As I'm all new to aerial filming and photography I thought it be a good idea to reach out to my fellow Inspire friends for cool tips and tricks to capture cool footage.

My 1st kind of film ( ) from the air and would like to improve. So post your opinions and tips for me and all who read this thread to improve their skills.

Thanks for posting.

Pedi

These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure
4K/30
1/60 shutter (adjust ISO as needed)
LOG
Sharpness -1, Contrast -3, Saturation -3

This will give you the best color gradeable footage however you need to be experienced in color grading to work with this style of shooting. The settings above will give you very ugly flat boring image, initially....then once you grade the footage correctly the scene comes to life. Try experimenting with LUTs (look up tables) which are like presets to use as a basis to apply a "look + feel" to your footage.

I use LUTS and my own grading in my footage to give it a cinematic look.
Here is my aerial reel: http://scottlamoreaux.com/portfolio_page/aerial-reel/

very impressive, awesome

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 10:12
These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure

Beautiful work scooterlam.    Appreciate the settings info as well.

Is this all Inspire 1 footage?

MJDMike Posted at 2015-2-16 10:53
Beautiful work scooterlam.    Appreciate the settings info as well.

Is this all Inspire 1 footage ...

It's a mix of gopro hero 4, inspire and 2 gh3 clips. And thank you

Hi scooterlam, tell me was this part intentional or good luck.

This is what i call  'sync audio with video'
See @1:10   ' i remember you '

http://scottlamoreaux.com/portfolio_page/aerial-reel/

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 10:12
These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure

Hi Scooter

Where do you set Sharpness, Saturation etc?

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 10:12
These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure

Thx for feedback and the settings for a flat image...will give it go and post my results.

Composition?

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 14:39
It's a mix of gopro hero 4, inspire and 2 gh3 clips. And thank you

Fantastic blending of these different cameras.

From a video rookie:

When flying and encountering changing light conditions, how do you 'adjust the ISO as needed'?  Do you set it when you first go up and change when the camera turns  --  or set it for the general scene and leave it?
I've only used AUTO, but would like to learn more advanced methods.

Thanks for any info.

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 10:12
These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure

That reel is amazing!  What video editing software are you using?  

Muscadel Posted at 2015-2-16 15:42
Hi Scooter

Where do you set Sharpness, Saturation etc?

Function - Style - Custom

MJDMike Posted at 2015-2-16 18:27
Fantastic blending of these different cameras.

From a video rookie:

It's not really ideal for changing on the fly but you can adjust ISO during flight. Ideally you'll want to set the ISO for the shot you intend to capture for the project. If you're goal is just to fly around and capture your entire flight then maybe auto is a safer and less of a hassle.

ex. If you're looking to get a nice shot of the coast line, from the ground adjust the ISO high enough to expose for the highlights without clipping them. You might need tweaking once airborne but This can be changed during your initial hover. You can always switch from manual camera settings to auto if you're footage is blown out or under exposed and you dont feel like messing with it and just want to fly and record.

I almost always have manual control over my settings so I can achieve the most in post production to match other cameras as close as possible.

AegisFC Posted at 2015-2-16 23:56
That reel is amazing!  What video editing software are you using?

Thank you - I use a combination of Red-Cine X (for .r3d files from my RED Camera), FCPx, Adobe Premier, Resolve for color grading, and After Effects for logo and misc animations.

If I had to stick with one NLE it would be FCPx as it's the easiest and has come along way.

dundee Posted at 2015-2-16 15:07
Hi scooterlam, tell me was this part intentional or good luck.

This is what i call  'sync audio wit ...

100% intentional and good eye/ears on that one! My dad is buried at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma.

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-17 04:31
Function - Style - Custom

Thank you very much, Scooter!

You did fine. I use Final Cut Pro X for post with FCPX.com plugins. Constructive criticism smoother transitions from file to file.

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-17 04:35
It's not really ideal for changing on the fly but you can adjust ISO during flight. Ideally you'll ...

Excellent info and advice.  Much appreciated!

Great info thx!

rodger Posted at 2015-2-17 05:54
You did fine. I use Final Cut Pro X for post with FCPX.com plugins. Constructive criticism smoother  ...

Using a fade on every clip would get monotonous. It's a reel not a storyboard so there are no real transitions. The beat of the track is abrupt as is the timing of the transitions. Thanks for the "fine" assessment lol

This is a good article
http://dronetechreport.com/making-aerial-footage-final-cut-x/

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-17 13:33
Using a fade on every clip would get monotonous. It's a reel not a storyboard so there are no real  ...

It can be easily done without a fade more of a blend. When you watch a movie there have been thousands of takes done and then blended. Most programs have that capability. I agree a fade is not very interesting. I must say that he did a nice job putting that together. I was not criticizing his work, he asked for suggestions.

Nice website scooterlam, very crisp and clean

This thread has been very useful for me so far and have been applying the settings scooterloom suggested: only difference is I'm using the right remote wheel for adjusting the shutter speed...can this be set to change the iso instead when camera is in manual mode?

I've created 3 reels since this post:

1. Zurich Lake


I got out to the lake to capture the sun setting but it went down before I could use its golden light...I tried out a technique with tree footage at the beginning of reel. Putting the tree in fore ground. A tip I picked up from one of the reels I've been looking at.

2. Zurich The Dolder Grand Hotel:


This was taken at lunch but the sun still had an angle to it. I would have liked to get closer to the hotel but without permission would only be asking for trouble.

3. Zurich: Fifa and Wine:


This taken in a 30min window just before sunset. My idea was to work with lines from the Vineyard in front of the Fifa building. Also mixed it up a vista shot as the sun went. Challenge I had was working with the exposure but found using the iso screen useful plus keeping on the expo meter. I set the ISO to 200 and used the shutter speed to get the exposure right. Post color graded using RGB curves.

Again feedback appreciated and keep the tips flowing. I'm finding them extremely useful.

Thx,
Pedi   

Hi Pedi, on the first clip at the start of this thread I saw a little bit of "rolling shutter" or prop-shadow when you took off...not sure if you had your ND on the camera but that should knock that out.   Very jealous of your location...here in FL it's very woodsy and flat!

Hey dude, just wanted to say thanks.  I've been looking all over for some good info regarding the camera settings and this is the best I could find.  I've heard/seen that -1 sharpness is a big jump and makes it too dull, do you find this to be true when grading in post?  It's a tough balance because 0 seems to be way too sharp and -1 seems too dull.

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 10:12
These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure

Hi scooterlam: Wich LUTS option have you used on Inspire 1 footage?

Thank you

Hi Pedi,

Nice clips indeed. I noticed the 1st clip is much softer and less sharp as the other two. U sure u used the same settings?

I also tried the sharpness on -1 , and it looks the same as your first clip.

jmboto Posted at 2015-3-4 04:24
Hi scooterlam: Wich LUTS option have you used on Inspire 1 footage?

Thank you

m31, and Nueman Films Inspire Lut package. Run them at different opacities. I find that 100% is wayy to strong.

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 10:12
These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure

Very nice images, but there was a jerkiness to the video. What was causing that?

anybody operate as a dedicated camera op on an Inspire? Just wondering about the ISO comment from above. I'm sure it would be easier that way, but I haven't heard anyone talking about the two-man operation much.

Amazing thread.  Keep up the great info.  I am going out to try some of these suggestions right now.

scooterlam - very impressive aerial !!

scooterlam Posted at 2015-2-16 10:12
These are the settings I use when I want the most out of my footage.

Manual Exposure

Very nice my friend.

hi,
did you have artefacts in the areas with the trees on the original footage? I got very bad ones on mine

@scooterlam any suggestions on getting good shots outside of camera settings? For example keeping pans slow, pan camera tilt speeds etc

I've been learning to use Speed Grade from Adobe and getting some good results...plus the work flow is just awesome. I've posted a vid with comparing my Speed Grade colour grading vs color correction effects in Premiere Pro...Speed Grade is the way to go for me...

vid link:

let me know your thoughts