30fps or 60fps?

[Moaf]

Hi guys, I am just about to start a project for a local ferry company showing off the new branding of their vessels. My idea is to video all around the ships, at sea , in port and where ever else provide a chance, and then take photo grabs off the video for the pictures they want. Using an x5s, My question is, would I be better filming in 4k 30 fps or 4k 60 fps, to get the best quality photographs? As the settings are not as obvious as my P4 could someone also share the settings to use for this please. Thank you very much

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

If you need to use the video for slow motion 60FPS will be better. When you switch to 60FPS the image gets cropped to a narrower field of view so make sure that you choose an appropriate lens. You will most likely be using an ND filter to achieve proper exposure setting for the video. I personally do not take still images using an ND filter.

I would suggest that if you need the highest quality photographs it would be best to stop the video, land and remove the ND filter. Then start another flight, compose the image and use standard camera settings. This would be a good starting point, ISO 100, f5.6 and a shutter speed higher than 1/125 depending on available light.

 

[NickU]

Still images are fine through a decent quality ND filter - if you want a higher shutter speed than 1/50th or 1/100th, then simply bump up the iso a notch or two for the photo, then drop it back when you go back to video mode.

If you want the best quality photos for the client, then you really need to stop the video and switch to shooting stills only Then you can catch a much larger jpeg or dng file. The photos you get while shooting video are lower res and only jpeg.

For the best of both worlds, you can splash out and buy the CinemaDNG license and a few CineSSD cards and shoot CinemaDNG - in that mode each video 'frame' is actually a separate raw dng photo.... but it's going to cost you money

 

[Moaf]

Thank you for the replies. I may take stills instead. I did read somewhere that take full 20 mp stills with the Inspire 2 with X5S takes a bit of sorting, is this the case, or is it easy to choose that particular setting?

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Thank you for the replies. I may take stills instead. I did read somewhere that take full 20 mp stills with the Inspire 2 with X5S takes a bit of sorting, is this the case, or is it easy to choose that particular setting?

A full size .jpg image file will be about 10 mb in size, a Raw .dng image file will be about 40 mb depending on what you are shooting. You can assign the camera to take both with each of the shutter clicks. The raw .dng file will have all of the data saved and will not be corrected in the camera and will look flat in color until it is processed by the photographer in an editing program. The .jpg image will be corrected in camera and you do have settings to assign depending on your preferences.

All of the settings are available by tapping on the goapp screen under the shutter/record button on the right side of the screen.

 

[NickU]

Very easy to set the camera to take the full size image. Switch the camera to photo mode, then select the camera settings option - pick the photo settings menu and then you can select the size and quality you want.

I usually have the options set to 4:3 for photos, and to take JPEG+DNG, normally with a single image. I also tend to leave the photo colour look at D-Cinelike. If you shoot the Raw DNG photos, you can change that later in Lightroom/Photoshop. Be aware that if you choose to save the photos in 16:9 aspect ratio, then you are throwing away parts of the image that you can't get back later - best to shoot in 4:3 aspect ratio and make the decision to edit in photoshop at a later time

 

[slim.slamma]

Be aware that if you choose to save the photos in 16:9 aspect ratio, then you are throwing away parts of the image that you can't get back later - best to shoot in 4:3 aspect ratio and make the decision to edit in photoshop at a later time

That’s a good one to know

 

[jcross]

Re NickU suggestion.. I would suggest NEVER raising ISO when you can remove a filter. I suggest the ONLY time to increase ISO is if light condition too low with no filters. Noise introduction is never a good option. Commercial photographer for over 35 years. Stills pulled from video frames are not recommended, more if a "Polaroid" (for you old timers) to consider a reference for your return still shoot. Sorry so wordy- GOOD COFFEE![emoji16]

 

[Clarxhouse]

If you just want to take photos and not worry about post processing I would recommend using the “None” color profile and don’t forget to set you whit balance manually so your images will look the same. I might also drop your sharpness down one and raise your saturation up 1.

 

[AVImagingllc]

I would recommend shooting stills and video separately. Do the stills RAW and video D-Log. Thankfully now you can do D-Log with ISO 100 (unlike previously iso 500 minimum)
I prefer custom settings -2 -3 -3 and pull out all the detail in FCPX.
I tried to do stills from 4K and they’re not “selling” quality. At least in my view. Best of luck!

 

[NickU]

Re NickU suggestion.. I would suggest NEVER raising ISO when you can remove a filter.

Normally I'd agree with you, but if you're some distance out doing video of a ship entering or leaving port and need the ND filter to drop your Ev values to keep 180/360 shutter, but then want some photos at the same time you might just want to increase your ISO and leave the filter attached... it might take too long to return to dry land, shutdown, remove said filter, power up, and fly back out again

Getting home with some shots is always better than getting home with no useable ones

 

[mmarian]

Does you client actually need video or they are only asking for stills? That is not clear from your first post. If they indeed only want still photos than I would only shoot in DNG format and process the selected photos to the highest possible standard in LR, PS or similar software. Using video grabs for the sole purpose of not missing the "decisive moment" is a lame excuse. This does not sound like a fast pace action. You should have plenty of time to position the drone to frame the shots. You can come home with plenty of shots to then select a few really good ones. If however they want both video and stills and you do not want to miss the action, my best advice would be to use two drones. One for video and one for stills. Something like P4P should suffice for stills and reserve your I2 with X5S for video only.