Action cam guides for newbies?

Pavle said:
@TeriTerryTarry Nice videos, but be aware that action cameras do not have parts such as mechanical shutter and view finder (mirror).
I am still writing some basics as I learn , so hopefully until the end of February I will have an entire series done , we will see.
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Right. One needs to realize that some parts of the videos are good basics, historical information, or present an analogous explanation rather than actual components and their operation in consumer action cams.

Cheers :)
 
Part 2 of "Camera and Image Sensor Technology Fundamentals". This is another excellent video. Although the speaker and his organization deal with industrial and machine applications, basically the entire video is useful for understanding consumer action cam components and operation.
 
I found this outstanding video of a teardown of a GoPro Hero 4 Silver. I thought the author did a great job showing the many details that go into the camera and I was especially impressed with the point he made near the end at 20:46 about all the different stakeholders involved in the engineering, design, manufacturing and marketing of a product. As important as the sensor and processor are, there's so much more that can make a real difference.
 
As a contrast to the GoPro build quality shown in the preceding video, have a look at this very good video of a Blackview Hero 2 teardown.

I hope I'm not getting off the track of this thread by posting all these videos Pavle. I'm not sure if you're looking for actual video content you intend to include in the guide or ???
 
Not at all, I pretty much saw all of these, but its good info, and keep it coming, I am sure it will help members here.
 
This video by Canon illustrates a lens-shift type image stabilizer. Although the video is ten years old and depicts a still-image camera, I presume the technology is the same on action cams with gyro stabilization. Is that correct?
 
TeriTerryTarry said:
This video by Canon illustrates a lens-shift type image stabilizer. Although the video is ten years old and depicts a still-image camera, I presume the technology is the same on action cams with gyro stabilization. Is that correct?
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no, different tech. there are no moving parts in an action camera except the buttons. that's part of why they're so small and durable. nothing to get knocked out of alignment or break by a hard jolt.

techmoan actually did a good illustration of how it works in current digital cameras. click here to skip to the relevant part or just watch the whole video below

in that video, it shows how it reduced the FOV to achieve the gyro stabilization. that doesn't happen in the git2 though - fov remains the same. at least, it seems to when i've tested. i just shot a couple videos on my quadcopter with and without gyro, so maybe i can tell from that if the fov changed.
 
OK, grabbed some screenshots from my gyro test. turns out the Git2 DOES crop the video (narrower FOV) in gyro mode. it's not major, but it does seem a little bit zoomed in. i may have accidentally rotated the camera a little when changing the settings, but notice that when it's OFF, you can see the slide on the swingset (right edge) as well as the bushes to the right of the 4th tree, and also the edge of the small fisher-price picnic table i had my quadcopter sitting on. when gyro is ON, you can't see the table, the slide, or even the 4th tree, and the storage shed looks much bigger. yet the quadcopter was sitting there on the same table.

Git2 Gyro OFF.png Git2 Gyro ON.png

totally worth it for the stabilization it provides. doesn't seem quite as zoomed in as the dazzne that techmoan shows in his review.
 
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This is my video about Gyro and FOV:


That video was possible only after GitUp released the firmware which was offering also the Gyro function to the Menu button. We can see the zoom is used so inside the image frame about jokiin wrote it is moving a zoomed image.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
Okay, so "gyro" is just marketing nonsense - no such mechanical device in action cams. What's the difference between the digital image stabilizer in the P2+HD or M10+ and the image stabilizer in my SJ4000 Wi-Fi?

EDIT: This is how SJCam explained it in the SJ4000 forum in my thread about image stabilization:

". . . . Most cameras that do not have Gyro do have Anti-shake (digital image stabilization). Gyro Stabilization is different - Gyro has an actual chip. When taking pictures it is actually better to turn Gyro Off. Gyro stabilization does not work with a swaying motion but upwards and downwards - so like if you are biking or using SJ5000x as dashcam turn on Gyro and WDR - you will notice a huge difference with Gyro turned on vs Gyro turn off. Hope this kind of explains it more clearly."

Apparently then, at least in the case of SJCam, "gyro" means there's a chip. So my SJ4000 Wi-Fi has digital image stabilization but no chip associated with it? The with-a-chip "gyro" works while recording video and helps with unintended up-and-down motion but not side-to-side or rotational motions. The no-chip "anti-shake" works while shooting still images but not recording video. How does something with no moving parts and no chip help when shooting photos? And what shaking movements does it help with? Up-and-down like jumping? Side-to-side like sliding? Rotation about the x-, y-, or z-axis? Sorry, I just don't get it.
 
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No, it's not nonsense. There actually is an accelerometer inside to measure movement, just like smartphones have. Some phones also use their gyro sensor to help stabilize the video since it's virtually guaranteed that a phone video will be shot while handheld.
 
Gibson99 said:
No, it's not nonsense. There actually is an accelerometer inside to measure movement, just like smartphones have. Some phones also use their gyro sensor to help stabilize the video since it's virtually guaranteed that a phone video will be shot while handheld.
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Okay. An accelerometer is the same as a gyro?
 
Technically, no. A gyroscope is a spinning weight that resists movement. It can be used for motion compensation or just to make something more stable. Orbital space telescopes use them to both adjust and hold orientations.

A 3d accelerometer is something that can be contained in a small chip and is what the camera has. People call them gyros the same way people call quadcopters "drones", even though a drone is something that's completely autonomous, but most quadcopter require someone to be at the controls full time.
 
Ah, now I see. Thank you.:)

You referred to a 3d accelerometer. In the particular case of the of SJ5000x, the way it was explained by SJCam would indicate it's a "1d" accelerometer, .i.e., only detecting vertical movement, is that correct? Also can you offer any insight into how "anti-shake" with no chip, no accelerometer, would work while taking pictures with my SJ4000?
 
GitUp have Gyro chipset and until now I see all people are happy about its image stabilization. It is not only to have a Gyro but also the firmware to have correct setup, for example people are complaining about the image stabilization of SJ5000X, even it can have the same Gyro chipset as Git2.

SJCam SJ5000X Elite Gyro vs GitUp Git2 vs YouTube stabilization:

enjoy,
Mtz
 
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Mtz said:
GitUp have Gyro chipset and until now I see all people are happy about its image stabilization. It is not only to have a Gyro but also the firmware to have correct setup, for example people are complaining about the image stabilization of SJ5000X, even it can have the same Gyro chipset as Git2.
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Regarding Gryo, there is a really separate chipset to support that.
I attached a very earlier sample, that part marked as red is the Gyro chipset.
gyro.jpg
 
Trust me you do not want to do the same with a real amera as you do with a action camera.

I found that out the hard way as i ruined a Samsung pocket camera with a fjew rides on my 660 ccm quad, and its not cuz i crashed or the camera fell off, that never happen.

I think in total the samsung camera was on the quad for 15 minutes of driving, the cost was a ruined lens assembly, and a constant wierd humming sound on video recordings.

The camera still work and can allso auto focus, but the lens in no longer able to fold itself up in the housing like it normally did when powered off.

 
kamkar1 said:
Trust me you do not want to do the same with a real amera as you do with a action camera.

I found that out the hard way as i ruined a Samsung pocket camera with a fjew rides on my 660 ccm quad, and its not cuz i crashed or the camera fell off, that never happen.

I think in total the samsung camera was on the quad for 15 minutes of driving, the cost was a ruined lens assembly, and a constant wierd humming sound on video recordings.

The camera still work and can allso auto focus, but the lens in no longer able to fold itself up in the housing like it normally did when powered off.

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i can only imagine what youtube "stabilization" would do to that video lol
 
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