Gutted about poor quality pictures and video.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

We went out in Buttercup tonight to see a Festival of Light bike ride.

This is where a number of Goldwing motorbikes turn on all their show lights and bells, sirens and music and raise money for charity by showing off their bikes and then having a big parade. A lot of the riders are also in fancy dress. Tonight I guesstimate there were around 150 bikes.

Afterwards there was a big firework display on the beach.

I took my gopro, camera and tripod as I thought I would take loads of pictures and videos for you all to see.

I took over 500 pictures and everyone is out of focus and I salvaged about 3 and the videos are the same. One of the parade is all blurred and dark and just terrible to look at. I will post it on YouTube in the week just in case anyone could kindly give me any advice on what I did wrong or should have done.

Really wanted to share tonight with you all.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Ah.

 

OK, not sure if I'm reading this right, as to what camera you're using for which role, so:

 

Sorry, I know Go Pro have tried to improve low light performance somewhat over the years, but essential it's just the wrong tool for the job. If that's what you were using.

 

The Go Pro was originally designed for a very specific task, it's just that we all saw how good and useful it was for such a (comparatively) small amount of money, and jumped on the band wagon. But the reality is, it was designed as a wearable action camera for people to strap to themselves while participating in extreme sports; so it's designed with a really wide angle lens to get the wearer and the background in shot, it (was originally) designed for use in bright daylight, though that has been improved on over time. It only really needed to record the weare screaming, and perhaps swearing as they enjoyed their near death experiences, so didn't have to have great audio.

 

Just because they can capture what they're good at in superb HD doesn't I'm afraid, make them into a minuturised substitute for a proper general purpose video camera.  For the sort of thing you were filming, something like an SLR or compact with the ability to shoot HD video would have been so much better. I use a little Canon EOS M for filming stuff like that - it's basically a compact digital still camera that can also shoot video. (It just has the ability to take interchangeable lenses, including those for my Canon SLR).

 

Now, assuming good you were using a still camera and or regular video camera, the other half of the equation is that night time stuff is just damned difficult to shoot. It takes practice and expertise to know how to meter the light readings correctly. To the extent that many cameras will just get lost in auto modes, so may need using in manual settings.

 

Likewise if they're autofocus, many if not most of the cameras at systems will usually struggle badly in low light, as they tend to try and read the contrast between areas of a subject. In low light, some will switch to infra red beams to range find, but this can fall over badly doing the sort of stuff you're talking about, so really, you often need to drop back to manual focus.

 

The lack of light will often mean your cameras have wide open apertures which will reduce the depth of field a lot. While the slow shutter speeds will exagerate rate any movement in the camera or subject.

 

And lastly, the sensors in some digital cameras and camcorders are just better than others in low light conditions.

[Greenstreak-Andy D]

It's so frustrating when the result from ur go pro is rubbish. I went scuba diving with my daughter. I bought a head mount for the camera. Unfortunately the camera was pointing too high and just about the full 40 min I had none of my daughter!!!

Fortunately the team I dived with had someone who knew what he was doing, so bought a copy from him!!

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks for the replies.

 

That must have been gutting Greenstreak.

 

My daughter did a similar thing in Egypt last year.

 

Dave, that is exactly what happened. Video on the GoPro and pictures on the camera.

 

I thought the GoPro would have done a better job than it did but at least I have learnt something.

 

My camera is a Canon G12 and I took loads of pictures all on different settings with the hope of getting something decent.

 

I would have used my tripod but the Gopro was mounted on it.

 

My camera skills are basic and I don't really understand all the settings but I keep plodding away and would love to master some of the night time shots.

[Terry Everall]

For successful nightie shots at any distance you will need a powerful flashgun

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks Terry.

 

My initial thinking was that the lights would show up really good from the bikes in the dark so I tried to take pictures with no flash unfortunately.

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

What a shame, I feel very sorry for you. How kind of you to take all this footage and bother to share it with us lot.

 

Think of it as a learning experience and at least if/when you go to Blackpool you will have mastered it.

[Howard]

 

 

nightie shots

 

Oooh Terrrry!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

For successful nightie shots at any distance you will need a powerful flashgun

 

Tel the peeping tom, eh?

 

Don't they call the cops when they see you flashing?

 

[Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator]

Last time I went to Blackpool I got my camera nicked!

 

Seriously though anything like this type your query into youtube and get hundreds on instant tutorials:

 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+take+good+night+pictures

 

 

 

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks Marcus.

 

That's great.

 

I am just uploading what I took last night onto Youtube and then will post a link when its done.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

You don't necessarily need mega expensive kit to take some good night time photos, you do need a bit of knowledge and technique though, and it helps to know the limitations of the kit you are using, so that you can get the best out of it and work with it, not against it, that way you won't waste time or get disheartened chasing the impossible.

 

A bit of research, as Marcus said, and a bit of practice before the Blackpool trip will pay dividends.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

_{Well here is the video I made from last night.}

 

_{I have uploaded it just so people can  perhaps learn from it and the comments above.}

 

_{https://youtu.be/6Dva3jwD12o}

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Here you go.

 

 

To be fair, on an early GoPro it probably wouldn't have come out as well as it did!

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Thanks David.

 

I need to learn how to post the videos directly to here.