What is a gyro stabilized action camera.

[Viking]

I see in the description of action cam there use the term “gyro stabilized”.

I understand the concept of a gimball, but I don’t see any moving parts on the camera itself.

So is it a sales gimmick or what is it. What is technic behind this gyro?

 

[abarth]

I see in the description of action cam there use the term “gyro stabilized”.

I understand the concept of a gimball, but I don’t see any moving parts on the camera itself.

So is it a sales gimmick or what is it. What is technic behind this gyro?

I have that feature on my sony action cam. so what it does is record the video "cropped". the sensor itself has much more that 1920*1080 pixels that it can use to record. so what the camera does is use the 1920*1080 pixels in the middle of the sensor to record and if it's tilted left or right, it shifts the recording pixels over to the left, right, up or down to counteract that motion. this is also why the field of view when using the feature is narrower than if you do not use the stabilizer. it has it's limitations but it works pretty well. I still prefer using an actual handheld gimbal when I want to produce something nice.

 

[Nigel]

I see in the description of action cam there use the term “gyro stabilized”.

I understand the concept of a gimball, but I don’t see any moving parts on the camera itself.

So is it a sales gimmick or what is it. What is technic behind this gyro?

It is not a totally accurate description, maybe "gyroscope assisted stabilisation" would be closer.

There is a gyroscope inside the camera that can detect rotations of the camera around the 3 rotation axis plus movements of the camera in 3D space, the data is analysed by the processor and if it decides that the camera has accidently been rotated to the right then the processor will take the next frame from a location further left on the sensor so that the recorded video appears to be unaffected by the movement. The sensor isn't moved and the lens isn't moved - those are known as optical stabilisation, but the recorded image is smoother. The only moving part is the gyroscope used to measure the movement, and that doesn't move much since it is tiny and built inside a silicone chip.

It does work, in some cameras it is fairly useless, in some, like the SJ5000x elite it made the shakiness twice as bad since the they had the correction for the vertical rotation axis backwards for the first 6 months! There are a few cameras where it works really well, the Gitup Gi2 is one of the best.

 

[Viking]

@Nigel Have you compared gi2 & g3. Do there handle it equal good?

 

[Nigel]

@Nigel Have you compared gi2 & g3. Do there handle it equal good?

Yes, I've compared them.
No they don't handle it equally good!


The Gitup G3 appears to stabilize the front-back rotation axis reasonably well, I don't think the Git2 even tried with that axis, it sometimes annoyed me a bit when walking with it but with the Git3 walking looks natural with no unexpected movements.

This is a G3 video from a walk in a 36 km/h wind:

Sharpness - normal,
Colour - colourful,
Zoom - x2.2 (much narrower FOV than normal action camera video + very low fisheye.)
Resolution - 1080 60fps 37Mb/s
Gyro - on (all handheld, remember it is set for x2.2 zoom so keeping it stable while walking is a lot harder for the gyro.)
WDR - on.
Wind speed - 36.5Km/h (the microphone has problems at that speed, but so do my ears and holding the camera steady is not so easy!)

G3 very bumpy bike video with gyro stabilisation on & off to show the difference on the way...

 

[Viking]

Couple of weeks ago I went on a kayak trip with my wife. My wife took some photo on the way, I told her to put it away when we came to a 2 foot drop. She did, she sat on it and when we pass the drop the boat was half full of water.
At least the camera is waterproof. Water won't come out.
So I'm looking for a new cam now.

 

[Nigel]

This Gitup G3 video shows the difference between Gyro Stabiliser On and Gyro Stabiliser Off when riding a bicycle over an excessively bumpy, water damaged road, includes footage from the G3's rear view camera. Decide for yourself if it is a "sales gimmick":

Surprising how well it is able to remove the jello when there is so much of it.