Perfect Your Action Shots: Mastering Stable Techniques for GoPro 4K Recording

How to Remove Shakes from GoPro Videos with No Quality Loss

Posted by Candice Liu to Video Editor, GoPro Wind Noise Reduction | Updated on Dec 7, 2018

Gopro, as a popular action camera, is widely used by sports enthusiasts to record their stunning moves such as cycling or snowboarding. But shooting during actions will inevitably lead to camera movements, and therefore shakes in the final recorded GoPro footages. This post introduces all the ways to stabilize GoPro (Hero 2/3/4/5/6 4K) videos that require no effort.

Method 1 - Use a GoPro Stabilizer in Production

You can buy a Karma grip or other gimbal or gyro to help keep the GoPro footages more smooth. These accessories are designed to hold the camera still while filming with an impressive level of stabilization performance. Gimbals may come in a mechanical or electrical design, with different sizes, weights and battery life. A gimbal is not a very cheap way for GoPro video stabilization, as it may start from $80 and go up to $300.

Besides, some cheaper mechanical stabilization options are pole, rig and mount, depending on what you’re going to shoot. These tools will cost you less, but will not be as good as a gimbal to remove shakes from GoPro videos.

However, the flexibility is limited filming with GoPro gimbal and stabilizers. By the way, those accessories can hardly remove all the shakes in shooting.

Method 2 - Use GoPros’s in-camera Stabilization

Starting from GoPro HERO5 Black and HERO5 Session, there is a feature built in the camera to smooth out the vibrations and shakes caused by the moves without using a gimbal or other other accessories. If you have a newer GoPro camera, don’t forget to enable the feature when you record videos. Unlike some action cameras and high-end smartphones that use lens to compensate for camera vibration (OIS), Hero 5/6/2018 fix shaky Gopro videos based on a software approach similar to the algorithm in Final Cup Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro CC. In other words, the output quality of GoPro built-in stabilization feature is no different to that produced by video editors in the post production.

Downside 1: there are only On and Off options. You can’t adjust the stabilization settings based on the actions.
Downside 2: the feature is not available for all the modes on GoPro Hero 5/6/2018. For example, you can’t use it to stabilize GoPro 4K videos, or other SD/HD videos at higher FPS than 60fps. The image is cropped 10% for Wide FOV either. Modes of Video+ Photo and Looping are out of luck either.

How to Remove Shakes from GoPro Videos

Free download the GoPro stabilizer on computer. It works on the latest macOS Big Sur and Windows 10. Get the version based on your computer:
Free download Mac version
Free download Windows version

Step 1: Load video
Launch the software. You will see four modes; select Video to enter into the video processing page. Click video button with a + icon to load the shaky video or click video folder to load all the clips you shot. You can add any 4K, HD or SD shots.

Step 2: Fix shaky GoPro videos
Click ToolBox from the menu bar on the bottom of the interface. Then you will see a slew of video editing options like Stab, Denoise, Merge, Trim, GIF, etc. Click Stab and then the OPT button behind the video settings. Then you can adjust the settings for stabilization like shakiness, accuracy, step size and minimum contrast. If you have no idea of the settings, you may leave the defaults or check below:

Shakiness = 1: little shaky. 10: very strong shakes. Default = 4. Note: smaller number means faster processing and it doesn’t mean the larger the better. Typically you don’t need a value greater than 7, or you may see loss accuracy.
Accuracy = Should be >= shakiness factor. 1: low (fast processing). 15: high (slow processing). Default: 4. Recommended: 8. More accuracy takes more processing time.
Step size = Region around minimum is scanned with 1 pixel resolution. Default = 6.
Min-constrast = Below this contrast, the field is discarded. Range 0-1. Default = 0.3. You may want to use a smaller value for a really low contrast clip.

Step 3: Set output folder
Set a folder to save the output videos by clicking the output folder button on the right lower part of the interface.

Step 4: Start GoPro video stabilization
After all the settings, click Run to start processing. With support for Intel QSV, Nvidia and AMD hardware accelerations, the video stabilizer ensures very fast speed, even if you need to remove vibrations from GoPro videos in 4K 60fps/30fps, or 2.7K, 1080P at higher FPS.

Method 3 - Stabilize GoPro 4K Videos in Post-production

If neither of the above methods is suitable for you, there is another way to eliminate bouncing, shakes and blurring from GoPro videos. What you need is a video editing program. You may remove shakes in Premiere Pro. But for those who don’t want to learn the daunting interface and editing skills, there are alternative options like VideoProc.

VideoProc is an overall video processing tool. It’s designed to convert formats, rip DVDs, download online clips, record screens as well as edit videos. The built-in video editor offers the maximum stabilization with top quality.

1. It works on GoPro videos in resolutions from SD to 2K and 4K at 24fps, 30fps, 60fps, 120fps or higher. You can easily make blurry and jerky GoPro 4K 60fps/HD videos smoother with one click.
2. Unique 3-Level Hardware Acceleration has the world’s No.1 fast speed dealing with 4K or other heavy formats, and the High Quality Engine will ensure the best output quality for the shaky videos.
3. In addition to fixing shaky GoPro footages, it will also remove GoPro fisheye distortion, add effects to your shooting, shrink large GoPro videos with 98% quality, create GIF from recording and do more.

With this video stabilizer, you can shot videos freely without worrying that your moves may damage the outputs.