Filming bike race

[jefflichty]

The bike shop i work for has a team thats entered into a criterium bike race (1km long loop).

They asked me to film the race for them. I'll be attaching a gopro session to their sprinter and i'll have 2 gopro hero 4 blacks set up on a corner and by the start/finish.

I'll also be using my phantom 3 advanced along the back straight away where there is a huge lot that isn't car accessible during the day and isn't a popular viewing area (very open area with no people).

The question is since the action will be quick (upwards 40+km/h) should i still be aiming for a 24fps/30fps (1/50,1/60 shutter) to get the motion blur or a higher shutter to get sharper images? This is the first time i'll be filming anything with this kind of speed. What is the consensus on filming fast objects?

I'm sure i'll stop recording and take stills through out the race so i won't be taking frames from the footage.

any feedback or tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[CaptainDrone798]

The bike shop i work for has a team thats entered into a criterium bike race (1km long loop).

They asked me to film the race for them. I'll be attaching a gopro session to their sprinter and i'll have 2 gopro hero 4 blacks set up on a corner and by the start/finish.

I'll also be using my phantom 3 advanced along the back straight away where there is a huge lot that isn't car accessible during the day and isn't a popular viewing area (very open area with no people).

The question is since the action will be quick (upwards 40+km/h) should i still be aiming for a 24fps/30fps (1/50,1/60 shutter) to get the motion blur or a higher shutter to get sharper images? This is the first time i'll be filming anything with this kind of speed. What is the consensus on filming fast objects?

I'm sure i'll stop recording and take stills through out the race so i won't be taking frames from the footage.

any feedback or tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

If you're not a photographer by nature, then you've got bigger things to worry about then just shutter speed. My advice is to just use the automatic settings at either 1080p 60 FPS or 2.7K at 30 FPS. As for white balance, match it to the skies (sunny or cloudy). Always keep the sun to the back or side of the drone, never shoot into it unless you keep the camera titled down.

Also, remember that since you have bikers going by, you really don't wish to let the drone get out of your site too much, which means to place yourself in the center of the area you wish to film and then move the drone back and forth around that area.

Here are two videos I made for two different organizations in my city. One was a video to capture over a thousand runners in under 4 mins, and the other was a video to capture 2000 motorcycles in under 4 mins.

Good luck!

 

[jefflichty]

sounds like a good idea for this time out, keeping it mostly auto,

the area i'll be shooting will be a straight away and easily keep phantom in view. the main shots i'm wanting to capture are simple with very little drone movement. its more to get point of view.

i'm from Ottawa as well the event is the Preston Street Crit on the 26th.


guess i won't need nd filter if i shoot auto that day....one less thing.

thanks

 

[CaptainDrone798]

sounds like a good idea for this time out, keeping it mostly auto,

the area i'll be shooting will be a straight away and easily keep phantom in view. the main shots i'm wanting to capture are simple with very little drone movement. its more to get point of view.

i'm from Ottawa as well the event is the Preston Street Crit on the 26th.

Sweet! Hope the weather holds out for great photography. Also, in the two videos above I used a Phantom Advanced for those as well. My last recommendation for good video is that even if you hover the drone for perspective, you really need to move the camera or else the end resulting video will be rather uninspiring. The human eye wants to see movement in videos and if objects are going by, the brain wants to kind of follow them, so with camera movement, or just moving the drone slightly, it satisfies the eye/brain for the viewer.

 

[jefflichty]

Sweet! Hope the weather holds out for great photography. Also, in the two videos above I used a Phantom Advanced for those as well. My last recommendation for good video is that even if you hover the drone for perspective, you really need to move the camera or else the end resulting video will be rather uninspiring. The human eye wants to see movement in videos and if objects are going by, the brain wants to kind of follow them, so with camera movement, or just moving the drone slightly, it satisfies the eye/brain for the viewer.

will do

 

[Garrie]

The bike shop i work for has a team thats entered into a criterium bike race (1km long loop).

They asked me to film the race for them. I'll be attaching a gopro session to their sprinter and i'll have 2 gopro hero 4 blacks set up on a corner and by the start/finish.

I'll also be using my phantom 3 advanced along the back straight away where there is a huge lot that isn't car accessible during the day and isn't a popular viewing area (very open area with no people).

The question is since the action will be quick (upwards 40+km/h) should i still be aiming for a 24fps/30fps (1/50,1/60 shutter) to get the motion blur or a higher shutter to get sharper images? This is the first time i'll be filming anything with this kind of speed. What is the consensus on filming fast objects?

I'm sure i'll stop recording and take stills through out the race so i won't be taking frames from the footage.

any feedback or tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

i would go with the tried and tested 24fps and 1/50s shutter speed, provided you have the appropriate nd filter.
The bikes are not going to be going fast all the time, there will be instances where they have to do cornering or have to slow down.

For me the cinematic look is preferred over the auto setting look, which sometimes look like its taken from iphone