Virtual steadicam: Improving the performance of light-weight, unstable cameras

Radio cameras allow more freedom when deploying cameras to cover events but there are some places where it is not possible to place a cameraman, such as on a football pitch during play, in a boxing ring or on the back of a race horse. Small cameras can be mounted on the event participants, for example on the head of a boxing referee but the motion of the mounting surface makes viewing uncomfortable and it is not possible to control the shot framing. This paper describes a system for both stabilising an image and allowing control of shot-framing for cameras mounted on unstable and uncontrollable surfaces.