thanks Alan. I took a couple of your suggestions. Now my edits look great, but when uploaded to youtube they look like crap. I'm learning about acv vs vp09... Any tips on how to overcome this?
Hey buddy...sorry for the slow response. Just saw this. I'd need to know what you're editing and rendering with to offer any actionable suggestions. But in general, use H.264 encoding, keep the target bitrate high (e.g. 40Mbps), and try using CBR (constant bitrate). Hope that helps.
Thanks. I’m using luma fusion. Prior to your reply I bumped it to 265 Codec and 90 Mb. That pretty much cleared up the blurriness on UA-cam but it took like three hours to upload a 14 minute video lol.
Another great vid Alan. I'm a simple man and you've explained something to me I never worried too much about. I need to sort out a decent mount and then use your info to dial it in. Cheers
Bit rate is essentially the amount of processing power the camera spends on each frame. For regular filming a normal bit rate is fine because you're usually filming a moving actor against a static environment. High bit rate is better for high-motion because more time is spent processing the imagery that passes by. Basically, at a given bit rate, more motion in the scene looks more pixelated than a scene with less motion at the same rate.
Partly true. I'd say with a GoPro, the "normal" is actually high motion. Also, it's not that more time is spent processing, rather it's that more information is stored per frame, hence the larger file sizes and more detailed image.
Hey Alan, thanks for another great video! Your POV videos are really good in my opinion and I really appreciate you sharing your setup and settings. Can't wait to try them with my Hero 8 black.
Thanks Alan. I've just got my GP8 and basically used your settings for my first trail ride with it. Very useful and I'm pleased with the results. The only things I changed was to use GoPro Colour and White Balance to 5500K. I used EV as you suggest at -1.0 but may dial that back to 0.5 as the weather is pretty dull here at the moment. But a BIG THANK YOU. Excellent video.
@@mtb_alan Btw, I should have thanked you for the ProTip.... using the microSD card cartridge to put/take out the microSD in the slot. I'd never thought of that. It works perfectly, 👍
Really useful stuff Alan. Nice review of shutter speed etc for most who've never used a manual camera before as well as multitude of options the 8 has. Now I need to upgrade and get one! Ken
Glad you dug it, Ken! Yeah, I hope the shutter and ISO info will help people make appropriate tweaks to their settings...or at least understand why it can sometimes come out weird. 🤘🏽
Great to see a youtuber with a good understanding of film and photography fundamentals, my 8 arrives today and will follow a lot of your setup advice. Curious if you have spent any time experimenting and dialing settings for snow?
Thanks Fred! I've not done any experimenting with the GoPro in the snow, but from the footage I've seen, the GoPro doesn't seem to require any exposure compensation for snow. This is totally based on seeing GoPro footage from people who I'm pretty sure aren't aware of the tweaks that snow normally requires with traditional photography/film. Hope that helps.
Exactly how I set my GoPro up, with the exception of ISO Max 1600. I’m up in the PNW & like you said, it gets dark, then DARKER in our forests, so it’s always a hassle getting all around clean footage or have a working stabilizer. But, with the ISO 1600 set, it’ll tend to keep the stabilization a lot more clean looking, at the cost to less detail. And honestly, that’s a no brainer. A warped stabilizer looks even worse, so if you’re having that trouble, think about boosting the ISO up!
Exactly! Thanks for backing me up on that. By the way, have you tried messing with your sharpness in relation to your ISO? I just wonder which might improve your results, lower or higher sharpness. Let me know if you experiment with that. I got too much dang sunlight here in SoCal to test. 😆
Thanks for the vid. Super helpful. I have a Hero 7 Black and I do not have the editing tools but making the adjustments you recommended really helped. Thanks!
So tempted to start taking video of my rides but can’t imagine I can stay awake watching it myself as I’m just gravel/road riding. Unlike mountain biking that gives the sense of speed as you rush by bushes and tight obstacles, road riding is just plain dull unless you’re racing.
I have. And while ND filters can give you a more even image to work with, they can make it harder for the GoPro to do its stabilization work while filming POV. But it can get you some good results if you have a lot of control of the stuff you're filming, i.e. you're not flying down a trail. 😄
Back again - I've been trying to nail down my settings (for daytime). I did a lot of testing holding the camera on a selfie stick out of my car window at 50mph. I saw extremely negligible difference between standard bitrate and high bitrate, yet the file size difference was huge. Due to this, I decided to stick to standard bitrate. I also decided to drop from 5.3k or 4k down to 2.7k 30fps. After my first recordings of an actual MTB ride last week I'm disappointed. There is a lot of motion blur with the trees and foliage I'm riding past (10 to 15mph+). I'm wondering how best to reduce that blur without generating huge file sizes. Should I boost the bitrate to high or switch to 60fps? I'm noticing in your videos here that there is just slight motion blur, but it's nowhere near as blurry as mine. I'm guessing the difference from the car window was the trees and objects are further away than on a singletrack trail (even though the cars speed was much faster). I guess I'm also going to have to just do more testing myself riding the same section at the same speed with different settings. By the way, I rarely ever postprocess or edit my videos. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
Good and thorough explanation 👍. I will try these on my next ride. Color grading is something I’m not so familiar with, but id like to learn that so better start with setting the color setting to flat.
Glad it was helpful! Do know that if you're not doing color grading, you might want to use GoPro color. Flat color will look really blah unless you do color grading.
Thanks! I would love to share my color grading process, but it's probably too technical for most viewers. That being said, the simple story is that I bump up the saturation, the vibrance (or brilliance depending on what software you're using), and I "crush the blacks". You might need to look that bit up. But that's pretty much it. The only time I gotta do anything fancy is if I forget to change the color temperature for the rare cases when I shoot something indoors. Hope that helps!
@@mtb_alan thanks for the advice Alan, I think I'm already getting the hang of it after some practice. It's a little intimating at first but not that hard!
@@cebrady Good question. The color setting for indoor is normally "cooler". More like 3200. If you want to get technical, you'd match it as closely as possible to the temperature of the lights in that space, but it generally works to just ballpark it. Hope that helps.
MTB ALAN yessir!!! Just finished my first ride with the GoPro, footage came out great! Got a bit too much of my Legs with the chesty, but that was because I didn’t angle it correctly!🙃
If you are filming on a trail where the light conditions constantly change, say in and out of the woods/shades, will the 5000K white balance still work?
Oh. You mean the on screen capability while the camera is on or filming. Yeah... that would make the exposure consistent for sure. Could work nicely when shooting third person footy. For POV, I try to keep it as simple as hit record and hit stop. 👍🏽
MTB ALAN agree it can be a hassle having to worry about camera settings in the middle of riding. exposure lock is available on hero 8 by pressing and holding on screet for about 2-3 seconds
Interesting ... I'm still experimenting my hero 8 settings, and I found out that it's a bit hard to find the best settings for all conditions. I'm using it for my freestyle quad tho ... In bright/sunny day when you have a time, please try to lock the ISO value to 100 (min & max) and use WB Native and use the rest settings as you usually set. I'm curious how the end result after color grading and editing in term of MTB footage. Thanks!
Indeed. There’s no perfect setting. Thats why there are people who make a living by knowing how to set up cameras for different situations and conditions. 😆 I did totally lock down the ISO in the past, but had bad results. The one thing I realized after making this vid was that the EV Comp is actually important to avoiding huge exposure blow outs. Also, I’ve not had great results with native color. But you might like the results. 👊🏾
@@mtb_alan there is a hidden feature in hero 8 which require us to set EV Comp to -1 I'm forget the name ... 'Spot meter" maybe Next just tap the screen until square line displayed on the screen and we can pointing the square to desire area
Spot meter is different from EV Comp. It's a per-shot setting and is best used when your camera is not moving, there are a very bright and very dark parts of the scene, and you only want to expose for either a dark or light part. EV Comp is a global setting and is similar to (but not the same as) what's known as "pulling" with analog film.
@@mtb_alan just once after a crash. A $25 replacement lens is way cheaper than a $400 replacement camera though. I can say however not having to deal with the annoying and awkward cage style mount thing on the Hero 7 would be awesome. I finally got a well vented full face helmet yesterday (TLD Stage) so I am going to try the switch from my chest mount to chin mount. Pretty excited.
@@benwigginsbikes GoPro has some kind of case/frame now that mounts a replaceable lense in front of the fixed one... There is that if you are interested. For me the 8 black is my first GoPro, and I have ordered that frame to be able to mount lenses
I love you setup, always super clean and great perspective. What editing software do you use? I’ve only dabbled with this and even then I thought I needed two lives. One to live and the other to document.
Wow man...you just described my life when you said you need a second life to document. 😆 Glad you appreciate my results. I edit in Adobe Premiere Pro. And I do all my color grading using its Lumetri Color panel. But I think anything that has saturation, exposure, and some control over highlights, mids, and darks will do the trick. If you wanna get fancy, you can work with curves and a 3-way-color correction tool. But yeah...most decent video editing software has enough to make raw/flat footage come to life. 🤘🏽
Fantastic walk through. You explain everything very clearly. You mention all the settings being the same for 7 Black, except for bit rate. Do you go medium? Using this as a base line for my 7. Think I will be using the go pro color to start with. Thank you, I feel less ignorant now :) Ride on brother
This camera is on my wish list. Would be nice to have this camera. I'm sure I won't get one for a year or more (probably a used or refurbished). Still using a refurbished Hero 4. Would be nice to have this camera and not have to use a gimble.
It's a game-changer. And yeah, nixing the gimbal can be nice. I do know GoPro regularly has sales, and they have their Tradeup program. Dunno if you've looked into that.
What settings can you recommend for use on a motorbike. I like 2.7k 60 superwide but having trouble getting the colour looking right . Not really into post production. Just put all the clips together and enjoy
I don't know if you'd need different setting for moto. What do you like about 60fps? As far as color, if it doesn't look right to you, you either gotta take what GoPro gives you using GoPro color and auto white balance, or you gotta start color grading. :) Hope that helps.
I like to shoot video with my GoPro 8 and grab a picture from the video afterwards, what is the best settings for this? I've always used GoPros preset 'Activity'
I use the same settings that I describe in this video and then use Photoshop or my phone to color correct and grade. Though if you want less of the fisheye look, change the digital lens to linear.
That was a great video about he hero 8, definitely one of the best. Why not shoot in cinematic 24 frames? Also have you tried a wind slayer? If so what did you think about it compared to the sticky dead cats?
Good questions. I use 30fps because it makes the fake slo-mo look better. I know about 24fps being more movie-like, but I don't think it makes much difference on UA-cam. The windslayer works pretty well, and I used to use it. It however ends up being another thing to fiddle with and has been known to get pushed up when I don't notice and I end up with half obscured footage. The deadcats do a good enough job and once they're on, I don't have to think about them. Hope that helps!
Welcome to this awesome sport, Anthony! I'm not too familiar with trails in the LA area. You might have to travel a bit to find some good trails beginner trails. If you can get to Fullerton, I understand the Fullerton Loop is a good one. The Outsider MTB has a whole video on this. Hopefully some fellow commenters can help you out too.
@@mtb_alan yup I’ve been there. It’s pretty nice. I will definitely keep prescribing and exploring. Because I would like to go on trails similar to the ones you do. Thanks again and keep up the awesome work brotha!
@@mtb_alan I ordered a battery pack to try out for longer rides, I'm going Bentonville soon and want to enjoy the ride without worrying about changing batteries.
A very informative video Allan! Just want to ask if these settings would affect to where the gopro is mounted? let say on the chest with a chest strap or on top of the helmet? Another question would be I am contemplating between a hero 7 or 8. Would you be able to do these settings on a hero 7 black? and would you be able to get the same result? I am by no means of doing hardcore video editing whatsoever all I just need is a pretty decent action camera that I can record my rides as I progress into mountainbiking (currently a beginner in this sport). Sorry for asking so many questions. Hopefully you can give me some insights into all of this. Thanks. Ride safe always and God bless! =)
Good questions. It should work well regardless of position. But keep in mind that chest-mounted footage is going to be more shaky unless you use a gimbal. All the settings except for bitrate should work on the 7. The 7 doesn't have a bitrate setting. Can you get the same result? The result will be pretty dang good, but the 8 will still be better especially since it can record at that higher bitrate. Should you get the 7 or the 87? I did a full vid on this: ua-cam.com/video/6nQaINMWL1I/v-deo.html Hope that helps.
@@mtb_alan Thanks for the quick response Alan! Intruly appreciate it. Yeah still contemplating on which would I get but at least I got your perspective so it would be easy for me to decide which one to choose. P.S. Watching all your vids while typing this! 👍😀
Solid tips. I need to try the chin mount, since the chest strap does kind of suck. Plus, having the ability to point the camera where you want it to look is super helpful. Question for you, what are your export settings for youtube? Your compression seems really good and youtube seems to like it. I tend to find that my footage gets a little muddy after uploading it, especially in the more detailed areas when going fast, but yours looks great! Not sure if it's because i'm not compressing enough on export and then youtube is running it's own and that's what kills it or what.
@@mtb_alan I'm in premiere, but I would imagine you can get all the same stuff in any of the NLEs in terms of compression (MOV, MP4), bit rate, or restricting file sizes to be under a certain amount to keep youtube happy. Or if you just use a standard preset export setting from your editing program.
Got it. So I pretty much use the rendering preset that Premiere offers for H.264 UA-cam 4K. The key tweaks that I make are - set the target Mbps to 40 - use CBR (constant bitrate) instead of VBR (variable bitrate) Let me know how that works. Keep in mind that the resolution you get on UA-cam varies depending on your bandwidth. As a note: UA-cam seems to consume and process the file pretty quickly.
MTB ALAN this is awesome. I’ve been using the 4k UA-cam preset, but leaving it as is. I’ll definitely check out changing to CBR and see if that helps! Hope we can shred together one day once this is all over!
Thanks! Good question. I used the same settings on the 9. I didn't do the EV Comp adjustment on the 10 because I wanted to see how the tone mapping, but it seemed like it was still getting a little blown out when going from dark to light areas. I'll be using EV Comp on the 10 now too. As a note, the video coming out today is the first one I shot with the HERO10.
Just picked up a used Hero8. What settings do you recommend for riding dusk into night? I've previuosly been using sn Xiaomi Yi camera set to 1080 @24fps for night. (That camera isnt as adjustable as the GoPro.) Thanks!
Right on. First off, action cameras generally aren’t gonna do great in lowlight situations. But the main thing I would change from the settings in this video would be the ISO max. Leave it at the highest available setting. You’re likely to get a more noisy image but your shutter speed will stay a bit higher somewhat reducing excessive motion blur.
Dope video I coulda used this too for my Santa Cruz trip were on the trails I’d kinda Dark and shades and I didn’t not switch my setting a and my videos came out kinda crappy
Oh dang...I feel you. Santa Cruz was actually the place that got me really tweaking my settings. It was the first place I really used the HERO7 and, yeah...the tree cover played a big part in making my footy not so great. Hope this helps you in the future!
As a rule the shutter speed should be double the frame rate but in fractions of a second. So 30fps would equate to 1/60 of a second. This gives your mind the correct amount of blur that we are used to in films. It’s also one of the reasons some UA-cam videos make you feel nauseous.
This is def true and works nicely when you've got a dedicated camera operator that can make intelligent adjustments to f-stop, ISO, shutter angle, etc. I find that on the trail, I'm not able to do all that. 😆 So I let GoPro handle the shutter speed and give it reasonable ISO limits.
MTB ALAN I was under the impression you could fix the shutter speed then set the iso to auto to achieve the same output. The setting you have work well, so I understand if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. On a side note do you pay to use adobe to colour grade your video, or do you have some pay once software?
Ya...you're totes correct. I think if I weren't setting the ISO max to 800 and letting GoPro do its thing, I'd set set the shutter speed. But I'm choosing to risk the shutter speed lowering when it's super dark in favor of avoiding those blown out shots. This works well for SoCal. I think if I were in the PNW, I would set the shutter and expand the ISO range. Good thinking...I wanted to go into all that stuff in the vid, but it was already at like 20 minutes. LOL! re: color grading. I use the Lumetri Color panel in Premiere. I could do a vid on this too maybe, but I do pretty basic stuff. I just up the saturation and vibrance, and then I crush the blacks a bit.
Hey, I have the GoPro Hero 6, I followed basically all your settings, my camera is 4k 30fps superview, with stabilization. the only and my white balance is 5500 and ev comp -1, I have a video on my channel, the newest one. Do you think you could take a look at it and maybe give me some suggestions? I was thinking lowering my iso to 400 would be good and maybe changing the white balance to 5000 on sunny days? I color corrected my video as well due to my gopro being on flat coloring! just for a little context, I'm also going to be using my GoPro in the woods, just with a dirt bike instead of a mountain bike! I just feel like my 4k doesn't have that good of a quality, but that could just be me :) -Thanks!
@@mtb_alan Can you please try adding the attachable deadcat onto the bottom mic of the go pro? It might significantly improve wind noise. Please let me know the results!
Alan, you mentioned that you change the frame speed to 60 fps and camera angel to wide for filming other people. Is that the only settings you change when filming others or do you change anything else as well? Also what editing software do you use? thanks
Hey, I happened to have very similar settings on my Hero 9, shutter auto and max ISO 800, but it does look very blurry. Is this likely because it was just too dark? (In a forest, sun was setting)
Excellent tips! My videos came out looking really good. I kept the GoPro Color setting instead of flat; but I don’t edit color so it worked out good. You rock Alan!
Thanks for asking. I prefer as little extra kit as possible. I run with no protection. I'm definitely not gentle to my GoPros. Some of crash footy will prove that. 😆 The worst thing I've had happen is getting a slight scratch on the lens of an old 5 Session when I slammed it lens first into the ground. That had little to no effect on the image. Not saying you can't break a lens, but I'd rather reduce the day-to-day hassle and risk a potential longer hassle of a crash replacement. Hope that helps!
Good question. Your white balance will be dictated by the environment. Outdoors when it’s sunny: around 5000. Indoors: around 3200. Adjust as you see fit.
Dang...I've been using Premiere Pro for so long I'm a bit removed from entry-level editing apps. But I think it really doesn't matter too much. The fundamentals of storytelling through "film" is the same regardless of software. 🤘🏽
For GoPro MTB POV footy, it’s not worth it unless you know you’re gonna be in full sunshine 95% of the time. Great if you’re controlling the shot and can add/remove the filter as needed.
Good question. I did a video on this a bit ago. ua-cam.com/video/6nQaINMWL1I/v-deo.html The upshot is that it depends on a) do you have a 7 already and b) what are you doing with your footy?
You made a little "mistake" explaining the effect of fast or slow shutter speed. Your explanation was technically correct but refers more to still images e.g. taking photos with a DSLR. In terms of filming you do not want a very fast shutter speed. In fact you want a shutter speed 1/(2 x frame rate) because it smoothes your motions. For more details you can google 180° shutter rule. But beside that very cool video, as always ;)
@@mtb_alan of course they do 😀 And I guess that the auto shutter speed mode trys to use a slower shutter speed if possible. As I said, your explanation is right and my comment is more of an addition to yours . 😉
Do you think this is the best POV? If not, why not? I'd love to hear your opinions!
thanks Alan. I took a couple of your suggestions. Now my edits look great, but when uploaded to youtube they look like crap. I'm learning about acv vs vp09... Any tips on how to overcome this?
Hey buddy...sorry for the slow response. Just saw this. I'd need to know what you're editing and rendering with to offer any actionable suggestions.
But in general, use H.264 encoding, keep the target bitrate high (e.g. 40Mbps), and try using CBR (constant bitrate). Hope that helps.
Thanks. I’m using luma fusion. Prior to your reply I bumped it to 265 Codec and 90 Mb. That pretty much cleared up the blurriness on UA-cam but it took like three hours to upload a 14 minute video lol.
@@mtb_alan Dude , that is one sweet mustache.
The Loam Ranger uses 24 FPS on his biking channel, whats the major difference between 24 and 30 for the hero 8? Thanks!
Can you make a video of how you color grade! The videos you make after editing look super clean!! Awesome my dude.
Thanks Alex! I think I may. I've gotten a few requests to make a color grading video.
Please do it !😅
Would love to see your editing and color grading process Alan!
Thanks Drew. I’m considering an episode on that.
This video couldn't have come at a better time. My GoPro is arriving later this week
Heckin' A! Yew!
Another great vid Alan. I'm a simple man and you've explained something to me I never worried too much about.
I need to sort out a decent mount and then use your info to dial it in. Cheers
Thanks Brett! Glad I helped give you something new to worry about. 😁
Nothing to sort. Buy a stuntman chest mount for 30 bucks
Bit rate is essentially the amount of processing power the camera spends on each frame. For regular filming a normal bit rate is fine because you're usually filming a moving actor against a static environment. High bit rate is better for high-motion because more time is spent processing the imagery that passes by. Basically, at a given bit rate, more motion in the scene looks more pixelated than a scene with less motion at the same rate.
Partly true. I'd say with a GoPro, the "normal" is actually high motion. Also, it's not that more time is spent processing, rather it's that more information is stored per frame, hence the larger file sizes and more detailed image.
Hey Alan, thanks for another great video!
Your POV videos are really good in my opinion and I really appreciate you sharing your setup and settings. Can't wait to try them with my Hero 8 black.
Sweet!
Thanks Alan. I've just got my GP8 and basically used your settings for my first trail ride with it. Very useful and I'm pleased with the results. The only things I changed was to use GoPro Colour and White Balance to 5500K. I used EV as you suggest at -1.0 but may dial that back to 0.5 as the weather is pretty dull here at the moment. But a BIG THANK YOU. Excellent video.
Nice! Glad to help.
@@mtb_alan Btw, I should have thanked you for the ProTip.... using the microSD card cartridge to put/take out the microSD in the slot. I'd never thought of that. It works perfectly, 👍
@@dabber1 😆 no worries.
Awesome vid Alan! Thank you for going into detail.
Thanks Waylon! My pleasure.
Really useful stuff Alan. Nice review of shutter speed etc for most who've never used a manual camera before as well as multitude of options the 8 has. Now I need to upgrade and get one! Ken
Glad you dug it, Ken! Yeah, I hope the shutter and ISO info will help people make appropriate tweaks to their settings...or at least understand why it can sometimes come out weird. 🤘🏽
Great to see a youtuber with a good understanding of film and photography fundamentals, my 8 arrives today and will follow a lot of your setup advice. Curious if you have spent any time experimenting and dialing settings for snow?
Thanks Fred!
I've not done any experimenting with the GoPro in the snow, but from the footage I've seen, the GoPro doesn't seem to require any exposure compensation for snow. This is totally based on seeing GoPro footage from people who I'm pretty sure aren't aware of the tweaks that snow normally requires with traditional photography/film.
Hope that helps.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share this.
My pleasure.
Exactly how I set my GoPro up, with the exception of ISO Max 1600. I’m up in the PNW & like you said, it gets dark, then DARKER in our forests, so it’s always a hassle getting all around clean footage or have a working stabilizer. But, with the ISO 1600 set, it’ll tend to keep the stabilization a lot more clean looking, at the cost to less detail. And honestly, that’s a no brainer. A warped stabilizer looks even worse, so if you’re having that trouble, think about boosting the ISO up!
Exactly! Thanks for backing me up on that.
By the way, have you tried messing with your sharpness in relation to your ISO? I just wonder which might improve your results, lower or higher sharpness. Let me know if you experiment with that. I got too much dang sunlight here in SoCal to test. 😆
I just bought a GoPro Hero 8 Black. Thanks for the recommendations on the settings.
Nice! No problem. 👊🏽
I don't have a GoPro (I wish I have) but I find this sensible. 😊
I'll follow you!
🤘🏾
Came for the thumbnail, stayed for the content. Great job
Ha! Thanks, man! 🙏🏽
Good Stuff Alan, The beginning was pretty funny.
Thanks Rad Dad!
Thanks for the vid. Super helpful. I have a Hero 7 Black and I do not have the editing tools but making the adjustments you recommended really helped. Thanks!
Right on! 👍🏽
thank you so much for this my footage looks awesom now!
Heck yeah! Glad to help. 👊🏽
So tempted to start taking video of my rides but can’t imagine I can stay awake watching it myself as I’m just gravel/road riding. Unlike mountain biking that gives the sense of speed as you rush by bushes and tight obstacles, road riding is just plain dull unless you’re racing.
Sounds like you need to start racing. 😆
Bro do a 30x time warp
Wonderfull job i will try your setting
Thanks! Hope you dig the results.
Kudos brother ⚡
🤘🏽
Great video with great presentation and great settings! 2 in 1! 🤟🤟
Thanks! 🤘🏾
Have you ever messed with ND filters on the gopro for more cinematic looking footage?
I have. And while ND filters can give you a more even image to work with, they can make it harder for the GoPro to do its stabilization work while filming POV. But it can get you some good results if you have a lot of control of the stuff you're filming, i.e. you're not flying down a trail. 😄
Back again - I've been trying to nail down my settings (for daytime). I did a lot of testing holding the camera on a selfie stick out of my car window at 50mph. I saw extremely negligible difference between standard bitrate and high bitrate, yet the file size difference was huge. Due to this, I decided to stick to standard bitrate. I also decided to drop from 5.3k or 4k down to 2.7k 30fps. After my first recordings of an actual MTB ride last week I'm disappointed. There is a lot of motion blur with the trees and foliage I'm riding past (10 to 15mph+). I'm wondering how best to reduce that blur without generating huge file sizes. Should I boost the bitrate to high or switch to 60fps? I'm noticing in your videos here that there is just slight motion blur, but it's nowhere near as blurry as mine. I'm guessing the difference from the car window was the trees and objects are further away than on a singletrack trail (even though the cars speed was much faster). I guess I'm also going to have to just do more testing myself riding the same section at the same speed with different settings. By the way, I rarely ever postprocess or edit my videos. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
Thanks for this video I just got the same go pro and had no idea what to do with the settings lol
No worries, Jerry! Hope the vid helps!
Cool tutorial... may i will take some of this in my settings
Regards
Dirk
Thanks Dirk!
Good and thorough explanation 👍. I will try these on my next ride. Color grading is something I’m not so familiar with, but id like to learn that so better start with setting the color setting to flat.
Glad it was helpful! Do know that if you're not doing color grading, you might want to use GoPro color. Flat color will look really blah unless you do color grading.
Cool video and awesome beard!
Ha! Thanks and thanks. 🤘🏽
You are the best, perfect video . Thank you !!!
🥰 😆 thanks.
Super helpful video Alan! Any chance you could show us how you do your color grading? Cheers!
Thanks!
I would love to share my color grading process, but it's probably too technical for most viewers. That being said, the simple story is that I bump up the saturation, the vibrance (or brilliance depending on what software you're using), and I "crush the blacks". You might need to look that bit up. But that's pretty much it.
The only time I gotta do anything fancy is if I forget to change the color temperature for the rare cases when I shoot something indoors.
Hope that helps!
@@mtb_alan thanks for the advice Alan, I think I'm already getting the hang of it after some practice. It's a little intimating at first but not that hard!
@@mtb_alan What color temperature do you use for indoors if 5000k is outdoor daytime?
@@cebrady Good question. The color setting for indoor is normally "cooler". More like 3200. If you want to get technical, you'd match it as closely as possible to the temperature of the lights in that space, but it generally works to just ballpark it. Hope that helps.
Nice vid! I'll have to try this
Thanks! Would love to hear how it works for ya!
It’s so much simpler now to update the firmware since you can just do it from the app on your phone🙌🏼
That's one way to do it!
MTB ALAN yessir!!! Just finished my first ride with the GoPro, footage came out great! Got a bit too much of my
Legs with the chesty, but that was because I didn’t angle it correctly!🙃
Nice!
i love the settings ty bro
👊🏾
If you are filming on a trail where the light conditions constantly change, say in and out of the woods/shades, will the 5000K white balance still work?
Good question. In general yes. 👍🏾
Check my latest vid about Skypark. It has a lot of just what you’re talking about.
Will you do a settings video for the 9 black???
Right now I’m running everything pretty much the same. If I end up needing to change stuff, maybe I’ll do a vid.
Really excellent.Thank you so much. 👍
🙏🏾
I like your settings but I prefer running 2k 60-120 fps
Thanks for sharing
I recently switched to 5K 24fps.
Not sure if you brought up the exposure lock option to help prevent the blowout when moving from dark to light or vice versa
I’m not sure the HERO8 has that setting. But I did cover how to avoid blown out footy. 👌🏽
Oh. You mean the on screen capability while the camera is on or filming. Yeah... that would make the exposure consistent for sure. Could work nicely when shooting third person footy. For POV, I try to keep it as simple as hit record and hit stop. 👍🏽
MTB ALAN agree it can be a hassle having to worry about camera settings in the middle of riding. exposure lock is available on hero 8 by pressing and holding on screet for about 2-3 seconds
👍🏽
Thank you!! helps a ton!
My pleasure!
Interesting ... I'm still experimenting my hero 8 settings, and I found out that it's a bit hard to find the best settings for all conditions. I'm using it for my freestyle quad tho ...
In bright/sunny day when you have a time, please try to lock the ISO value to 100 (min & max) and use WB Native and use the rest settings as you usually set. I'm curious how the end result after color grading and editing in term of MTB footage. Thanks!
Indeed. There’s no perfect setting. Thats why there are people who make a living by knowing how to set up cameras for different situations and conditions. 😆 I did totally lock down the ISO in the past, but had bad results. The one thing I realized after making this vid was that the EV Comp is actually important to avoiding huge exposure blow outs.
Also, I’ve not had great results with native color. But you might like the results. 👊🏾
@@mtb_alan there is a hidden feature in hero 8 which require us to set EV Comp to -1
I'm forget the name ... 'Spot meter" maybe
Next just tap the screen until square line displayed on the screen and we can pointing the square to desire area
Spot meter is different from EV Comp. It's a per-shot setting and is best used when your camera is not moving, there are a very bright and very dark parts of the scene, and you only want to expose for either a dark or light part.
EV Comp is a global setting and is similar to (but not the same as) what's known as "pulling" with analog film.
Hey that’s my buddy Brian hitting the session jump at 6:10 🤘
Yew!
Brian rips!
good video. I still can't get myself to go from my 7 black to an 8 black since they don't have replaceable lenses.
Dag...how often have you had to replace your lenses? 😬
@@mtb_alan just once after a crash. A $25 replacement lens is way cheaper than a $400 replacement camera though. I can say however not having to deal with the annoying and awkward cage style mount thing on the Hero 7 would be awesome. I finally got a well vented full face helmet yesterday (TLD Stage) so I am going to try the switch from my chest mount to chin mount. Pretty excited.
@@benwigginsbikes GoPro has some kind of case/frame now that mounts a replaceable lense in front of the fixed one... There is that if you are interested. For me the 8 black is my first GoPro, and I have ordered that frame to be able to mount lenses
Awesome vid now I can go out and get some sick vids can you do a color grading tutorial
Heck yeah! A-ha! I know I was gonna get that question. Sounds like I gotta start working on my next how-to. 👍🏽
I love you setup, always super clean and great perspective. What editing software do you use? I’ve only dabbled with this and even then I thought I needed two lives. One to live and the other to document.
Wow man...you just described my life when you said you need a second life to document. 😆 Glad you appreciate my results. I edit in Adobe Premiere Pro. And I do all my color grading using its Lumetri Color panel.
But I think anything that has saturation, exposure, and some control over highlights, mids, and darks will do the trick. If you wanna get fancy, you can work with curves and a 3-way-color correction tool. But yeah...most decent video editing software has enough to make raw/flat footage come to life. 🤘🏽
@@mtb_alan Can you color grade efficiently on Adobe Premiere Pro too?
Yup! Lumetri is part of Premiere.
@@mtb_alan Awesome, thank you!!
Fantastic walk through. You explain everything very clearly. You mention all the settings being the same for 7 Black, except for bit rate. Do you go medium? Using this as a base line for my 7. Think I will be using the go pro color to start with. Thank you, I feel less ignorant now :) Ride on brother
Thanks Chris! With the 7 I set sharpness to low. And yeah, if you don’t plan to do color grading GoPro color is the better choice. 👍🏽
I don’t think the 7 has a bitrate setting. Right? I’ll have to look.
This camera is on my wish list. Would be nice to have this camera. I'm sure I won't get one for a year or more (probably a used or refurbished). Still using a refurbished Hero 4. Would be nice to have this camera and not have to use a gimble.
It's a game-changer. And yeah, nixing the gimbal can be nice. I do know GoPro regularly has sales, and they have their Tradeup program. Dunno if you've looked into that.
@@mtb_alan Yah, I've seen the $100 off stuff. Still too much $$$$. I have to wait till I can get one for, at most, $150.
Got it.
What settings can you recommend for use on a motorbike. I like 2.7k 60 superwide but having trouble getting the colour looking right . Not really into post production. Just put all the clips together and enjoy
I don't know if you'd need different setting for moto.
What do you like about 60fps?
As far as color, if it doesn't look right to you, you either gotta take what GoPro gives you using GoPro color and auto white balance, or you gotta start color grading. :)
Hope that helps.
I like to shoot video with my GoPro 8 and grab a picture from the video afterwards, what is the best settings for this? I've always used GoPros preset 'Activity'
I use the same settings that I describe in this video and then use Photoshop or my phone to color correct and grade. Though if you want less of the fisheye look, change the digital lens to linear.
Such good info, thank you!
My pleasure, Adam!
That was a great video about he hero 8, definitely one of the best. Why not shoot in cinematic 24 frames? Also have you tried a wind slayer? If so what did you think about it compared to the sticky dead cats?
Good questions.
I use 30fps because it makes the fake slo-mo look better. I know about 24fps being more movie-like, but I don't think it makes much difference on UA-cam.
The windslayer works pretty well, and I used to use it. It however ends up being another thing to fiddle with and has been known to get pushed up when I don't notice and I end up with half obscured footage. The deadcats do a good enough job and once they're on, I don't have to think about them.
Hope that helps!
Well done sir 🍻
Thanks!
@mtb Alan Thanks for this video. Can you recommend one place to go ride here in the Los Ángeles área? I’m a novice
Welcome to this awesome sport, Anthony!
I'm not too familiar with trails in the LA area. You might have to travel a bit to find some good trails beginner trails. If you can get to Fullerton, I understand the Fullerton Loop is a good one. The Outsider MTB has a whole video on this.
Hopefully some fellow commenters can help you out too.
@@mtb_alan yup I’ve been there. It’s pretty nice. I will definitely keep prescribing and exploring. Because I would like to go on trails similar to the ones you do. Thanks again and keep up the awesome work brotha!
@@anthonyarredondo2793 sweet! Check out Santiago Oaks. 🤘🏾
Cool I’ll try this out, what do you do about battery life or external battery pack? I can’t get more than 1 hour from a battery
Right on. I just carry extra batteries.
@@mtb_alan I ordered a battery pack to try out for longer rides, I'm going Bentonville soon and want to enjoy the ride without worrying about changing batteries.
@@trialsrob214 👍🏾
Awesome Video, thx
My pleasure.
Nice work 👌
👊🏾
A very informative video Allan! Just want to ask if these settings would affect to where the gopro is mounted? let say on the chest with a chest strap or on top of the helmet? Another question would be I am contemplating between a hero 7 or 8. Would you be able to do these settings on a hero 7 black? and would you be able to get the same result? I am by no means of doing hardcore video editing whatsoever all I just need is a pretty decent action camera that I can record my rides as I progress into mountainbiking (currently a beginner in this sport). Sorry for asking so many questions. Hopefully you can give me some insights into all of this. Thanks. Ride safe always and God bless! =)
Good questions. It should work well regardless of position. But keep in mind that chest-mounted footage is going to be more shaky unless you use a gimbal.
All the settings except for bitrate should work on the 7. The 7 doesn't have a bitrate setting. Can you get the same result? The result will be pretty dang good, but the 8 will still be better especially since it can record at that higher bitrate.
Should you get the 7 or the 87? I did a full vid on this: ua-cam.com/video/6nQaINMWL1I/v-deo.html
Hope that helps.
@@mtb_alan Thanks for the quick response Alan! Intruly appreciate it. Yeah still contemplating on which would I get but at least I got your perspective so it would be easy for me to decide which one to choose.
P.S. Watching all your vids while typing this! 👍😀
🙏🏽
Just made it 1K on likes. Thanks for the tips!
Edit: and oh yeah, I love the beard.
Awesome! Thank you!
Solid tips. I need to try the chin mount, since the chest strap does kind of suck. Plus, having the ability to point the camera where you want it to look is super helpful. Question for you, what are your export settings for youtube? Your compression seems really good and youtube seems to like it. I tend to find that my footage gets a little muddy after uploading it, especially in the more detailed areas when going fast, but yours looks great! Not sure if it's because i'm not compressing enough on export and then youtube is running it's own and that's what kills it or what.
Thanks Ryan! Let me know how it works out for you.
Re: compression settings. What software are you currently using?
@@mtb_alan I'm in premiere, but I would imagine you can get all the same stuff in any of the NLEs in terms of compression (MOV, MP4), bit rate, or restricting file sizes to be under a certain amount to keep youtube happy. Or if you just use a standard preset export setting from your editing program.
Got it. So I pretty much use the rendering preset that Premiere offers for H.264 UA-cam 4K. The key tweaks that I make are
- set the target Mbps to 40
- use CBR (constant bitrate) instead of VBR (variable bitrate)
Let me know how that works.
Keep in mind that the resolution you get on UA-cam varies depending on your bandwidth.
As a note: UA-cam seems to consume and process the file pretty quickly.
MTB ALAN this is awesome. I’ve been using the 4k UA-cam preset, but leaving it as is. I’ll definitely check out changing to CBR and see if that helps!
Hope we can shred together one day once this is all over!
🤘🏽
Great vid. Would you still recommend these settings for the 9? Or now 10?
Thanks! Good question.
I used the same settings on the 9.
I didn't do the EV Comp adjustment on the 10 because I wanted to see how the tone mapping, but it seemed like it was still getting a little blown out when going from dark to light areas. I'll be using EV Comp on the 10 now too.
As a note, the video coming out today is the first one I shot with the HERO10.
@@mtb_alan awesome thanks man love the content and the facial hair👍🏽
@@chrissenkiw3149 😆 No problem.
Just picked up a used Hero8. What settings do you recommend for riding dusk into night? I've previuosly been using sn Xiaomi Yi camera set to 1080 @24fps for night. (That camera isnt as adjustable as the GoPro.)
Thanks!
Right on. First off, action cameras generally aren’t gonna do great in lowlight situations. But the main thing I would change from the settings in this video would be the ISO max. Leave it at the highest available setting. You’re likely to get a more noisy image but your shutter speed will stay a bit higher somewhat reducing excessive motion blur.
@@mtb_alan Thanks! I'll have to experiment and probably save a "Night" preset with the ISO maxed out.
Dope video I coulda used this too for my Santa Cruz trip were on the trails I’d kinda Dark and shades and I didn’t not switch my setting a and my videos came out kinda crappy
Oh dang...I feel you. Santa Cruz was actually the place that got me really tweaking my settings. It was the first place I really used the HERO7 and, yeah...the tree cover played a big part in making my footy not so great.
Hope this helps you in the future!
Liked & Suscribed. Thx man!
Awesome, thank you!
i like this , thank you!
No worries. 👊🏾
Hey Alan, great video! Just got my Hero 8 and wondering how many batteries do you use during one full day of filming at snow summit?
Thanks! I rarely use more than 2 batteries. I ise the QuickCapture feature.
Do you have any videos explaining your color grading while editing?
I don't, but I mostly just bump up the saturation, the vibrance, and maybe drop the black a bit.
As a rule the shutter speed should be double the frame rate but in fractions of a second. So 30fps would equate to 1/60 of a second. This gives your mind the correct amount of blur that we are used to in films. It’s also one of the reasons some UA-cam videos make you feel nauseous.
This is def true and works nicely when you've got a dedicated camera operator that can make intelligent adjustments to f-stop, ISO, shutter angle, etc. I find that on the trail, I'm not able to do all that. 😆 So I let GoPro handle the shutter speed and give it reasonable ISO limits.
MTB ALAN I was under the impression you could fix the shutter speed then set the iso to auto to achieve the same output. The setting you have work well, so I understand if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. On a side note do you pay to use adobe to colour grade your video, or do you have some pay once software?
Ya...you're totes correct. I think if I weren't setting the ISO max to 800 and letting GoPro do its thing, I'd set set the shutter speed. But I'm choosing to risk the shutter speed lowering when it's super dark in favor of avoiding those blown out shots. This works well for SoCal. I think if I were in the PNW, I would set the shutter and expand the ISO range. Good thinking...I wanted to go into all that stuff in the vid, but it was already at like 20 minutes. LOL!
re: color grading. I use the Lumetri Color panel in Premiere. I could do a vid on this too maybe, but I do pretty basic stuff. I just up the saturation and vibrance, and then I crush the blacks a bit.
MTB ALAN it’s hard to find a program nowadays that you can just buy. It’s all subscription. Nice to have learnt how you do it. 🙏
🤘🏽
Hey, I have the GoPro Hero 6, I followed basically all your settings, my camera is 4k 30fps superview, with stabilization. the only and my white balance is 5500 and ev comp -1, I have a video on my channel, the newest one. Do you think you could take a look at it and maybe give me some suggestions? I was thinking lowering my iso to 400 would be good and maybe changing the white balance to 5000 on sunny days? I color corrected my video as well due to my gopro being on flat coloring! just for a little context, I'm also going to be using my GoPro in the woods, just with a dirt bike instead of a mountain bike! I just feel like my 4k doesn't have that good of a quality, but that could just be me :)
-Thanks!
Your footy and color grade look good. 👍🏾
@@mtb_alan thanks! I'm glad to hear that!
What’s on the go pro 8 in your thumbnail, deadcat? Did you talk about that in the video?
Yes and yes. 👍🏾
@@mtb_alan Can you please try adding the attachable deadcat onto the bottom mic of the go pro? It might significantly improve wind noise. Please let me know the results!
Are you talking about the thing beneath the collapsible fingers?
@@mtb_alan Yes sir, as air flows each direction, I am curious if this will decrease the wind noise. Thanks for quick response!
Where did you get the fuzzy mic covers from? I looked on Amazon but they were different and didn’t come with the 3m stickies
Hi. Have a look at my kit. I have links to the fuzzy mic covers there: kit.co/MTBALAN
@@mtb_alan Sweet! Just ordered them now, Thanks 🙏🏽
@@chrisrosales2643 Yew!
Alan, you mentioned that you change the frame speed to 60 fps and camera angel to wide for filming other people. Is that the only settings you change when filming others or do you change anything else as well? Also what editing software do you use? thanks
Good question. All the other settings are the same as what I use for the POV settings. I edit in Adobe Premiere Pro. 🤘🏽
Hey, I happened to have very similar settings on my Hero 9, shutter auto and max ISO 800, but it does look very blurry. Is this likely because it was just too dark? (In a forest, sun was setting)
Indeed. That will definitely happen. As mentioned at 14:34, you might consider setting your max a bit higher. Hope that helps.
Excellent tips! My videos came out looking really good. I kept the GoPro Color setting instead of flat; but I don’t edit color so it worked out good. You rock Alan!
Awesome!
Will you do a video like this with the 9 soon? I
Thanks for the suggestion. It’s pretty much all the same in the 9. 🤘🏾
@@mtb_alan ok solid. Getting one soon and going to apply the same settings. Prob won’t do 5k seems like overkill.
And for sure making the attachment for my pro frame that you have. Love that rig!
Do you use the Roll Cage for protection? Or Just mount the GoPro as is without any protection?
Thanks for asking. I prefer as little extra kit as possible. I run with no protection. I'm definitely not gentle to my GoPros. Some of crash footy will prove that. 😆 The worst thing I've had happen is getting a slight scratch on the lens of an old 5 Session when I slammed it lens first into the ground. That had little to no effect on the image. Not saying you can't break a lens, but I'd rather reduce the day-to-day hassle and risk a potential longer hassle of a crash replacement. Hope that helps!
whats the best white balance if im using gopro color not flat?
Good question. Your white balance will be dictated by the environment. Outdoors when it’s sunny: around 5000. Indoors: around 3200. Adjust as you see fit.
just got a Hero 8 and starting using it riding. any suggestions on a good editing program for a beginner? cheers!
Dang...I've been using Premiere Pro for so long I'm a bit removed from entry-level editing apps. But I think it really doesn't matter too much. The fundamentals of storytelling through "film" is the same regardless of software. 🤘🏽
How many memory cards have you space launched trying to put them in? I am up to 3, 2 in my office still to be found.
LOL! That's hilarious! I've only launched one so far, and man did I get a good laugh out of it. 😆
@mtbalan whats your thoughts on nd filters, are they worth it?
For GoPro MTB POV footy, it’s not worth it unless you know you’re gonna be in full sunshine 95% of the time. Great if you’re controlling the shot and can add/remove the filter as needed.
What kind of editing software do you use?
Premier Pro.
You may have mentioned it, but what editing software are you using?
I use Adobe Premiere.
Will those settings be effective if I'm filming in 1080p??
Should be, but whyyyyyy 1080?
@@mtb_alan I'm recording long rides on adventure motorcycles and I get more bang for my buck on the SD cards
@@ADV_Agenda that makes sense. How big is your microSD?
What edit software do u use
Adobe Premiere Pro.
Alan. Would you replace a hero 7 black with a hero 8??? Or not worth it?
Good question. I did a video on this a bit ago. ua-cam.com/video/6nQaINMWL1I/v-deo.html
The upshot is that it depends on a) do you have a 7 already and b) what are you doing with your footy?
MTB ALAN yes I have a hero7 black. I make some UA-cam vids on my channel. I’m a YT hack that’s given but I like to geek out with hardware occasionally
Cool. Lemme know if that vid 👆🏽I shared helps.
odd question but what watch is that?
It’s a Nixon.
You made a little "mistake" explaining the effect of fast or slow shutter speed. Your explanation was technically correct but refers more to still images e.g. taking photos with a DSLR. In terms of filming you do not want a very fast shutter speed. In fact you want a shutter speed 1/(2 x frame rate) because it smoothes your motions. For more details you can google 180° shutter rule. But beside that very cool video, as always ;)
Well, do you think my results look good? 😉
@@mtb_alan of course they do 😀 And I guess that the auto shutter speed mode trys to use a slower shutter speed if possible. As I said, your explanation is right and my comment is more of an addition to yours . 😉
Thank bud! 👊🏽
The vid seems a little pixelated when going thru the terrain.
UA-cam compression, not the cameras fault
What helmet is that? Also what's the price?
See the link in the description. It's the Fox Proframe. Prices vary. Hope that helps!
MTB ALAN Thanks bro!
👊🏽
Just update the gopro through the app
Could do if I used the app.
hey
👋🏽
foiliage! 😄
😁 Aluminum foiliage!
Wish I would’ve seen this before I went out and rode today! 🤣
Ha! Well...the day is still young!
cheers! haha
👊🏽
hahahha "pubes on your camera"
😆
Its so dumb that you can name the presets they have already implemented a keyboard into the thing
It’s a hard life.
the background music sucks and drowns out your voice. Stop doing that
downvoted
Shhh…
@@mtb_alan trying to help you be a better content creator, NERD. Learn to take criticism wuss
To long to watch...... Unlike
😘