South Pasadena Water Tower

pdmike

Extremely Popular Member

Here it is, boys! My second POI video with my Phantom 4. Edited, music added - not too shabby, hey? And NO COPS. Easy peasy.

Next on my hit list - Pasadena City Hall!
 
Nice Mike.

Not sure if it's me or your video but it looks like resolution is only 540p. Unless you set it that way on purpose for speed of processing, you are losing 3/4 of the Juicy Haych-D your nice camera is capable of.
 
Nice Mike.

Not sure if it's me or your video but it looks like resolution is only 540p. Unless you set it that way on purpose for speed of processing, you are losing 3/4 of the Juicy Haych-D your nice camera is capable of.
I had no idea. I still don't. What are you talking about - 540 pixels, I guess? So I should up the ante? OK, I will certainly look into it. Back atcha if I can't figure out how to do it. Thanks for the tip!

BTW - how can you tell I am low on pixels just by looking at the video? It looks OK to me but I certainly am not any kind of a trained eye. What does a "low pixel" video look like as opposed to one with the proper amount?
 
I had no idea. I still don't. What are you talking about - 540 pixels, I guess? So I should up the ante? OK, I will certainly look into it. Back atcha if I can't figure out how to do it. Thanks for the tip!

BTW - how can you tell I am low on pixels just by looking at the video? It looks OK to me but I certainly am not any kind of a trained eye. What does a "low pixel" video look like as opposed to one with the proper amount?

It looked a little low resolution to me. Not at my computer right now, but if you look at the vid on Vimeo their is a gear icon I think. Click on it and I’m pretty sure the highest Rez it would let me pick is 540p (that’s the vertical resolution). 720p is HD and 1080p is even better (forget the name atm). I’m pretty sure your camera is probably recording at 1080p. Maybe not or maybe it’s the default setting in your video software.
 
It's showing at 1080p for me on Vimeo. Nice work, Mike. Something you may want to consider if you are going to keep shooting and editing video is a set of neutral density (ND) filters). These artificially lower the amount of light that is getting to your camera's sensor, letting you control the shutter speed.

The general rule of thumb is you want to be shooting at a low ISO (ISO 100 on your P4) and at a shutter speed that is about 2x your frame rate per second. So if you are shooting 1080p 30 frames per second at ISO 100, you would need to use an ND filter that would get your shutter speed down to about 1/60th of a second. I can tell you from experience that on a sunny Southern California day, that will be an ND32 or even ND64 filter. On a cloudier day you might need an ND16 or ND8 filter, as those let more light through. You don't have to spend a fortune on a filter set. I have a very affordable set that suits my amateur needs very well. Surprisingly, a lot of of the more expensive sets don't go above ND16 or maybe ND32. I don't know where these guys and gals are filming, but I don't think it can be Southern California!

What you want is just enough "motion blur" on moving objects like cars, birds, etc. (and the ground if you are flying low) that the video looks natural to the eye. Hence the "2x the frame rate" estimate. It's not like you have to have those filters, but something to consider for a future investment. A YouTube search will find you examples of the difference with and without.
 
It's showing at 1080p for me on Vimeo.

Very weird, it's showing up at 1080p for me now, too - looks very nice at that resolution. Sorry for any confusion, Mike.

Good advice on the ND filters, Rick. And that frame rate thing was interesting for me too.
 
Thanks guys. So what does "p" stand for? (Not necessary for Moz to reply to this.)

The 1080 is the vertical resolution (pixels/lines). The "p" stands for progressive scan. It's to differentiate it from the older technology - interlacing or "i". You can read more here.

Many folks use the "1080p" terminology rather than simply "1080" because that's how many TV/monitor/video camera product companies label their products.
 
Thanks. You guys are light years ahead of me in tech knowledge when it comes to video composition and editing.
 
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