What simple video editing software?
Discussion
I finally managed to get my DJI Mini 3 Pro drone off the ground! 
Whilst it was an absolute doddle to fly, I discovered upon returning home that for some utterly unfathomable reason the confounded thing has split my video file into multiple videos that are all 3:17 long.
Looking around online, it appears that DJI claim that this is so that if your recording becomes corrupted, you only lose a bit of it, not all of it, which seems rather daft to me. I've never yet has an SD card fail on me, yet it now looks like I'm going to have to edit everything I record to splice it together!!!
So, with that in mind, is there anything that people would recommend?
Ideally I'm after something economical that's going to let me cut bits out of some of the videos, merge together the bits I want to keep, and then export 4K footage, that ideally won't force me to sign up to a SaaS subscription ad infinitum to do so!
I do already subscribe to Lightroom for photography and I know I can import video into it and trim it, but I can't figure out how to join the bits I want back together again in a new video. I also saw Clipchamp was pretty well rated, but it that keeps failing to upload my media, and even if I can get it to, apparently I'd have to pay to export it at 4K. There's also DJI Lightcut, which apparently is pretty good, but seems to only be available on phones, which is a bit crap!
Any thoughts welcome, please!
Whilst it was an absolute doddle to fly, I discovered upon returning home that for some utterly unfathomable reason the confounded thing has split my video file into multiple videos that are all 3:17 long.
Looking around online, it appears that DJI claim that this is so that if your recording becomes corrupted, you only lose a bit of it, not all of it, which seems rather daft to me. I've never yet has an SD card fail on me, yet it now looks like I'm going to have to edit everything I record to splice it together!!!So, with that in mind, is there anything that people would recommend?
Ideally I'm after something economical that's going to let me cut bits out of some of the videos, merge together the bits I want to keep, and then export 4K footage, that ideally won't force me to sign up to a SaaS subscription ad infinitum to do so!
I do already subscribe to Lightroom for photography and I know I can import video into it and trim it, but I can't figure out how to join the bits I want back together again in a new video. I also saw Clipchamp was pretty well rated, but it that keeps failing to upload my media, and even if I can get it to, apparently I'd have to pay to export it at 4K. There's also DJI Lightcut, which apparently is pretty good, but seems to only be available on phones, which is a bit crap!
Any thoughts welcome, please!
Firstly , I recommend taking a series of smaller clips. You’ll find it much more interesting looking back. I’d probably edit 3 batteries worth of footage into a few minutes for perspective.
Smaller files are also far easier to work with - You’ll find it a pain transferring them or editing them on your phone in particular.
Secondly, have you tried the in app editor from DJI? It’s actually quite good but can be even better - download LightCut - it is the same app but with all of the features unlocked. DJI package it in a lighter format.
It’s great and I haven’t found the need to edit on pc/mac.
It also exports into 4k but it won’t load very large files sometimes
Smaller files are also far easier to work with - You’ll find it a pain transferring them or editing them on your phone in particular.
Secondly, have you tried the in app editor from DJI? It’s actually quite good but can be even better - download LightCut - it is the same app but with all of the features unlocked. DJI package it in a lighter format.
It’s great and I haven’t found the need to edit on pc/mac.
It also exports into 4k but it won’t load very large files sometimes
Edited by joropug on Saturday 27th January 22:34
joropug said:
Firstly , I recommend taking a series of smaller clips. You’ll find it much more interesting looking back. I’d probably edit 3 batteries worth of footage into a few minutes for perspective.
Smaller files are also far easier to work with - You’ll find it a pain transferring them or editing them on your phone in particular.
Secondly, have you tried the in app editor from DJI? It’s actually quite good but can be even better - download LightCut - it is the same app but with all of the features unlocked. DJI package it in a lighter format.
It’s great and I haven’t found the need to edit on pc/mac.
I did look at LightCut, but for some reason it only seems to exist for Android or iOS, not Windows.Smaller files are also far easier to work with - You’ll find it a pain transferring them or editing them on your phone in particular.
Secondly, have you tried the in app editor from DJI? It’s actually quite good but can be even better - download LightCut - it is the same app but with all of the features unlocked. DJI package it in a lighter format.
It’s great and I haven’t found the need to edit on pc/mac.
Given that I can record in 4K to an SD card then pop that straight into the card reader on my laptop to play back and edit on a 24" 4K monitor, surely it would be a backwards step in just about every way to figure out a way of transferring it to my phone to edit it on a sub-4K 6.8" screen, wouldn't it? Especially as I'll then still have to transfer it back to my laptop anyway?
Am I just missing something?
Kermit power said:
Simpo Two said:
Do you actually need 4K? Life is easier if you don't.
Given I'm able to record in 4K and a lot of the playback will be on a nice 55" 4K OLED it would seem strange not to, wouldn't it?Oddly, the further you sit from a screen, the less you can tell the difference between HD (1080) and 4k. 4K content on a high quality computer screen will be noticeably better than watching it on your TV from your sofa. Added to which is you need to understand bit-rates to avoid choppy-playback. And unless you have a very good computer with plenty of RAM, you will find editing something of a chore (proxy editing can help).
The vast majority of TV shows are still edited to and broadcast in HD.
What 4K is really good for is cropping. If you're editing something to HD, a 4k clip enables you to crop in by a factor of 3 or 4 without any loss of quality. This gives you the latitude to straighten an image, de-fish (remove lease induced curvature) a scene and apply fancy effects like rotating into a scene.
If you've shot in HD then you'd need to go to 720 to afford yourself any room like this. So, shoot in 4K, but edit in HD.
If you're going for 'realism' over 'cinematic' then use a higher frame rate (50fps rather than 25fps).
driver67 said:
Kermit power said:
I'll take a look, thanks.
Plus one for Davinci. Excellent, easily usable video editing. Loads of info online.Cheers,
Dougie.
I've had no crashes in the time that I've used it, although I had a 'hang' for some minutes when a render of a multi-channel video caught my computer unawares. I stick with LTS, long term support, downloads.
If you want to try the free version of Resolve:
It's as good as most prosumer offerings,
It's cheap (obviously) and if you don't like it you can dump it without cost,
It expands as you want other things from it, and you will,
The basics are straightforward,
BUT, even the basic processes are probably more than you think you want, but I think you will want more once you start.
Video editing is great fun, and a thoroughly immersive hobby.
StevieBee said:
Yes and no.
Oddly, the further you sit from a screen, the less you can tell the difference between HD (1080) and 4k. 4K content on a high quality computer screen will be noticeably better than watching it on your TV from your sofa. Added to which is you need to understand bit-rates to avoid choppy-playback. And unless you have a very good computer with plenty of RAM, you will find editing something of a chore (proxy editing can help).
The vast majority of TV shows are still edited to and broadcast in HD.
What 4K is really good for is cropping. If you're editing something to HD, a 4k clip enables you to crop in by a factor of 3 or 4 without any loss of quality. This gives you the latitude to straighten an image, de-fish (remove lease induced curvature) a scene and apply fancy effects like rotating into a scene.
If you've shot in HD then you'd need to go to 720 to afford yourself any room like this. So, shoot in 4K, but edit in HD.
If you're going for 'realism' over 'cinematic' then use a higher frame rate (50fps rather than 25fps).
Things like frame rate are a whole new world for me! I'm 100% comfortable with everything when it comes to static photography, but video is all new!Oddly, the further you sit from a screen, the less you can tell the difference between HD (1080) and 4k. 4K content on a high quality computer screen will be noticeably better than watching it on your TV from your sofa. Added to which is you need to understand bit-rates to avoid choppy-playback. And unless you have a very good computer with plenty of RAM, you will find editing something of a chore (proxy editing can help).
The vast majority of TV shows are still edited to and broadcast in HD.
What 4K is really good for is cropping. If you're editing something to HD, a 4k clip enables you to crop in by a factor of 3 or 4 without any loss of quality. This gives you the latitude to straighten an image, de-fish (remove lease induced curvature) a scene and apply fancy effects like rotating into a scene.
If you've shot in HD then you'd need to go to 720 to afford yourself any room like this. So, shoot in 4K, but edit in HD.
If you're going for 'realism' over 'cinematic' then use a higher frame rate (50fps rather than 25fps).
Kermit power said:
StevieBee said:
Yes and no.
Oddly, the further you sit from a screen, the less you can tell the difference between HD (1080) and 4k. 4K content on a high quality computer screen will be noticeably better than watching it on your TV from your sofa. Added to which is you need to understand bit-rates to avoid choppy-playback. And unless you have a very good computer with plenty of RAM, you will find editing something of a chore (proxy editing can help).
The vast majority of TV shows are still edited to and broadcast in HD.
What 4K is really good for is cropping. If you're editing something to HD, a 4k clip enables you to crop in by a factor of 3 or 4 without any loss of quality. This gives you the latitude to straighten an image, de-fish (remove lease induced curvature) a scene and apply fancy effects like rotating into a scene.
If you've shot in HD then you'd need to go to 720 to afford yourself any room like this. So, shoot in 4K, but edit in HD.
If you're going for 'realism' over 'cinematic' then use a higher frame rate (50fps rather than 25fps).
Things like frame rate are a whole new world for me! I'm 100% comfortable with everything when it comes to static photography, but video is all new!Oddly, the further you sit from a screen, the less you can tell the difference between HD (1080) and 4k. 4K content on a high quality computer screen will be noticeably better than watching it on your TV from your sofa. Added to which is you need to understand bit-rates to avoid choppy-playback. And unless you have a very good computer with plenty of RAM, you will find editing something of a chore (proxy editing can help).
The vast majority of TV shows are still edited to and broadcast in HD.
What 4K is really good for is cropping. If you're editing something to HD, a 4k clip enables you to crop in by a factor of 3 or 4 without any loss of quality. This gives you the latitude to straighten an image, de-fish (remove lease induced curvature) a scene and apply fancy effects like rotating into a scene.
If you've shot in HD then you'd need to go to 720 to afford yourself any room like this. So, shoot in 4K, but edit in HD.
If you're going for 'realism' over 'cinematic' then use a higher frame rate (50fps rather than 25fps).
If you've mastered photography then you're three-quarters of the way there. Video is really just a series of photos after all.
The one thing to keep in mind is that you set the shutter differently to stills. For video, the shutter speed should be (as near as you can get to) double the frame rate. So, at 25fps, the shutter would be 1/50th second. For this reason, you may want to invest in some ND filters that clip onto the lens of the drone's camera as there will be times when aperture and ISO won't help with excessive light hitting the sensor.
Frame rate is as the name suggests, the number of individual images that make up a second of footage. What you use is down to personal preference. 24 or 25 fps provides a more film-like effect. 50fps provides something more 'news / soap opera' like. 30fps is a half-way-house between the two.You'd generally use a higher frame rate with the intent of applying slow-motion in the edit. So 50fps slowed by 50% in a 25fps timeline will look super smooth. Whereas a 25fps slowed down in the same time line will look choppy and awful.
Plenty of You Tube tutorials out there but no substitute for getting out there and just trying stuff out.
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