For example, I know for slow motion I would be using 1080P with 120 FPS to shoot with, in that case I will first set up my settings for slow motion, so then if I go into any of the flight modes, for example Active Track / Tripod / Cinematic etc, would the settings that I set for slow motion still be the same ? Would it still be 1080P 120 FPS ?
Could I shoot slow motion in Intelligence Flight Mode ?
- Thread starter Isaac94
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brett8883
Well-Known Member
I see, so basically before I enter any of those modes, I just have to set up the settings for Camera , FPS etc, and it'll still stay the same as I set no matter which mode I enter ? Even for Quickshots Mode ?
brett8883
Well-Known Member
QuickShot mode might be a little different I don’t know off hand for the Mavic Air but that frame rate will either be in the camera settings or not. Have you tried it?
Your camera settings should generally save to the drone so you only need to change it when you want to shoot in slow mo. Remember that a video shot in 1080p 120 FPS is going to have the same bit rate as 4K 30 FPS so genially speaking you want to use it sparingly because it’s gonna be a hand full when you try to edit it.
Haven't had the chance to try it yet, but will try it out as soon as i can and post it back here. Sorry, what do you mean by hand full ?
brett8883
Well-Known Member
@Dakarenduro us correct. It will make very large files which will take a long time to render. It’s best to either use 120 FPS sparingly or use 60 FPS which is much more manageable. Not that 120 is unmanageable but keep in mind it takes up 4x more space than 1080p 30fps, 4x the processing power, and x4 more time to render.
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Got it, would 60FPS also be a slow motion frame rate ? Or when we shoot in 60FPS, it won't be slow motion as set default with 120FPS, but we will have to slow the speed down ourselves in post edit ?
brett8883
Well-Known Member
Right so with frames per second there are two things to understand. Filming frame rate and payback frame rate.
When you film in a high rate like let’s say 120 per second this means that after 5 seconds of filming you have 600 frames. Typical media players will only play back media at 24 or 30fps(most media players can play back 60fps as well but most people think it looks weird). So if you have 600 frames and play it back at 30 FPS your video is now 20 seconds long. Of course a video that was 5 seconds in real time played back in 20 seconds will appear to be moving in slow motion.
The reason when you play your 120 FPS videos in a common media player it is in slow motion is because most players aren’t capable of playing media that quickly.
60fps is a great compromise between fast frame rate and manageable media. It will likely play back at normal speed in your media player but if in your editor you set the timeline frame rate to say 30 FPS then the editor will automatically delete every other frame except in the places you want to be slowed down then it will keep those as 60fps but play it back at 30fps giving a full quality 50% slow motion. Editors can further slow down the video and you can do that without a noticeable drop in quality up to another 50% so with 60fps you can easily achieve 25% slow motion speed.
If you want it any slower than that you will probably need to go with the 120fps
I see, ok I'm starting to understand this 60 FPS and 120 FPS difference. So let's say I film it in 1080P 60 FPS, it won't be in slow motion, it will be at normal speed, but I will have to slow motion it myself in post edit, so in this case, how much speed do I reduce in premiere pro ? Do I slow down the video using right clicking the clip and choose Speed and adjust from there ? If so how much % should I go for in general ?
brett8883
Well-Known Member
When You start a project in premier it will ask what frame rate you want to make your timeline. I’d just go with 30 FPS.
Then when you import your video it will interpret” the footage automatically converting it to 30fps so it will play in real time. It does this by deleting every other frame. However it doesn’t permanently delete the frames and use the time mapping function to slow down the parts you want to be in slow motion. Time mapping looks like a graph and you click where you want the keyframes for the slow motion to start and stop.
The purpose of the time mapping is to create a “speed ramp” from normal to slow and slow to normal so that it transitions from speed changes. Even if they are really short transitions it look 1000x better than abruptly slowing and speeding up.
Google “time mapping” and “speed ramp” in Premier Pro for more info.
Here’s a real short video on it
brett8883
Well-Known Member
So you can slow down up to 50% with no quality loss or slow down to 25% with acceptable quality loss(depending on how fast your scene is moving)
brett8883
Well-Known Member
Here let me simplify. Slow motion is just an effect. No frame rate is inherently in slow motion. The slow motion effect is produced when the playback frame rate is slower then the footage frame rate. The greater the difference between the timeline (playback) frame rate and the frame rate filmed at causes a slower looking effect.
If you have 120 FPS footage and put it on a 60fps timeline this will be the same seed as putting a 60 FPS footage one a 30 FPS timeline.
120 FPS isn’t slow motion in and of itself its just what it’s primarily used for. 120 FPS on a 60 FPS timeline IS slow motion. Just like 60 FPS footage on a 30 FPS timeline IS slow motion and in fact you probably couldn’t tell the difference between those two.
Ahh I see, now i get it. Ok so but one thing, when I choose New Project on premiere pro, it doesn't give me any option or i don't see any option where I can create this new project in 30 FPS, the only way is after creating New project, with all their default settings, I have to click New Sequence, only through there I can change my fps, i think ?
brett8883
Well-Known Member
Off the top of my head I don’t know where the setting is but you wanna look for timeline settings
