Having a GoPro on top of a DSLR set up - lighting

[sim667]

So a member off here very kindly sorted me out with kit to dip my toe into underwater photography (my degree is actually in photography, so I was always going to want to end up with a massive dive camera).

Anyway it’s a DSLR set up with strobes. Until now I’ve been making videos with a GoPro and I enjoy putting those on my YouTube channel. The housing for the DSLR has a mount I’ll be able to attach my GoPro to on top, but it’s dawned on me I’m going to end up with videos with the camera flash going off…… does anyone else do something similar and have any suggestions for software that might be able to remove camera flashes from the videos? I should add I’m using a very old MacBook or a new iPad to make the videos so the simpler the software the better.

[M-J-J]

So a member off here very kindly sorted me out with kit to dip my toe into underwater photography (my degree is actually in photography, so I was always going to want to end up with a massive dive camera).

Anyway it’s a DSLR set up with strobes. Until now I’ve been making videos with a GoPro and I enjoy putting those on my YouTube channel. The housing for the DSLR has a mount I’ll be able to attach my GoPro to on top, but it’s dawned on me I’m going to end up with videos with the camera flash going off…… does anyone else do something similar and have any suggestions for software that might be able to remove camera flashes from the videos? I should add I’m using a very old MacBook or a new iPad to make the videos so the simpler the software the better.

I will caveat this post with the fact that my photography skills are non-existent, but I use video lights for a lot of the diving I do (90% overhead) as that way whether I am recording or taking stills I have the correct lighting always in place without needing to 'faff'. As an aside diving like that has really transformed my understanding of the environment I am in, its the difference between driving down a country road with dipped vs full beam on.

Video lights £50 - £60 ebay/Amazon Chinese specials are great, especially when you can pick up 10 of them for the price of one 'branded' video light. Although batteries and chargers are something I do get from reputable sources as they can go bang!

[Decosnapper]

Separate disciplines, separate purposes.

Video will be typically 30fps whereas the strobe will have delivered its entire burst of light in 1ms...or about a 1/290th of a second.

The technical issues aside, its the mindset for producing great content - stills or video - is just so...different? Whenever I dive with a camera (which is pretty much all the time) its to create something. That something was a single image, or a series of...and now its 3D reconstruction...its a very singular goal. Trying to produce both video and stills on the same dive...that stand as artistic works worthy of sharing...might just be pushing the envelope of task loading a little?

Certainly for my comfort zone...which is probably why I have not tried it for real.

[Woz]

If you're filming using the same rig, then you can get 3 way clamps so you can mount strobes and lights off your arms so you can switch between them. I did try this for a bit but it was a pain in the arse. So if taking photos, I use a DSLR and strobes, and if shooting video, I have a GoPro, tray and lights that is a completely separate rig. The GoPro rig isn't that big so is easily clipped off somewhere with the arms folded in.

Taking flashes out using software won't happen you are far better just editing round them. Watch a nature doc and you will see that each shot lasts no longer than 10 seconds before cutting away to a different view anyway. No-one shoots hour long continual shots they make incredibly tedious viewing. The only time you need this is if you are doing PG using video as a source then you need a billion lights anyway to get an even spread.

[Stuart Keasley]

As Simon says, video and stills are different mindsets, require different approaches, lighting and so on, so trying to achieve both at the same time you risk achieving neither that well.

That aside, and to answer the question; I don't know of any software or plug ins to correct for strobe use during video, in reality I don't think this would be possible. Strobes issue a relatively large burst of light, the exposure of the video image would most likely be completely burnt out, basically leaving nothing there to correct.

Manual adjustment shouldn't be too difficult though, strobes flash very quickly, within a frame length duration, so should only affect one to two frames.

If your camera has a rolling shutter, simply remove the section of the frame that's affected, copy in the section from the previous or next frame to fill the gap, or if the strobe bridges two frames, remove the section of both that is affected, copy the corresponding section across from the other.

If you're camera has global shutter, then the whole frame will be affected. In that case you'd need to completely remove the affected frames, copy in proceeding and succeeding frames then merge to blend the motion.

If the subject and ambient light weren't moving too much, you'd probably get away with deleting the complete frame and shortening the clip.

[Firefly]

Watch a nature doc and you will see that each shot lasts no longer than 10 seconds before cutting away to a different view anyway. No-one shoots hour long continual shots they make incredibly tedious viewing.

I think Woz makes a very good point here, I don't do underwater video but I have found myself switching off viewing them on many occasions for that very reason.

To me underwater video is an art form which requires not only good footage put together well but also good narration along with good music choice . . . . . . . Thats why I leave it to those that have that skillset.

[sim667]

Yeah tbh I have two rigs now, stills and video, so maybe I just need to learn the art of switching between them when I feel like it.

[Woz]

Yeah tbh I have two rigs now, stills and video, so maybe I just need to learn the art of switching between them when I feel like it.

In the same way that you will always have the wrong lens on your DSLR, you will always be carrying the wrong rig... why not shoot video using your DSLR with a couple of video lights on your strobe arms? Your DSLR will perform waaaaaay better in low light than a GoPro. Someone on FB just did a side by side comparison with a GP10 and a DSLR. The DSLR pissed the GP into the weeds the GP really struggled in low light. It's just physics it has a teeny sensor and teeny lens you can't get enough light in there. I've had reasonable success with a GP only by throwing light at the problem which is great for stuff nearby, but for typical UK green water wide angle work is useless unless you hit it with half a dozen Keldans.

[sim667]

In the same way that you will always have the wrong lens on your DSLR, you will always be carrying the wrong rig... why not shoot video using your DSLR with a couple of video lights on your strobe arms? Your DSLR will perform waaaaaay better in low light than a GoPro. Someone on FB just did a side by side comparison with a GP10 and a DSLR. The DSLR pissed the GP into the weeds the GP really struggled in low light. It's just physics it has a teeny sensor and teeny lens you can't get enough light in there. I've had reasonable success with a GP only by throwing light at the problem which is great for stuff nearby, but for typical UK green water wide angle work is useless unless you hit it with half a dozen Keldans.

It’s a D300, so no video. I did an inexpensive trade for some of my old stuff with another user on here to dip my toe into underwater DSLR without paying a fortune for housings for my D800 which is my day to day DSLR.

[Woz]

It’s a D300, so no video. I did an inexpensive trade for some of my old stuff with another user on here to dip my toe into underwater DSLR without paying a fortune for housings for my D800 which is my day to day DSLR.

Same here. I have an old but serviceable Canon 50D for stills and a GoPro setup with some lights for video. Not that I can be arsed humping the DSLR about any more.

[Noggin the Nog]

Oh bxggxr!
Just dug out my fantasea FP7100 housing and the locking pin for the door has broken off and gone missing.
Reckon I have two chances of replacing it: fat, and slim.

[Tim Digger]

You can take videos with the D300s but its clunky. Go into live viewj, focus, press centre of omni selector on press again off. But why would you? Are you good enough with stills yet?

[Mr lara]

One solution could be to turn off the flash on your DSLR when recording video, which would eliminate the flash from your GoPro footage. Alternatively, you could adjust your strobe settings on your DSLR to avoid firing at the same time as your GoPro footage.