GoPro settings for night

QYV

Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
1,813
Reaction score
7
Location
NYC
First of all, I'll happily admit that I'm just taking my first baby steps into video editing so I'm a newbie in this regard. I have a Hero3+ black and for now I'm just using the GoPro Studio app while I learn some basics then I'll probably go to more serious software.

I sometimes fly in the city at night, and obviously gopros aren't at their best in the dark... my videos look okay but they're not great, pretty grainy especially if I up the contrast during editing.

so let's start here: Protune off or on? The gopro app has settings for exposure, contrast, saturation and sharpness (as well as temp & tint in a different section). Should I just run with Protune off and try to tweak those settings in the software, or would it be better to have protune on if I'm going to try to play with those during editing?
 
Correct settings on your camera are always the best... you would hate to loose quality post production trying to adjust some levels. The grainy video is from the high ISO setting, a drawback of getting brighter video. Increasing the exposure will also increase the brightness. I would load the GoPro application on your phone and determine which software version you are using. Versions before HD3.11.02.00 have very different default Protune setting than the current software version. I adjust each setting manually and change them based on the conditions.

Here's some good info on GoPro Protune settings
 
I definitely have the latest firmware I updated it just a week ago when I got a new gopro.

thanks for the link Redwood I'm looking forward to researching
 
I've read to lower your framerate as well. Running at 24-30fps vs 60fps+ helps.
 
svinkatnad said:
I'm working on have better night videos, If you find something else to improve, let me know and I will also try. Here the video to my first night fly --> http://youtu.be/ozigL2drMcw and I hope you will share yours also :)

wow cool! How high were you? looks like it was windy too yes? that shaking?

This is what happened when I took mine up at night with all settings still on auto / protune off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQbMR7SkL7w
 
i guess leaving protune on lets you adjust the color and everything to a greater degree in post production.

maybe it would help get rid of that grain. Or maybe setting the exposure would fix that too.

I have also read that having your gopro set at 30fps at night lets more light in because the shutter isnt moving as fast (or something like that)
 
yea changing the camera settings should yield better results than cranking the settings in the software, I just haven't done much experimenting yet.

regarding the fps - that's a common misconception but the fact is that the frames-per-second setting is NOT equivalent to shutter speed to "let more light in". Vimeo explains it better than I ever could, if you ever see someone on here claiming that fps / shutter speed thing link them this :)
https://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/56/frame-rate-vs-shutter-speed-setting-the-record-straight

"Although frame rate and shutter speed are related, they are completely separate concepts"
 
I shot at dusk last night with pro tunes on. The video looks horrible. It picked up the red lights from the phantom and made the video splotchy with red grain in some areas while quite smooth and much darker in others. full disclosure = I am a newbie with pro tunes. After running through go pro studio it perked up a little but the footage was still unusable. I am wondering if anyone else has has this issue and if so did you find a solution.
CostaC
 
Costac said:
I shot at dusk last night with pro tunes on. The video looks horrible. It picked up the red lights from the phantom and made the video splotchy with red grain in some areas while quite smooth and much darker in others. full disclosure = I am a newbie with pro tunes. After running through go pro studio it perked up a little but the footage was still unusable. I am wondering if anyone else has has this issue and if so did you find a solution.
CostaC

oh absolutely this site is full of people talking about that red glow, and it's in my first couple night videos. There's 2 options people usually discuss here:
1) creating some sort of light-shield / visor thing to stick on the GoPro above the lens
or
2) cover up the front LEDs on the Phantom.

I Don't like #1 because it adds weight which can cause imbalance and problems with the gimbal, or it may blow off... plus it's harder imo
I like #2 because it's easy and I personally don't need the front running lights to fly at night or otherwise. I have a solid FPV system and total faith in Failsafe/RTH feature to at least bring the bird back overhead if I need it to, and I can pilot just fine with only the rear lights.

I'm attaching a picture to this post which is a bottom view of my Phantom. I took it focused on the FPV transmitter but you can see the gaffer tape I used to cover up the LEDs. The front reds I covered up entirely (upper left of the pic) but I left 1 LED exposed on the rears (lower part of the pic)
 

Attachments

  • FPV and RC ant 2.JPG
    FPV and RC ant 2.JPG
    195.4 KB · Views: 952
I think a visor is a must-have.
Without one, in bright light you might get prop shadows. They look like video interefence, the video has vertical bands at the top, lighter than the rest of the picture.
At nigh you'll get reflections from the red LEDs or a red glow gradient at the top of the video.

I have only had the gimbal "reset" twice during one flight in pretty heavy wind. Otherwise no issues.

xqEiJr8l.jpg
 
ok this is with Protune on, raw camera input was the only setting I changed and then barely tweaked the image settings in GoPro studio. I can't decide which I like better heh. the other one was 2.7k @ 30fps, this one is 1080 @ 60

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oiurNrS2Ow
 
QYV said:
svinkatnad said:
I'm working on have better night videos, If you find something else to improve, let me know and I will also try. Here the video to my first night fly --> http://youtu.be/ozigL2drMcw and I hope you will share yours also :)

wow cool! How high were you? looks like it was windy too yes? that shaking?

This is what happened when I took mine up at night with all settings still on auto / protune off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQbMR7SkL7w


Cool video!! I will try it out! I was flying like 1000 ft. high, yourself?
 
*cough* I would never fly above 400ft that just wouldn't be legal
 
QYV said:
*cough* I would never fly above 400ft that just wouldn't be legal


OOhh so sorry to hear that you can't fly your drone higher! In Germany is not illegal to fly your drone as high as you can, you have just to be sure you won't hurt anyone in case of malfunctioning. So I have to stay away of crowds and airports but that's it.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,936
Latest member
hirehackers