Mapillary app too shaky on bike?

Hi!

Just new bike, new season, new mobile phone, new mapillay app version.
And it shows me far too often “phone is shaking”.
Grml.
While doing a ride, it makes a picture every 2-5 sec instead of every 1s. All due to “phone is shaking”.
Hm. Did something in the app change?
Is my new bike/mobile phone to harsh and shakes too much? As the mobile weights a slightly bit more…

Hm.
I need a non shaking bike mount ,-)

echelon

You should be able to turn off the check. I find it in Settings, in the Pausing section, under “Pause on shake”. That should fix that issue. However, I’ve found that the shaking of a mobile phone mounted on a bike will introduce some issues into the photos. Rolling shutter can cause bars of blurriness, or straight lines will become curved. Aside from buying a very stable mount, I don’t think there’s a great fix to these issues. The best way to combat them is to shoot in very good light, and ride smoothly.

Hi!

The mount is fix, thats a issue. Also the wind and the tarmac riding on is a issue. The mobile mostly shakes forward/backward in mm-area. That seems to be too much. Also the tarmac is a point - only on very few I can take steady shots.
On most tarmac on bike roads it is too shaky for the mobile. Even if the mobile just moves sub-mm.
And most times the tarmac is not smooth, I do not want to ride <10 km/h on my bike just to get a steady shot. In this case walking by foot is the better solution.
And yeah, I can disable the pause on shake function, but I want good pictures.
E.G. here: http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/mC0X0Fiqg9GGH04Ne6NEAQ/photo even on this tarmac it shakes too much. And I got a good bike with a good suspension fork. Just all the small shakes on the bike makes the mobile shaking.

echelon

I have the same issue.
Also: Mapillary kindly offered a bicycle mount. But unfortunately, the mount has a “long lever” (i. e. distance handle bar to camera is fairy long and connected by (too) much plastic, so this lever starts to vibrate and to shake…).
The mount should be more sturdy… Mmm.
Thanks anyway, mapillary, for the mount!

1 Like

I think built-in image stabilization is more or less required for great captures unless the road is very smooth. Some phones have that. Another option is to use action cameras if you have one of those around, they are really good at this kind of stuff.

Hi!

Last year with the HTC one m9 I did not have had that issue, but it was a different bike and a differnet mobile.
Need to test with the HTC one now, again.
We will see…

echelon

I’ve been reviewing some of my sequences lately, and found one that I took with my mobile phone (Nexus 4) mounted on my bike. I made my own mount, which is pretty firm, but the phone’s camera is simply sub-par.

Consider this sequence: http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/-fNORLq3YUAHpVwP2BQHIQ/photo If you advance a few photos, you can also see how poorly it adjusts to light. That’s going up a mountain at about 7mph (11km/h). If you turn around on that same road, you can see how shaky it gets at about 30mph (48km/h) (e.g http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/DvUD6XgTNtQEeAFBQnGy1A/photo).

In comparison, the sequence you linked is superb. I’d say disable the shake check and see how the photos look, and if they’re not great, put it back on. Alternatively, as Anders said, an action camera might be a good option. I just bought three of these, which were on sale for about $50 USD with shipping. Example: http://www.mapillary.com/map/im/PE5iNuiiujsV3iY0Z1JmuA/photo

As an alternative, several photo apps have EV (exposure compensation). For example with Time & Tide (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubiris.timelapse&hl=en) you can go down to -2.0 EV. Your photos will be darker, but should also use a faster shutter speed.

Even actioncams on bikes can be problematic on dirt roads
I would like to test the DJI Osmo since it has a 3d Gimbal, but I don’t think it has a waterproof / dirtproof housing, which is a shame

Aloha Harry, did you ever get the OSMO to work with mapillary. I’m trying but not having any success.
Mahalo

No I never tried it. I stuck to Gopro

The app could do its part and make sure that exposure time does not get longer than, say 1/300s, and rather increase the ISO/gain. Because, better noisy images than shaken images. But, meh, the app seems to be abandonware anyways…