GoPro 2 Video Settings

[TheQuailman]

I just bought a GoPro 2 and I know nothing about cameras or editing or anything. I found one post in a few threads about what settings to shoot in:

"For lifestyle shoot r5, 1080p, but 130 degree angle instead of 170 in 720p. Shoot with non waterproof for the best possible sound, but this will not be waterproof of course.

For skiing shoot r3 720p 60 if you want the possibility to slow down, and in 1080 you only get 130 angle of view so that might not be ideal.

For head use you can use the 960 option, but then you have to crop it later for it to be 16:9.

This is what i do most of the time."

Can someone explain to me whast all this stuff means. Like why wouldn't you want to shoot with the best frame resolution, with the most frames per second at the widest angle always. Like what does this stuff actually mean.



Thanks + Karma

 

[juicedrummer11]

well...for you, do a little research about frame rates and resolutions and aspect ratios, you can get a lot of info online and thats the best way to learn is by trying to find things out for yourself...thats what i did. with that being said, ill give you the quick and dirty on what i know..

on the gopro - 1080p and 720p refer to resolutions and sizes of the image captured. most videos you watch online are all at the aspect ratio 16:9 which is the size of the video meaning 16 units long to 9 units high. (this is standard HD video size for 1080p and 720p - a somewhat widescreen look and the size of all youtube/vimeo windows) 960p is a resolution that is "taller" than it is wider. that is why many people use it for POV shots on their head, to get a full view down to the skis.

the number after the resolution (30fps, 60fps) refers to the number of frames per second the video captures. on tv and most web videos we view those at 30 fps. film and movies usually shoot 24fps which gives a "cinematic" look and feel to the video. 60fps captures twice as fast as what normal videos are viewed in. the purpose of this is so that when you "conform" the video to play back at 30fps you are seeing the clip in half the speed of "real-time." this is how people can achieve such smooth slow motion, because you are viewing it at a normal frame rate.

the angle of view (170, 130) is how much clip you can see left to right on the screen. normally, we can see about 180 degrees with our peripheral vision, so when a camera can achieve a 170 degree field of view left to right, it covers quite a bit of ground.

so basically, there is a lot more to each of those than just that, but you should be able to have a basic understanding now. so if you are filming skiing and you want to conform the footage to slow motion (thats a whole different thread on video editing) the best thing would be to shoot at 60fps and 720p because you will also have a much wider view (better for close up action) 720p is perfect for making edits to put online because that is the standard HD quality when you upload your vids (also another thread) when you upload to youtube, HD video size is always 720p (unless you go through extensive means to get 1080p) so shooting at 1080p to put online isn't really necessary. 1080p has slightly better quality but you wont get the good slow motion with 30fps.

anyway, wow thats long...im bored in class so there ya go. hope you can make sense of it.