Ever since the GoPro Hero 7 Black was released the FPV community has been debating whether or not the Hypersmooth stability feature of the 7 was a way to "cheat" flying skill and a tune. Is it a way to seem like you are smoother and your quad is better tuned? Can it hide problems like bent or damaged props? Can you fly an untuned quad and still get a smooth steady video?
Lets see.
Below is a clip of a typical well-tuned premium built FPV quadcopter. All clips were shot in 2.7k 60fpv with the shutter speed set to auto.
TUNED WITHOUT HYPERSMOOTH
As you can see, the quadcopter fly's great. The video is smooth and there are no oscillations after snap rolls or during prop washout.
Now let's see the same quadcopter fly with Hypersmooth enabled. Notice how it smooths out the ends of tricks and makes the overall feel seem more gimbal like.
TUNED WITH HYPERSMOOTH
The difference isnt obvious unless you know its Hypersmooth or if you know what to look for.
Next we will see if completely ruined props can be masked out by HYPERSMOOTH.
BENT PROPS WITHOUT HYPERSMOOTH
This will be hard to see on a phone because Betaflight is so good at cleaning this up already but look at the horizon during the straight flying moments. I think I can see 1 or 2 moments where it's not perfect but if you remove the motor noise and add some music, this could totally pass for a "dialed in" quadcopter.
DISCLAIMER:
I still wanted to test Hypersmooth on a poorly tuned quad, but my radio failed right after that last flight and I had to fix a gimbal. 2 days later I was able to finish the test but at a different location.
I couldn't simulate problems like bad poor ESC's or a faulty flight controller, but I could totally screw with my PIDS and completely over-tune it. I raised all my P values to 11 and lowered D and I substantially. Here is the video before Hypersmooth. Focus on the snap rolls and propwash oscillations.
OVER-TUNED WITHOUT HYPERSMOOTH
Here is the same quadcopter with Hypersmooth enabled. Again, focus on the snap rolls and propwash oscillations. You will only hear them.
OVER-TUNED WITH HYPERSMOOTH
The GoPro Hero 7 Black with Hypersmooth is ABSOLUTELY cheating. There are moments when filming with it where it gets caught up and makes mistakes, but it seems like it can mask almost anything a poor flying quadcopter can give it.
It's cheating, but does that really matter? Ultimately, when filming with a freestyle or racing quadcopter, the goal clear high-quality video. All content creators, whether personal or professional, strive for quality videos. Why wouldn't you use the tools that give you the best possible results?