professional career. Others make frequent use of action cameras to record their outdoor activities such as skiing, biking etc.

In any case, it's difficult to achieve steady and smooth footage without expensive stabilizing equipment. The SteadXP, a small add-on that can be fitted to all cameras that come with a composite video output and a microphone input. Using built-in gyroscopes, the SteadXP records camera movement in three dimensions and synchronizes it with the video that the camera records.

During post-production, the information from the SteadXP box is then used to stabilize the video footage, but the actual process is different from the common approach of cropping the image and then turning it according to the gyroscope information. In fact, the SteadXP workflow includes so-called computational photography, which actually recreates parts of the frame so that there's no loss in angle of view.

To get an idea of how effective SteadXP is, take a look at this first promotional video below:

Currently, SteadXP is still under development, and there is little information available. However, the official website notes that the product will soon go into crowdfunding, and considering how much of a game changer this device appears to be, chances that it'll get funded and seem very high.

(via News Shooter)