dclark

I am using Sony Prepare to gyro stabilize video taken using the Sony A1. It works well to stabilize the video but there are two glaring deficiencies with the software. First the ability to batch process files is not there even though Sony says being able to batch process is a reason to purchase Prepare instead of using the free Browse. My main concern is that Prepare does not preserve the file metadata in the stabilized video file. This looks like a major blunder to me. I can find no settings that allow the metadata to be preserved. Consequently I have hundreds of video clips that do not have the correct date/time when the video was shot, in addition to lots of other lost metadata (e.g. GPS data). Is there something I am doing wrong? Is there a way to transfer the metadata from the original video file to the stabilized file? I also see that, regrettably, this forum is not very active. Is there a better place to get help on this issue?

Thanks for the reply. You make a number of good points about the video advantages of the FX6, and your description of the Picture Cache is excellent. Picture Cache is an important advantage and is similar to the Pre-capture in stills photography. I wish the A1 had pre-capture, but I am hoping the A1II will add that capability, and maybe Picture Cache too. I am still stuck with the problem of needing a single camera for both stills and video, since I cannot carry that two setups when I am hiking. That means I need to compromise on video and the A1 still looks like the best compromise.

Your video looks great! I am starting to shoot some wildlife video along with stills. I use my A1 for both since I don't want to carry two cameras. What am a losing compared to the FX-6 for video? I can see that the variable ND would be nice to have since I sometimes have more DOF than a I want when I stop down in bright light. What is Picture Cache?

For some reason the video comparison is not visible. Just a large blank area. Can the Youtube link be posted?

Thanks for your reply. I use Resolve Studio and see that it includes stabilization and can run Gyroflow as a plugin. I have also used Mercalli to stabilize video. I shoot video of Peregrines that nest in the cliff wall along the Pacific coast. Getting a good angle often requires shooting in the surf. Even with my tripod as stable as possible the video still needs some stabilization. I found that the gyro data Sony included in the video file works amazingly well with Sony Catalyst Browse and I would like to use gyro stabilization. I am hoping someone has done a careful job of calibrating the Sony A1 + 600/4 and the A1 + 600-200/6.3 with Gyroflow and will share that data. I will probably have to do the calibration myself, which does not look too difficult.

I use my A1 mostly for still photos but I also do some wildlife video. I use the free version of Catalyst Browse to use the gyro data to stabilize the video. It works very well but the output is limited to 4:2:0 8-bit. I normally shoot 4:2:2 10-bit, and don't want to lose the extra editing capability. I can cough up the $150/yr Sony wants for the paid version of Catalyst Browse, but I see that there is an open source program GyroFlow that has lots of capability and it's free. The problem seems to be that the users need to create lots of calibration data for the camera and lens combinations. I have not spent time looking into that in detail since I am hoping that the needed data is already available for the A1 and some Sony lenses. I shoot wildlife so most of my video is with the 600/4 and the 200-600/6.3. Is there a source for the data to use GyroFlow? Thanks for any help.