I thought I would dress up as a boy scout because I feel like
i'm leading a pack of people
today, on a topic that really
grinds people's gears... and
the question is: How do I get better quality GoPro videos?
or How do I upload the best quality GoPro video?
Now todays topic is a bloody annoying one,
because you might go to the effort of
creating this amazing video and you upload it to social media
and it looks CRAP! & that really does annoy people
to address this topic
I have to break it down into 4 areas
because there are many variables which can affect
the quality of your GoPro videos. At the top of this list
is your recording quality
next is your recording environment
your settings, what you are actually capturing
the next thing would be the device
the device that you are editing on
be it smartphone, laptop or desktop
there are a range of problems that can occur with the device
and the last one is the settings
the export settings that you are specifically choosing
when you are exporting your content in preparation for it to be
uploaded to social media
so today we're going to touch on those topics let's get stuck into it!
So at the top of this list we have our recording quality
What are we actually recording our GoPro content in?
When I talk about recording quality, there's this big bold
four letter acronym that seems to punch people in
the face... & it is called
HEVC
You may notice this thing (message) pop up at one point
in your GoPro career :)
At one point when you click (apply) the setting of 4K 60FPS
or 1080p 240FPS
The pop up may say "are you sure you want to enable HEVC"
HEVC stands for Higher Efficiency Video Coding
basically what HEVC or H.265 enables
it allows
you to record really high quality videos
in the size of a small file
you'll notice on your smart phone
all the newer technology that's being produced at the moment
they are enabling this codec called H.265
Don't be concerned if you have
gone out and bought at GoPro Hero 8 or shot on your mobile phone
and you've captured a whole heap of content in this codec
or used H.265 (unknowingly) using 4K 60FPS
using the higher frame rates, because it's not the end of the world
If your device doesn't support H.265
there are ways that you can change
the video quality from H.265
to H.264
I will put a link in the description to a program called
Handbrake. You can use Handbrake to convert
H.265 files to H.264
When we talk about recording quality
If you are recording your GoPro videos
in 4K 60 FPS or in 1080p 240FPS
You must consider
what your device is or what you will be editing that content on
and whether it is capable of handling
this content. So that's the very top of this list!
The next thing that we have to talk about is
the recording conditions
There are certain conditions that you will film on a GoPro
which are not going to support
the quality of your GoPro content
One of those conditions is LOW LIGHT
this camera (GoPro) was not designed to capture low light
It just wasn't. So if you go out & you're recording (with your GoPro)
In these conditions, like dusk or dawn
low light conditions, you may notice
artefacts show up when you go to upload
from the compression (of social media platforms)
the other scenario may be if you're shooting
in a forest. I always find this with mountain biking
Mountain bikers would have the hardest time
trying to get their GoPro videos to look good because
They are constantly in low light conditions
Mountain biking through the woods or in a forest,
and when you see the forest there's all of these leafy artefacts everywhere
So if you don't get all of the steps right
and you have that type of content... a high frame rate shot
with low light, "artefact-y leafy" conditions
it will probably look s#*%
& that's the truth of the matter
But there are a few things that you can do to make it look better
Moving on to the device, let's say you have recorded your GoPro clips
in 4K or 2.7K
and you're transferring them onto your mobile (cell phone)
because you are only editing on your mobile
There are so many mobile phones & smartphones that DON'T support
HEVC content. And you will notice that straight away (when you attempt to edit or transfer the footage)
In the
description of this video is a link
here is a grid which explains all of the
mobile devices that DO support
HEVC content
If you don't have one of these devices
then you can't edit the higher quality
GoPro content on those devices
If you have...
If you've shot 1080p in 24 or 25fps then they will work (on the older devices)
But if you want the best quality GoPro Content
which is the question that everyone asks
the answers that I will give you
If you're not using something like
windows 10 or better, or iOS
Mac High Sierra or better
which I think is the A10 processor and newer
You need to have a device which supports these higher
quality video codecs. Have a look at the
article that i have linked in the description of this video
that explains exactly what HEVC is...
which devices it supports, so that you can know!
If you don't have the right computer
If you don't have the right smartphone, you can't get better quality GoPro videos
The next topic is the actual editing suite
If you are editing 4K content
on a smartphone, there are certain
editing suites which will not allow you to export
that 4K content out of the device
If you are going to use something like
The GoPro app - to import your
your 2.7K clips
The GoPro App on some smartphones is only going to export
the content in 1080
So if you then want to upload your clip to social media
1080p won't give you
the best quality or won't give you the best
quality GoPro video. If you upload that to youtube it's going to look rubbish
If you upload that to Instagram it might look ok.
So then we have to talk about
our device but also what we are exporting in...
If you are uploading to YouTube, it's super important
to make sure that you have
exported your GoPro video
out of your editing suite, i.e (Adobe Premiere Rush, Adobe Premiere Pro)
i.e (Davinci Resolve, iMovie)
Whatever editing suite that you are editing in
Export the video out of that editing suite in 4K
Make sure you are using
If you were to use Adobe Premiere Rush for example, select
the 4K 2160p Ultra HD
YouTube Preset
And also select the very highest resolution within that preset
that preset I should say...
It's not a codec it's a preset but it has a video codec embedded in it
They are making it easy for you
to get the best quality content. If you have uploaded 4K
GoPro clips into Adobe Premiere Rush
It will start editing those clips in 4K
And then when you go to export them, even if you have editing them in 1080p
Still export them in 4K
2160p Ultra HD
Select that (preset) go down to the bit rate and select the
highest bit rate. 40Mbps
I'm going to link another page in the description of this video which explains what YouTube
prefers for your videos to look the best
Youtube... Listen hear,
YouTube doesn't like H.265
Instagram loves H.265 so as a video codec
when you are exporting out of
Adobe Premiere Rush or Adobe Premiere Pro
select
H.264 if you know you are uploading
that video to Facebook or YouTube
If you are uploading that video to instagram
then I'd recommend selecting H.265
The other thing that I would take not of to get the best quality
out of you GoPro edit, is to go down to your bitrate
and bump it up a bit
For YouTube, make sure the bitrate is between 40-45Mbps
For a 4K video
For a 1080 video it's best between
10-15 Mbps
Bump up your bitrate so that when you're uploading
this content to youtube
you are giving it the best possible chance
of looking great on that platform
My preferred export settings for Instagram
If I'm exporting out of Adobe Premier Pro
I'm choosing H.265 as my video codec
I'm making sure I use VBR 1 pass
and I'm choosing 15 Mbps
That's all I do
Specifically for Instagram
If I'm using Adobe Premiere Rush for example
I will select the highest 4K
export out of Adobe Premiere Rush
I'll then transfer (via airdrop) that 4K video onto my
phone and upload it to Instagram
This is possible because i've not made a huge video (file size)
I've only made a 30-15 second video
My smartphone is well & truly capable of transferring that data
off my computer (via airdrop)
and uploading it to Instagram - it's in the H.265 codec
you will notice, when you look at the size
of the clip you are exporting
If it is under 150mb, you're fine!
That's all that you need to upload to Instagram (less than 150mb)
That's what I do if I'm uploading to Instagram
One thing, for those of you that are solely
editing on your mobile, if you are editing on your mobile
and you are using something like Adobe Rush
If you have filmed your content in 4K
and you have imported that content into Adobe Premiere Rush
Now you are able to export
out of Adobe Rush in 4K (previously you weren't able to do this)
If you were to export or upload a video
to social media from Adobe Premiere Rush off your mobile
and the quality was still in 1080, then it will still look bad
on social media
Bottom line... to summarise this whole thing
If you shoot in the higher frame rate & you use the HEVC codec
which is the higher efficiency video codec
then you have to have a device to support the editing
and the export of that content for it to look good on social media
I hope this clears up this whole topic
It's your turn now to try and troubleshoot
what part of this process you may be falling short
Is it the export settings? Are you not getting those export settings
right? Because you are exporting your video in 1080p
and you want to upload it to YouTube
It is much more preferred to upload the video in 4K
Even if you have only shot your video in 1080p
You can still scale it up to 4K
And it will look better, an upscaled 1080
GoPro video will still look better on YouTube
Exported at 4K even though it is only shot in 1080p
In regards to Instagram
I always make sure that my device, my iPhone,
supports the H.265 codec so that is what I am using
and that's what I make sure I export out of
especially on Adobe Premiere Pro
So that's it :)
I wanted to make this video for those of you that constantly ask the question
These are the areas that you have to look at.