How to get smooth video in a turn?

[Keith Mitchell]

I love my P4P and the video can be breathtakingly beautiful, even when someone like me, with no videography training, is flying. But I cannot seem to get smooth video when I turn. Even when the bird is stationary and I just spin the yaw axis slowly, the video is still jittery. What are the best settings and practices to make the video smooth in a turn? Or should I just avoid taking video in a turn altogether?

 

[Mr. Salty]

What settings are you currently using?

 

[Keith Mitchell]

4K, 30fps usually. In my last flight I experimented by going to manual settings, selected 1/60second, and adjusted aperture to give the best light. I did that because I read somewhere that my exposure time should be about twice the frame rate. Thought it would help but it didn't.
Happy to provide these settings and grateful to receive any help, but really don't want my settings to sidetrack from the general question of what are the best settings and practices for buttery smooth video when panning or in a turn.

 

[Teamfour]

What are you watching the footage on? I assume you have transferred the video file from the SD card to the hard drive of a computer. It may be that the computer is not able to play 4K footage smoothly. Use HandBrake to convert the video to 1080 and then play it back. If it is smooth, then you have a computer deficiency, not a camera problem. I went through the same thing and ended up building a new PC just for 4K editing and playback.

 

[InforGuy]

There has been a few times recently when I've had to fly several hundred yards away and make slow turns towards my subject. Got a little jerky during the turns mainly due to too much coffee. Seriously though, I use Premiere Pro for post editing and used warp stabilizer on the clips and this helped tremendously. That's more of a side note. Teamfour is also correct that it could also be your machine. Everything looks really jerky on my machine but after I edit, stabilize, and throw it up on Vimeo, looks great. Are you using ND filters? These may help as well as playing with the EXP settings in the Go app.

 

[Keith Mitchell]

What are you watching the footage on? I assume you have transferred the video file from the SD card to the hard drive of a computer. It may be that the computer is not able to play 4K footage smoothly. Use HandBrake to convert the video to 1080 and then play it back. If it is smooth, then you have a computer deficiency, not a camera problem. I went through the same thing and ended up building a new PC just for 4K editing and playback.

Fair enough, Teamfour, and thanks for your help. My Intel i7-2720QM cpu at 2.20GHz with 8GB RAM PC running Win 10 Pro 64-bit is about 3 yrs old, so I'm sure there are faster computers out there. And I confess that I have to watch the videos (copied straight from the SD card to my disk) in VLC player at about 1/2 speed to see a smooth rendering. And I know that running 1/2 speed exacerbates the problem. I converted it to 1080 and ran it full speed and the turns are still a bit choppier than the video taken doing anything other than going in a turn - but it is overall a bit smoother, so thanks for the suggestion.

But aside from all of the troubleshooting of my specific issue, my original question remains: What are the best settings and practices to make the video smooth in a turn?

 

[Keith Mitchell]

Are you using ND filters? These may help as well as playing with the EXP settings in the Go app.

Thanks InforGuy. I'm not using ND filters. I thought that they only affected the brightness (like wearing sunglasses). Didn't realize they could help with how smooth the video is in a turn. I plan to buy some filters anyway, so I'll give it a try.

 

[Keith Mitchell]

Ugh. Just saw a similar thread posted about a year ago that has good answers to my question:
Any advice how to achieve smooth turns on video?

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Fair enough, Teamfour, and thanks for your help. My Intel i7-2720QM cpu at 2.20GHz with 8GB RAM PC running Win 10 Pro 64-bit is about 3 yrs old, so I'm sure there are faster computers out there. And I confess that I have to watch the videos (copied straight from the SD card to my disk) in VLC player at about 1/2 speed to see a smooth rendering. And I know that running 1/2 speed exacerbates the problem. I converted it to 1080 and ran it full speed and the turns are still a bit choppier than the video taken doing anything other than going in a turn - but it is overall a bit smoother, so thanks for the suggestion.

But aside from all of the troubleshooting of my specific issue, my original question remains: What are the best settings and practices to make the video smooth in a turn?

Hi um mayby dumb post but camera setting might on follow mode instead of fpv mode,,

 

[DanMan32]

Did you mean the other way around?
FPV mode has the shot tilt on banking/dolly. Follow mode keeps the camera steady.

I get studdering video even with 1080p 60fps. Definitely my desktop as I don't get that with my laptop. Playing with QuickTime is the worst. My dad's PC shows smooth playback using media player.
I just ordered a new video card for my desktop, we'll see if that helps.
I'll also try a clean install of Win10 that I created just for testing things like this.

 

[StanMI]

I'm not really a computer guy but do a little bit of gaming....... Your I7 processor is good but I think your graphics card may have more to do with your video.... 970 or better is required for smooth gaming.

 

[Don Barar]

Hi Keith,

Since we do not have one of your videos it is hard for us to determine the source of why your video results are not smooth. Here are some suggestions:

1. Need to first determine if the issue is jerky playback or technique for the yaw maneuver.
2. If the issue is the yaw the maneuver the following might help:
   1. Pinch the yaw stick instead of pushing with the tip of your finger.
   2. Do not perform a yaw. Use point of interest. If you are up high enough the resulting video will be almost indistinguishable from a pure yaw.
   3. It neither of these help (and it is not computer limitations), it might be that your apparent motion over the ground is too fast. Try one of the following: a) higher up, b) slower yaw/point of interest rate, or c) higher frame speed.

Apparent motion over the ground is a relatively new concept for me. The other day I was taking video with my P4P at 20 MPH, 100 feet AGL at 30 FPS. There was something of strobe effect as the craft was moving too fast over the ground. I repeated at 10 MPH and the strobe effect was gone. Then I was doing some work at 20 feet AGL, 30 FPS, at 5 MPH and the strobe effect was back.

I thought to myself how might I perform a calculation to determine the correct forward speed of the aircraft for a given AGL and frame rate. It turns out to be a simple trigonometric calculation. I knew that at 30 FPS, 100 Feet AGL, and 10 MPH I was OK. From trigonometry, the angle swept out by the aircraft for 1 Frame was 0.28 degrees. If I applied this same angle at an elevation of 20 feet, I could back calculate out that the fastest the aircraft could fly was 2 MPH if I did not want to have the strobe effect at 30 FPS. At 48 FPS I could fly at 3.5 MPH. I put both into practice and got smooth video.

The point of these comments is if you are seeking smooth video, it is more than just FPS and an exposure rate twice that of the FPS. Also important is apparent motion between between the aircraft and the ground.

Donald Barar

 

[DanMan32]

Yes but what is chopping up the light at nearly the same rate as the frame rate? Ground movement alone shouldn't do it any more than dollying.

 

[Keith Mitchell]

Hi Keith,

Since we do not have one of your videos it is hard for us to determine the source of why your video results are not smooth. Here are some suggestions:

1. Need to first determine if the issue is jerky playback or technique for the yaw maneuver.
2. If the issue is the yaw the maneuver the following might help:
   1. Pinch the yaw stick instead of pushing with the tip of your finger.
   2. Do not perform a yaw. Use point of interest. If you are up high enough the resulting video will be almost indistinguishable from a pure yaw.
   3. It neither of these help (and it is not computer limitations), it might be that your apparent motion over the ground is too fast. Try one of the following: a) higher up, b) slower yaw/point of interest rate, or c) higher frame speed.

Apparent motion over the ground is a relatively new concept for me. The other day I was taking video at with my P4P at 20 MPH at 100 feet AGL at 30 FPS. There was something of strobe effect as the craft was moving too fast over the ground. I repeated at 10 MPH and the strobe effect was gone. Then I was doing some work at 20 feet AGL, 30 FPS, at 5 MPH and the strobe effect was back.

I thought to myself how might I perform a calculation to determine the correct forward speed of the aircraft for a given AGL and frame rate. It turns out to be a rather simple trigonometric calculation. I knew that at 30 FPS, 100 Feet AGL, and 10 MPH I was OK. From trigonometry, the angle swept out by the aircraft for 1 Frame was 0.28 degrees. If I applied this same angle at an elevation of 20 feet, I could back calculate out that the fastest the aircraft could fly was 2 MPH if I did not want to have the strobe effect at 30 FPS. At 48 FPS I could fly at 3.5 MPH. I put both into practice and got smooth video.

The point of these comments is if you are seeking smooth video, it is more than just FPS and an exposure rate twice that of the FPS. Equally important is apparent motion between between the aircraft and the ground.

Donald Barar

Thanks Don. That is a great point to consider. I think in my case my PC was part of the problem as my video looked better after converting it from 4K to 1080. I am interested in all ideas for smoother video and yours (motion over ground) was a good one!

 

[Don Barar]

Hi Keith,

You are most welcome. Apparent motion is just another consideration along with all the other factors to get good video. Best of luck in your efforts.

Don

 

[AerialZ]

Thanks InforGuy. I'm not using ND filters. I thought that they only affected the brightness (like wearing sunglasses). Didn't realize they could help with how smooth the video is in a turn. I plan to buy some filters anyway, so I'll give it a try.

ND filters will definitely help in the proper conditions. Achieving motion blur and getting away from over-sharpened 'security camera' footage has a positive effect when yawing. They key is to be slow and smooth. There is a ton of information about using ND filters and their benefits out here so I won't repeat all of it. Make sure you research and dial in your camera settings as well. Start with everything Zero'd out and work from there in a flatter profile like D-Cinelike or Log.

And honestly, if you don't need to be shooting in 4K then turn it down. There's no need to put that extra burden on your computer unless you absolutely have to, especially as a hobbyist.