Video questions

[Klaus]

Hi

I haven't got my FV2 yet (hopefully tomorrow) but I have some questions about the video recording and editing.

What are you guys doing, are you starting and stopping the recording when you are flying or do you just let it record all the time and the cut it later?

If you start and stop recording does the camera still make one file or do you get a lot of small files you have to put together later?

What video software are you using?

What are the preferred video format for the final video?

Do I understand this right, that you can't take a photo while you are recording video? So you have to stop the video recording, then take a photo, start the video recording again????

Any other good advice about video recording/editing would great, thanks

 

[amrflyingdude]

Hi

I haven't got my FV2 yet (hopefully tomorrow) but I have some questions about the video recording and editing.

What are you guys doing, are you starting and stopping the recording when you are flying or do you just let it record all the time and the cut it later?

If you start and stop recording does the camera still make one file or do you get a lot of small files you have to put together later?

What video software are you using?

What are the preferred video format for the final video?

Do I understand this right, that you can't take a photo while you are recording video? So you have to stop the video recording, then take a photo, start the video recording again????

Any other good advice about video recording/editing would great, thanks

Unfortunately you cannot take pictures while recording a video. I am sure this will be addressed in future firmware updates as it is actually possible. I am sure everyone has its own ways. What I do is a records some clips and take some photos in between. You can also record a long video and edit it, I really like my short clips ready for upload and the ability to take pics quickly.

 

[iDrone]

...Do I understand this right, that you can't take a photo while you are recording video? So you have to stop the video recording, then take a photo, start the video recording again????

Consider this... Vision is equipped with a 14-megapixel imager, when capturing stills it can snap an image 4,384 pixels x 2,466 pixels but when recording video it must process your selected FOV into 1,920 pixels x 1,080 pixels (assuming 1080 mode). To capture a still on the fly in record, the best you could do is to snap a 1,920 x 1,080 frame, and to do it well would require additional hardware (memory) and image processing ($).

iDrone

 

[Pull_Up]

Some answers in red...

Hi

I haven't got my FV2 yet (hopefully tomorrow) but I have some questions about the video recording and editing.

What are you guys doing, are you starting and stopping the recording when you are flying or do you just let it record all the time and the cut it later?
A mixture of both!

If you start and stop recording does the camera still make one file or do you get a lot of small files you have to put together later?
Each time you press record it starts a new sequentially numbered file. You therefore end up with a series of clips

What video software are you using?
I run linux and am using OpenShot. I find it very easy to use and have got better using it over time (like anything else). Almost all the videos on my channel (links below) were edited and rendered with it.
What are the preferred video format for the final video?

Do I understand this right, that you can't take a photo while you are recording video? So you have to stop the video recording, then take a photo, start the video recording again????
Already answered by others, but yes - it's an either or thing.

Any other good advice about video recording/editing would great, thanks

Not sure I'm qualified to give advice but from personal experiences I'd say try and fly on calm days for the smoothest video from the stock Vision. After you have got more experience consider switching to NAZA mode and us atti flight mode - you'll drift with the wind but footage will be more stable as the GPS hold won't be constantly tweaking the aircraft to stay in one place and/or offering you an angled horizon as it leans into the breeze. Watch out for the position of the sun - both for bleaching out your shots and for glare on your phone so you can't see what you are recording. If there's a particular shot you like the look of take it three or four times so you can pick the best version in the edit. Don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to get the hang of flying the aircraft whilst monitoring your phone for framing purposes whilst keeping an eye on your height, position, obstacle clearance, etc.

The main things I'd advise is get comfortable flying it first, forget about nailing great shots. Then when you are a bit more experienced at handling the aircraft you can work on shifting those skills of flying it as an aircraft to thinking of it as a camera platform (by then some of the quirks like the controls being reversed when the camera is pointing towards you won't cause too much confusion!).

As you'll see from my videos I'm no hotshot movie maker, but you can certainly see the progression over time as both my piloting, camera work and editing skills have got better. Always room for improvement, though!

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

All above is solid advice.

I still have only 2 flights with my Phantom but its sunny today so maybe I can add to that later.

I have left my video running so far but be aware 20 minutes of flight makes for a long file to transfer later. If you stop and start the recording you get separate files.

I edit mine in Final Cut Pro X which works well.

Remember there is no audio on the onboard camera. Its nice not to have the constant whine of the motor but then again you get no ambient sound at all either. When I start filming for real I think I am going to use my Zoom audio recorder to record the ambient sounds of the location. I will then dub that over the edited film to add a little more life to the video.

 

[Pull_Up]

Nice one shrimp! I never thought about adding something extra to record the motor/prop noises, I wonder if one of those keychain cameras would do it... would need to have quite good wind-shielding I suspect (or be pointed out of the dominant airstream) and you'd need to do a clap or something in front of the camera before you take off to synchronise sound to video... Another thing to have in the flight case: the Phantom Vision Clapperboard.

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

Wind noise. The enemy of all good video.

Well you can pay a fortune for sticky ferrets or whatever they are called or just visit a handicraft shop and look for some fake fur. Then get some thin double sided tape, peel off one side and attach firmly to the flat side of the furry cloth. Then cut to whatever size you need and stick over the microphone slots on your chosen device. I find it does not prevent wanted audio from being recorded at all. I leave my furry pads in place all the time.

I have done this on some expensive cameras and whilst it doesn't totally eliminate wind noise it reduces it and changes it so that it actually assists rather than ruins your video.

I made a similar furry pouch for my Zoom audio recorder which is brilliant.

Now unless you can find some nice black or grey fur it does not look pretty but guess what, I actually like my expensive camera to look an absolute mess as it might just persuade someone to steal a different one. Also there would be no arguments that its mine if I ever caught someone with it. :twisted:

The only device that has beaten me is the blooming iPhone. Now they have microphones in different places I have still not managed to counteract the wind noise on that.

Failing all that..... just fake it

You could consider one of the ambient sounds generators there are on the web. I used to use one of those for videos that had been ruined by wind noise in the past.

This video was unusable due to wind noise so I removed all sound and used a software sound generator to bring it back to life. That was back in 2009 so things should have come on a long way now.

Sound is more important to the overall effect than you can imagine. Combined with the visuals it also fools your brain into imagining sounds that are not even there :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRSFf-T_ubQ

 

[Pull_Up]

Nice editing on that video, it "told the story" very well.

See what you mean about the fx - nothing like a well-timed gull to add that seaside ambience!