Rolling Shutter Fix

I'm hoping someone here knows of a great rolling shutter fix plug-in that can detect and (hopefully) fix, or at least improve the shimmer you can with within a frame from rolling shutter on a moving camera.

The FCP-X rolling shutter fix doesn't even begin to fix it, nor does After Effects Rolling Shutter fix.

This is arial footage from a GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition shot at 2.7K, cropped to 1080p as needed. Within the frame, say 1/3 of the way down there is some sideways movement from frame to frame, for maybe 10%-20% of the image height. I'm presuming that it's from vibrations.

The camera itself seems rock sold on the 3D gimbal compared to how the craft is being thrown around in the wind (the props come in to frame from time to time) and I'm truly amazed how well it's done, but there is this 'shimmer' every so often that's bugging the hell out of me!

I think it's probably asking too much, but anyone know of a plug-in that might be able to help here, rather than an entire frame that's warped because of a whip pan, which is what most of the RS fixers seem to be aimed at.

I do tons of aerial shots. Can you post a sample? Could this be the rolling sunshine coming through the blades, as is common when shooting towards the sun?

Thanks for the reply Ben. No it's not sunlight through the blades, this is vibration induced. I have a feeling the props aren't balanced properly and he also shot it without an ND filter on the GoPro, so double whammy.

May have to go reshoot this one as it's a great shot, but the weather turned lousy

I shoot GoPro with Phantoms a lot, never had vibration problems. Even before I started to balance my blades. But some folks have reported this. This achieves two things, first, smoother video of course, but also MUCH more stable and easier handling of the Phantom. Be sure your pilot balances his blades. Time consuming, but VERY well worth it. AND use the proper carbon fiber blades, another huge improvement.

Thanks Ben. Hmmm.... Carbon blades. I've seen these, done some reading about them too, but lots of people saying they bought them and they were trash. I've also seen some posts about the carbon blades not working due to being the same pitch as the plastic ones, but whereas the plastic is designed to flex, the carbon blades don't hence the problems, yada yada yada. Not sure where truth meets internet myth here.

Can you post a link to the carbon blades you recommend / use ?

It seems that this footage was shot without any ND filters on the GoPro. Adding 1 stop hasn't fixed it, but adding the 1 stop plus another 3 stop sheet did fix it, though introduced some other problems, like flare. Are you using ND filters on yours?

Just got my own Phantom 2 so I can do my own testing now, but we're probably going to have to reshoot all this footage because it looks like it's unfixable in post.

I know there's a lot of stuff around with the phantom 2 but here's some of mine that was shot on the h3 2d and stabilised in fcp x



This is all flying stock props, no Nd, on the hero 3+ black, at 2.7k. As you can see there's no rolling shutter despite a fair bit of wind. I have experienced rolling shutter though, but only with unbalanced/damaged props, or non dji props.

Firstly are you using the zenmuse h3 3d or a third party gimbal?. If it's third party it's probably just a matter of endless fiddling with the pid settings and making sure nothing is vibrating the controller board.

If you have the zenmuse i'd start by buying a new set of dji props if your current lot are old. They come fairly well balanced as is. If it persists check out all the external stuff... Look for hairline cracks in the frame or damage to the gimbal vibration mount. The gimbal in particular gets bent out of shape really easily. Last check out the flight controller. Make sure nothing is vibrating against it that could throw the gyros out.

I know some people say carbon blades are better on a phantom. I don't myself see any reason for them as the dji ones are absolutely capable of shooting smoothly. They have the added advantage of snapping on a bad landing instead of transmitting shock to the motors.

I hope it works out

Thanks for the reply, the video and the tips.

I notice exactly the same rolling shutter problems in your footage at various points through the video.

As I said in a previous post, adding 4 stops of ND appeared to cure the problem but 1 stop didn't.

We're using H3-3D and new props, hence thinking they were not balanced.

DU-BRO arrived this morning so lots of work to do. These props are not balanced by any stretch of the imagination.

Can you? Where? I can see the gopro changing exposure flying out over the sea, and short shutter from the lack of Nd but nothing i would have said was rolling. It is on a 2d gimbal and has been post stabilised to counteract that weird swaying but I thought I got away with it pretty well

Firstly you have to be playing full screen 1080p to see it most of the time, though I can see some of it at lower res too.

As an example at 0:26 the entire frame has a rolling effect, but pay particular attention to the cliff and stone tower on the hill to the right. It sort of wiggles a bit out of sync with the rest of the frame.

At 1:18 pay close attention to the rocks about a third of the way down. They also shimmer / wiggle a little out of sync with the rest of the frame, though the entire frame has rolling shutter problems throughout.

It's really no big deal for people looking at the footage and being amazed by it, but when you're actually looking at it in a more critical manor (as per a paying client) this stuff is reason to get rejected.

Fair enough, I'll have to go back to the original footage and check it out. I gotta say, I'm glad I don't have your clients. I'll keep an eye out though for that magical 4 stop ND.

Do you think I'm being too picky?