Video settings

[g8nnon]

Hints and tips for best video settings for P3A

 

[msinger]

Pick up some lens filters and check out these videos.

 

[olof Ekbergh]

Yes neutral density filters are a necessity to keep shutter speed down. I use 8 or 16 all the time outside. If you shoot 30p 1/60 or 1/120 sec is good shutter speed for video.

I use iso 100 always except if it is dark or I shoot inside, but remove ND's before upping the iso.

Use the histogram to set exposure, never use auto exposure, this is how I work, I hate to see exposure hunt. There are lots of articles on the WEB about how to use the Histogram.

I always shoot log and reduce sharpness to -1 or -2, reduce sat and contrast to -1.

These are only my suggestions. I grade all my shots in post, these settings look really good to start and with a bit of CC they are stunning. I use FCPX and ColofFinale plugin and often use one of the Impulz LUTs.

And I always shoot in UHD (4K). It looks much better than the native 1080, but I usually deliver in 1080HD. FCPX does a great job down converting.

 

[Angus Macsac]

Excellent tips reference page! Looking forward to switching off default "training wheels" settings and trying lower sharpness, contrast, saturation and customizing white balance settings!

 

[olof Ekbergh]

Excellent tips reference page! Looking forward to switching off default "training wheels" settings and trying lower sharpness, contrast, saturation and customizing white balance settings!

Thanks, you pointed to one thing I forgot, the white point.
I usually set it to 5900 outdoors, on a cloudy day you may want to try 7000. Indoor can be strange start at 4000 and experiment till it looks OK.

It is a good idea to not fly very fast close to things, not just to keep from crashing, but it will make the video compression fall apart. Also slow pans work best, fast pans also break the codec.

Smooth flying is the key. You will find that the horizon tilt happens after a fast pan. In mine at least, if I pan quickly to reset up a shot, the horizon will tilt for a few seconds then slowly come back. My S800 Zenmuse is the same ( have it in follow mode not FPV). Flying gently and only going fast when you are up a bit makes the easiest to watch video. One of my favorite tricks is to fly atti, this makes for smoother flying because you are the only one controlling the MR, and drifting with the wind makes for very smooth moves.

I also use the AutoPilot for DJI to help with complex shots and I have been beta testing the AiRnest App as well. I will definitely buy that when it comes out. Both these apps are great.

Now one word of caution. I always fly in sight and never above 400'. When I am serious about getting a complex shot or series of shots I always have at least one spotter so I can comfortable concentrate on the video. This is where these auto apps can be great, if you don't have a spotter, you can set up the shot and the app flies and controls the camera so you can keep an eye on the MR full time, to abort you just switch out of the auto mode to atti or GPS and you are instantly in control. My personal max distance out is 1400', past that I can't see the P3P, and that is very unsafe. Remember you are a pilot first and videographer second. Always be in control (or ready to take over from the auto pilot) and in visual range.

I also have a light stand with a 9" field monitor hooked up so a second person can see just the video to make sure it is perfect. The nice thing about a larger monitor is that you can put it up high so you are looking at the sky and thus see the MR and the vid at the same time. Using my bigger MRs the second person with the big monitor is also controlling the video camera, this is absolutely the best way to get great shots, a two person team. But you can come close with this Wonderfull tiny and inexpensive MR.