Add a marker in a video?

[panboBen]

I use my Air 3S frequently to record testing of components on boats. Often, I will have the drone up in the air and would like to be able to mark the beginning or ending of a specific test. Is there anyway to add a mark, bookmark, tag, or anything else to the video as it is being recorded? Timecode would help a lot, but I can't swing an Inspire 3 just for TC.

Thanks!
Ben

 

[MS Coast]

I may not be fully understanding the issue, but why not shoot a separate video for each test?

 

[msinger]

If you want to keep the video rolling, you could try tilting the gimbal straight down and then back up again (or something else that would be unusual) to mark the beginning of a new test. However, keeping each test as a separate video would likely save time, since you wouldn't need to search for those “markers” in the footage.

 

[mavic3usa]

Agreed the only way I know to effectively mark a video that you just recorded is to start and then stop the video and that individual clip will show up as a separate video in your storage which should make it easier to locate.

 

[panboBen]

Gimbal up and down is a good idea. I should have mentioned that I'm using three other cameras all running timecode. So, I don't want to lose sync with those cameras. It's hard enough to keep things at all synced. I use a timecode generator and start each video with a shot of the timecode. Then, I leave the recording going the entire flight to try and keep in sync.

Ben

 

[mavic3usa]

Gimbal up and down is a good idea. I should have mentioned that I'm using three other cameras all running timecode. So, I don't want to lose sync with those cameras. It's hard enough to keep things at all synced. I use a timecode generator and start each video with a shot of the timecode. Then, I leave the recording going the entire flight to try and keep in sync.

Ben

Cool. I believe DaVinci Resolve will do all of that for you across your various media automatically so you don’t have to manually try to sync everything fyi.

 

[panboBen]

I use Resolve and it’s amazing. But, without good time code, the only thing it can use is the timestamp of the file. There’s always some drift from that so I have to resynch each clip.

 

[MS Coast]

Gimbal up and down is a good idea. I should have mentioned that I'm using three other cameras all running timecode. So, I don't want to lose sync with those cameras. It's hard enough to keep things at all synced. I use a timecode generator and start each video with a shot of the timecode. Then, I leave the recording going the entire flight to try and keep in sync.

Ben

I have one of the programmable buttons on the controllers set to immediately tilt the gimbal to level with one push and -90 degrees with another push. Two clicks would quickly create a recognizable marker.

If you're shooting in auto exposure mode, you could also set the pro mode exposure to very dark or bright and switch from auto to pro mode and back to auto. A black or white sequence would be easier to see on the time line than a gimbal tilt motion.

 

[Dale D]

I may not be fully understanding the issue, but why not shoot a separate video for each test?

Have you thought of tagging each sequence by C1 button to point down at the ground, then take a shot and then return C1 button to subject? At the end of the sequence, repeat shooting a photo of the ground with the C1 button.

I do this to make the start and the end of a manual panorama sequence where I can see the start and end of the sequence in Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) or Lightroom.

Dale

 

[GadgetGuy]

Have you thought of tagging each sequence by C1 button to point down at the ground, then take a shot and then return C1 button to subject? At the end of the sequence, repeat shooting a photo of the ground with the C1 button.

I do this to make the start and the end of a manual panorama sequence where I can see the start and end of the sequence in Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) or Lightroom.

Dale

You could also record a 1 second video to separate each set of pano images. This missing image number used by the video would help among the stills, even if the videos were removed.