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Teton Gravity Research posts gyro-stabilized 4k video

Apr 1, 2013 at 17:49:57 GMT

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Action sports video production company Teton Gravity Research (TGR) has posted the first video shot with the GSS C520, a five-axis gyro-stabilized 4K cinema system by GSS (Gyro-Stabilized Systems). The C520 is compatible with the RED Epic, Arri Alexa M and Sony F55/HDC-2500 video cameras. For this video, the system was fitted with a RED Epic video camera and mounted on a helicopter to capture 4K stabilized footage of San Francisco, California. (via FStoppers)

Click here for the full article on FStoppers.com

Teton Gravity Research's video shot with the GSS C520 system

Click here for the full article on FStoppers.com

For this video, the system was fitted with a RED Epic video camera and mounted on a helicopter to capture 4K stabilized footage of San Francisco, California.

VIDEO NEWS 4K RED TETON-GRAVITY-RESEARCH

Comments

Total comments: 25

You would be surprised at the amount of aerial footage shot with these systems.
Think of productions like "Life on Earth" all those wild life programs will of used these systems all over the World.
Lots of TV programs here in the UK have 5 second scenes of aerials thrown in, all big sporting events use them. Corporate projects use them ( I know of a recent air con survey on London rooftops shot with a cineflex) of course Hollywood uses them.
Watch TV and count how many aerials you see, you will be surprised.
Hollywood, it would be easier to count productions that don't have an aerial clip somewhere.
Lots of work for these specialist products if you are in the business, it's not what does it cost, it's what will it earn that matters.

0 upvotes

There are consumer camcorders priced from $1,300 to $1,600 (or a PJ710 discounted to $1,000) that offer gyro-stabilized 1920x1080 video. Sony calls it "balanced optical steadishot."

A rental helicopter costs another $10k / hour or so, in any case. Chump change for an SAC partner, of course.

0 upvotes

The difference between something like the Sony and a system like this is incredible.
I've sat besides a Cineflex system, we were shooting night aerials over London. I was watching the operators monitor while he was checking all was in order. He zoomed in on a tower a couple of miles away, the building filled the screen and it was rock solid. Jaw dropping for me, especially as we were travelling over a 100mph.
This is 4k video, big cameras take more stabilising, long lenses take even more.
A sony handycam although very good is not going to take the editing/grading etc and deliver broadcast quality 4k video, especially as it's spec don't reach the requirements of many producers 1k HD.

0 upvotes

Nice, you see that the 6th axis is missing, horizon line is rolling a bit in many parts of the video, Cineflex is superior, but maybe it's also superior in price so it's all relative. Excellent cinematography by the way.

0 upvotes

They only bought the system, they did not develop it. As an educated guess I would say it costs more than the helicopter it is attached to, by quite a bit. I would venture to put that GSS in the 7-8 figure price range, and that might be underpricing it. Way out of reach of everyone, except a very very select few in the movie industry, and then only one, or maybe two for now.

0 upvotes

Robert Wise did this 50 years ago using 70mm film and a Tyler Mount for his openings in "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music."

0 upvotes

And what about the drive from Sausalito to SF in "Foul Play?"

1 upvote

TGR gives me tingles in my special parts.

0 upvotes

Too bad I can't get one of these for a hexacopter... ;)

0 upvotes

For a more frugal option, you can simply leverage the 30 and 60 fps of the amazing Nikon 1 V1 to "shoot" 4K video as this gentleman did in this clip:

https://vimeo.com/62831831

1 upvote

A good example of what can be done on a very modest system with a bit of talent.

0 upvotes

Incredible - the Nikon 1 video is better than that of the GSS 520. Why aren't Nikon selling the V1's spectacular capabilities more effectively?

0 upvotes

Beautiful and very cinematic shots... excellent..

0 upvotes

Eh. The bokeh wasn't creamy.

3 upvotes

So...where's the 4k video file? I see a couple of digicam shots of the setup, and what looked to be a highly compressed 720 (looked too smeared for even 1080) version of the video on vimeo, but nothing that would let me see it at full res on even my paltry 4960x1600 res setup.

Oh, and I'll bet it cost more than James' Aunt's girlfriend made grafting on the internet last month.

0 upvotes

The best part about these is that even in 1080p, it should have higher apparent resolution than other 1080p sources, because there's a full RGB value set at each pixel, as opposed to the typical 1080p sensor that only has one color value at each pixel.

It's the same reason a 24megapixel sensor image downressed to 12megapixel looks sharper than a 12megapixel sensor image.

1 upvote

need telephoto to check performance of a stabilized system. the extreme case that I know of is some NHK videos shot with a 10,000mm lens (reflective) 30km from Fukushima Nuclear Plant.

1 upvote

Currently being miniaturized for deployment on Stealth Department of Homeland Security Drones (for your safety).

3 upvotes

They don't need 4K video. Haven't you seen 24 or NCIS? They have magic software that can produce 8K video from VHS security footage.

7 upvotes

hahaha @tkbslc i saw that lol

0 upvotes

"why does it look so choppy in pan?"

Possibly your computer video card can't keep up with the footage.

I sometimes have flying dreams. This was just like them. Amazing.

2 upvotes

It is 24 fps so it will always be choppy.

2 upvotes

Ridiculously good.

7 upvotes

The views are literally breath-taking... made me rethink value of still photography.

5 upvotes

why does it look so choppy in pan?

0 upvotes

Total comments: 25

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