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210Final Cut Pro User Guide
Correct shaky video in Final Cut Pro
You can smooth a clip’s shaky footage by correcting the stabilization, rolling shutter, or
both.
The stabilization feature in Final Cut Pro reduces the camera motion in your video so that
shaky parts can be played back more smoothly. You can turn off stabilization for any clip so
that it plays as originally recorded.
Many camcorders and still cameras include CMOS image sensors that expose the picture
they’re recording progressively, instead of all at once. As a result, if the camera moves a
lot during recording, or if the camera records fast motion, image distortion can occur. This
causes the picture to appear wobbly or skewed. Final Cut Pro has a rolling shutter feature
that can reduce this motion distortion.
Fix a clip with excessive shake or rolling shutter distortion
1. If the clip isn’t already in your Final Cut Pro project, add it to the timeline, then select it.
Tip: Stabilization and rolling shutter corrections operate on whole-clip selections,
not on range selections. To get the highest-quality and fastest results, isolate the
problem section by cutting the clip with the Blade tool in the timeline. Then apply the
correction to just the video footage that needs correcting.
2. If the Video inspector isn’t already shown, do one of the following:
• Choose Window > Show in Workspace > Inspector (or press Command-4).
• Click the Inspector button on the right side of the toolbar.
3. Click the Video button at the top of the inspector.
4. Scroll down to the Stabilization and Rolling Shutter sections.
Tip: Double-click the top bar of the inspector to switch between half-height view
and full-height view.