Best Camera Settings

[Rod Carnochan77]

A side note: I think fhagan02 is by far the most kind and helpful, talented individuals we have on this site bar none ! I think we should all take Frederick out for dinner on us ! ( :

 

[fhagan02]

Thanks a million. Your input means a lot to me. I know the YAW you are taking about and I actually considered an edit there and I guess I should have.

I was hoping to get an opinion on color grading as I believe you are an expert there.
In any event I thank you so much for your time.

You're most welcome. (I'd be screwed if I did have folks to ask questions and learn more.)

Color and Grading: Overall white balance is a good choice for shots at this time of day. Again very subjective....but I would take saturation down a bit and be careful not to crush your blacks. (You're close on both but then again it's a very colorful moody effect you done to this video.) I'd brighten or lift the midtones a bit so it's not as "heavy" looking. IMHO... the music itself dictates a light, airy full of wonder kind of mood. Shouldn't the images your eyes see reflect the same? (I keep mentioning your music because it's just as important to the "video" as the video clips themselves. Unfortunately music is often the after thought... which is a huge mistake)

The whole reason you shoot "flat" with the -2 -3 -2 settings is to safeguard your shadows and highlights. This is called maintaining your Dynamic Range. Shooting on standard or vibrant mode would likely kill both. So it's always a balancing act to push your contrast to create depth and mood, but not crush the shadows where there's no discernible detail left within them. Even shadows should normally have lots of little things going on in them.

Again all of this is just my two cents.... I have a lot to learn.

Here's an example of me pushing the limits, almost too far but it seems to work for this piece...

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Same rules apply for land based camera work...

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[2nd2non]

@fhagan02 do I sense a Gaussian blur on some of your horizons? That's a good way to mask the lens distortion... [emoji16][emoji16]
I've done it when it's absolutely necessary otherwise discard the footage or just live with it if I'm too lazy [emoji12]

 

[fhagan02]

@fhagan02 do I sense a Gaussian blur on some of your horizons? That's a good way to mask the lens distortion... [emoji16][emoji16]
I've done it when it's absolutely necessary otherwise discard the footage or just live with it if I'm too lazy [emoji12]

Yes.... and no. The hazy "HDR" horizon in some of the shots is spill over from a secondary color correction to the sky. The feather of the matte creates that blurry edge look. You have good eyes, sir! And yes you're right about the lens distortion. The more P3 footage I look at the worse it gets. Of course it's nothing like the dreaded GoPro aerials.... But it's still there. I've learned to stay away from using cuts where my horizon line is close to the top of the frame for this reason. That nasty little "bump" in the center of the frame!

 

[2nd2non]

. The more P3 footage I look at the worse it gets. Of course it's nothing like the dreaded GoPro aerials.... But it's still there. I've learned to stay away from using cuts where my horizon line is close to the top of the frame for this reason. That nasty little "bump" in the center of the frame!

So true! I find myself panning and gimbal tilting to minimize while framing shots. But sometimes I just can't get the shot without it given angle, elevation, etc. I'm sure DJI will continue to improve on their cameras in subsequent releases as they've done to date.

Shouldn't the images your eyes see reflect the same? (I keep mentioning your music because it's just as important to the "video" as the video clips themselves. Unfortunately music is often the after thought... which is a huge mistake)

Again so true!! I use to be a DJ, so I always start with music and fit clips to match (visual and mood). I think this is one of the reasons I get sick of YouTube aerial vids after say 20secs. [emoji107]

Mr Hagan, I think your tread has finally convinced me to spend a little more time on the 'grading' aspect of my clips. In the past it just took too long learning the editing tools, but now that I'm much quicker with the 'correction', I have spare time to invest. I got one I'll share either tonight or tomorrow from a recent trip to Hawaii (R.I.P. Golden Rod) using Sony Products (catalyst and movie studio).

 

[2nd2non]

@fhagan02 Here is a two minute trailer I did for the extended family highlighting a recent vacation. Its only aerial landscape footage (plus a corny tribute) but the future ~20min family video will include aerial, land, and sea from Kauai, Maui, Tokyo.
Can you guess how many Grad Mattes I added [emoji6]?

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[JB-I]

Excellent work!

 

[fhagan02]

@fhagan02 Here is a two minute trailer I did for the extended family highlighting a recent vacation. Its only aerial landscape footage (plus a corny tribute) but the future ~20min family video will include aerial, land, and sea from Kauai, Maui, Tokyo.
Can you guess how many Grad Mattes I added [emoji6]?

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Ha! Very cool. Some nice cuts here! If you used any mattes at all I can't tell. So... that's a successful use!

 

[Phantom 3 Pro Greg]

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

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Thanks for some terrific input on video camera settings. I look forward to trying them when I get home today! Your help is much appreciated and you do a great job of explaining the purpose and meaning of the settings. Please do more!

 

[fhagan02]

Thanks for some terrific input on video camera settings. I look forward to trying them when I get home today! Your help is much appreciated and you do a great job of explaining the purpose and meaning of the settings. Please do more!

Thanks for the kind words, Greg. I have quite a few Phantom video tutorials on my YouTube channel. Frederick Hagan Check them out....hope you enjoy.

 

[rodgadala]

Thanks for this info!

 

[Phantom 3 Pro Greg]

I'd love to see your tests. Anyone's tests. It's how I've learned what little I know. And by the way you guys are very kind but I'm still learning. I know some incredibly talented colorists and editors... I'm not there yet by a long shot. Mostly trying to not screw up or give advice that's flat out...wrong.

I was having an email convo with a new friend today about aerial shooting. I'll share the part of the email to him. I'm not preaching at all. This is the same advise I was given and I still believe in it....

"....I get asked, “What’s the best advise you can give me in producing great footage?” My reply is crude but so very, very true... “Don’t be afraid to suck.” Again pardon the tongue-and-cheek phasing but it’s true. You’re gonna suck. We all do. I still do. Just get out there, have fun, fly and learn. Do the work, the rest will come. Six months from now you’ll be looking through some of your first shots…. and you’ll smile. You’ll see how far you’ve come, because you have - and that’s a pretty awesome feeling...."

So everybody get out there and suck! Then post your video results so we can all learn!

Frederick, have a suggestion on your preferred video editing software?

 

[fhagan02]

Frederick, have a suggestion on your preferred video editing software?

I switched from Final Cut to Premiere Pro after Final Cut X was released. Haven't looked back since.

 

[m0j0]

Frederick, have a suggestion on your preferred video editing software?

I have been using Premiere Pro with my business since 2003. I can't say that I have too many complaints.

 

[Muva Bee]

I found this, it's on X5 but it's all DJI
DJI Forum|Focus issues with video DLOG/CINE-Out of focus. VIDEO

Did some testing at home & found "NONE" colour profile (with -2,-3,-2) works best for me.