Best Camera Settings

[fhagan02]

Frederick,
Not sure you went over this in your color grading video. Since you are using PP CC15 how do you sharpen your videos? I assume using USM if so what setting in PP are you using?
Or..
You don't sharpen your footage at all and the dialed down setting you use in the GO App is the final sharpening .

Yep.... sometimes I don't sharpen at all. It's often not necessary as the "custom sharpen adjustment" on the P3 is deceiving. e.g. 0 should be no sharpening while -3 should take sharpening down 3 degrees right? Not the case in my tests. -3 seems to be the actual "no sharpening added or 0" straight off the P3's sensor. So with the sharpening at -2 you're still getting a hint of in-camera sharpening though it would logically seem you've dialed the sharpness down 2 degrees. Make sense?

In Premiere Pro CC I use the regular "sharpen" filter effect. Be careful though. It's easy to overdo it as the sharpening value can go to some ridiculous number like 400! A little goes a long way and I've found 12 to 20 (max) brings back the crispness perfectly. Sharpness has a double edge. It can sharpen your image BUT it can also exaggerate moire, aliasing and artifacts. So... it's a fine line to find the sweet spot.

 

[westland]

Great videos, great pedagogy and thank you for spending the time to put these together!

 

[Rod Carnochan77]

Is it true that the 2015 Premiere Pro CC can only be rented monthly and not bought outright fhagan02 ? And is there a way to get the software more economically ? Thankyou !! BTW You are VERY generous to lend out all your wonderful advice !

 

[Mike Mauk]

I always shoot video in 16:9. The Advanced shouldn't be that much different than the Professional. But I don't have an Advanced so I'm taking my best guess as to remedies for the moire in your footage. (It would be helpful if you could post a screen grab or a short clip of your footage showing the problem.) Try a quick line item test. This is the way I had to do it so I wouldn't get confused as to what was shot with which settings.

Checklist:
Shooting format: 1080p 24fps, LOG Color profile
1. Sharpen set to 0, Contrast 0
2. Sharpen set to -1, Contrast 0
3. Sharpen set to -2, Contrast 0
4. Sharpen set to -3, Contrast 0
5. Sharpen set to 0, Contrast -3
6. Sharpen set to -1, Contrast -3
7. Sharpen set to -2, Contrast -3
8. Sharpen set to -3, Contrast -3

Write these down and shoot accordingly. Each number represents a quick flight test. Try to fly the exact pattern for each test so it's easier to compare each test on the screen of your PC. (For me - I'd start recording from about 3 feet off the ground and slowly rise above the tree line to reveal the sky. Short 20 second clips.)

For me -2 on sharpening softened the image enough to remove or prevent moire and aliasing. Lowering the contrast helps also as higher contrast technically also makes the image more crisp or sharp. So high contrast alone can exaggerate moire, aliasing and artifacts like macro-blocking and pixelating.

Perhaps the Advanced has a different "sweet spot" but for the P3 Pro it's...
-2 Sharpen
-3 Contrast
-2 Saturation
All with the LOG color profile.

Hope this makes sense and good luck.

Ok just checked your video on filters and want the SDR and really am going to start with one the SDR ND8 do I get the ND8 or the ND8/CP

 

[fhagan02]

Ok just checked your video on filters and want the SDR and really am going to start with one the SDR ND8 do I get the ND8 or the ND8/CP

It's up to you but the ND8 is more cost effective and a good all around ND.

 

[fhagan02]

Is it true that the 2015 Premiere Pro CC can only be rented monthly and not bought outright fhagan02 ? And is there a way to get the software more economically ? Thankyou !! BTW You are VERY generous to lend out all your wonderful advice !

Yes unfortunately the Creative Cloud by Adobe is now based on a monthly subscription.

 

[Mike Mauk]

It's up to you but the ND8 is more cost effective and a good all around ND.

thanks,I will order one. I did order from Phantomfilters.com and got the 5 filter set, they are the ones that fit inside the lens so will test with that and order the other this week

 

[corto]

Hi there,

I really liked your tutorial. What is the link to sign up to your channel?

Geoff

A quick tutorial illustrating optimal camera settings for shooting more professional video on your Phantom 3.

Hi there

A quick tutorial illustrating optimal camera settings for shooting more professional video on your Phantom 3.

 

[fhagan02]

Hi there,

I really liked your tutorial. What is the link to sign up to your channel?

Geoff


Hi there

Just go to YouTube, Frederick Hagan and click the subscribe button. Thanks for asking.

 

[Darsarin]

Fhagan02,
Thank you for for you post and videos. I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to do all these test and sharing your data with us. I have learned many things thanks to you.

I did have a questions about what brand a filter you like the best? Is one brand better than the other? Have you run into one brand being of better optical clarity or one brand fitting onto the camera better? Have you run into any problems or issues with your gimbal and the filters?

 

[Viral]

Take a look at the Taco RC filter set. They are excellent quality and are a direct screw-on replacement for the OEM UV filter, which means no additional weight for the gimbal. They are very nice and a great value.

 

[fhagan02]

Fhagan02,
Thank you for for you post and videos. I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to do all these test and sharing your data with us. I have learned many things thanks to you.

I did have a questions about what brand a filter you like the best? Is one brand better than the other? Have you run into one brand being of better optical clarity or one brand fitting onto the camera better? Have you run into any problems or issues with your gimbal and the filters?

Thanks for the comment. To date, the best quality glass I've come across for aerial video is Snake River Prototyping. Superb quality. Period.

I've not experience one single problem with the extra weight of any filter. I'm about 220 flights in on my P3. I've had ND's installed since the first week and my gimbal still performs as if it were brand new.

All that said all the filter brands I use and show in my videos "work". I'm not affiliated with any specific company and I've made it a policy not do any videos expressly bashing a company, product or brand. There's enough of those kind of junk "tabloid" videos out there. If a company sends me a product for testing, and I don't think it's a good product that I'd want to share, I return it with a "thank you." I feel that simply not doing a video about the product speaks for itself. But then again... I'm just one person trying to learn more like the rest of us. So take my advise with a grain of salt.

Sorry to babble. Thanks again for the kind words.

 

[AgentOrange2015]

Just go to YouTube, Frederick Hagan and click the subscribe button. Thanks for asking.

Fred, Your now part of my YouTube Channels in case I forget things, which is all the time it seems. The biggest problem when you get up in years.

I was a fanatic with a 35mm camera, so video's are still somewhat new to me even though I go back to the VHS camera days. I used to use one trick for some really great photo's. Would take a colored jell sheet and cut out a half circle and then install it on the top of the camera lens so that just half of the lens was colored. An Orange sky was really cool looking or a deep blue sky was great as well. Unfortunately today, our skies suck when it comes to color because of all the haze, the only decent sky nowadays is immediately following a rain storm and all the haze is blown off. So as photographers/videographers, colored filters are the only way to show us what our skies did look like at one time.
I am wandering how the P3P's camera would handle a half filter or colored jell? Just something to wander about.

 

[fhagan02]

Fred, Your now part of my YouTube Channels in case I forget things, which is all the time it seems. The biggest problem when you get up in years.

I was a fanatic with a 35mm camera, so video's are still somewhat new to me even though I go back to the VHS camera days. I used to use one trick for some really great photo's. Would take a colored jell sheet and cut out a half circle and then install it on the top of the camera lens so that just half of the lens was colored. An Orange sky was really cool looking or a deep blue sky was great as well. Unfortunately today, our skies suck when it comes to color because of all the haze, the only decent sky nowadays is immediately following a rain storm and all the haze is blown off. So as photographers/videographers, colored filters are the only way to show us what our skies did look like at one time.
I am wandering how the P3P's camera would handle a half filter or colored jell? Just something to wander about.

Well thought out comment and technique from a veteran shooter and artist! Using gels on a P3 could yield some interesting results. I'd love to see what you shoot with this method!

If you're using the P3 for photography try HDR mode. High Dynamic Rage mode seems to capture much more information that you can bring out in post with Camera Raw in PhotoShop. I hear you on the sky and it's often drab atmosphere. But the information is there....you just got to bring it out.

Here's an example of the exact same P3 HDR shot before and after color correction in Camera RAW.....

 

[Huskerfan]

following thread good info. I found this "tips" page over at phantomfilters web site. I don't know him but just thought it was useful to this discussion.

PhantomFilters.com - Lightweight ND Filters and POL Filters for Phantom 3 FREE SHIPPING — Tips

 

[fhagan02]

following thread good info. I found this "tips" page over at phantomfilters web site. I don't know him but just thought it was useful to this discussion.

PhantomFilters.com - Lightweight ND Filters and POL Filters for Phantom 3 FREE SHIPPING — Tips

Yes very useful. The owner is a fantastic person and business man, as well as a top-notch provider of a wonderful lightweight ND/CP option for the P3. Very fair priced I might add.

 

[AgentOrange2015]

Well thought out comment and technique from a veteran shooter and artist! Using gels on a P3 could yield some interesting results. I'd love to see what you shoot with this method!

If you're using the P3 for photography try HDR mode. High Dynamic Rage mode seems to capture much more information that you can bring out in post with Camera Raw in PhotoShop. I hear you on the sky and it's often drab atmosphere. But the information is there....you just got to bring it out.

Here's an example of the exact same P3 HDR shot before and after color correction in Camera RAW.....
View attachment 29070

I have been out of touch with places to secure colored jell, the same we used on Spot Lights for Arc Carbon Spot Lights back in my day. Maybe you can suggest a company that supplies the colored jell for stage lighting if your familiar with it. Just think, I used to go through the jells and not think a thing about it years and years ago when I would do the lighting for a Rock Concert on all the different stage lights. If anything, I hope this will guide you in a new direction for video's and photo's, as well as everyone else.

The cool thing is that you can cut the colored jell into many different configurations that you can fit on any lens, not just the P3P's. The combinations are limitless.

I really do appreciate your video's and such about the P3P's camera settings and shooting. I myself, am more of a traditionalist in that I like a clean sharp image, using a Polarizing Filter on a very sunny day. Bright sunlight as you already know, washes out colors during the day and only when you put on sunglasses do you see the real colors out in the real world.

Keep up the good work, I am most definitely a fan of your work.

 

[AgentOrange2015]

Well thought out comment and technique from a veteran shooter and artist! Using gels on a P3 could yield some interesting results. I'd love to see what you shoot with this method!

If you're using the P3 for photography try HDR mode. High Dynamic Rage mode seems to capture much more information that you can bring out in post with Camera Raw in PhotoShop. I hear you on the sky and it's often drab atmosphere. But the information is there....you just got to bring it out.

Here's an example of the exact same P3 HDR shot before and after color correction in Camera RAW.....
View attachment 29070

Very Beautiful Photo. Congrats.

 

[fhagan02]

I have been out of touch with places to secure colored jell, the same we used on Spot Lights for Arc Carbon Spot Lights back in my day. Maybe you can suggest a company that supplies the colored jell for stage lighting if your familiar with it. Just think, I used to go through the jells and not think a thing about it years and years ago when I would do the lighting for a Rock Concert on all the different stage lights. If anything, I hope this will guide you in a new direction for video's and photo's, as well as everyone else.

The cool thing is that you can cut the colored jell into many different configurations that you can fit on any lens, not just the P3P's. The combinations are limitless.

I really do appreciate your video's and such about the P3P's camera settings and shooting. I myself, am more of a traditionalist in that I like a clean sharp image, using a Polarizing Filter on a very sunny day. Bright sunlight as you already know, washes out colors during the day and only when you put on sunglasses do you see the real colors out in the real world.

Keep up the good work, I am most definitely a fan of your work.

Try B&H photo. If they don't have gels I'll be surprised.
B&H Photo Video Digital Cameras, Photography, Camcorders

 

[Viral]

Jells work great if you need them for live lighting, but photoshop gives you the same effects with infinitely more control in post production (for stills - diving I resolve for videos). My guess is that is why they aren't used as much these days except for concerts, plays and other live performances.