Camera Settings For Best Video

[HippoDrone]

I wonder if we could post below our go to camera settings for recording, and then also our go to video editor rendering settings. Please mention the model of camera and the video editor you use too.

I'll bung my settings up in a bit, just thought I'd get the conversation started while it was on my mind. It has been talked about several times in the past, but never hurts to start a fresh topic when tech has moved on.

 

[R-Rated]

This is not all my techniques but enough for folks to think about.

On my helmet cameras for first person pint of view I use a GoPro Hero8 Black or Hero4 Silver:

I use 1080p60 on cloudy days as the lighting is going to ruin contrast anyway. Sometime I go with 2.7k at 60 fps though, but rarely.

Sunny days I use 2.7k 60 or 4k 60 as the lighting gives lots of contrast.

No Protune. No spot focus. Set the field of view as wide as possible. This is essential due to the 8 built in stabilizer crops the shot and I use editing software to stabilize the 4 which will crop. As far as stabilization on the 8 - it is minimum.

Secondary camera setup -

If facing me then 1080 because I am not so vain as to think a viewer watching my video is there to look at me.

If the camera is capturing something else then I use the the same settings as the first person POV.

If the secondary camera is 360 then max resolution.

My software is either Cyperlink Powerdirector (mobile or PC) and Adobe Elements Premiere 2015. I am not a fan of paying a subscription so I went with the full on programs as I may not be where I have internet when I am editing a video. Rendering I use the trick proposed here first by Superballs long ago because YouYube throttles the data. Here is the origin story testing -
Thread 'Making 1080p60 look like 4K by getting YouTube's bigger bit rate' https://motovlog.com/threads/making-1080p60-look-like-4k-by-getting-youtubes-bigger-bit-rate.17619/

I have since upped a couple of the setting based on YouTube's specs for 4k as HDR was not a big concern back when the above thread was made.

Latest HDR upload recommendations (NOTE: 8k is coming!)

So rendering bitrate for me is 85 until I see YouTube up their game and mark videos with 8k a lot.

Now for the exceptions

If I am planning a shot where something really freaking awesome will be happening - think floorboard or foot peg dragging and sparking - then I up the recording frame rate for slowing down in slow-motion.

When I am shooting at night then my first person POV settings are changed based on a video MicBergsma put out for the Hero 4s. I don't see anyone here really filming at night so I will save that discussion for later.

 

[MotoWolfUK]

My settings - 4K/30 superview high bitrate
Hyper smooth on
ISO 100/400

Probably not the ideal settings but seems decent enough. Interested in other people’s settings

 

[HippoDrone]

For my helmet camera, I run a GoPro Hero 10 with the following settings:
1080 | 50 in Superview, stabilisation on Standard
High bitrate, shutter and white balance in Auto. Iso min 100 max 1600
Sharpness medium, color Vibrant.

For my secondary camera, I mainly use an Insta360 One X2 and use the following settings:
4k | 50 360 and everything else on Auto/stock

To edit my Insta360 footage I use their own editing studio software. My render settings for the 360 to windowed footage is:
Resolution is a fudge, technically the 4k50 360 footage is really only around 720p (and not a very good 720), but I upscale it to around 2.7k (not quite the same size as GoPro annoyingly, hence the fudging). I then use a bitrate of 100,000kbps and keep the 50fps of the original footage.
I tend not to colour correct or hide grain etc.

To edit my helmet cam footage, and if used to add in my already edited Insta360 footage, I use Wondershare Filmora 9. It is a super easy to use video editor, that does have some advanced features, but I like to keep it all simple for my tiny brain
The render settings on that to create the video I put onto YouTube, I use the following:
H.264 encoder (I have heard 265 is better, but currently I can't use that on the editing software.
2704 x 1520 resolution - upscaling the GoPro footage and roughly matching the edited 360 camera footage
50 fps - I use 50 fps as it matches both cameras better, and also in the UK we run 50Hz electrical supply, so it stops lights looking like they are flickering/strobing and also should play better if viewed on a TV in the UK due to the 50Hz refresh rate.
100,000kbps bitrate - this is to match the GoPro footage from the camera at the recorded 1080 res.
Audio: Stereo, 48kHz, 192kbps

There have been topics before on the forum regarding the upscaling some of us use/used to use. But TLDR for those unaware, YouTube nerfs your footage, especially 1080, and even more so 1080 from modern GoPro cameras. I record at 1080, then upscale to 2.7k, this tricks YouTube into thinking it is a real 2.7k video, so it gives the upload a better codec, which then due to the bitrates I have used, does not compress them anywhere near as much, making the video on YouTube (even if watched at 1080) look far closer to the original footage straight from the camera.
I do keep thinking about just recording in 2.7k and cutting out the middle faffery of upscaling, it probably would look a little better on YouTube, but would also take up more space on my memory card, use more battery to record and is slightly slower to edit with.

 

[Drakhen99]

I've got several videos on my channel about this... but here's the Cliff's Notes version:

GoPro Hero 10/9/8: 2.7k/30fps
GoPro Max: 5.6k/30fps
Hero 10/9: Max Lens Mod installed on the camera, Max Lens Mod Mode ON.
All GoPros: ProTune: Color: Flat, Sharpness: High, Bitrate: High, EV Comp: -0.5, White Balance: Native. All other settings to Auto.
Sony ZV-1: Aperture Mode, all settings auto [unless I'm going for something specific, then I'll use LOG color profile]

I use Davinci Resolve for editing...

Render settings: 2.7k, H.265, NVIDIA encoder, Best Quality - GO! [there's no specific bitrate set for rendering]

-John

 

[HippoDrone]

What bitrates John?

 

[Drakhen99]

What bitrates John?

I edited my post, but I set the camera bitrates on High.

There's no specific bitrate that I set when rendering video, but "Best" quality is what I chose in Resolve.

-John

 

[BikeFather]

GoPro 9(current setting):

• 4k25fps - I need 4k as I'm also cropping some videos vertically for reels & shorts and that would result in a perfect 1080 x 1920 cropped vertically.
• super view
• high bitrate
• shutter - double the frame rate so 50
• nd filters
• white balance auto
• iso 100 to 800
• sharpness low
• colour flat

With that being said, specifically when I crop the videos vertically for reels & shorts, the blurriness and shakiness of the footage is more noticeable, even if it's a natural/cinematic/whatever blur - which is annoying, so I'm currently experimenting with some new settings:

• 4k30fps superview, even if I'm in the UK and that causes some flickering lights. - so far so good - def a noticeable improvement from 25fps.
• I think the ND filters / double the shutter speed is also causing some of that blurriness/shakiness, I know the stabilisation is not working properly with nd filters, so for now I've decided to ditched them, and set shutter speed to auto
• I'm also experimenting with 50/60fps, but I can't do 4k superview, so I'm forced to use only the wide angle. 2.7 is not an option as I need 4k for the reels & shorts crop.
  
  I love the clarity of the 50/60fps despite what people say about lower framerates and the whole cinematic subject, but long term not sure how viable it is since I will need a lot more storage, and I'll need to change batteries more often, perhaps that might bring back the camera overheating issue.
  
  Lower frame rates for a cinematic look might work well for slower-paced scenes, but for sports/action shots, it feels you need a bit more than 24/25fps. Even in popular videos, sometimes you get some scenes with really fast-moving objects - and it gets to the point that it's very hard to keep up, and especially if it's a horizontal pan, it's hard to follow, bear in mind those scenes only last a few seconds. Image watching a 10-20 min video like that. So I def think 30/50/60 is more suited for motovlogging.
  
  The other thing people need to bear in mind is the location. If you have a very open space, without many moving objects around you, nice sky etc.. 24/25fps might be more than enough. However, in the UK, we get a lot of greenery, trees, bushes, surrounding the roads, which adds extra detail to the footage, and it gets to the point where the cameras are struggling to process all that, so you might record a 4k video, but the only 4k in your shot will be your dash/speedo/motorbike, because everything else, all that greenery will look like it's 480/720p when recorded at lower frame rates. - so the 30/50/60fps def helps with this.

Editing: Final Cut Pro until very recently. Now I'm playing around with Davinci