Settings for optimum video

[Martycox51]

I am hoping that an accomplished videographer will read this thread and help me get better results in taking quality video. Question number 1: am I better off taking video in 4K at 24 fps or in 1080p at 60 fps? A follow-up question to that one is: am I better off slowing the frame rate down and having motion blur? Question number 2: what ND filter/filters should I be using? The one that came with the Inspire doesn't seem to impress me much. Question number 3: in post processing, what is the best resolution to export to sites such as Vimeo and YouTube? Also, if I'm making a DVD, what resolution seems to work best?

I would really appreciate feedback from those who are having success. Thanks, in advance!

 

[ADSSER]

I'm interested in answers to those questions as well, thanks for asking them.

 

[rilot]

A1: That depends on whether you want to have 4k or 1080p video. There is no better. Personally, I shoot at 4k/24 and then downsample to 1080p.
A2: 60fps looks more "home video", 30fps looks more cinematic. Shoot to get the results you prefer the look of.
A3: The included ND filter isn't very dark and so on bright days you won't be able to get down to the 1/fps shutter speed that get's the nicest blur between frames. I recommend you buy some darker filters from the chap on here who makes them. The thread is in the Photographs and Video section.

For DVDs, NTSC or PAL resolutions are what you want to output as if you want to be able to play the DVD in a normal DVD player.

 

[ADSSER]

A1: That depends on whether you want to have 4k or 1080p video. There is no better. Personally, I shoot at 4k/24 and then downsample to 1080p.
A2: 60fps looks more "home video", 30fps looks more cinematic. Shoot to get the results you prefer the look of.
A3: The included ND filter isn't very dark and so on bright days you won't be able to get down to the 1/fps shutter speed that get's the nicest blur between frames. I recommend you buy some darker filters from the chap on here who makes them. The thread is in the Photographs and Video section.

For DVDs, NTSC or PAL resolutions are what you want to output as if you want to be able to play the DVD in a normal DVD player.

How does one "downsample" from 4k/24 to 1080p?

 

[Kilrah]

That depends on the software you're using.

 

[Outta Control]

I am hoping that an accomplished videographer will read this thread and help me get better results in taking quality video. Question number 1: am I better off taking video in 4K at 24 fps or in 1080p at 60 fps? A follow-up question to that one is: am I better off slowing the frame rate down and having motion blur? Question number 2: what ND filter/filters should I be using? The one that came with the Inspire doesn't seem to impress me much. Question number 3: in post processing, what is the best resolution to export to sites such as Vimeo and YouTube? Also, if I'm making a DVD, what resolution seems to work best?

I would really appreciate feedback from those who are having success. Thanks, in advance!

Guys y'all should ...



and learn some basics in Inspire 1 video settings.

 

[Nate H]

I shoot 4k UHD as it fits nicer in a 16:9 project than the slightly taller 4k DCI. Down-res using FCPX into a 1080p timeline.

Shoot at 24p or 30p depending on if I want slight slow motion. Usually do 24p as it allocates the limited 60mbps bitrate for 15% fewer frames.

Shoot with the LOG color profile and the custom picture settings to -1 Sharpness, -3 Contrast and -3 Saturation. White balance set to Sun or cloudy depending on the day. I don't use auto.

Manual exposure settings with Gain as low as possible (100). I use the shutter speed to compensate for exposure, trying to keep it as close to 1/60 as possible. Additional ND filters are a must to reduce exposure enough to maintain 1/60 shutter speed.

I dislike the artifacts in the inspire 1 video. I believe the camera over sharpens the image by default. I recently downloaded the new Neat Video 4 noise reduction software plugin and it does a very good job at cleaning the video and minimizing the artifacts in the video. This takes a long time and I only use it for high-end projects. But, it does make a difference in my opinion and allows matching of aerials to traditional terrestrial footage shot with much nicer cameras.

Export to whatever you want for YouTube. If you want to show 4k, export 4k H.264 at 30,000-40,000kbps. 1080p will look good exported at 10,000-20,000kbps. You need to remember that YouTube will encode the video again after you upload it, so it helps to upload a higher bitrate than you would just viewing a local file.

Then again, no one is going to watch the 4k on YouTube besides the people on this forum, so you need to consider if the processing and upload time is worth it to you in the long run.

DVD gets smashed down to 720x480 so you don't even need to shoot 1080p for that to look good. Keep it simple if that's your medium - it's heartbreaking to see 4k content you painstakingly produced on a SD DVD player...





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[damoncooper]

I'll save you a pile of searching and trial and error:

- Set camera to Manual

- Set -3 sharpness, -1 on contrast and -2 for color (LOG)

- Use ND16 or ND32 filter on sunny days

- Set and lock exposure (lite lock icon, top right)

- Set ISO to 100, shutter speed to 1/60 (assuming 4k/30 fps)

- Color correct and add a touch of sharpness back in post

Hope that helps.

 

[damoncooper]

@martycox is this helpful?

 

[Nate H]

How does one "downsample" from 4k/24 to 1080p?

All this really means is shrinking a 4K video to fit inside a 1080p project. Every square of four pixels in the 4K video combine to create one pixel in the 1080p project. Usually this is as simple as creating a 1080p timeline in your editing software and dropping in the 4K video file. You may need to set the 4K video file scaling to 50% for it to fit correctly. This creates a very high-quality and sharp 1080p video, arguably sharper and with more color fidelity than shooting 1080p in the first place.

 

[Martycox51]

I'll save you a pile of searching and trial and error:

- Set camera to Manual

- Set -3 sharpness, -1 on contrast and -2 for color (LOG)

- Use ND16 or ND32 filter on sunny days

- Set and lock exposure (lite lock icon, top right)

- Set ISO to 100, shutter speed to 1/60 (assuming 4k/30 fps)

- Color correct and add a touch of sharpness back in post

Hope that helps.

Thanks a bunch! I will try it.

 

[lrwskyfilms]

Excellent info, it always good to get ideas what others are using. Thx.

 

[Mossie]

I'll save you a pile of searching and trial and error:

- Set camera to Manual

- Set -3 sharpness, -1 on contrast and -2 for color (LOG)

- Use ND16 or ND32 filter on sunny days

- Set and lock exposure (lite lock icon, top right)

- Set ISO to 100, shutter speed to 1/60 (assuming 4k/30 fps)

- Color correct and add a touch of sharpness back in post

Hope that helps.

On this forum, there are many things that people disagree on. Well one thing that seems universal is that you should set sharpness -3.
Well I've tried -3 and it looks absolutely terrible , even after post editing. -1 doesn't look much better either. For me the only sharpness setting is 0, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Nate H]

Shot -1 sharpness last week and was very happy. A bit oversharpened but quite good. Today I did -2 and the result was mush, even after adding back sharpness in Final Cut. Not too happy with it. ISO was at 100-200 both times but there was a clear difference. I will be sticking with -1 for the future, even if there is some slight artifacting.


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[RGD]

A1: That depends on whether you want to have 4k or 1080p video. There is no better. Personally, I shoot at 4k/24 and then downsample to 1080p.
A2: 60fps looks more "home video", 30fps looks more cinematic. Shoot to get the results you prefer the look of.
A3: The included ND filter isn't very dark and so on bright days you won't be able to get down to the 1/fps shutter speed that get's the nicest blur between frames. I recommend you buy some darker filters from the chap on here who makes them. The thread is in the Photographs and Video section.

For DVDs, NTSC or PAL resolutions are what you want to output as if you want to be able to play the DVD in a normal DVD player.

I have a question on the still photo side. I would like to be able to make prints in the 24x36 range. I have been shooting HDR in Raw but the resolution only allows small prints. I did some editing in lightroom but not exactly sure what the issue is. Any suggestions from anyone would be helpful

 

[Nate H]

You could shoot a series of photos and stitch them into a 3, 4 or 6 photo "panorama." I believe some others have done this with good results.

Maybe it's personal preference, but for aerial work I kind of prefer a slightly higher shutter speed of 1/80 or so. Seems crisper with less mush.


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