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Video Recording brightness Burst?

jernatety

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Hello, it's been a year and I've recorded over 90 of my kids hockey games with the iPad Pro 9.7 32GB. For the most part I've had about 95% success with excellent recording functionality. The other 5% is weird, I'll explain.

In some cases over the course of recording back and forth across the rink, (goal to goal) I've noticed the focus seems to get stuck and when it does it blasts the brightness "white balance" to the point where you can barely make out anything on the screen. However, my wife discovered if you quickly tap the screen, it'll refocus and correct itself almost instantaneously, but it doesn't fix the problem per-say, it's almost as if the camera recalls the focus problem and fixates on it when you pan back to that part of the ice where the problem began. I can go all game long without issue then in an instant I get the focus problem and it'll persist on that same exact spot in the ice rink until I stop the recording. Whats weird is I don't have the same problem on the rest of the ice, it's only when I pan back to that same spot. I can come back the next day to the same rink and not have a problem at all. It's happened probably 7 times over the course of the season and thankfully it's always been towards the end of the game and the footage recorded wasn't necessarily important, it's just very annoying to have a perfectly recorded hockey game get tarnished by the last 5-10 mins having to deal with making sure I'm ready when the light blasts again in order to tap the screen so it re-focuses.

Has anybody had this problem before? I must say though, using the iPad to record games is so much better than any palm sized HD video recorder. I also use a few third party add on's. I use a 2x telephoto lens which affixes to a case called an iographer. Stuff works great.
 

pronoya

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Unless you lock the exposure levels, then the camera app is going to keep adjusting the white balance/exposure levels as you move the camera across the ice. If you hit a dark spot (e.g. a dark wall) it will compensate and let more light in. This is exacerbated when moving the camera. the focus feature is struggling to focus on something and begins "searching" for the focus and exposure levels.

I use filmic pro because it lets me pick an exposure level and lock it. This prevents the exposure from sliding around on me. It usually means finding the mid level exposure but it's much better than experiencing the blow out of white you describe
 
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jernatety

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Unless you lock the exposure levels, then the camera app is going to keep adjusting the white balance/exposure levels as you move the camera across the ice. If you hit a dark spot (e.g. a dark wall) it will compensate and let more light in. This is exacerbated when moving the camera. the focus feature is struggling to focus on something and begins "searching" for the focus and exposure levels.

I use filmic pro because it lets me pick an exposure level and lock it. This prevents the exposure from sliding around on me. It usually means finding the mid level exposure but it's much better than experiencing the blow out of white you describe

Thank you, that's great info. I use a very very basic app called "Video Pause". There are no light or exposure settings. It just allows uninterrupted recording with a pause and stop button. I tried Filmic before but I'm not a professional. There are so many settings I had no idea what I should or shouldn't touch. Also Video Pause saves the final video file as a compressed mp4. I can record about 1hr 10mins, (a full youth hockey game) and the resulting file is 1.9G which is very small at 1920x1080 30fps.

If you can suggest standard settings I'd love to give it a shot again.
 

pronoya

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In Filmic, the circle controls the exposure and the square controls the focus. in an indoor hockey rink, you have the full gamut of colors and exposure from white to black. So, IF i was filming in this setting, I'd set the exposure reticle (circle) on something medium gray (sweater, wall, uniform, etc), then let it adjust. Once adjusted, tap the circle and it will turn RED. Now the exposure is LOCKED, which means the exposure will not change, regardless of where you point your phone. Just keep the square on what you want in focus.

This is essentially setting and locking the exposure to an average between the bright white of the ice and the blacks of the puck. So white will look like a light grey and black like a dark grey. BUT, you won't experience the sliding exposure as you follow the action.

I suggest that you position the circle exposure reticle to the top left corner of the screen when you set the exposure. That way, you're free to move the square focus reticule to wherever you want without unlocking the exposure.

Also, if you want the action to look natural with motion blur, set the frame rate to 24p. To look like a TV broadcast of the action choose 30p or 60p. I like 60p so I have a slow motion option. Higher file size though, so it's a trade off. You choose.

Let me know how it works out.
 
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jernatety

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Thank you for the tips, I will definitely give it a shot again. I'll try it during a team practice instead so that if I do make a mistake, which I most likely will, I don't lose any important game footage.
 
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jernatety

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Hi @pronoya

Following up. I recorded the first game with FilMic last night To play on the safe side I had my wife record using the Video Pause app on the other iPad just in case I screwed something up. I have to say, I was very impressed. It worked as you said but I do have an issue.

The resulting video size is HUGE! I recorded 1080p @ the normal 1920x1080 30fps using setting 24fps. Because this is a tournament they're playing in this weekend the periods are shortened to 13 mins each. So the resulting file was only a total of 50 mins with stops and starts. The file size was 6.45GB and it's a .mov file. Whereas the same game video recorded on the other iPad with the same resolution and size settings was a 1.54GB .mp4 file. The quality on both is nearly the same except I used a tripod to record mine. My wife did it without a tripod using an iographer holder.

Is there any way to change the output file so it's a compressed .mp4 like Video Pause?

Thank you for your help!
 

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