5 key tuning considerations for video stabilization
1. Battery life considerations
You don’t want a drone that will be used to film during critical operations for a long period of time to run out of battery power too soon. If you opted for real-time processing, then this could already be taking a toll on your processing capacity and battery life. One way to compensate for this is to streamline video stabilization performance to consume slightly less processing power and thus also battery power.
On the other hand, if your battery life is already more than satisfactory for your use case, you can probably afford to tune up your video stabilization performance.
2. Field of view considerations
An example of cropping with independent video enhancement features from different providers, each additional feature means additional cropping.
An example of Vidhance image cropping uses the same input parameters which results in less cropping
For bodycams, you’ll probably want to sacrifice more of your field of view to boost video stabilization. Try running like a cop chasing a criminal and record a video on your regular smartphone while doing so. Standard video stabilization is not designed for moving so quickly so the video will probably be too shaky for comfort.
Therefore, you can imagine that real-life law enforcement officers need more stabilization than the average use case. In other contexts, like a surveillance camera, you may want a broader field of view so you can monitor a wider area.
3. Motion blur considerations
Video artefacts such as motion blur already exist in video feeds initially but applying video stabilization can increase their visibility. Motion blur reduction can be applied to compensate for this, but this in turn will increase the noise level. Therefore, you’ll need to find the right balance between an acceptable motion blur and noise level.
Bear in mind that how much motion blur you will experience will depend on lighting conditions and on how well your motion sensors handle light. Consider whether your camera product will be used frequently in low-light conditions, such as indoors and at night, when you will need as much additional lighting as possible. The less external light is available, such as sunlight, the more motion blur will be an issue.
4. Video quality considerations
Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) applies a crop to each frame. The part of each frame that the algorithm selects for cropping is what makes the video stable. As a result, if you take full-HD 1920×1080 resolution video and apply video stabilization, the resolution will decrease slightly. Depending on your needs, you can tune video stabilization performance down and resolution up, or vice versa, by configuring how much of the frame is cropped.
A sensor with higher resolution to begin with will not suffer as noticeable a loss in quality when cropped as a sensor starting from a lower resolution. However, it’s worth considering that higher resolutions will take up more battery power to process due to the higher number of pixels.
5. Horizon correction considerations
If you want a drone to be able to shoot video with good quality in windy weather, you’ll need to compensate for the wind. The drone will tilt to move in the right direction, and this can make the video extra shaky. This may require correcting for a wider angle in horizon correction, which comes at the cost of field of view.
However, in other operating environments, field of view may be more important, and you may have satisfactory results with a narrower angle of horizon correction. Simulate real-world conditions for your use case and analyze the video output to determine your horizon correction priorities.