Best settings on GoPro for the best video?

[Jubalr]

- I thought the neck strap comment might catch me some grief.

Ha.. No grief from me, as I know I should use it, but old habits are hard to break. Actually got one with my GP hard case. Maybe I'll dig it out and give it a try with Solo..

 

[JLJ]

if I won't do any kind of editing, once I transfer the videos to my IOS device or my PC which videos do you think will be better (better resolution, colors, etc) videos recorded in 4k and 30fps or 2.7k and 60fps? I am trying to decide which of these 2 resolutions I should use, again, no editing will be used.

Thank You

Actually, thats a good question! I always shoot with ProTune on so I can't remember what settings you can change when its off.

 

[erikgraham]

if I won't do any kind of editing, once I transfer the videos to my IOS device or my PC which videos do you think will be better (better resolution, colors, etc) videos recorded in 4k and 30fps or 2.7k and 60fps? I am trying to decide which of these 2 resolutions I should use, again, no editing will be used.

Thank You

Then I would go with 2.7k or even 1080p.
60fps. Protune Off. GoPro Color. 5500 kelvin white point for mid day sun (anywhere between 5 and 6 thousand K. The higher the white point the more of a cool blue cast you will get. The lower it is, the warmer the image will be). ISO limit 400. Also, I would probably turn down the sharpness as much as possible. I guess you'd want a Medium field of view, but we'll have to see if the legs show up on Wide with the gimbal.

Once the gimbal arrives you will be able to adjust these settings on the fly. So you can do some tests. Shoot some video at 2.7k. The. Try to shoot the same scene at 1080p. Then on your computer (once you import the video off the GoPros SD card) you can compare the two.

 

[Doug Benson]

- I thought the neck strap comment might catch me some grief.

No grief here Bud, that's an awesome explanation of just what I needed. Cheers!

 

[JLJ]

Thank You very much Erik. Just to learn a litle more, why not 4k? if I won't be doing any editing then 4K is not worth it?

Then I would go with 2.7k or even 1080p.
60fps. Protune Off. GoPro Color. 5500 kelvin white point for mid day sun (anywhere between 5 and 6 thousand K. The higher the white point the more of a cool blue cast you will get. The lower it is, the warmer the image will be). ISO limit 400. Also, I would probably turn down the sharpness as much as possible. I guess you'd want a Medium field of view, but we'll have to see if the legs show up on Wide with the gimbal.

Once the gimbal arrives you will be able to adjust these settings on the fly. So you can do some tests. Shoot some video at 2.7k. The. Try to shoot the same scene at 1080p. Then on your computer (once you import the video off the GoPros SD card) you can compare the two.

 

[erikgraham]

Thank You very much Erik. Just to learn a litle more, why not 4k? if I won't be doing any editing then 4K is not worth it?

Short answer is yes, 4K wouldn't be worth it.

4k video files are massive. It's just overkill for what it sounds like you want to do. You will completely fill up your hard drive and your iPad.

And let's not forget 1080p is still HIgh Definition. The highest quality movies from iTunes or NetFlix are 1080p. Although YouTube does now support 4k, most videos on the web max out at 1080p.

2.7K is probably overkill also, but the file sizes aren't anything like 4K.

2.7k is much easier to work with and share compared to 4K, but I'm still worried you will run out of disk space and completely fill up your iPad.

Both 2.7k and 1080p allow you to make more tweaks to settings. For example in 4K your locked into a Wide field of view, which will probably show the legs. To remove the legs you'd have to crop, but that means you would have to use a video editor for that, whereas 2.7k and 1080P will let you select Medium and probably Narrow FOV.

Also, 2.7K and 1080P will let you capture at higher frame rates which will probably look smoother.

 

[mdmorrow]

A quick note on color correction / color grading with Protune. (edit: I guess this note wasn't so "quick" after all. Sorry for writing a novel)

Its crazy the amount of detail and the richness of color you can get with Protune ON compared to OFF. BUT, when you first import your footage it will look like crap. Flat and lifeless. Don't worry, you will be able to pull up detail in the blacks and get lots of subtle variations in the light areas. So here is what you want to do.

First adjust exposure.
Start with the blacks and bring them up or down until you see the amount of detail you want in the dark areas of your footage. Use a scope to make sure you are not clipping your blacks. Second, adjust your lights. Bring them up or down, again using a scope to make sure you aren't clipping too much. Last adjust your midtones to get the amount of depth and richness that you want.

Second adjust Color for cast.
If your footage is overly warm or cool, adjust it to the look you want.

Last adjust saturation.
Don't be afraid to crank up the saturation when using Protune, Flat color. Use a scope and stay within the inner ring, but go for it. The work flow I like is to crank it up. Walk away and drink some coffee. Come back and play your video. If it crosses your mind that your footage might possibly be oversaturated... then it is. Crank down the saturation, walk away, come back and check again. Once your are satisfied that your footage is not over saturated... then increase the saturation 10 or 15%. Now go get someone else and ask them to watch the video. Don't prompt them, but if they say the colors look artificial, then crank the saturation back down. If they just ohh and ahh, then you are good to go.

Apply a broadcast safe filter.
A broadcast safe filter will clip out any of the illegal blacks or whites in your footage. You won't even see a difference, but footage with illegal blacks/whites is very unprofessional. Its a sure sign of an amateur. You can get away with it on youtube or vimeo, but its so easy to fix. Its kind of like when you see a guy flying his drone without a neck strap on the controller.

Thanks for all the good info. Couple quick questions for you if you have time; I'm kind of new to this but do have Premiere Pro CC and powerful computer to work on. What do you mean about using a scope? Also, what are illegal blacks and whites? Sorry if you covered this somewhere else already. I plan to shoot 4K/30, protune, flat color, iso 400, sharpness down, etc.

 

[erikgraham]

Thanks for all the good info. Couple quick questions for you if you have time; I'm kind of new to this but do have Premiere Pro CC and powerful computer to work on. What do you mean about using a scope? Also, what are illegal blacks and whites? Sorry if you covered this somewhere else already. I plan to shoot 4K/30, protune, flat color, iso 400, sharpness down, etc.

I use Final Cut on a iMac 5k with maxed out RAM. I'm holding off on a Power Mac until they refresh the line. They aren't much more powerful for video editing than the iMac 5K. I do own Adobe Premiere (and the whole CC suite) but I prefer the user interface of Final Cut X. I also have a few powerful PCs, but they are kinda clunky compared to the Mac for this sort of thing. I also have a 12 TB raid array. Many professional editors use Adobe Premier on custom built dedicated editing PCs. Very good bang for your buck.

I'll go through your other questions in a bit and answer them as best as I can. Stay tuned.

 

[erikgraham]

Thanks for all the good info. Couple quick questions for you if you have time; I'm kind of new to this but do have Premiere Pro CC and powerful computer to work on. What do you mean about using a scope? Also, what are illegal blacks and whites? Sorry if you covered this somewhere else already. I plan to shoot 4K/30, protune, flat color, iso 400, sharpness down, etc.

A "scope" is a video scope that shows you information about an image. I have to run my kid to soccer, but here is a quick screen shot that should explain a little. Same concepts apply to Premiere, just a different UI.

 

[JLJ]

Erik thank You very much for all your replies, you have giving a lot of great tips.

Regards,

 

[Jubalr]

Erik thank You very much for all your replies, you have giving a lot of great tips.

Regards,

I think we are very fortunate to have someone as knowledgeable as Erik on here that has given incredible tips on shooting video and would like to see a permanent link to his posts on this subject.
But I also have to go back to the basics of shooting photos and videos and believe that is still very much subjective. And by that I mean that for a great majority of the public, they will see something shot in full auto at 1080/60 and say that it is incredible. But show that to a pro videographer or post production expert and it may turn their stomach.

I believe that what you shoot will depend on how it is needed and where it will be seen. And that will determine how much time you want to spend in post and how much you want to invest in the computer horse power to get there. For people that ask 'what resolution/fps should I shoot in?' I would advise to read Erik's posts, then go out and shoot video! Take a couple of batteries, shoot in each resolution/fps combo for 5min apiece, then take them home to your existing computer equipment and play with each one to see what end result you are both capable and that is acceptable to you visually. There is no set answer that will work for everyone.

Or; @erikgraham will tell me that I am full of sh*t, at which point I will accept that and humbly back away!

 

[erikgraham]

I think we are very fortunate to have someone as knowledgeable as Erik on here that has given incredible tips on shooting video and would like to see a permanent link to his posts on this subject.
But I also have to go back to the basics of shooting photos and videos and believe that is still very much subjective. And by that I mean that for a great majority of the public, they will see something shot in full auto at 1080/60 and say that it is incredible. But show that to a pro videographer or post production expert and it may turn their stomach.

I believe that what you shoot will depend on how it is needed and where it will be seen. And that will determine how much time you want to spend in post and how much you want to invest in the computer horse power to get there. For people that ask 'what resolution/fps should I shoot in?' I would advise to read Erik's posts, then go out and shoot video! Take a couple of batteries, shoot in each resolution/fps combo for 5min apiece, then take them home to your existing computer equipment and play with each one to see what end result you are both capable and that is acceptable to you visually. There is no set answer that will work for everyone.

Or; @erikgraham will tell me that I am full of sh*t, at which point I will accept that and humbly back away!

Thank you for the kind words.

I do want to be clear that I do NOT consider myself to be an expert...

...not by a long stretch. I'm definitely a few chapters ahead of the average Joe, but I am sure that eventually some true pros will come along and offer up much better advice than I can. In the meantime I'm just passing on whatever I do know. I still remember what it was like to learn this stuff in the first place.

A great resource for beginners (and professional video editors) is Lary Jordan. https://larryjordan.com

He does webinars and puts out tons of great video tutorials. Most of the good stuff costs money, but there is a lot of great free content too. The paid stuff it's well worth it - especially for beginners because he is really great at explaining things in a way that easy to digest and understand. He's actually pretty well known in the industry, so you know your learning from an authority - as opposed to someone like me (some random guy on a forum).

And I completely agree about shooting full auto at 1080p/60fps. Add an ND filter for really sunny days and you will really be happy with the results.

Also I wholeheartedly agree with the advice to go out and just start shooting. Change some settings and shoot again. Then go home to your existing hardware and compare the footage.

That last bit is actually why I'm really looking forward to the gimbal. We won't have to land, power down, change settings, power back up and relaunch. That's such a pain in the arse. With the Solo+gimbal we'll be able to change settings on the fly (literally). It will make it soooo much easier to try out different things.

 

[erikgraham]

FYI: I know still left some questions unanswered that I said I'd get to... but I just don't have the energy tonight. I will circle back to that stuff tomorrow when I'm awake and at a regular computer.

 

[erikgraham]

FYI: I know still left some questions unanswered that I said I'd get to... but I just don't have the energy tonight. I will circle back to that stuff tomorrow when I'm awake and at a regular computer.

Uh. I just skimmed thru the thread and I *think* I actually did answer all the questions, so nothing new to add.

I would just say that when you are adjusting your exposure, you want to make sure that the scope you use is set to show Luma. See the bottom scope in the screen shot I posted above.

Also, for anyone interested in the benefits of Protune, check out this slightly outdated youtube video. The title says its about using protune "underwater" but I think it still demonstrates the power of Protune.

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(He shoots these videos with two go pros side by side on a mount with different settings on each, in this case one with Protune and one without).

 

[RVgeeks]

Also, for anyone interested in the benefits of Protune, check out this slightly outdated youtube video.

Love that you linked to a Mitch Bergsma video! I subscribe to, and love, his channel, and have learned so much from him, including all about ND filters (I ordered mine from his store and what a great difference they make). Thanks for all your input Erik.

 

[Doug Benson]

Short answer is yes, 4K wouldn't be worth it.

4k video files are massive. It's just overkill for what it sounds like you want to do. You will completely fill up your hard drive and your iPad.

And let's not forget 1080p is still HIgh Definition. The highest quality movies from iTunes or NetFlix are 1080p. Although YouTube does now support 4k, most videos on the web max out at 1080p.

2.7K is probably overkill also, but the file sizes aren't anything like 4K.

2.7k is much easier to work with and share compared to 4K, but I'm still worried you will run out of disk space and completely fill up your iPad.

Both 2.7k and 1080p allow you to make more tweaks to settings. For example in 4K your locked into a Wide field of view, which will probably show the legs. To remove the legs you'd have to crop, but that means you would have to use a video editor for that, whereas 2.7k and 1080P will let you select Medium and probably Narrow FOV.

Also, 2.7K and 1080P will let you capture at higher frame rates which will probably look smoother.

Plus a lot of TV networks aren't even shooting in 1080p, remember 720p and 1080i is standard for TV broadcast quality.

 

[Walter]

1080p 60

I just shoot in 1080 60 and don't fiddle with anything else. Works fine.

 

[Doug Benson]

I recently got new GoPro 4 Silver from http://x-gopro.com/. Now looking for the best drone for it, I am thinking between DJI Phantom 2 or Parrot AR.Drone 2.0. Please let me know if you experienced any and its pros and cons. Thanks

You do realize this is a 3DR Solo forum right? Seems like a silly question for us on this forum. Im thinking Solo is best.

 

[Bear]

So after reading this thread and another I've learned to set the iso at 400. From shooting stills I know i shouldn't go higher because at that point it's dusk or darker. Recently I saw a video of a Phantom 3 pro shooting at 100 iso in daytime and sunset shots and it looked outstanding. I need to go out and try it but why doesn't anyone recommend going lower than 400iso?