4K video settings for "everyday video?"

[PLShutterbug]

Hi all -

I will be using my Z8 and Z 180-600 to shoot video of my pilot-in-training grandson taking off on a solo flight this morning, from the end of the runway at our local field. I don't do much video and all the settings for it have me a bit nervous. I've shot some before and found that I didn't have all the acronyms installed on my Windows 11 PC to do fancy editing. I just want a record - this isn't for commercial purposes.

What video file type do y'all recommend?

I think I'll stick to 3840x2160/30p for this, with a 1/60s shutter speed.

Video quality (N-RAW) - Normal?

I'll use the FX image area.

What about "Extended oversampling?" On, or off?

I will have ISO, exposure settings and white balance set to manual settings for continuity.

Picture control - for stills I usually have this set to Standard. Make sense in video?

Active-D Lighting? Normal?

I'll be using auto-focus, I think with the focus mode set to Airplane. I'll play with that with other aircraft as we wait for him to take off.

I'll be shooting from a tripod. Normally I leave VR on for stills. Turn it off for video?

I don't have an external microphone setup so there's no point discussing audio.

What about doing basic cuts afterwards in software? Is there a good open-source video editor available?

Any other thoughts?

TIA.

 

[Suntan]

I would not use raw in your situation. I would just use h265 10bit. STD color profile.

Yes to extended oversampling.

The rest of your settings will be fine.

As for VR for video, yes it works with video. I would definitely set it to sports though, as you will likely be panning with the plane.

For an open source editor, I am aware of shotcut https://shotcut.org/ but I've never used it. Black Majic Design offers a free (but not open source) copy of DaVinci Resolve that is a very feature rich nonlinear editor. But it has a learning curve, as there is a lot one can do with it.

 

[PLShutterbug]

I would not use raw in your situation. I would just use h265 10bit. STD color profile.

Yes to extended oversampling.

The rest of your settings will be fine.

As for VR for video, yes it works with video. I would definitely set it to sports though, as you will likely be panning with the plane.

For an open source editor, I am aware of shotcut https://shotcut.org/ but I've never used it. Black Majic Design offers a free (but not open source) copy of DaVinci Resolve that is a very feature rich nonlinear editor. But it has a learning curve, as there is a lot one can do with it.

Thanks for the quick response, Suntan.

RAW: Right. There are two settings involved here: "Video file type" and "Video quality (N-RAW)". I forgot to write that I figured the right video file type setting for me is either H.265 (MOV) or H.264 (MP4). The RAW question was because of that extra Video Quality (N-RAW) menu setting, but you make it appear that the Video Quality setting only applies to N-RAW video file types.

When I choose H.265 10-bit, I notice that the menu help says "This format is for video that will be edited on a high-performance computer." What is the general definition of "high performance" here? A Cray? Or will my 13th-generation Intel Core i7-13700 with 64GB RAM and GeForce RTX 3060 do the job?

 

[jthomas39]

With the flight today, you don't have any time to do test videos and to try editing them. "no pressure!"

Perhaps a simple H.265 .mov at 30 fps, 2160P (4K) would be good for the flight videos.

Note that this is likely close to 1 GB per minute of video. How big is your card?

~~~

A bright, sunny day for the flight video: I don't know the best exposure methods. I switched my Z6 iii into Auto and it did a reasonable exposure, but it set the shutter speeds to widely varied ranges , from 1/30 up to 1/1000 in the bright scenes.

~~~

I experimented with the free version of DaVinci. It kind of worked on my very old laptop, but was extremely laggy and not practical at all. My 3 year old desktop, with Intel I7-10700 and GeForce RTX 2070 super was fast enough to work well.

It's a big learning curve that I struggled with, and finally quit experimenting with. I'd like something less complex than this.

 

[Suntan]

I would not use raw in your situation. I would just use h265 10bit. STD color profile.

Yes to extended oversampling.

The rest of your settings will be fine.

As for VR for video, yes it works with video. I would definitely set it to sports though, as you will likely be panning with the plane.

For an open source editor, I am aware of shotcut https://shotcut.org/ but I've never used it. Black Majic Design offers a free (but not open source) copy of DaVinci Resolve that is a very feature rich nonlinear editor. But it has a learning curve, as there is a lot one can do with it.

Thanks for the quick response, Suntan.

RAW: Right. There are two settings involved here: "Video file type" and "Video quality (N-RAW)". I forgot to write that I figured the right video file type setting for me is either H.265 (MOV) or H.264 (MP4). The RAW question was because of that extra Video Quality (N-RAW) menu setting, but you make it appear that the Video Quality setting only applies to N-RAW video file types.

When I choose H.265 10-bit, I notice that the menu help says "This format is for video that will be edited on a high-performance computer." What is the general definition of "high performance" here? A Cray? Or will my 13th-generation Intel Core i7-13700 with 64GB RAM and GeForce RTX 3060 do the job?

H265 is a more efficient compression codec than H264. Allowing for a higher quality video that takes less space.

As for editing, a 3060 based computer will be able to edit 4K fine.

 

[PLShutterbug]

With the flight today, you don't have any time to do test videos and to try editing them. "no pressure!"

Perhaps a simple H.265 .mov at 30 fps, 2160P (4K) would be good for the flight videos.

Note that this is likely close to 1 GB per minute of video. How big is your card?

~~~

A bright, sunny day for the flight video: I don't know the best exposure methods. I switched my Z6 iii into Auto and it did a reasonable exposure, but it set the shutter speeds to widely varied ranges , from 1/30 up to 1/1000 in the bright scenes.

~~~

I experimented with the free version of DaVinci. It kind of worked on my very old laptop, but was extremely laggy and not practical at all. My 3 year old desktop, with Intel I7-10700 and GeForce RTX 2070 super was fast enough to work well.

It's a big learning curve that I struggled with, and finally quit experimenting with. I'd like something less complex than this.

Ya, I’m already back.

I have a Delkin Power G4 1TB card, so no limits there.

Findings: the camera wanted to control ISO and shutter speed even in M mode with auto-ISO off. Not sure why.

I had AF on AF-F, airplanes, Dynamic Area mode. It found the airplane and stuck on it really well, even with a lot of heat haze. As he climbed out it also stayed on him even to a speck.

I had my Z 180-600 on a gimbal that I just bought. What I thought was really light horizontal panning action wasn’t so light with video. I need to look at that and maybe replace the grease with lighter stuff. Tracking the airplane was fine until it got pretty close, and I lost it a couple of times. This will take some practice.

 

[Ruby Rod]

I've had good results from the OpenShot video editor- https://www.openshot.org/

Only doing video every now and then, I stick with h265 and 2k or 4k standard settings.