Every coach that uses video is looking for the same thing: clear, slow-motion video to help describe improvements of their athletes' movement. However, recording action video often leads to the dreaded 'motion blur' effect. You can see in this image that the shaft of the golf club is blurred because it's moving too fast for the camera to capture it given the lighting conditions. The same thing happens with a pitchers arm, a batter's bat or almost any fast moving action.
The key to reducing motion blur is a having enough light on the subject which allows for a fast shutter speed. Unfortunately, you don't always get to control how much light there is in a given situation. In addition, reducing motion blur is about managing shutter speed, not 'frames per second', and most camera interfaces only allow you to control the fps (60,120,240) and resolution (720p, 1080p).
With the latest release of OnForm, we've given you total control of both shutter speed and ISO (light sensitivity) because they work together to produce the desired video results. You can read a lot more about those values in the links above, but suffice to say, most coaches will want the highest shutter speed possible and are willing to have a slightly grainy video in order to get perfect stop motion.
Quick tip: Drag the shutterspeed slider TOWARD THE RABBIT to make the shutterspeed faster (lower milliseconds of opened shutter time) and then drag the ISO toward the right (brighter) until it's just bright enough.
You can access the new Shutter Speed and ISO controls from the camera recording screen by tapping on the "plus/minus" button at the top of the camera screen as shown on the image on the right. Faster shutter speeds will provide better stop-motion, but you must also increase the ISO setting in order to keep the image bright enough. As you drag the sliders, you'll see the resulting affect of your choices. The settings are remembered between recording sessions.
In poorly lit situations (usually indoors) it's a reasonable trade-off to have a bit grainy-er video in order to get better stop motion action. We've also added shutter speed controls to the Auto-Capture feature and increased the fps as well. All auto-capture video will now be recorded at 720p @ 60fps and you can dial in the fastest shutter speed/ISO settings for your specific conditions.
A good example of stop-motion can be seen in the video below. On the right is a recording of a golf swing using 1080p @ 240fps with the built-in Apple camera of an iPhone 12 Pro. It's a reasonably clear recording and you can see the swing pretty well, but you'll notice the shaft has significant motion blur. On the left is a video taken just a moment later using a higher shutter speed with the OnForm camera.
As you can see in various situations, the video on the left with the OnForm camera has drastically improved clarity of the shaft, face impact, ball flight and arms, even in poor indoor lighting. This allows detailed analysis and reveals exactly what was happening throughout the swing; something you just can't achieve with the built-in camera, even on the top-end iPhone.
Creating stop motion action is now much easier with the new shutter speed and ISO controls in OnForm, give it a try today and we think you'll be very impressed with the results. When you give it a try, be sure to share some videos on Instagram or Facebook and tag us, we'd love to see how you #getOnForm.
You can access the shutter speed and ISO controls from the camera in version 1.99.9 available now in the App Store. Enjoy!