Eliminating shaky cameras with an iPhone

[Veecharlie]

hey guys! Just wondering if there was a favorite way of eliminating shaky cameras without busting the bank?
I have seen some stabilizers at quite some expensive prices... I was wondering if there was something good on a budget ? Or should I stick to the stabilizer of premiere? (It’s quite performance demanding on the computer, haven’t really tried it yet)

 

[imJasonleo]

Try using a bendy tripod for small phones. I find holding the camera itself leads to very shaky footage, but having a small bendy tripod (which costs around $10 on amazon) should make a noticeable difference. It won't be life changing, but it does make it so the video is watchable and your primary object/person is in focus.

 

[TN7]

You could try using a selfie stick. Not sure if there will be a huge difference, but there definitely will be. You can find them on Amazon for $10 - $30. Also I guess you could use the selfie stick to simulate drone footage if the stick is high enough, so that would be really awesome. Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[The NotARubicon!]

All of our videos are made on off-road trails - usually very rocky and steep - and very dynamic - meaning we are constantly moving, running, jumping, falling, etc.. Over the last 3 years we’ve gotten pretty good at getting steady footage - take a look at our trailer video (below).. all but 1 or 2 shots are done on a hand-held iphone and as you can see, they aren’t very shakey..
We shoot most of our videos on iPhones (5S, 6, 7, and 8Plus) as well as a SteadyCam and the newer iphones do so well at built-in stabilization we hardly use the steadycam anymore..
That said, here are our tricks:
1)Hold the camera/phone steady! (duh!) seems simple but some people just can’t do it.. Use your arms and legs as shock absorbers and with some practice you would be surprised and how steady you can get.
2)Use a mono-pod .. a cheap, lightweight mono pod lets you steady the camera/phone on the ground making it much more steady.
3) Use a tripod ..bulkier and slower to set up than a monopod, but better results
4) Film in 60FPS - that way if you have to slow it down or use stabilization, the results will be better (slowing down 10% or so will often make it look more steady)
5) use Premier (or Final Cut) stabilization when all else fails..

 

[Taz The Yorkie]

Something I do when I go handheld with my phone is to hold it with both hands at about belly height with my elbows pressed into my sides. I can’t remember who told me to do that. It does seem to help.