Image Warping Canon G50 While Filming Trains

[MaineRailfan]

Earlier this year, I tried to figure out a way to prevent/remove vibrations from my railroad footage, which I mis-catagorized as camera shake. After further research, I was able to mitigate it somewhat, by adding weight to my tripod (I should add at this point that I use a canon G50 and shoot 4K 30FPS). Upon doing som further digging, I was able to find on a social media site, a post that a individual made, regaurding a similar issue. He had spent several years investigating the problem, which he identified to be image warping. In the comments he mentioned the use of a adjustable shutter on his Canon G40, which he used to prevent image warping somehow. The downside for me is, the user has since deactivated his account, so I haven't been able to explore this avenue much. 

That being said, has anyone ever tried to use a technique like that, to prevent image warping on a camcorder? I can attribute some of my problem to my current tripod set up, which I am working on upgrading that. But I can say that it isn't the main cause of my problem. I have added a link to one of my videos, where you can see a few examples of my problem. I am also open to using a different type of editing software to help with this problem (I currently use Sony Vegas which isn't cutting the mustard). 

I should also add, that I know the obvious solution is to stand further away from the tracks, but in the vast majority of the locations I film at, that isn't a option due to obstructions, so I can't really do that easily. Worst case scenerio, I could always rent, and try out another camcorder/camera to see what would work best, for the next time that I upgrade my video set up.

https://youtu.be/3QK1CFYMoWE 

[Nick2020]

Hi MaineRailfan,

Thanks for checking in with us!

Looking at the footage, it does seem that much of it might be due to vibrations that are transferring to the tripod. A more rugged tripod might help, as you suggested.

You could also try doing tests at different frame rates, like 60 fps when you're shooting HD. That way you cut out problem areas and slow down usable frames to compensate for that.

Video-editing programs that have optical flow capabilities, like Final Cut Pro, Premiere, and Resolve, can create new frames to compensate for damaged ones. Check the documentation for those programs or online tutorials for details about that.

[Inapickle]

I recall you posted about this before:

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Camcorder-Discussion/How-to-reduce-camcorder-vibrations/m-p/33985...

The advice was turn image stabilization off as it can actually make matters worse - the camcorder tries to compensate for low frequency vibrations transmitted through the tripod resulting in the type of warping aberrations seen in your video. If you can't eliminate the vibrations adequately by physical dampening alone, image stabilization in-post may be your only recourse, but you will stand a better chance of a satisfactory result with in-camera image stabilization turned off.