GoPro 3+ What video settings work best for you?

[Cra-Z-1]

Being brand new to the concept of aerial filming, I have been struggling a little to figure out what settings work the best with the GoPro setups. I've been running 1440 Res primarily and seem to have reasonable luck with it. What settings do you use and what editing software do you guys recommend? I have been toying around a bit with Pinnacle, and it seems to work reasonably well for me. I tried Cyberlink Power Director, which I liked the best out of what I tried, but I can't get it to work consistently without locking up. For yawing issues, is there a way to remove/stabilize the video?

 

[cootertwo]

I have been using the Cyberlink Power Director, and haven't had too many problems. I think just about any video program requires a lot of memory. As for the GoPro, I have a 3, black, and am not totally satisfied. I dunno what's wrong, but sometimes I can record a video, or two, and only one is playable. The other will give some sort of message about file corrupted, etc. etc. However, I haven't had that problem with my $75 Mobius. I do like the setting on the GoPro, that along with video, will take a still every so often, depending on how you set it. Still learning!

 

[JimM]

You need to power off the GoPro from its power button to ensure the clip is saved to the microSD card.

 

[cootertwo]

Thanks Jim, so if I stop taking video, by pushing the top button, like when I land to change batteries, I should turn it off, and back on, to start another video?

 

[gtranquilla]

I only had that issue once.... And I don't recall ever powering the GoPro off and on again to ensure the vidoe was saved properly. But I always stop the video recording once the MR has landed then restart before flying again. I discussed the issue with GoPro tech support and they indicated that the plastic side door needs to be attached to ensure the sd card is solidly seated. I always leave it off during Aerial video work because I need USB access to that side for my FPV system.

Anyone heard any rumours about the GoPro Hero3+ lens being focused a bit too close for aerial video work? Apparently there is a way to take the camera apart so that the lens can be rotated slightly so that the long distance focusing remains sharp as possible.

 

[JimM]

I had the issue with corrupt recordings a few times. I did a search and found that powering off the P2 battery seemed to power off the gopro immediately without closing the files properly.
Powering off the gopro first before the P2 battery does seem to have solved the problem.

Yes. the 3+ is delivered focussed mainly to near so I adjusted my lens and improved the sharpness for Aerial stuff significantly.
There are good youtube video's showing how it's done. be careful not to scratch the lens rim.

 

[JimM]

i've just read the last post again.. You may well be correct in that it is only necessary to stop the recording, not power off the gopro. I'll check that myself when I next fly.

 

[Cra-Z-1]

I only had that issue once.... And I don't recall ever powering the GoPro off and on again to ensure the vidoe was saved properly. But I always stop the video recording once the MR has landed then restart before flying again. I discussed the issue with GoPro tech support and they indicated that the plastic side door needs to be attached to ensure the sd card is solidly seated. I always leave it off during Aerial video work because I need USB access to that side for my FPV system.

Anyone heard any rumours about the GoPro Hero3+ lens being focused a bit too close for aerial video work? Apparently there is a way to take the camera apart so that the lens can be rotated slightly so that the long distance focusing remains sharp as possible.

I have heard about that, and did a little reading on rotating the lens out a bit. I would NOT want to take a set of pliers to my lens personally. I think that is a bit scary, BUT I have a very new GoPro and mine doesnt seem to exhibit that same focus problem. I do however notice that when I make a move towards the left or right, that the image tends to get blurry. I have only tried 30 FPS, thus far, but I"m thinking that maybe 48 or 60 FPS may clear that up a bit?

As far as hanging and corrupt files, I havent run into that, BUT I also make sure and stop the recording before power down. It seems like I read somewhere that it was necessary to power down first, back when I first was reading up on how to use the GoPro.

 

[PeteDee]

I only had that issue once.... And I don't recall ever powering the GoPro off and on again to ensure the vidoe was saved properly. But I always stop the video recording once the MR has landed then restart before flying again. I discussed the issue with GoPro tech support and they indicated that the plastic side door needs to be attached to ensure the sd card is solidly seated. I always leave it off during Aerial video work because I need USB access to that side for my FPV system.

Anyone heard any rumours about the GoPro Hero3+ lens being focused a bit too close for aerial video work? Apparently there is a way to take the camera apart so that the lens can be rotated slightly so that the long distance focusing remains sharp as possible.

Personally I don't use the GoPro camera for FPVing, always use a separate camera designed for the job.

Yes the Plus is focused very close, does a great job at 4 inches but terrible at 10 foot plus.

I did the focus adjustment on mine and it is a lot better, the latest V2.0 firmware though is making the background mush again so I am going to reload V1.4 as soon as I find a copy.

Pete

 

[gtranquilla]

"Firmware 2.0 makes the background "mush" again"..... seems to suggest that the firmware is moving the image sensor to a new focal plane!!! but that seems so unlikely.

Personally I don't use the GoPro camera for FPVing, always use a separate camera designed for the job.

Yes the Plus is focused very close, does a great job at 4 inches but terrible at 10 foot plus.

I did the focus adjustment on mine and it is a lot better, the latest V2.0 firmware though is making the background mush again so I am going to reload V1.4 as soon as I find a copy.

Pete

 

[deluge2]

Hard to argue with that since both the lens and the sensor positions are fixed, with no intended ability for end-user adjustment of the lens position. Since much of the GoPro market is self-videoing, they adjusted the focus point of the H3+ so that closer objects are sharper than they were with the H3. A benefit for most users, but not for aerial videography and other uses where sharp focus at infinity is desired.

Steve

"Firmware 2.0 makes the background "mush" again"..... seems to suggest that the firmware is moving the image sensor to a new focal plane!!! but that seems so unlikely.

 

[PeterLester]

If fw 2 makes the background mush again.... I don't see how that is possible unless the new test case was not done correctly or GoPro did that with some type of built in software "feature" or elimination of a sw sharpness setting!!!

Personally I don't use the GoPro camera for FPVing, always use a separate camera designed for the job.

Yes the Plus is focused very close, does a great job at 4 inches but terrible at 10 foot plus.

I did the focus adjustment on mine and it is a lot better, the latest V2.0 firmware though is making the background mush again so I am going to reload V1.4 as soon as I find a copy.

Pete

 

[gomotomoto]

I'm also using the hero 3+ with lackluster results. I haven't modified the lens but agree it's not the perfect tool for the job. It's not awful either -- it's just a trade off. There's a lot of benefit flying a $400 camera over a 3k body and glass, not to mention the 8k platform needed to carry a "real" camera.

The superwide setting bow everything, so medium seems to work better for this application.

It all comes down to experience too. A friend of mine swears by the gopro as a tool to use in certain circumstances. He has every type of copter to carry every camera under the sun.

Processing the raw footage is also tricky. I find it jerky and totally unprofessional, but I've seen it massaged to look amazing. I'd like to learn how the pros are doing that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Scott Drysdale]

I found I was able to get very good results with the GoPro3 Black by setting the video to 2.7K, 30 fps and fov to narrow.
BGC stability is also critical ofcourse as these BGCs are prone to tiny ripple vibrations on one or both axes until one really gets the %PWM in the sweet spot as well as PID tuning for each axis.
Keep in mind that I was not able to get the GoPro3 Black video to show at it's best on Youtube..... but here is a sample.

 

[gomotomoto]

Has anyone had any luck with the gopro 3+ lens modification? It looks interesting but don't want to go carving into the gopro until I know it has a good chance of improving things.

 

[gomotomoto]

Personally I don't use the GoPro camera for FPVing, always use a separate camera designed for the job.

Yes the Plus is focused very close, does a great job at 4 inches but terrible at 10 foot plus.

I did the focus adjustment on mine and it is a lot better, the latest V2.0 firmware though is making the background mush again so I am going to reload V1.4 as soon as I find a copy.

Pete

Pete, i stumbled on another forum where I think you were chiming in on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnLdpSRMsEs

was that you, and did it work?

 

[gomotomoto]

I found I was able to get very good results with the GoPro3 Black by setting the video to 2.7K, 30 fps and fov to narrow.
BGC stability is also critical ofcourse as these BGCs are prone to tiny ripple vibrations on one or both axes until one really gets the %PWM in the sweet spot as well as PID tuning for each axis.
Keep in mind that I was not able to get the GoPro3 Black video to show at it's best on Youtube..... but here is a sample.

Scott, some of this footage is so sharp! How did you do that? Mine footage is a little fuzzy. Not crisp like this. Nice flying btw.

 

[Cra-Z-1]

Scott, some of this footage is so sharp! How did you do that? Mine footage is a little fuzzy. Not crisp like this. Nice flying btw.

Same with mine. That footage does look very nice. I have been trying to resolve the blurriness when turning by switching to lower resolution with higher FPS, and it does look good in the RAW, but any time I process it through my editor, I cannot get the same quality back. I would be satisfied with this kind of quality for what I'm doing.

 

[gomotomoto]

GoPro was pretty cool about it. They took a look at some video and agreed there was a focus issue. They are taking the camera back for replacement. The rep was confident the cameras that were replacing the faulty ones will not have the same issue.

 

[Scott Drysdale]

Thanks gomotomoto..

2.7k @ 30fps but using the Hero GoPro3 Black and not the GoPro3+..

Scott, some of this footage is so sharp! How did you do that? Mine footage is a little fuzzy. Not crisp like this. Nice flying btw.