How to How to GoPro.... Bible

ttnguyen133

Likes Bikes
Just did a quick test with 1080p recorded footage. Firstly it was output through Quik at 1080p, then secondly it was upscaled to 1440p @ 40mbps. Both output files are similar in file size and quality.

Uploading them to YouTube however showed a night and day difference between the 1080p and 1440p outputs. I knew YouTube murders 1080p videos but the difference is astonishing.
 

Minlak

custom titis
Just did a quick test with 1080p recorded footage. Firstly it was output through Quik at 1080p, then secondly it was upscaled to 1440p @ 40mbps. Both output files are similar in file size and quality.

Uploading them to YouTube however showed a night and day difference between the 1080p and 1440p outputs. I knew YouTube murders 1080p videos but the difference is astonishing.
I am uploading everything in 4K and at 10 times YouTube’s recommendation on bit rate as they murder all the footage. It will take several hours after upload to be available at 4K however as they process it.
 

binner

Hath shat hymself
the more you upload to utoob, the more they see u uploading.... then after some time your upload time gets faster and cleaner....don't stop ;)
 

Minlak

custom titis
the more you upload to utoob, the more they see u uploading.... then after some time your upload time gets faster and cleaner....don't stop ;)
Not that I expect to ever make a living from it but it annoys me having to have 1000 subs now to be considered a creator. Especially since so many choose the click bait reupload some one else’s work to get there.
 

binner

Hath shat hymself
Care to elaborate? That could save a few dollarydoos!
Check my channel, yupboy................... just uploaded 2 vids with chest, handlebar rear facing. The chest is no gimble with a 7 and the rear facing is a 5 hard bolted. Contains language that is sometime colourful
 

BorisBC

Likes Bikes
Yep great idea for a thread. I do a fair bit of video using multiple platforms, drones, gopro's, DSLR's and pro level video cameras. From what I see there are a number of things that folks (including myself) cock up so I'll run em down.

Firstly understand your equipment. Yes the Gopro is pretty impressive out of the box on auto settings but if you want to get the best out of it then you need to know the different settings and how they work. I suggest going to Abe Kislevitz page. This guy is THE gopro guru. He does a fair chunk of the promo video you see for Gopro and has a heap of good information in regards your camera. Some of the stuff is old and refers to earlier models but most of it is still very valid.

Know what you want at the back end i.e.what you want the finished product to look like. This doesn't mean you have to script and story board the whole production but if you have an idea of the story you are trying to tell then you'll have a better idea of what to shoot. This includes B roll. What is B Roll? B roll is SOOOOO under rated and under used. It is the stuff you put in between the main shots to give context. You can use it at the start and finish as well as in between.

Lets say you are shooting a race. If you shot the race on it's own it kind of lacks context. Where is the race, who is racing, what sort of race is it? B-roll can give you this. You could open with shots of a sign at the start of the race or riders getting their bikes ready. During the race footage you could include the scenery where the race is held, even wildlife nearby, shots of the pits area and don't forget the crowd. At the end of the race you could get footage of the podium, then bikes going into the back of the ute and people getting into the car and driving off. These are all basic examples and super easy to do but they give your video a much better feel and help tell the story. B-Roll is important and you should get absolute shitloads of it. You don't need to use it all, far from it but the more footage you have to work with the better chance you'll get something that will work.

The next one is probably the biggest mistake Gopro users make in my opinion and is actually a post production error. Filming the whole run and then just banging on some music and uploading it. BOOOOOORRRRRIIIIINNNNNNGGGG. Watch any action sports video and you'll notice that generally 3-5 seconds is the longest shot you see accept for the slowmo stuff, even then they generally are still only short punchy clips. Don't get me wrong there are times when longer shots are called for but generally keep your clips short and to the point. It's easy to fall in love with your footage but you need to be merciless and chop it. Then when you think you've clipped it enough go back and do it again. You'll be surprised how much this can make your edit pop. Especially if you can sequence some of the clips to the music. Which leads me to the next issue.

Music is super critical. You need to choose the right music for the action and try to edit to the music as much as you can. Change clips on a hi note or a beat, use slowmo in slow sections of the song, speed up again as the song kicks back in. This takes an ordinary video to the next level. Downhillers are the worst for this. They bang on some insanely fast death metal and it just doesn't generally suit the action. I like a bit of that music so it's not a taste thing here it just doesn't fit unless you can edit to it which is hard. Find something a little slower but still heavy if that's your flavour and edit the clip to the music. It will look waaaaaay better.

As for gimbals, I use a Feiyu Tech WGS gimbal with my Session 5 on a chesty mount. This works really well and gives very smooth footage even on big hits. I also suggest using the gopro stabilization as well and you'll have a really good chance of getting silky smooth footage. My favourite trick at the moment is to put it on my back and film riders in close behind me doing big jumps. This looks amazing and is really under used in my opinion. Gopro's looking forward are ok but when you look back at someone you can really see what they are doing and it really pops. Give it a crack.

Anyway that's my 2C worth I hope it helps.

Cheers Scott.
Yup that is all good stuff. And that's why I mostly use my gopro for commuting duties these days. So my videos are just full of how fing close that bus got to me or how much that magpie is swooping me.

You gotta really want to spend the time as you say to get some good shots to make an interesting edit. Every time I go out I think I'll take some cool shots, but I just end up spending the time riding more! Lol
 

EsPeGe

Likes Bikes and Dirt
You gotta really want to spend the time as you say to get some good shots to make an interesting edit. Every time I go out I think I'll take some cool shots, but I just end up spending the time riding more! Lol
So very true. My mate and I that do the filming are always going, right today we are going to do this.... and then we just ride. I'm actually leaving my bike at home a bit now so that I concentrate on the filming.
 

Minlak

custom titis
So it seems you cant upload a video to YouTube over 15 mins long if you have not verified your account. my google account is verified but that seems is not your YouTube account. 10 gig upload wasted lol took 2.5 hrs had to reload it again as video was 15 mins 38secs :)
 

Minlak

custom titis
So YouTube seems determined to fuck me over on this video. I edited it in Premiere Elements as I wanted to try it out to see if it was any easier than Resolve. The editing went fine however the preset options for export were very limited so I ended up exporting to TV in 4K highest quality. Made about a 2GB file and uploaded it to YouTube. It has been up nearly 24hrs now and still only has 360p as an option and looks terrible.

I am going to re-edit in Resolve and try again. I also found some places I think I can do better so try and make that happen at the same time.

 

Tubbsy

Packin' a small bird
Staff member
Download Handbrake (it's free), and feed the 2GB file into that.

It should have some presets for you, but you can dive deeper and tinker to your heart's content.
 

ChrisJC

Likes Bikes and Dirt
So YouTube seems determined to fuck me over on this video. I edited it in Premiere Elements as I wanted to try it out to see if it was any easier than Resolve. The editing went fine however the preset options for export were very limited so I ended up exporting to TV in 4K highest quality. Made about a 2GB file and uploaded it to YouTube. It has been up nearly 24hrs now and still only has 360p as an option and looks terrible.

I am going to re-edit in Resolve and try again. I also found some places I think I can do better so try and make that happen at the same time.

You won’t get any better than 1080p no matter what you do with youtube. If you spend time editing, colour grading etc. you’re going to be disappointed with the results when you upload it to YouTube. The 5gb monthly vimeo option is far superior!
 

Minlak

custom titis
You won’t get any better than 1080p no matter what you do with youtube. If you spend time editing, colour grading etc. you’re going to be disappointed with the results when you upload it to YouTube. The 5gb monthly vimeo option is far superior!
It’s is showing as 4K available now and looks much better. It just takes forever to process on their behalf. What I need to do is get better at uploading earlier and sitting on the vids for 48hrs or so til they are processed.
 

ChrisJC

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Even if you upload in 4k, most will never watch it in 4k. Maybe it’s just me but videos in4k won’t play at any higher than 1080p on my iphone. I tried 4k wide on my gopro and I’d prefer 1080 super wide.
 

foxpuppet

Eats Squid
Funny story about other cameras. I had a Garmin Virb, the original one. Unfortunately it had issues from the start with not charging correctly and had it replaced. Problem was it charging issues were a known fault in the circuit that they couldn't fix. Anyway there was a hokey work around that basically involved watching the damn thing charge. Only slightly more interesting than watching grass grow, but only because there was a blinky light. Anyway, had all these mounts for the damn thing, proprietary of course, so persisted for quite a while. For comedy value I sent an email to Garmin asking for another replacement, plenty of backwards and forwards asking for serial numbers etc. By this time this camera was superseded TWICE by Garmin's own product, let alone 3 generations of GoPro. Push came to shove and I said, "I either need a replacement or I'm buying a GoPro". They offered me a discounted, refurbished model that isn't even supported anymore by Garmin themselves! (A Virb XE, which was widely regarded as a piece of shite by pretty much everyone). And now I have a GoPro that I have abused the shit out of and just plug in when it runs out of battery or storage.

TL;DR Moral of the story: don't keep suffering through something else, just buy a damn GoPro and be done with it


I had this beast back in 2008.

Compared to the current go pro at the time it was better quality and was great for a little while. It could be mounted on the bike almost anywhere for some cool angles. But my ultimate plan was for use in Japan snowboarding and it sucked big time. The cables actually froze up in the extreme cold and most footage was corrupted. I was only able to salvage a few clips from almost 4 weeks riding so it’s been in storage ever since. My wife bought me the Hero following that trip and then the Hero 2 when it came out. I haven’t gone for any of the new ones But thinking about the 7 black.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Minlak

custom titis
Even if you upload in 4k, most will never watch it in 4k. Maybe it’s just me but videos in4k won’t play at any higher than 1080p on my iphone. I tried 4k wide on my gopro and I’d prefer 1080 super wide.
Yeah but I prefer getting the option of 4K and vids I have loaded at 1080p get further bastardised by YOuTube I like having that buffer of pixels for them to compress. I watch in 4K all the time.
 

Minlak

custom titis
JB seem to have 7 for $549 at the moment. Thinking of upgrading myself.
Sooo when I bought mine JB had them for $549 I went to The Good Guys and said “ I want to buy a GoPro 7 “ they said they are $549 on special I said “ you know if everyone has them at $540” that’s not a special that’s the price.” “ I want your best price” got it for $515. :)
 

Chriso_29er

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Sooo when I bought mine JB had them for $549 I went to The Good Guys and said “ I want to buy a GoPro 7 “ they said they are $549 on special I said “ you know if everyone has them at $540” that’s not a special that’s the price.” “ I want your best price” got it for $515. :)
Good to know! I have a local Good Guys :)
Cheers Mate
 

Minlak

custom titis
Just on the topic of GoPros I have a 64gb mem card it holds 2 hrs of footage at the settings I use. The camera can only record for around 1hr 45 mins on the battery. 128gb cards seem to still be at a premium so I got 2 x batteries and 2 x mem cards and just swap both at the same time.
 

Minlak

custom titis
Woot worked out how to "Compound Clip" in Davinci Resolve.... Now I can adjust all the clips in the video at the same time instead of one at a time did I mention Woot?
Also there is no updater in Resolve you need to look for updates and reinstall over the top as they are released.

Oh and interestingly my clips end up way bigger from Resolve render but load to YouTube as HD straightway and not sit at low res for 4 days. I reckon its the codec I can render too in Resolve makes the difference.
 
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