Like many savvy pilots in this forum, I have been using ND filters, (first, PhantomFilters gels and more recently, the excellent Taco-RC 4-pack), to reduce the amount of light entering the camera lense, allowing for a reduced shutter speed setting. I most often use the ND-8 filter for typical sunny days.
The resulting video looks dark and muddy straight out of the 'bird, but is perfect for post-production processing to really bring out the colors and shadows. Without the ND filters and lower shutter speed videos get too "whited-out" in the brightest areas of the video (I use Adobe Premiere Pro CC for video editing and post-production).
Here's the dilemma:
Flying with optimal video settings for post-production, (EV at around -1.2 ~ -2.0) means that the FPV during flight is also dark and muddy-looking. The best I've been able to do is to crank-up the brightness of my tablet and use a homemade glare-guard, but it can still be quite a challenge to see what's going on via FPV during flight (one more practical reason not to rely on FPV exclusively I suppose). My Galaxy Pro v8.4 does as good a job of displaying FPV video as other tablets I've tried, so I don't think a tablet upgrade would help much, although I am considering adding some glare-film to the tablet screen.
Is it really an either-or choice? That is:
Pleasant, bright and viewable FPV during flight, but washed-out, lower quality video recordings for post
... or ...
Muddy, dark and hard-to see FPV during flight, but excellent video recordings for post.
Anyway, I'd be interested if anybody else is bugged by this dilemma, and if I'm missing something.
Cheers! --RF
The resulting video looks dark and muddy straight out of the 'bird, but is perfect for post-production processing to really bring out the colors and shadows. Without the ND filters and lower shutter speed videos get too "whited-out" in the brightest areas of the video (I use Adobe Premiere Pro CC for video editing and post-production).
Here's the dilemma:
Flying with optimal video settings for post-production, (EV at around -1.2 ~ -2.0) means that the FPV during flight is also dark and muddy-looking. The best I've been able to do is to crank-up the brightness of my tablet and use a homemade glare-guard, but it can still be quite a challenge to see what's going on via FPV during flight (one more practical reason not to rely on FPV exclusively I suppose). My Galaxy Pro v8.4 does as good a job of displaying FPV video as other tablets I've tried, so I don't think a tablet upgrade would help much, although I am considering adding some glare-film to the tablet screen.
Is it really an either-or choice? That is:
Pleasant, bright and viewable FPV during flight, but washed-out, lower quality video recordings for post
... or ...
Muddy, dark and hard-to see FPV during flight, but excellent video recordings for post.
Anyway, I'd be interested if anybody else is bugged by this dilemma, and if I'm missing something.
Cheers! --RF
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