In the past 5 years, we have seen a rapid increase in digital imagery capabilities in the consumer space. We have gotten to the point where every smartphone user has a powerful video recording device in their pocket and people can even buy dedicated “action cams” such as the GoPro or the Sony Action Cam to put on their bikes skateboard if not their aerial drones!
The thing with many of those platforms is that they can generate a lot of “shaking” motion, which translate into a shaky video – and that can be rather nauseating for the audience. Some system have integrated Image Stabilization (IS) in the camera body in either optical or electronic form, but both are limited by the internal volume of the device, or by how much of the frame will be cropped to stabilize the action (let alone processing power to do so).
Mastor Tech’s solution comes in the form of mounts that are equipped with a stabilization system powered by small electric motors and something that acts as a gyroscope. The system exists for anything from smartphones to compact cameras to DSLRs and even drone mounts! The stabilization works by using the vertical axis (up) as a frame of reference, then the electric motors will compensate for various vibrations or sudden movements. While it cannot always remove all the shaking, it does a good job with filtering out most of it, for a smoother result.
While the stabilization system is ON, the user can use a small joystick to pan and tilt the camera towards the desired orientation. When I tested it, the results were pretty convincing and I can see a crowd of enthusiasts investing in this type of solution. How big Mastor Tech can become is really up to you. What do you think of the idea, and what would you do with it?
Filed in . Read more about CEATEC and Ceatec 2013.