My First Flight! Video OK, but could be better!

[TR1PL3D]

Hi guys,

So I finally got the Inspire into the air. Flight went well, very good handling and very stable even in gusts of wind.

This is my first video with the Inspire and maybe I had my settings all wrong but I was not blown away by the footage in comparison to some I have seen on YouTube etc.

I made no changes to the camera's settings, other than recording in 1080p@60fps and ND filter attached.

I am noticing some very slight flickering on the footage, its only just noticeable, but its there. See the video below. Video has not been edited, only clipped in FCP and uploaded to YouTube.

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Is there anything I can do to prevent the flickering? Any settings that would help at all?

I have read a few times that its best to shoot in 4k and down sample to 1080p. I will give this a try when it stops raining!

Thanks

 

[The Editor]

Hi guys,

So I finally got the Inspire into the air. Flight went well, very good handling and very stable even in gusts of wind.

This is my first video with the Inspire and maybe I had my settings all wrong but I was not blown away by the footage in comparison to some I have seen on YouTube etc.

I made no changes to the camera's settings, other than recording in 1080p@60fps and ND filter attached.

I am noticing some very slight flickering on the footage, its only just noticeable, but its there. See the video below. Video has not been edited, only clipped in FCP and uploaded to YouTube.

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Is there anything I can do to prevent the flickering? Any settings that would help at all?

I have read a few times that its best to shoot in 4k and down sample to 1080p. I will give this a try when it stops raining!

Thanks

Hi,

Without commenting on the legality of your flight in the UK (which unless you had permission from all the houses you flew over would be illegal).......oops, I just commented on it I can see no flickering on your video. Are you maybe referring to the over sharpening which causes highly detailed areas like foliage etc to 'shimmer'?
If so, try knocking down the sharpness setting to -2 o -3.

 

[JaviKnows]

Hi guys,

Is there anything I can do to prevent the flickering? Any settings that would help at all?

I have read a few times that its best to shoot in 4k and down sample to 1080p. I will give this a try when it stops raining!

Thanks

Great scenery! Would love to film there.

About Flickering:

• There is a remove flicker option in your Pilot App settings. That may help. It gives you two options (50hz & 60hz, I believe). I would just trial + error with that.
• I recently started filming in "LOG" setting. When you record it, the image will look a bit washed out but once you run it through the DJI Transcoder it makes everything look stellar.
• In Final Cut X, click on the clip in your timeline and that will open up video options preferences on the top right window of FCP. In those options there is a "rolling shutting" setting that you can select. (See Screenshot). See if that helps.

Drone Safety:
I'd be nervous about flying around all those trees. When filming in that area, I'd recommend going into your Pilot Camera app's "Advanced" settings and programming a safe Failsafe Return To Home altitude.

Basically what that will do is that if you lose R/C connection and the Failsafe RTH kicks in, the drone will first increase it's altitude before automatically coming back home. That'll help ensure it doesn't automatically come back and crash into a tree.

I film around buildings quite a bit so I like the assurance my Inspire will ascend before returning to me.

View media item 14

 

[JaviKnows]

Hi,

Without commenting on the legality of your flight in the UK (which unless you had permission from all the houses you flew over would be illegal).......oops, I just commented on it I can see no flickering on your video. Are you maybe referring to the over sharpening which causes highly detailed areas like foliage etc to 'shimmer'?
If so, try knocking down the sharpness setting to -2 o -3.

Maybe it was youtube but I saw a bit of flicker around 1:25 on the top of the tree line that borders the sky. Could have been youtube though...

 

[TR1PL3D]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Legal side of things, the big house is mine, the one next to it is my neighbours and the other houses are also my neighbours, they are fine with me flying my Inspire in the area, they were not too keen when I first started a couple of years ago with my Phantom, but when they found out it was me they were fine with it!

I live in a very small, out of the way village and when the residents first saw my Phantom, they though the aliens had landed!

I will try the smoothness setting, Ive watched the video again, and for some reason its not noticeable on the YouTube video, but when I playback the file from the SD card, I can see it. I will try and upload a video that shows the flickering.

It might just be me, I have very sensitive eyes when it comes to flickering!

 

[TR1PL3D]

Great scenery! Would love to film there.

About Flickering:

• There is a remove flicker option in your Pilot App settings. That may help. It gives you two options (50hz & 60hz, I believe). I would just trial + error with that.
• I recently started filming in "LOG" setting. When you record it, the image will look a bit washed out but once you run it through the DJI Transcoder it makes everything look stellar.
• In Final Cut X, click on the clip in your timeline and that will open up video options preferences on the top right window of FCP. In those options there is a "rolling shutting" setting that you can select. (See Screenshot). See if that helps.

Drone Safety:
I'd be nervous about flying around all those trees. When filming in that area, I'd recommend going into your Pilot Camera app's "Advanced" settings and programming a safe Failsafe Return To Home altitude.

Basically what that will do is that if you lose R/C connection and the Failsafe RTH kicks in, the drone will first increase it's altitude before automatically coming back home. That'll help ensure it doesn't automatically come back and crash into a tree.

I film around buildings quite a bit so I like the assurance my Inspire will ascend before returning to me.

View media item 14

Thanks very much for this, I will give all of this a try.

I made myself a pre-flight checklist and setting the RTH height is part of that. For that flight it was set at 100 meters.

Thanks again

 

[The Editor]

Thanks very much for this, I will give all of this a try.

I made myself a pre-flight checklist and setting the RTH height is part of that. For that flight it was set at 100 meters.

Thanks again

That's why I caveated my comments with 'unless you had permission'

The anti flicker setting won't alter things I'm afraid as it is used to alliviate the line frequency mismatch between the native AC current frequency used with lighting in frame (street lights, neon signs etc) and your base frame rate setting. For 99% of the time you can leave that on Auto.
Does your flickering only occur on one TV/Monitor or have you tried it on several?
Try and upload something where it shows and we can try and diagnose it.

 

[turbodronepilot]

No wonder you see flicker ..
you have alien eyes...
turbo...

 

[TR1PL3D]

That's why I caveated my comments with 'unless you had permission'

The anti flicker setting won't alter things I'm afraid as it is used to alliviate the line frequency mismatch between the native AC current frequency used with lighting in frame (street lights, neon signs etc) and your base frame rate setting. For 99% of the time you can leave that on Auto.
Does your flickering only occur on one TV/Monitor or have you tried it on several?
Try and upload something where it shows and we can try and diagnose it.

It looks like JaviKnows has the answer above, after reading a bit more into LOG mode, it seems that much more can be done in post to finish things off.

Will have to test this out and report my findings.

Just waiting for YouTube to process my upload and I will post it.

Cheers

 

[turbodronepilot]

I'm glad you didn't let the negative post about problems hold you back and you're past that and on to perfecting your video..
that's great!!
Turbo...

 

[TR1PL3D]

I'm glad you didn't let the negative post about problems hold you back and you're past that and on to perfecting your video..
that's great!!
Turbo...

Well, I had been waiting for weeks for it to arrive back in stock at my supplier, just couldn't bring myself to send it back, so up it went!

I am very happy with it, sure there are a few kinks to work out, but I'll get there, especially with the help I have received so far on here!

So thanks all

 

[TR1PL3D]

Well, this is a bit odd, but what ever YouTube does to a video when they process it, seems to have got rid of the flicker!

Im not losing my mind, honest!

I can see the flicker when played back direct from the SD card, or copied onto an SSD hard drive from the SD card and then played back.

Anyway, here is the footage which DOES contain flicker when viewed direct from the HDD or SD card!

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[JaviKnows]

Well, this is a bit odd, but what ever YouTube does to a video when they process it, seems to have got rid of the flicker!

Im not losing my mind, honest!

I can see the flicker when played back direct from the SD card, or copied onto an SSD hard drive from the SD card and then played back.

Anyway, here is the footage which DOES contain flicker when viewed direct from the HDD or SD card!

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Youtube does do quite a bit of converting+tweaking during the processing phase so maybe that's why it fixes it.

Don't feel bad if you're first videos don't look like everything everyone else is posting. That all comes with practice. Hell, I wouldn't have posted my first video- kudos to you for both posting + asking for help.

Some questions that would help troubleshoot:

Computer:

• What computer are you using? Specs?
  • Sometimes even though the file is fine, the computer doesn't have enough power for playback and will drop frames as a result (My MacBook Air does that, Mac Mini Doesn't)
• Your SSD Drive: Would it happen to be a Samsung 840 Series?
  • I have an 840 and there is a firmware issue that kills the performance
  • Bad Firmware: Wrote/Read 25mbs/60mbs
  • Fixed Firmware: Write @ ~190mbs /~400mbs
• Are you playing file directly from SD card?
• Is the Flickering on the original file only or on the file you exported?
• Download Black Magic Disk Speed Test and give it a spin. See what results you get. That'll give you some better insight on your hard drive performance.

Final Cut Settings: (I doubt this is the case but just to be sure)

• Do your sequence settings and clip settings match? Final cut usually prompts you if they don't.
• If they DO match, what about your export settings? Are you changing any image settings during export?
• Have you tested another editing software?

Camera Settings:

• You're filming/editing in PAL, right? (I'm sorry if it's a stupid question but I've read about a couple people getting massive flickr because they accidentally filmed in wrong format.)
• Memory Card: High-Speed? Slower cards may cause dropped frames
• Take notice of your shutter speed + frame rate when filming.
• Even at 60fps, it can still get choppy with fast movements (same thing with shutter speed)

Filming in 4k:

• I know video/editing, but I'm just learning now about 4k.
• If you have the space, film at 4k whenever you can just to get that extra OOOmmmphhh in video. Even if you edit it for a 1080p project, the 4k video theoretically should look better + better color.
• I would double check frame rates + such when mixing/matching resolutions. I'm sure different frame rates in one project will cause some kind of flickering or distortion.

This boring/informative video gives you an intro as to why 4k should look better even if for a 1080p project.

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[TR1PL3D]

Thanks for your valued reply, I will answer you questions below.

Computer:

• What computer are you using? Specs?
  • Late 2014 Mac Mini, Intel Core i7
• Your SSD Drive: Would it happen to be a Samsung 840 Series?
  • Not sure if its a Samsung, its what ever Apple use in the Mac Mini
• Are you playing file directly from SD card?
  • I have tried playback from both SD Card and direct from the SSD after being copied over from the SD card.
• Is the Flickering on the original file only or on the file you exported?
  • Both, but its gone from the video when uploaded to YouTube.
• Download Black Magic Disk Speed Test and give it a spin. See what results you get. That'll give you some better insight on your hard drive performance.
  • 668MB/s Write and 719MB/s Read

Final Cut Settings: (I doubt this is the case but just to be sure)

• Do your sequence settings and clip settings match? Final cut usually prompts you if they don't.
  • They are the same
• If they DO match, what about your export settings? Are you changing any image settings during export?
  • I am not changing any image settings during export, I only apply some rolling Shutter and am currently playing around with LUT's
• Have you tested another editing software?
  • No, not yet, I will be trying some different ones soon, can you recommend any?

Camera Settings:

• You're filming/editing in PAL, right? (I'm sorry if it's a stupid question but I've read about a couple people getting massive flickr because they accidentally filmed in wrong format.)
  • Yes, I have it set to PAL
• Memory Card: High-Speed? Slower cards may cause dropped frames
  • Currently using the SD card supplied with the Inspire, I will try a different one.
• Take notice of your shutter speed + frame rate when filming.
  • I will keep an eye on these.
• Even at 60fps, it can still get choppy with fast movements (same thing with shutter speed)
  • If I play the video direct from the SD card connected direct to my LG Smart TV, its smooth as silk, still flickering, but no stuttering which is apparent on my Mac Mini, VLC media player always shows stuttering when playing back 1080p@60fps. However Quick Time player still shows stutter but nowhere near as bad as VLC.

Filming in 4k:

• I know video/editing, but I'm just learning now about 4k.
  • Me too!
• If you have the space, film at 4k whenever you can just to get that extra OOOmmmphhh in video. Even if you edit it for a 1080p project, the 4k video theoretically should look better + better color.
  • It seems that this is true, after messing around, 4K video looks better when reduced to 1080p instead of the original being recorded in 1080p from the beginning, only issue is of course no 60fps in 4k, so some stuttering is going to be apparent.
• I would double check frame rates + such when mixing/matching resolutions. I'm sure different frame rates in one project will cause some kind of flickering or distortion.
  • I have been careful with the frame rates, and they all match.

Still learning, here is another video I have uploaded to YouTube for testing.

This video was recorded in 4K on the Inspire, LOG colour and all other camera settings on Auto.

Used FCP and applied Rolling Shutter, and a LUT to improve colour. I am pretty happy with the results, still not where I want it to be, but getting closer.

I exported the file as a Master File from within FCP, Apple ProRes 442. Then uploaded direct to YouTube.

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Thanks again, and I sincerely appreciate yours and everyone else's help.