Video settings mistake

threewulfmoon · Jan 19, 2017

I took my Breeze up today. After watching some videos last night on YouTube about the Breeze, I decided to set the quality to 4K and then try stabilizing the video later with editing. I took a few minutes of footage, landed, and then started transferring my video. Of course it is taking forever and my wife chooses that minute to remind me that our boys were with her mom and we needed to pick them up. So I clicked "compressed version" on the rest of my videos thinking I could go back later and download the higher quality version. Big mistake! This left me 480p versions on the drone and my iPad. Guess I'll just have to fly some more soon and get additional footage.

FLYXLSA · Jan 19, 2017

I edit on my MacBook Pro, so 4k seems like overkill. The 1080p with image stabilization works VERY well. I compared the two in a quick little movie - desktop screen capture. It's a pretty amazing little camera... almost (almost) as good as a Gimbal Mount!

It was a breezy day too. Top video is the 1080p with the electronic/digital stabilization on.

threewulfmoon · Jan 20, 2017

Hey FLYXLSA,

I felt the same way that you did regarding 1080p vs. 4K until I watched this video on YouTube.

The difference in quality is marked. Evidently the 4K setting takes much more vibrant footage, which the DIS on the Breeze muddies up. It looks like it might be better to shoot in 4K and let something like Adobe do the digital stabilization afterwards.

FLYXLSA · Jan 20, 2017

True. I have an older copy of Final Cut Pro for Mac that would probably work. I'm just too lazy to learn another piece of Software. I bought that for my son a few years ago. 1080p works.

4K may not even need to be retouched on a calm day. The camera is very stable - mounting it on rubber dampers was a great move by Yuneec.

JDQ · Jan 20, 2017

I am the person who shot/made the video "Yuneec Breeze Image stabilization tricks" above. I also have a Typhoon. After that test, I shot some more at 4K and 1080 and the 4K is so much better I only use it now. I usually edit the videos anyway, so letting my editor stabilize the video ends up not only LESS zoomed in, but also stays vibrant and clear. If I want super smooth video, I use the Typhoon, but the Breeze is so portable I find myself taking it on our boat, on bike rides, to events, etc... Click my video above and check my channel for more videos. Almost all of them were shot in 1080 because I didn't realize how much better the 4k/editor stabilized video was until after I posted most of my videos.

One thing I failed to mention in my video is that the zooming when stabilized in the breeze is confusing when trying to figure out where the drone is in relation to the object you're trying to get video of. I'm just leaving it in 4k and deciding what clips to fix later. Great drone! -Jason

FLYXLSA · Jan 20, 2017

Nice Video Jason. What app did you use to capture the screen video?

CzarMark · Jul 27, 2017

I discovered another issue with the 1080P stabilized video. I made a short video with my Breeze while attempting to land on a landing pad that I made. Simultaneously I had someone else video the Breeze with an iPad doing a simple square maneuver and then land on the pad. My intent was to sync the two videos up and present them in a side-by-side split screen fashion. However, I was unsuccessful when I attempted to sync the videos. I downloaded the Breeze video as 1080P stabilized and, as a result, the video was shorter in length than the video taken on the iPad. The takeoff and inflight portions of the videos matched fairly well, however, when I lined up to land on the pad, I was yawing side-to-side as well as front-to-back. The Breeze's stabilization algorithm apparently didn't like all of that motion and eliminated it from the 1080P video. I was unable to sync the entire video from takeoff to landing.
I wonder if I had used the 4K unstabilized video if I would've been more successful in syncing the two videos. Any thoughts?