What's a good step-up from GoPro?

[Ricardo V.]

Arneu,
I'll try my best to stay on topic too. So don't forget to bring your GoPro set up, or which ever new video system you end bringing when visiting us here in Florida. As far as liveaboards and other offerings, just search other postings here on ScubaBoard and there you will find great Intel, including where to encounter big critters, or small macro subject, all of which can be captured with GoPro, provided you have the filters, diopter, lights etc.etc.
It's probably best to be more land based, just fly into Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or West Palm and drive along the coast, check out different dive operators and enjoy both diving and spending time exploring around FL.
Ricardo

 

[Madacub]

Everyone has their own editing style based on their personal tastes.

Here are a few things I would change. I won't call them improvements. Just changes I would do to fit my style.

Are you zooming in editing ? If so, I would use less footage of the actual zoom and use separate clips with transitions. If you are cropping in editing, I would use the wider angle footage as an establishing shot, then transition into the cropped closeup.

Experiment with increasing contrast in editing. I like to do that to most clips before doing the color correction.

Watch other peoples videos. Pay attention to what you like and what is different from your own.

Hi ronscuba, hope this isn't a hijack, just a quick question.

You said "Are you zooming in editing ? If so, I would use less footage of the actual zoom and use separate clips with transitions. If you are cropping in editing, I would use the wider angle footage as an establishing shot, then transition into the cropped closeup."

What is the difference between zooming and cropping in this context? I use PowerDirector 14 and they just have one button for zoom/crop. It zooms by cropping. Or maybe it crops by zooming (heh heh). What software do you have?

Thanks.

 

[ronscuba]

Yes, a crop is footage zoomed in. In the ops 2 videos he uses cropped footage and also footage that shows the actual zooming in footage. The zoom in is nice if used sparingly. It creates an affect of grabbing the viewers attention, but since it is a special affect, you don't want to over use it. Showing wide angle footage, then transitioning to the cropped close up kind of does the same thing, but looks more natural. For my style, I'll do the zoom thing maybe once in a video if at all.

In most editing programs showing the zoom is done with keyframes.

I used to edit in Vegas but switched to Adobe a few years ago. I actually found Vegas easier to use but switched because Adobe is quicker to keep their SW up to date and has a much larger user base. The large base means better support and sharing of information from all the users in the world.

All the various editing programs out there will work great for us amateurs. Mainly a matter of find one you are comfortable with.

 

[Madacub]

Thanks, ronscuba. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything in PowerDirector. I like using zoom/crop/motion on stills sometimes. And, in video, I've used zoom/crop on mantis shrimp eyes. Fun stuff, these special effects! (But as you say. best not to overdo it)

 

[Pearlman]

What would you recommend for a PC?

Are you buying a new PC? Heres what to do. Spend $$ on CPU and $$ on Mobo but $$$ on RAM and $$$ on storage.
Most folks have missed out on the news about a "secret" revolution in storage (as big as a jump from 8-bit microcontrollers to 32bit CPUs or a jump from 5.25" floppies to SATA HDDs). I kinda stumbled upon this when I began wondering why my mobile phone/tablet played HD videos smoothly while my 3.2 ghz desktop CPU stuttered (yeah dedicated GPU ASICs in mobiles play a role too but ...) . A comparison of storage technology used will reveal the secret.

To cut the story short, get a PC with budget CPU, lots of RAM (16G will keep your PC current for the next 5-7 years) and atleast one PCIE3.0x4 NVME SSD based drive. Not SATA SSD mind you - SATA SSD can be your long term backup archive storage in the shape of a 1TB drive, NVME is expensive so a 256GB NVME drive could be the temp work area for video editing and finished videos can be archived in SATA SSDs. I drag and drop my Gopro files into the NVME drive then work from there before I copy the finished video file into traditional storage.

HTH
P

 

[undrwater]

A tray with flexible arms can fold to be quite compact. I attach a bolt snap to the rig, and attach it to my crotch strap ring while doing other things.

Mine is negative, but I'm not doing deep wall dives, so not much of an issue to retrieve (haven't had to yet).

For the sole purpose of recording the dive, I have a mount that sits above my can light.

 

[seeker242]

Are you buying a new PC? Heres what to do. Spend $$ on CPU and $$ on Mobo but $$$ on RAM and $$$ on storage.

I built myself a bad mother #$%^&* PC already. And I'm already using Adobe Premiere pro, but it's just so damm complicated... Was hoping there was some program out there that would work just as well, but not so complicated.

 

[undrwater]

Kdenlive

 

[Arneu]

Are you buying a new PC? Heres what to do. Spend $$ on CPU and $$ on Mobo but $$$ on RAM and $$$ on storage.
Most folks have missed out on the news about a "secret" revolution in storage (as big as a jump from 8-bit microcontrollers to 32bit CPUs or a jump from 5.25" floppies to SATA HDDs). I kinda stumbled upon this when I began wondering why my mobile phone/tablet played HD videos smoothly while my 3.2 ghz desktop CPU stuttered (yeah dedicated GPU ASICs in mobiles play a role too but ...) . A comparison of storage technology used will reveal the secret.

To cut the story short, get a PC with budget CPU, lots of RAM (16G will keep your PC current for the next 5-7 years) and atleast one PCIE3.0x4 NVME SSD based drive. Not SATA SSD mind you - SATA SSD can be your long term backup archive storage in the shape of a 1TB drive, NVME is expensive so a 256GB NVME drive could be the temp work area for video editing and finished videos can be archived in SATA SSDs. I drag and drop my Gopro files into the NVME drive then work from there before I copy the finished video file into traditional storage.

HTH
P

Agree on the fast SSD advice, but for video editing I would definitely add that graphic card is one of the most critical components. Hardware acceleration on a powerful GPU makes a huge difference to the speed of working with video editing (applying effects, quick high quality preview, fast rendering times). I have an ok powerful Geforce 970 4GB card, not the latest and greatest but makes a very significant difference on speeding up video editing a lot.

 

[Arneu]

A tray with flexible arms can fold to be quite compact. I attach a bolt snap to the rig, and attach it to my crotch strap ring while doing other things.

Mine is negative, but I'm not doing deep wall dives, so not much of an issue to retrieve (haven't had to yet).

For the sole purpose of recording the dive, I have a mount that sits above my can light.

Thanks, I'm definitely convinced that the upgrade I need is a tray with dual lights on flex arms, and keep the GoPro for now (maybe upgrade my old Hero3 to the upcoming Hero6 ). I Like the idea of using the crotch D-ring, it's more out of the way than at the chest, but will also be dangling below you. I've been thinking about bolt snapping it at both ends of the tray to fix it more securely, but might be overthinking this.. Will just start diving with it and see.