I recorded a couple of videos with my iPhone 15 last week, but they turned out pretty shaky because I filmed without a tripod. Now I want to stabilize them in post-production. What software works best for that and how much work is it gonna be?
Do you want to edit the videos on Mac, Windows, or directly on your iPhone? The easiest way is with DaVinci Resolve (free, very powerful) or Adobe Premiere - both have decent stabilization tools that work automatically. You import the video, drop it on the timeline, enable stabilization, and let the program do the processing - takes a while depending on the length. iMovie or Final Cut Pro on Mac can do it too, but they're less flexible.
Try the built-in tools on the iPhone first - in the Photos app under "Edit" there's a stabilization feature that often works perfectly fine for minor shakiness, and you save yourself all the post-processing. If that's not enough, DaVinci Resolve (free) is your best bet - the stabilization there is really solid and you don't need expensive subscriptions like with Adobe. I once filmed a video at the playground that was a disaster, but fixed it with DaVinci in half an hour - it takes a while because the software needs to render, but the result looks decent.
If it's really shaky, I'd go with DaVinci Resolve - the free version stabilizes way better than the iPhone tools, but you'll need a computer for it. It's not complicated: you import the video, select the stabilization function, and let the program run for a few minutes. The trick is not to stabilize too aggressively, or it'll look artificial - usually 50 - 70% of the maximum setting is plenty to make handheld footage look decent.
The iPhone 15 actually has pretty solid built-in stabilization - most of the videos I shot without a tripod were already way less shaky on the device itself than I expected. Before you do anything on a computer, I'd honestly check the Photos app first and see how much the built-in stabilization already does for you. If that's not enough and the shakiness is really bad, DaVinci Resolve makes sense - but for mild to moderate cases you'd be saving yourself a lot of work. How bad is the shake for you anyway, just annoying or actually pretty rough?
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