Video 101 anyone?

[LJCF]

I primarily do aerial photogrammetry, meaning just stills and not very familiar with the video world. Looking at an Inspire 2 (X5S) for this, but also what I guess would be called "recreational video" as I am an amateur at best here. With my P4 I currently shoot video in .MP4. I am not an apple guy and .MOV is just out of the question - way invested otherwise.

So it looks like this .DNG format is what Inspire 2 works in - will basic Adobe Premier Pro work with this - anything I should know about working in this format? Are the stills going to be in this format as well?

And while I am at it - does the I2 have 2 separate file memory systems? A bit confused here.....

Obviously I am not well versed here - read some of the video codec discussions and get lost - so can someone get me going with the basics.

Thanks.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

I'd be happy to. Having started with still photography myself 15 or 20 years ago I remember making the transition to video back when I did it. Plus we sell everything so I can talk you through the concepts and how they relate to the various gear that you might consider (I2 and X5S being a great choice).

Where are you located? And if you want to PM your phone number I'd be happy to call and talk you through the basics and get you understanding all the choices.

Thanks!

Michael

www.FloridaDroneSupply.com

 

[Feet Up]

Hi LJCF,

You are going to really enjoy video. A few things from your post.

The .mov extension can be confusing. This indicates an Apple Quicktime "container" but does not specify which codec is contained. All of the Prores options will have a .mov extension but so will h.264/5 if you were to select .mov rather than .mp4 in settings (both are just containers). The important thing to know here is that you can work seamlessly with .mov files using a Windows editor.

I would suggest that you download Davinci Resolve if you want to experiment with .dng video. Resolve is free and will work with all of the X5S file types except h.265. Unlike Premier it does not require any conversion to edit .dng video.

.dng can also be a little confusing. The same extension is used both for stills and video. It is a RAW format. You can easily work with .dng still images on essentially any modern computer. .dng video, on the other hand takes a significant system, some planning and some patience. It is a storage and a bandwidth hog. It also offers the most flexibility and it is the future .

You had written that .dng is the format that the inspire 2 works in. dng is one of the formats that it can work in. With no extra investment, the X5s will use .dng photos (not .dng video) or .jpg photos written to an SD card. It will use h.264 or h.265 for video also written to the SD card. All of the Prores formats and all of the .dng video formats require 1. an SSD card 2. an SSD reader 3. A ProRes license and/or a .dng license.

 

[NickU]

The I2 does have separate file system memories to use your phrase. Also it confusingly uses the RAW and DNG terms to refer to both video and photos. RAW DNG generally refers to photographs and CinemaDNG refers to video RAW. Just to confuse you even more, the CinemaDNG format effectively comprises a series of RAW DNG still photographs that are take at 24-60fps and which are then combined in the video editor to make a video. Theoretically, you could edit each and every one of those photos in Lightroom or Photoshop CameraRAW before turning them into your video... would take you a while to do though.

Your I2 always requires the use of a MicroSD card, and that stores photos (jpeg and DNG Raw) and video (.mov/.mp4 in various compressed H264 and H265 sizes and formats). It can also use an optional CineSSD card (also refered to as simpy an SSD card). The CineSSD is used for the higher spec/bandwidth video modes, recording the less compressed (ie higher quality) ProRES and CinemaDNG formats, and also some RAW DNG photos in certain circumstances.

The CineSSD card is more restircted in what it will record - it won't record the lower quality compressed H264/H265 mov/mp4 videos, only the high quality ones (Prores/CinemaDNG). It also cant be used for taking jpeg photos, only RAW DNG photos in the high speed burst mode (14+fps). It also must be used with the MicroSD card installed, and stops recording when the microSD card is full. (So basically what I'm saying is that the CineSSD isn't a replacement for the microSD card.)

Think of the I2 as being like two separate video recorders working from the same aerial - one (microSD) records lower quality (but more quickly/readily useable) video, while the other (CineSSD) can simultaneously record a higher quality (but less readily useable) video. Kinda like VHS and Betamax (if you're the right age ) or DVD and BlueRay - both do the same thing, but at different quality and need different playback equipment.

Adobe Premiere should be able to cope with all the formats, but it'll take vastly different amounts of time to work on each video type. The stuff coming off the CineSSD taking longer to download, import and edit than the stuff off the MicroSD. The smaller lesser quality formats should be quicker to use... but the fly in the ointment at the moment tends to be the H265 version of the video, it's relatively new and, unlike H264, a lot of computers don't have the hardware decoding built in to their processors/video cards - that means it takes them a lot longer to display it as the computer's processor needs to chew its way thru them while it deals with the rest if your computer too.

If you decide you want to play with the higher quality format CinemaDNG stuff, Davinci Resolve seems to be able to process the CinemaDNG stuff far faster than Premiere can at the minute, so it's worth taking a look at.

 

[Viper Pilot]

Excellent info. Thank you Nick!

 

[LJCF]

All,
Thank you very much for the replies - very helpful as I start to unravel this world. I have started a lot of reading and already understand some of my questions were a bit sophmoric - but ya gotta start somewhere....

There is a bit to learn here!

Not to bounce all over the place, but in some of my discussions with PIX4D support they are working on the Inspire 2/X4/5S support and made some discussion about the shutter operation - specifically as follows:

If you are interested in the Inspire 2, note that the X4S camera has both a mechanical (global) and a digital (rolling) shutter, whereas the X5S only has the digital shutter (rolling). This can make a difference for the model reconstruction

But they didn't really go into the specific impacts on model reconstruction (meaning aerial photogrammetry processing - DTM's etc.)

Anyone care to expand on this or have more knowledge (I need to give the PIX4D support a break - though they have been very helpful).

Nicku I know you aren't a fan of PIX4D, but I really appreciate your response above! (and Yes unfortunately I do recall the Betamax/VHS days.....the world has changed a tad since) I recall looking up trig functions on paper tables if that gives you any insight.

 

[NickU]

um, not sure where you get I'm not a fan of Pix4D from?!? I think you might be mixing me up with someone else!

The global/rolling shutter thing is to do with how the sensor is illuminated and how it reads out the image from the sensor, various effects can happen depending on which type is used. The most often visible type of effect is the multiple chopping of a rotating propellor like you see in some YouTube videos - the prop is spinning fast enough that the sensor actually records parts of it several times during the 'exposure'. A good starting read is Global & Rolling Shutters

In theory, the global shutter should give a more clearly defined image to build the 3D model from, but in real life, it's not always so straightforward, things like sensor size, photo site sensitivity (pixels on the sensor), colour accuracy, and anti aliasing filters have an effect. The guys at Pix4D would be able to say which was the best for their system, but that might not necessarily mean it was best for creating movies.

I've probably still got my little book of log and trig tables from school somewhere too

 

[LJCF]

um, not sure where you get I'm not a fan of Pix4D from?!? I think you might be mixing me up with someone else!

The global/rolling shutter thing is to do with how the sensor is illuminated and how it reads out the image from the sensor, various effects can happen depending on which type is used. The most often visible type of effect is the multiple chopping of a rotating propellor like you see in some YouTube videos - the prop is spinning fast enough that the sensor actually records parts of it several times during the 'exposure'. A good starting read is Global & Rolling Shutters

In theory, the global shutter should give a more clearly defined image to build the 3D model from, but in real life, it's not always so straightforward, things like sensor size, photo site sensitivity (pixels on the sensor), colour accuracy, and anti aliasing filters have an effect. The guys at Pix4D would be able to say which was the best for their system, but that might not necessarily mean it was best for creating movies.

I've probably still got my little book of log and trig tables from school somewhere too

Ummm, yes sorry I did get you confused with someone else....I will blame that on my age....
Thanks for your input.