It looks cool, though I still find myself looking for Hyperlapse[0] alternatives.
Hyperlapse seemed like magic when announced, particularly, not needing to crop large parts of shaky videos
Johannes Kopf, the main author behind the original Hyperlapse paper, is one of the researchers behind Localrf discussed here yesterday [0].
I think Hyperlapse Pro [1], which stitched patches from multiple frames together to create new frames after doing some 3D reconstruction and then recreating a smoother camera path was mostly replaced with Hyperlapse mobile [2]. The Pro version was really slow, but the mobile version, which used the original frames from the video, could run in a reasonable time on a phone with almost as good result. Hyperlapse Pro is still available to download [3], Hyperlapse mobile you have to find the APK elsewhere [4].
While it seems neat, the principle behind it seems to cause massive morphing and smoothing, and that's creating a lot or artefacting.
This is fine for gopro footage or stuff like that, but for production video, the aim is to retain as much information as possible until export. I think the level of artifacting is just unacceptable for general stabilisation needs - and with today's cameras being 4k and up, framing 10-15% wider to adapt to the stabilisation crops makes much more sense.
I've been really happy with GoPro's TimeWarp feature as a hyperlapse alternative. I've used it on bike rides and car road trips and it's been awesome. It doesn't do the exact same thing as hyperlapse and does crop the frame, but with the GoPro's wide angle lens, the FOV is still really good. I'm even using a Hero7, but the newer models have much better TimeWarp features.
I tried to use this with my Sony camera about two years ago and just could not get consistent results. Currently using Sony's Catalyst Browse which does a great job stabilizing the footage but the workflow is poor.
Looks like Gyroflow has a plugin for DaVinci Resolve[1]. If the stabilization has been improved and could be done right in Resolve I will definitely us this.
When I last played with it I was able to get quite good results with an A6400 and a phone as the gyro (the camera does not natively provide the data), except for when the rolling shutter is extreme, at which point it falls apart. The camera's notoriously slow sensor readout seems to be more than Gyroflow can accommodate for when it gets pushed.
It would be neat to make a small dedicated box that you could just attach to the camera (or camera mount). Obviously you'd also need some method of logging the data, and syncing it to the video later (although from skimming the docs, it looks like the latter function is already in the software).
Adobe (and others) have offered tools like Warp Stabilizer that analyze the image to calculate movement. In my experience they are able to smooth things out a bit but nothing compared to what a gryo can do. Plus those image based tools take a long time to calculate.
Software based stabilisation morphs and creates artifacts in the video because it's tough to track motion in space from erratic camera movements - using a gyro gives your software a neat little guide on camera position during the shot, making stabilisation much more precise.
Depends on applications! Doesn't matter if you're filming your child play baseball, but if you're shooting movies you want the best you can get!
Too bad Sony has crippled Catalyst Browse so badly. It doesn't even do 10-bit exports, so I refuse to use it with my A7S III. For proper formats and 10-bit export you need Catalyst Prepare which is (surprise) a subscription based software.
My A7S III logs gyro data which Gyroflow happily reads.
I use Gyroflow to stabilize GoPro footage from autocross events since I can't stand the left/right panning from GoPro's HyperSmooth stabilization. Gyroflow lets me disable stabilization on that axis and the results look great for my use case.
Just tried it on some random GoPro footage and was very impressed! First - by the quality of stabilization. It is if not better then at the same level as in Gopro itself (which is considered having best e-stabilisation on the market). And second, that now I can shoot with disabled stabilization and choose amount of crop in post. I know that Sony offers similar thing with Catalyst Browse, but it is very unconvenient to use additional application to render stabilized footage, here I can just use plugin for Davinci and have seamless workflow.
When stabilizing and shooting with a cinematic shutter speed (1/48s) you have the problem with motion blur from the camera shake. This blur looks very odd when stabilized. Does Gyroflow have any functionality or tips toward this?
That Bardwell video is about normal motion blur, which is highly desirable in any cinematic content. You'll see in those YouTube comments (and there are a few mentions in the video, as well) complaints about "stutter blur" and "shaky blur" - the effect you get when you apply HyperSmooth or Gyroflow to physically/exposure-time blurred video. I wouldn't say that smoothed motion blur is desirable in FPV either.
These days, you'll usually see people in FPV either fixing their tuning to require less smoothing (the best solution!), or moving to shorter exposure times and post-production blur instead.
Unrelated to the software itself, but it is amazing how this website runs http without redirecting to https. You don't see that very often any more. It's probably an oversight, I guess :)
[0] https://blogs.microsoft.com/ai/hyperlapse-siggraph-2014/