Hey Jim,

Thanks so much for your contributions to the forum.  Had a question about exposure and manual settings in a 360 shot including a setting sun.  Manually exposing and getting things right on either side will blow out the sun area or massively underexpose the area not pointing directly to the sun.  I have the ND set and could get perfect exposure and setting for either case but dramatically wrong for others.  So I ended up switching out of manual.  There is a disconcerting transition when the system adjusts the exposure during the shot, but I found this less distracting vs just being under or over, there seems to be not enough dynamic range available.

So, question, what do you recommend for settings in such a case or would you just shoot in multiple shots with a cut each properly exposed (not attempting to mix the shot with the sun actually in the frame with one where it is out of frame?  Sometimes for narrative it's nice to have sun in frame (think top of a mountain when you are rotating around a peak, it's nice to get the full peak in the rotation.  But I find it a real challenge any time the actual sun is in frame.  Thanks for any insight you can offer!

Question for the forum users...

I have been working on my first video for a local boy scout event. I recorded everything in the default settings...

Well, my 2011 MAC with 8 GB memory, and a 500 GB SSD, has not been happy. Essentially all the video is jumpy to view, and slow as molasses to work on.

I finally was able to get all of my clips downconverter it to 25 fps and 1080, and viewing and editing are fine.

I will record in 1080 and 25 fps in the future, until I upgrade equipment.

The question is what do I need? I prefer Apple for photography, but have never seen it bogged down until now.

Thanks in advance...

DJK Posted at 2015-5-10 04:32
Question for the forum users...

I have been working on my first video for a local boy scout event.  ...

Hi DJK,

Yeah, that's a common issue with computers more than two or three years old, both MAC and PC.   The highly compressed MP4/H.264 files are difficult to work with.   

If you watch my first tutorial it talks about transcoding before editing, where you essentially prepare your files for easy editing by color correcting them first and changing them to ProRes (on a Mac) which makes them a breeze to edit.

I wouldn't dumb down your shooting settings, you are best to shoot at the highest resolution available.   Just go through the transcode process and you'll find editing a joy!

And stick with the Mac, it's your best friend when it comes to this stuff!

Jim

I1d Posted at 2015-5-10 02:15
Hey Jim,

Thanks so much for your contributions to the forum.  Had a question about exposure and man ...

Hi I1d,

Yeah, I hear ya!   That's a tricky one and there is no easy answer.   If you stick with AUTO mode you can smooth out the exposure shifts a bit by breaking the clip into two at the point of transition, doing some manual exposure manipulation on the second clip to make it better match, then cross dissolve the clips.   This will slow down the transition.   Won't be perfect but can certainly make a big improvement.  Keep in mind you'll need to get back to the native clip (with no color manipulation) pretty quickly so you'll need to do a second cut and crossfade.

To go down the MANUAL road you could have your finger on the wheel and practice adjusting exposure as you go.   So maybe start at the sun with the shutter high, then wheel it down as you pan around, wheeling back up as you approach the sun again.   Much easier with two operators obviously but I'd say it could be done.

If it were me I'd be going with option 2.   Always better to get what you need "in camera" rather than rely on post production to save you, since it often won't!

Hope this helps,

Jim

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-10 05:56
Hi DJK,

Yeah, that's a common issue with computers more than two or three years old, both MAC and ...

Thanks, I'll try that out before I goto a lower resolution

I watched your complete video 1,  downloaded the free DaVinci, and pulled in my video, but could not get DaVinci lite to show me a timeline like i saw in yours, the color tab also had nothing I could select.

DJK Posted at 2015-5-10 10:55
I watched your complete video 1,  downloaded the free DaVinci, and pulled in my video, but could not ...

You may have left out a step along the way, like unchecking the EMPTY TIMELINE box when creating in the EDIT page.

Dangair Posted at 2015-5-9 11:16
Skydrone, nice job! and beautiful countryside too. where is it?

hello
this is in norway a place called blåfjell(lio)

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-8 14:15
Wow!   One of the best Inspire videos ever!   Brilliant, love the landscape and your choices.

Als ...

thanks jim,i have learned some trick from your post here,thanks for helping :-)

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-10 12:02
You may have left out a step along the way, like unchecking the EMPTY TIMELINE box when creating i ...

Thanks, i'll keep looking, I can't find that field....

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-10 12:02
You may have left out a step along the way, like unchecking the EMPTY TIMELINE box when creating i ...

Well, i wasn't going crazy after all. After zooming into your video and watching it slowly and repeatedly, I discovered that part of my view is hidden.

I caould not get to the bottom controls, they were off screen, and DaVinci would not let me resize the screen.

Finally found that the green expand button would reduce the screen size to fit...........

DJK Posted at 2015-5-11 02:55
Well, i wasn't going crazy after all. After zooming into your video and watching it slowly and repe ...

Excellent, glad you found it!

jimhare Posted at 2015-3-11 05:00
Hi Robert.  Everything I've shot so far has been on my own as they are basically just tests to see ...

Over the last few months I've been learning to fly quads in my neighborhood. There are gobs and gobs and gobs of trees - palm trees and great big, monstrous oak trees - 90 - 100 feet tall. My wife supports my fun, but she's not interested - except she likes some of the results!

It's sometimes challenging trying to figure out the safe way from point A to point B and keep both the safety of the craft in mind as well as the shot(s) you're trying to get!

Saw a fascinating tutorial yesterday - the cereal box top technique of circling an object while keeping the camera pointed at said object. For *that* lesson, there's a big field down near the lake!

Hey Jim,

I figured it out! Thanks anyway!

For anyone who is interested, when you hover over the audio track in edit mode you will see a small tab in the upper corners of the track which you can slide to adjust the fade.

Thanks!


"Hi Jim,

Sorry to bug you with what is most likely a super simple question but I have scoured the web and videos for an answer and cannot find it anywhere. I figured you would probably know since you are quite familiar with davinci resolve. How do I fade music out in davinci? I am at the end of my video and I just want to fade the music out as the song doesn't end when the video does. This is my first time adding the music to my video through davinci.

Anyway, thanks in advance!"

nalhutta Posted at 2015-5-14 04:20
Hey Jim,

I figured it out! Thanks anyway!

Glad you worked it out!  Sorry, I must have missed your original post.   I try to dig back into the thread to pick everything up but sometimes I miss a few.

Cheers,

Jim

I1d Posted at 2015-5-10 02:15
Hey Jim,

Thanks so much for your contributions to the forum.  Had a question about exposure and man ...

This is some good info. I can't wait till I can embed some videos here.

What are the best settings to shoot 4K 25fps at the latest FW?

I noticed if you have in MANUAL you can't  do AE LOCK, that is bad. And even if you have AE LOCK ON there is still something automatically changing the settings. It is most visible in the darker parts of the video.

quadslo Posted at 2015-5-14 23:35
What are the best settings to shoot 4K 25fps at the latest FW?

I noticed if you have in MANUAL you  ...

Hi,

There is no AE (auto exposure) in MANUAL MODE so no need for a lock.  

If you are seeing exposure shifts then you aren't in MANUAL MODE.  

Thr best settings in my opinion are:

MANUAL MODE ON
ISO -100
ND16 (Renaat ND)
Color-LOG
White Balance - Auto
Sharpness -0
Saturation -2
Contrast -2
OVEREXPOSURE WARNING ON
HISTOGRAM ON

Adjust shutter speed until only a couple of overexposure lines remain.   Basically get rid of all except maybe a cloud or speculate highlights.

Check the histogram and aim to get a waveform that's meaty in the middle and  doesn't get truncated at the right.

This will give you a very healthy exposure.

IMPORTANT - the result will not look pleasing to the eye initially, it will be milky and dull.  This is the starting point you want so you have the most options in post production.

skydrone Posted at 2015-5-10 18:45
hello
this is in norway a place called blåfjell(lio)

Nice! I was in Bardofos and Tromso I think I spelled that right? What a beautiful place! The people were super friendly, but the beer costs a fortune! Of course that was in 91'.

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-10 06:01
Hi I1d,

Yeah, I hear ya!   That's a tricky one and there is no easy answer.   If you stick with A ...

Hi Jim,

I really appreciate all the help you have given to this forum but I'm just slightly concerned about your advice to forum members to make 'on the go' on screen adjustments to their camera setting whilst in the air.

A pilot should be predominantly keeping their eyesight on the UAV up in air not on the screen attached to the remote controller.  Any detailed changes to settings should be carried prior to take off or as you refer to by a second operator.   Quick glances down to the screen to check distance , height and battery levels are essential but detailed parameter changes, especially in the middle of a manoeuvre cannot be advised.

It's a similar situation to talking on your phone whilst driving - your attention on the most crucial safety aspects is simply not there.

For most people concentrating on the flying with the camera in follow mode and keeping the camera settings in predetermined auto modes will produce pretty high quality 4k or 1080p footage.

Cyclops Posted at 2015-5-17 18:56
Hi Jim,

I really appreciate all the help you have given to this forum but I'm just slightly conce ...

Hi Cyclops,   I certainly understand what you are saying and you are right that everyone's first priority needs to be safe piloting.

What I do is to reach my shooting location and find a safe place to hover.   I have already entered the settings that I expect to be correct on the ground so I just have to glance at the screen to see the histogram and overexposure bars to make any tiny adjustments.   I do this in about 1.5 seconds or so usually by spinning the adjustment dial a bit to alter the shutter speed.   If it requires more I'll do a single adjustment, check the bird in my line of sight, then go back and forth until everything is perfect.   

At the same time I am hyper aware to ensure GPS is not lost plus any change on the bird would mean visual movement on screen, which I look out for.

So between the miniscule time my eyes are on the screen added to the precautions I've built into my procedure, I'm very comfortable with my way of working.

But yes, I can see how promoting this without explaining the step by step procedure could cause problems.   I suppose I assumed everyone would have a "safety first" approach.

Thanks for pointing this out, hopefully will help others.

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-17 19:18
Hi Cyclops,   I certainly understand what you are saying and you are right that everyone's first pr ...

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your reply.

As someone about to take the final part of the UK CAA BNUCs accreditation, the flying exam, I'm probably hyper aware of the safety implications of not maintaining good eye contact with a UAV in the air.   I'm also very aware of the level of skill level required to pilot one of these quadcopters successfully. They are very easy to buy but for a newbie it can take a long while to gain the experience to judge distance, height, speed and bearing.

So to then add in the additional factor of manually adjusting a camera in flight is in my opinion not safe practice. It is also impossible to do this in Atti mode, something that every pilot should slowly learn to master in a wide open space, in preparation for the time when there is a fault with the GPS lock.

Your practice of hovering in a safe position is a sensible compromise.

Cyclops Posted at 2015-5-17 19:51
Hi Jim,

Thanks for your reply.

Also, kind of makes the 2km distance a bit of a joke since if the Inspire is more than about 500M away there isn't much line of sight going on anyway!   A little dot in the sky doesn't accomplish much when it comes to control...

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-18 09:01
Also, kind of makes the 2km distance a bit of a joke since if the Inspire is more than about 500M  ...

Yes - quite agree.  Even at 500 metres it can be very hard to tell which way the craft is facing and in the not unlikely event of a loss of a video signal an observer with a pair of binoculars can be very useful.

Cyclops Posted at 2015-5-18 22:59
Yes - quite agree.  Even at 500 metres it can be very hard to tell which way the craft is facing a ...

Yeah, this morning I was flying the P3 and was out about 300M when the app lost contact for about 30 seconds.  I still had manual control with the sticks so just had to keep my wits and fly it in, but any further I would have struggled.  

jimhare Posted at 2015-3-10 18:13
Thanks guys, any clarification on stuff I didn't explain well?

Jim, thanks for taking the time to post these tutorials - the information is great.  As a noob to both shooting and post-processing aerial footage, this information was invaluable!

Quick question: as a result of your tutorial, I downloaded DaVinci (Lite 11.3.x) and have tried my hand at some post work.  However, the LUTS that are present in my menus are exclusively for correction of a particular specific camera output.  Is there a trick to getting default LUTS similar to yours (i.e. Sunny Beach, Forest, etc.) to show up, or are those custom LUTS you have saved?  Thanks!

mekorff@gmail.c Posted at 2015-5-20 03:23
Jim, thanks for taking the time to post these tutorials - the information is great.  As a noob to  ...

Hi Mekorff,

Glad you enjoyed the tutorials, it can all be a bit overwhelming at first but keep with it!

The LUTs for the Inspire are made by another company, here is the link:

http://neumannfilms.net/?product=dji-inspire-1-luts

They're about $50 and a good investment if you plan to do this a lot.  

The different looks will save you a ton of time to quickly get very close to the effect you are after.  

Hope this helps!

Jim

10,000 baby!   Just passed 10,000 views on my tutorial thread, thanks for watching!   

I was surprised when it got to 5,000...

Jim

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-15 04:19
Hi,

There is no AE (auto exposure) in MANUAL MODE so no need for a lock.  

Hi Jim,

I have a client that wants a his winery shot.  He will be using an external professional editor to create the story so all he needs is the footage.
He has requested all footage to be shot in 4K.  In order to maximize the data that he can work with, what video size is the max and fastest?  (4K): 4096x2160p24/25, 3840x2160p24/25/30
What would be the ideal corresponding shutter speed?  I am trying to wrap my head around the 180 degree rule.  If I understand it correctly, if I am shooting at 30fps, I want my shutter speed to be at least 60?  If I can shoot at say shutter at 50 with meaty exposure, is there a benefit? I should mention that I have Renaats filters, so over exposing should not be an issue and I should be able to capture within a sweet spot.Last thing, the higher I go up in ND filter values, is there any benefit to changing the sat/contrast settings to -1 rather than -2?  With a restaurant and lots of greenery (vines and trees), would you recommend having sharp at 0, sat/con at -2 still for this application?
Thanks as always!

Sky High Aerial Posted at 2015-5-22 02:20
Hi Jim,

I have a client that wants a his winery shot.  He will be using an external professional e ...

Hey Sky High,

The frame rate should really come from their editor, especially if they are adding your shots other material they are shooting.  You'll want to use the same frame rate they are using.

Yes, the 180 degree rule is double the frame rate.   Physical shutters are typically measured in degrees of a circle rather than time and described as an ANGLE rather than time.   So 360 degrees is equal to the frame rate, 180 degrees is double, 90 is quadrouple and so on.
180 is the shutter angle typically used in feature films so has a familiar look that our eye has been trained to see that represents quality and depth of story telling.   By tapping into this, as well as shooting in LOG for control during vision grading, our videos go to a whole new level.

And yes, I think the 0, -2, -2 are the right settings for almost any situation.

I suggest you have a direct conversation with their editor.   This will head off any problems later.   In addition to talking about the frame rate bring up the ND filters.   Let them know that the heavier the ND you use, the more it will alter the color balance, and by the time you get to the ND16 and 32 there will be a significant amount of grading required to make the image really pop.    Maybe even shoot a few quick tests of the same setting with the various NDs and send them over so they can see what you mean.   

If they aren't up for the challenge then I suggest maxing out at the ND8 and raising the shutter speed (yes breaking the 180 rule) to compensate.       There is a very real trade-off between shutter and IR pollution introduced by heavy ND filters so you need to strike a balance when making these decisions.

Sorry if this creates more questions than it answers!   

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-22 05:25
Hey Sky High,

The frame rate should really come from their editor, especially if they are adding y ...

Hey Jim,

Thanks and yes, more questions than answers right now.
Most of the shooting will take place during the golden hour this evening so I anticipate not having to use more than the ND8.  Sun will also be at my back.
The editing will be with an editing firm and all they have asked is LOG 4K.  If I had to choose one, 30 fps good with a shutter of 60?
Again, brighter is better than darker, right?
Unfortunately, I am working with the manager of the winery and so everything goes from him to them back to him then to me.  He just said he is out of the office and to do whatever I think is best.  
They have lots of money and I love to fly, so if I capture great footage but at the wrong frame rate,  they can just pay to have me come back

Sky High Aerial Posted at 2015-5-22 05:44
Hey Jim,

Thanks and yes, more questions than answers right now.

Good stuff.

Yes, 30FPS is good for two reasons:

1. In Canada that's the framerate of TV so if they are making something for DVD, BluRay or broadcast they will probably use this rate anyway.

2. If they are using 24FPS then they can  "overcrank" your footage and slow it down by 20%, which takes the edge off any moves and makes motion more elegant in general.

So yeah, it's a WIN/WIN.

And if you can stick to the ND8 or lighter then that's perfect.   Even if your shutter speed ends up closer to 100 I think it's worth it.   Use the Histogram and Over Exposure warning to dial the shutter speed in.   In the Over Exposure warning make it so you only have a couple of small spots reading as overexposed.   That's the best exposure balance in my experience.

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-22 05:50
Good stuff.

Yes, 30FPS is good for two reasons:

Yes!!!
I feel like I'm actually learning stuff and can start to contribute to more indepth instruction.
The best part of it, and I am sure we will all agree, your are one amazing teacher.
Thank you as always for your patience and ongoing sharing of your knowledge.
I think I'm all set for my first big shoot!  I split it into 2 sessions,  so whatever I don't capture tonight, i can get tomorrow.  It will give me a chance to make sure I did things right.

Sky High Aerial Posted at 2015-5-22 06:05
Yes!!!
I feel like I'm actually learning stuff and can start to contribute to more indepth instruc ...

Thanks for your kind words.

If I weren't in production I would have loved to be a full time teacher!   

If you're allowed to post anything would love to see some footage, sounds like it will be great!

Jim

DJK Posted at 2015-5-10 04:32
Question for the forum users...

I have been working on my first video for a local boy scout event.  ...

You can edit with proxy files that are a lot easier on your computer, then when you're ready to render you switch back to the original files.

Jim, your a monster man! you've almost cracked 11,000 hits! That's a DJI all time greatest hits thread.

Dangair Posted at 2015-5-23 13:36
Jim, your a monster man! you've almost cracked 11,000 hits! That's a DJI all time greatest hits thre ...

I know right?   Pretty wild.   Been a lot of fun working through all the stuff with everyone.

Thanks!

Jim

Jim,

OKay, so I took some nice footage yesterday and thought I would try and play with it in post production. At this point I have created a new project folder and set the configuration. Opened it up and thought it would be easy enough to add my video clip right....  Not really. How do you import the MP4 log file into Davinci Resolve project folder?

Thanks
Rich

RichJ53 Posted at 2015-5-25 13:21
Jim,

OKay, so I took some nice footage yesterday and thought I would try and play with it in post p ...

Hey Rich,

There are a few steps.   First you create the project, then you start in the MEDIA tab (at the bottom) and drag the clips into the MEDIA POOL.    Then go to the EDIT tab (at the bottom) and CREATE A NEW TIMELINE by right-clicking in the boxes near the top left.   Make sure to de-select CREATE EMPTY TIMELINE or it will just be blank.   This way it will put in all your clips from the media pool back to back.

When you go to the COLOR tab your clips will be there waiting for you.

Look for some DaVinci tutorials online, I'm sure there are a bunch on setting up projects.

jimhare Posted at 2015-5-25 16:33
Hey Rich,

There are a few steps.   First you create the project, then you start in the MEDIA tab  ...

Thank you Jim, you are right on as always.

I was playing around with it today and should post something once it is finished.