Aurora Borealis Filming!

Natalia Robba · June 9th, 2009, 02:34 AM

Ok i know this is waaayyyyyy overdue but I've been busy with RL unfortunately :P

I finally managed to get around to sorting the aurora vids.
Used alive hd converter to convert to avi.

Im no expert in this area so im still pretty confused as to what sort of efect bitrate is having on the vids (apart from lowering file size)

trying to strike a balance but its proving a pain in the ass :/

any recommendations?

John Stakes · June 9th, 2009, 05:45 AM

Natalia, your best bet is to capture using Premiere or MPEGstreamclip. I don't remember reading that you shot in HD, so you shouldn't need the Canon Preset for PP, but you might as well go download it from the Adobe site.

As far as your camera being recognized by PP. Just try a few different things and I'm sure it would come up. ALWAYS BE SURE YOUR CAMERA IS OFF WHEN PLUGING IN OR REMOVING FIREWIRE CABLE.

1) Plug up the cam, then boot Premiere
2) Start Premiere, then plug in the cam
3) Plug in the cam, then reboot the computer (with camera off) and start Premiere
4) reinstall Premiere, and try the above

And remember to always give the comp a few seconds to recognize the camera.
Hope this works, would love to see the footage.

OH and as far as bitrate, a higher bitrate is just higher quality. It's really no science to it until you start creating DVD's etc...For online stuff, you would be safe around 1200. Higher bitrate = Higher quality = Bigger file size

JS

Natalia Robba · June 9th, 2009, 06:00 AM

HI John,

Thanks very much for that reply. I think that you might have read my penultimate post tho :)
I have actually managed to capture the videos now.

Please read my previous post.
Thanks!

Natalia

EDIT - oops never mind just read the last part of your post haha, I'll lower the size to 1200 and place them on my FTP and post either today or tomorrow morning!

Natalia Robba · June 25th, 2009, 05:05 AM

Ok here it is :)

http://www.natalia-robba.com/blachfordaurora09.avi

File is about 50mb and I tried to put the peaks of the display in there.

Natalia

Bryce Comer · June 25th, 2009, 03:02 PM

Wow Natalia,
That's really impressive! Were you using manual focus or did you have the camera set to auto focus? It looks like the focus was a bit soft sometimes & if you were in auto focus i can understand that the auto focus would have had trouble getting it right with so little light. It may well have been the compression too. Does the footage look sharper in its original form?
How much is the footage sped up from its original, i could see someone walk in front of the camera at one stage, & it was only when i saw that person that i realised that the footage was in fact sped up in post.
I haven't yet witnessed an aurora at all, but would love to see it one day. What settings did you end up using to film these shots? I would love to be able to film it too if i ever got the chance.
With the compression of your footage, have you tried compressing to any other formats? I'm not sure that you will get as nice a footage compressing to .avi as you would with another format for the given file size. Maybe you could try a quicktime file or mpeg4. These formats seem to give a much better picture when you are compressing to such relatively small file sizes.
Thanks for sharing
Bryce

Natalia Robba · June 26th, 2009, 08:08 AM

Hi Bryce,

Thanks for the compliment! I'm pretty happy with the footage :)
I actually used Manual focus set to infinity most of the time.
The times when the footage loses focuses is to blame on the gloves I was wearing haha!

It was really cold and I didn't have the best gloves for the job, every now and then I'd accidently touch the focus ring and then had to readjust....not the best job in terms of focus and stability but I was so excited!!

The video was actually sped up x10 as the original display was over 2 hours long!
To be honest, the actual display at real time was very active and fast, but I thought it better to speed it up to see the movement better.

I will give it a go with regards to compressing to quicktime or mpeg, although to be honest the video in its original format is pretty grainy due to the low light. But will give it a shot and see!

I don't actually have the camera that I used to film this footage anymore but it was a Canon XH A1, I used a shutter speed of 1/15, aperture of 1.6, focus was set to infinity and I played around with the color settings a little on the cam so it would pick up the greens/purples a little better.

I also used a gain of about +6db? my memory is a little off but I definately used a + gain setting.

The Aurora is amazing :) I travel as much as I can just to get a chance to see them, seen then in Norway and Canada so far, off to Tromso again this year to try my luck again :)

June 25th, 2009, 03:02 PM	#20
Bryce Comer Trustee Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Rossland, British Columbia Posts: 1,024	Wow Natalia, That's really impressive! Were you using manual focus or did you have the camera set to auto focus? It looks like the focus was a bit soft sometimes & if you were in auto focus i can understand that the auto focus would have had trouble getting it right with so little light. It may well have been the compression too. Does the footage look sharper in its original form? How much is the footage sped up from its original, i could see someone walk in front of the camera at one stage, & it was only when i saw that person that i realised that the footage was in fact sped up in post. I haven't yet witnessed an aurora at all, but would love to see it one day. What settings did you end up using to film these shots? I would love to be able to film it too if i ever got the chance. With the compression of your footage, have you tried compressing to any other formats? I'm not sure that you will get as nice a footage compressing to .avi as you would with another format for the given file size. Maybe you could try a quicktime file or mpeg4. These formats seem to give a much better picture when you are compressing to such relatively small file sizes. Thanks for sharing Bryce __________________ There's never enough hours in the day!

June 9th, 2009, 02:34 AM	#16
Natalia Robba New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Gibraltar Posts: 14	Ok i know this is waaayyyyyy overdue but I've been busy with RL unfortunately :P I finally managed to get around to sorting the aurora vids. Used alive hd converter to convert to avi. Im no expert in this area so im still pretty confused as to what sort of efect bitrate is having on the vids (apart from lowering file size) trying to strike a balance but its proving a pain in the ass :/ any recommendations?

June 9th, 2009, 05:45 AM	#17
John Stakes Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 558	Natalia, your best bet is to capture using Premiere or MPEGstreamclip. I don't remember reading that you shot in HD, so you shouldn't need the Canon Preset for PP, but you might as well go download it from the Adobe site. As far as your camera being recognized by PP. Just try a few different things and I'm sure it would come up. ALWAYS BE SURE YOUR CAMERA IS OFF WHEN PLUGING IN OR REMOVING FIREWIRE CABLE. 1) Plug up the cam, then boot Premiere 2) Start Premiere, then plug in the cam 3) Plug in the cam, then reboot the computer (with camera off) and start Premiere 4) reinstall Premiere, and try the above And remember to always give the comp a few seconds to recognize the camera. Hope this works, would love to see the footage. OH and as far as bitrate, a higher bitrate is just higher quality. It's really no science to it until you start creating DVD's etc...For online stuff, you would be safe around 1200. Higher bitrate = Higher quality = Bigger file size JS

June 9th, 2009, 06:00 AM	#18
Natalia Robba New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Gibraltar Posts: 14	HI John, Thanks very much for that reply. I think that you might have read my penultimate post tho :) I have actually managed to capture the videos now. Please read my previous post. Thanks! Natalia EDIT - oops never mind just read the last part of your post haha, I'll lower the size to 1200 and place them on my FTP and post either today or tomorrow morning!

June 25th, 2009, 05:05 AM	#19
Natalia Robba New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Gibraltar Posts: 14	Ok here it is :) http://www.natalia-robba.com/blachfordaurora09.avi File is about 50mb and I tried to put the peaks of the display in there. Natalia

June 26th, 2009, 08:08 AM	#21
Natalia Robba New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Gibraltar Posts: 14	Hi Bryce, Thanks for the compliment! I'm pretty happy with the footage :) I actually used Manual focus set to infinity most of the time. The times when the footage loses focuses is to blame on the gloves I was wearing haha! It was really cold and I didn't have the best gloves for the job, every now and then I'd accidently touch the focus ring and then had to readjust....not the best job in terms of focus and stability but I was so excited!! The video was actually sped up x10 as the original display was over 2 hours long! To be honest, the actual display at real time was very active and fast, but I thought it better to speed it up to see the movement better. I will give it a go with regards to compressing to quicktime or mpeg, although to be honest the video in its original format is pretty grainy due to the low light. But will give it a shot and see! I don't actually have the camera that I used to film this footage anymore but it was a Canon XH A1, I used a shutter speed of 1/15, aperture of 1.6, focus was set to infinity and I played around with the color settings a little on the cam so it would pick up the greens/purples a little better. I also used a gain of about +6db? my memory is a little off but I definately used a + gain setting. The Aurora is amazing :) I travel as much as I can just to get a chance to see them, seen then in Norway and Canada so far, off to Tromso again this year to try my luck again :)