High frame rate revolution - GoPro 2.7K 60p & 720 240p firmware coming

[tamas970]

I have to say instead that increasing resolution like shooting 4K at 25p does look better in outdoors although the few underwater videos I have seen are not exactly amazing

Possible reason is the flat port/non optimal dome without decent wide converter. Pawel Achtel's work is quite revealing in the topic. Returning to the gopro, the flat port is
the worst possible choice (ok, there is one even worse: out-of-focus dome, like the first hero generations). Youtube is not much helpful with its crappy conversion, I cannot
judge how much distortion is in the corners, but hopefully next week I'll have some time in the pool to check it out for myself (and order an UFL-G140).

 

[Interceptor121]

Possible reason is the flat port/non optimal dome without decent wide converter. Pawel Achtel's work is quite revealing in the topic.

Nope The GH4 are sensor crops sharpness in edges is not an issues as the edges are cut off when shooting
Is because the bitrate is low for grading and people use cinema settings and the image is just dull
I also think you can white balance but a filter help which the purists don't do

 

[A.Y.]

I have shot all my clips in 2012 and 2013 in double frame rate as it was the highest bitrate and it was a mistake I went to Raja Ampat and it was not that bright I wish I had shot it at 1/50 25p.

Raja Ampat 50p 1/100 shutter speed

The slowest shutter for GoPro and Sony 5N/5R is 1/fps so 1/60sec for 60p, 1/50sec for 50p and so on. Don't use 1/120sec shutter for 60p or 1/100sec for 50P if light level is low, use 1/60sec and 1/50sec shutter instead.

 

[tamas970]

AFAIK prosumers (4k shooters belong here I guess) use appropriate lights, filters less so much. A filter is a necessary evil, which u use
if u don't have the budget for lights. It introduces another layer between you and the target, only subtracts the excess blue-green instead of
adding to the deficient red part of the spectrum. Besides, I agree with you on the limited bitrates. However 100mbps, even in the lavish h.264,
is plenty according to the footages I saw from the GH4.

Nope The GH4 are sensor crops sharpness in edges is not an issues as the edges are cut off when shooting
Is because the bitrate is low for grading and people use cinema settings and the image is just dull
I also think you can white balance but a filter help which the purists don't do

 

[ronscuba]

Filters vs lights debate in addition to your budget for lights, it also needs to include what camera you have and what subject you are shooting. Some cameras don't need a filter because they have very good manual white balance capabilities and hold up well to color correction in editing.

Wide angle daytime shooting is very tough with lights no matter what your budget is. Full frame evenly exposed from background to foreground is generally not realistic. The colors of that fish swimming towards you will suddenly look different when it gets in range of your lights. It's just what happens underwater.

I tend to like to match my equipment. I could spend $3k on lights for my $400 GoPro, but I prefer to spend more on the camera and less on the lights. Just my preference. Many people feel the opposite. It all comes down to the finished product, which is the video. If you are happy with how it looks, then that is all that matters.

 

[Interceptor121]

The slowest shutter for GoPro and Sony 5N/5R is 1/fps so 1/60sec for 60p, 1/50sec for 50p and so on. Don't use 1/120sec shutter for 60p or 1/100sec for 50P if light level is low, use 1/60sec and 1/50sec shutter instead.

There is no point shooting 60p and using 1/60 as you will have motion blur if you slow it down
So the 180 rule applies and it is correct 25p 1/50 50p 1/100 etc
The camera will default to a slower speed only when ISO is maxed out and on a Gopro you can't choose shutter speeds
So am not sure about the point you want to make here
If you shoot 60p you use 1/125 otherwise there is no point bothering

And yes I have lights thanks to the other poster and a filter too I use what I think is appropriate without dogmas
Certainly I don't spend 10 days to edit a short clip of a holiday trip

 

[tamas970]

True, daytime shallow seascape definitely needs filters or WB. However, just as in photo, proper white balancing needs raw, 4:2:2 chroma, etc - pro/semipro stuff, or external HDMI recorder to your (or my) gopro.

Regarding budget: meaningful video lights that cover a decent FOV are tough to get below 400$, maybe 2x Archon d32vr-s.

Filters vs lights debate in addition to your budget for lights, it also needs to include what camera you have and what subject you are shooting. Some cameras don't need a filter because they have very good manual white balance capabilities and hold up well to color correction in editing.

Wide angle daytime shooting is very tough with lights no matter what your budget is. Full frame evenly exposed from background to foreground is generally not realistic. The colors of that fish swimming towards you will suddenly look different when it gets in range of your lights. It's just what happens underwater.

I tend to like to match my equipment. I could spend $3k on lights for my $400 GoPro, but I prefer to spend more on the camera and less on the lights. Just my preference. Many people feel the opposite. It all comes down to the finished product, which is the video. If you are happy with how it looks, then that is all that matters.

This may easily happen underwater:goingdown::

The camera will default to a slower speed only when ISO is maxed out

 

[Interceptor121]

Cheap video lights like the archon or other CREE cold light based have a pretty cold colour
What happens is that once in water this exceeds 7500K and therefore tend to work poorly with cameras with auto white balance usually capping at 7000K so results are suboptimal
If you can set manual white balance things improve this is why expensive lights have range 6500 and below with some being 5500K

I have spent lot of time trying to educate go pro users that there is no such a thing like a cheap lighting system but it is a learning curve everyone has to take personally

Another issue is angle of coverage there are no lights on the market that can cover the whole frame once you reach 100 degrees field of view and you are not close many cheap lights are very wide like 120 degrees but with the beam the power is lost very soon as a paradox those lights are only good for close up which is something go pro and similar do very poorly

Realistically all wide angle and scenic is taken with ambient light so Ron point about spending money on the camera is very valid but if you then wanted to shoot decent close up you also have to spend a bit to have nice colors if you don't want to be setting manual white balance all the time

I have had my Sola 1200 now for 2 and half years and I still have not felt the need to change, they have only 60 degrees but have a real punch and a decent color, I thought about the newer 90 degrees beams but to the point of what Ron was saying I don't like the effect where you try to illuminate wide angle and then the outer edge are different tone
So I have in a way limited lights to close up only.

For go pro users choosing lights that will work well is a challenge as you want a nice color to have white balance working properly but those lights tend to be narrow for the go pro frame

Back to the original point of higher resolution the go pro lens has most likely something like 2000-2200 lines resolution so 2.7K makes some sense but double frame rate less so

 

[tamas970]

AFAIK the D32vr is 5000K (forget the price here, costs sub 200$ elswhere) - I have acces to some instrumentation (color meter and uv/vis spectrometer) I'll take a chance once to measure mine. Beam angle btw is 120°.
Otherwise I understand your point completely, decent temperature and CRI is needed for quality video, that's why I am considering old halogen lights.

Cheap video lights like the archon or other CREE cold light based have a pretty cold colour
What happens is that once in water this exceeds 7500K and therefore tend to work poorly with cameras with auto white balance usually capping at 7000K so results are suboptimal
If you can set manual white balance things improve this is why expensive lights have range 6500 and below with some being 5500K

 

[Interceptor121]

AFAIK the D32vr is 5000K (forget the price here, costs sub 200$ elswhere) - I have acces to some instrumentation (color meter and uv/vis spectrometer) I'll take a chance once to measure mine. Beam angle btw is 120°.
Otherwise I understand your point completely, decent temperature and CRI is needed for quality video, that's why I am considering old halogen lights.

In the Cree datasheet it states 5000 to 8300K
One the webpages selling the light as photo or video it says 5000K by that's not true
Practically your light will be around 7000-7500K I had an epoque with similar challenge and it was colder than my sola 6500K
There is also high variance between two bulbs because all in all this stuff is cheap