Optimum settings for filming fireworks display

[djidan]

I plan on filming a fireworks display this evening. Please could somebody advise what the best settings would be for a Gopro hero 3 black?

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[Ksc]

personally I would do 1080 so you could get a higher fps

 

[djidan]

Thanks KSC for your response. I have been doing a bit of trawling around the Internet and I reckon I will use 1080 although maybe I should be using a lower fps in order to allow as much light as possible.

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[DeweyAXD]

Thanks KSC for your response. I have been doing a bit of trawling around the Internet and I reckon I will use 1080 although maybe I should be using a lower fps in order to allow as much light as possible.

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I would agree with this and most importantly be sure to turn Protune mode OFF as it is horrid in low light.

 

[djidan]

Thanks for the tips once again. Do you think auto white balance should be turned off also?

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[Ksc]

Keep in mind that fireworks are very bright and also fast. The lower frame rate will help in low light settings but this isn't a low light setting. You'll need something to keep up with the speed

 

[djidan]

Well I have shot my video and the phantom performed brilliantly. Wish I could say the same about the video footage! I'll post some footage in due course to show you. The video came out very grainy and also suffered from Red light bleeding into the picture from the ESC LED's.

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[martcerv]

Thanks KSC for your response. I have been doing a bit of trawling around the Internet and I reckon I will use 1080 although maybe I should be using a lower fps in order to allow as much light as possible.

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I would agree with this and most importantly be sure to turn Protune mode OFF as it is horrid in low light.

I think shooting high framerates in low light is never a good idea, it is going to be very grainy in between fireworks and they dont last that long so most of the footage will likely be a grainy mess. Exposure probably wont even be able to adjust fast enough to deal with the fireworks going off. I would also say that protune is not so horrid in low light but as with all times you use it you must grade the footage to make it look good. For low light you also need to use some software noise reduction and something like neat video works great.

Here is a low light video I shot in 2.7k30 protune cam raw, graded in cineform and neat video added in premiere pro so its far from horrid I think.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aM_rGst3Tc[/youtube]

 

[djidan]

Well here's the edit. Can't say that I am really pleased with it. Think I also had a problem with my AeroXcraft gimbal in that it was not maintaining a horizontal position. I have since tested it and it now sits level. I think when you power the Phantom and the gimbal you have to have it sitting perfectly flat whilst initializing otherwise it will sit on a slight angle. A bit difficult to do when your in the dark and in the middle of an open area of ground which is boggy and therefore powering up and flying out of your hand :roll:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT6z6Wpo9fQ[/youtube]

 

[DeweyAXD]

Well here's the edit. Can't say that I am really pleased with it. Think I also had a problem with my AeroXcraft gimbal in that it was not maintaining a horizontal position. I have since tested it and it now sits level. I think when you power the Phantom and the gimbal you have to have it sitting perfectly flat whilst initializing otherwise it will sit on a slight angle. A bit difficult to do when your in the dark and in the middle of an open area of ground which is boggy and therefore powering up and flying out of your hand :roll:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT6z6Wpo9fQ[/youtube]

I don't think you should be too disapointed with it. Still pretty striking compared to anything filmed from the ground. Anything with an IMU needs to be calibrated/warmed up on level ground so I agree with your diagnosis of the gimbal.
What settings did you end up using?

 

[djidan]

I used 1080 24fps and protune OFF. I maybe could have got away with 2.7k 30fps. I haven't tried to improve the images in Adobe Premiere at all. Is there anything you could recommend I apply as a filter? Just getting to grips with this editing tool.