Air 2s Climbing Castle & Conundrum Peaks, Aspen Colorado

[Karlewski]

As always, The Elk Range of Aspen Colorado delivered epic climbing and stunning scenery, I think you'll agree! The bike was a huge energy saver too. . . going down anyway. . .

 

[Twocalf]

Great stuff as usual! So the aerial images were taken with an Air 2s, what about the "action camera" on the selfie stick - GoPro 10? What frame rates and resolutions are you using for the two cameras? I assume you're probably using ND filters in such bright conditions, do you typically shoot in an "automatic" mode or fiddle with manual settings? I still marvel how you're able to take the time to set up and execute the trail shots and still make it up and down the mountain in what appears to be a timely manner! Well done sir!

 

[Karlewski]

Hey thanks Twocalf, my video shooting preferences are fairly complicated but the complications are achieved during post production in front of the computer. I use a GoPro nine at 24 frames per second and the drone in the iPhone 13 at 30 frames per second. I need the GoPro at 24 frames per second since those selfie shots need to run at hundred percent speed in order for the audio to work, no lip flap. I never use ND filters, definitely could help a bit with motion blur but that’s a ton of fiddling around and basically renders digital stabilization worthless since the blur doesn’t leave sharp edges for the software to lock onto when you need it most, it would work for a stationary camera. . . I’m running my drone and phone in auto mode although the air 2S is in d log. The GoPro is in flat mode and locked white balance. I need to do that to match the cameras up as best as I can Color grading. Running the drone and phone video back on my post production player at 80% speed yields smoother footage and, for the drone, allows me way more options as to the Play back speed I want, 80%, 160%, 240%…without the jitters of lost frames! I’m the only one I’ve ever heard of doing this but it works for me. In a perfect world I’d shoot my GoPro at 30 frames per second and the other cameras add around 40, but I don’t really have that option.

 

[Twocalf]

Thanks for the info Karl. I've been thinking about an action camera and have got it down to a GoPro 10 or a DJI Action 2. I've read a lot of negative things about the GoPro 9 as being "buggy" and prone to hanging up, have you experienced anything like that with yours?

So if I understand it, you're placing all of you clips on a 24 fps timeline and since your audio is tied to the GP9 at that frame rate, you can't fiddle with clip speed without messing up your audio. Thus you have to "throttle back" the iPhone and Air 2S clips to 80% on the timeline to match the GP9 footage. Why can't you set all cameras to 30 fps?

Finally, are you using DaVinci for your NLE? Thanks and keep up the thrilling videos!

 

[Karlewski]

Davinci resolve 18 studio and I love it after a couple painful years of learning!

I used to run all my cameras at 30FPS
Slowing down the drone & the iPhone to 80% speed makes a nice smooth dreamy shot, it’s a definite benefit for me. GoPro nine does have that weaker processor & battery, it’s mostly come through but a couple PITAS, really sucks in the cold or using the touchscreen in general. The 10 is definitely much better but, I’ve heard talk of a wider range of offerings from Gro pro for the coming August debut of their camera(s) Or I probably would’ve got to GoPro 10.

After our last conversation I got to thinking and if I was to switch from the iPhone camera app to filmic Pro I could shoot the drone and FiLMiC Pro at 48 frames per second and slow them down to 75% speed if my timeline and GoPro were set to 30 FPS. I may have to try that, filmic Pro does require substantially more attention though.

 

[Twocalf]

I had to Google FiLMiC as I'd never heard of it. I guess that gives you a log color space with your iPhone footage that would give you more dynamic range to work with in post? But I'm puzzled about slowing the 48 fps footage by 75% to mix with the 30 fps. Wouldn't that result in 36 fps?

 

[Karlewski]

My bad, I do wish there was a way… must’ve been wishful thinking.

 

[Twocalf]

My bad, I do wish there was a way… must’ve been wishful thinking.

Hey Karl, no worries! I wonder if Davinci has something similar to Premiere in adjusting all of your clips to 24 fps before placing them on the timeline? Here's a link to a YouTube video where a guy mixes 24, 30, and 60 fps on a 24 fps timeline. Just some food for thought:

 

[Karlewski]

That would be so nice but, there is a hitch. often I actually use the slowed down audio for some thing like, footsteps through the rocks so the sound matches up and the slight distortion is a non-issue or I even use audio commentary from a slow down clip where I know my mouth is not being shown, in that case I have to drop the clip twice into the project and erase the video portion on one using the audio clip at 100% speed paired with the second clip that is slow down to match frame rates with the project. End it is extra work but, it works great and adds a ton of flexibility. I definitely appreciate your thinking about this, I’ve been doing it for almost 2 years now so aside for the simple math, lol, I got it down.