Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

GoPro 3 tests for use with Epic

AndreasOberg

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Messages
1,674
Reaction score
31
Points
48
Location
Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Website
www.obergwildlife.com
Just wanted to post my findings for GoPro 3 Black.
My idea is to use it as a C camera for epic on things that the epic cannot do. Under water, being held by an animal or just extreme angles. So I tested how does the quality hold up to Epic. I tested it in a very bright snowy day walking around in the forest with it on my head.

2704x1440 looks the best and I will use this for all shots that are not too shaky. Preferably when its' siting on something or I'm just panning with it. 1920 only makes sense in 60fps, but the quality is about 25% less because it's more heavily compressed.

Findings
2704x1440 24fps downscaled to 1920x1080 does look the best. It looks maybe 20% sharper than GoPro 1920x1080. I think it's because the low quality elements like over sharpening disappears a bit when you downscale to 1920. So haloes around objects are and oversharpening are just reduced. The bitrate is 44Mbit/s for 2704.

1920x1080. 60 fps looks a bit more blurry than 24fps. The bitrate is the same no matter what frame rate is used so this means that 60fps uses 2.5x less bitrate. Bitrate for 24fps is 29Mbit/sec, same for 60fps (but 2.5 times more frames).

1280x720 upscaled to 1920x1080 looks horrible. Extremely nasty shimmering, aliasing and compression artifacts. Could only be used if there are few details in the shot. It stil uses 29Mbit/sec which means that every frame has about 6 times less data.

The Good
- It's GoPro so mega small and mega convinient
- The picture is very sharp. Sharper than from a 5D for sure. 2.7k can be used with Epic if you have to use it.
- 1920 is pretty good too. Not as good as 2.7k, maybe 20% less quality but still good.

The Bad
- Don't use 720p in 120fps, it looks horrible due to extremely low bitrate
- Weakness is bright areas. Areas around the sun will be blown out.
- Super high shutterspeed is a problem in very bright areas. I wish I had a ND filter. It looks like the pictures were taken with 1/1000s which makes camera movements very jerky for panning.
- Battery time is short. Maybe 1 hour per battery.

Summary
- I will use 2.7k and 1920 60fps for shooting.
- Will use timelapse. Seems very useful. Not sure if I will user 12MP or less (it has 7,5 also). A cool thing is that it can take 2 frames per second in time lapse. A Canon 5D can for example only take about 0.5fps in time lapse.

When I'm back from the jungle I can upload more tests and conclusion, but I hope these pointers help. If you have any findings please post since I haven't used the camera very long.
/Andreas
 
Any chance you can try another test?

I was considering shooting 4k at 12fps and retiming it to 24 with frame blending. Animation is often on 2's which people don't notice too much. I'm concerned because I want to master in 4k, and 4k does not allow up-rezing.
 
GoPro3 at 720p 120fps at 0:33 & 0:54

Other Footy is highspeed Epic @5k/4K and a couple 5Dm2 regular speed shots mixed in.


I see a breakdown in quality with the 720, but in action sports when a quick cut and a camera in a position you would otherwise not put a camera...it's still very useful

-dane
 
GoPro3 at 720p 120fps at 0:33 & 0:54

Other Footy is highspeed Epic @5k/4K and a couple 5Dm2 regular speed shots mixed in.


I see a breakdown in quality with the 720, but in action sports when a quick cut and a camera in a position you would otherwise not put a camera...it's still very useful

-dane

How does the 2.7k resolution look regarding rolling shutter? I'm worried if I strap this little camera in an aerial scenario, it's going to be jittery as heck.
 
How does the 2.7k resolution look regarding rolling shutter? I'm worried if I strap this little camera in an aerial scenario, it's going to be jittery as heck.

2.7k isnt very usable on an RC Heli, a bunch of RS. Depends, we've only used gopros on super small quad copters, that arn't very stable when there is wind. Maybe a bigger rig...but then you can just fly a better camera.

Here you can see GoPro3 at 1080 60fps on a lil' quadcoptor: at 0:28, the shot before it is 720p 120fps

-dane
 
2.7k isnt very usable on an RC Heli, a bunch of RS. Depends, we've only used gopros on super small quad copters, that arn't very stable when there is wind. Maybe a bigger rig...but then you can just fly a better camera.

Here you can see GoPro3 at 1080 60fps on a lil' quadcoptor: at 0:28, the shot before it is 720p 120fps

-dane

Thanks! Was considering flying it on my S800 Copter with Zenmuse Gimbal.
 
Back
Top