Recording a swing...and maintaining the FPS when editing/ coverting etc

[ChrisWev]

Right bare with me, I've read the threads on member swings etc, this is more of a technical question. As it's not actually a "my swing" vid I thought best off to post it here....so I can get my "my swing" thread off to a good start :)

Basically I've recorded some swings whilst messing around with a few things with the iPhone 6+.

The video records in 1280 x 720 and at 240 FPS (this is great btw), it can also record a slow motion video at 240 FPS, which is also fantastic, although need more light for this (I'm guessing the aperture isn't as wide).

My main issue is it records the videos in .mov format (Apple/ Quicktime). I've got programs that can use this and play frame by frame and easily cut the actual swings from the crap in-between to keep filesize down and analysis simple, saving again as .mov

While this is fine for just looking on video I would like to use some of the tools which I'm assuming some of you guys use. GASP, V1 Home 2.0 etc, to draw lines on the videos to check plane, head movement, sway etc. Most of these programs need avi, mp4, wmv though and when I'm trying to convert I'm loosing the 240 FPS. I seem to get cut to 25 or 60 FPS at best, even when going through all the settings etc, which is kind of a waste.

Basically has anyone any experience with converting a .mov file to something useable in the swing analysis programs and keeping the high FPS, or know of a video program/ tool you can "draw lines on" when using a .mov file?

I've also got a Canon 6D SLR camera (avi files), but the maximum this will do is 60 FPS, although as you would expect each frame is of much better quality as I can use wider apertures and faster shutter speeds etc. This is good for some things but not others,I 'd rather have the 240 FPS from what the iPhone can kick out in all honesty.

As being able to draw lines on swing videos etc kind of comes under instruction, I thought this would be the best place to ask.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[iacas]

Chris,

You're on Windows? Seems that way. Because if you're on a Mac, I heartily recommend http://analyzrgolf.com/.

If you're on Windows, my iPhone 6 records 240 FPS video (btw, they're the same - if you record 240 FPS, it's 240 FPS).

Second…

What if you just change it to ".mp4" from ".mov"? It's H.264 video with an AAC soundtrack. It should play fine on Windows.

[nevets88]

If you're on Windows, try Kinovea. It's a little complicated - but it's free and does much of what V1 does and a lot of people use it so there's much in the way of YouTube tutorials, questions on message boards. If I'm on a Windows machine, can't use my Macbook, this is what I use.

[ChrisWev]

Erik,

Yes I'm on Windows and probably always will be due to my work computer requiring three screens and I imagine this would be an expensive set up with Apple. Saying that I might look into a change when the laptop and comp are due for renewal.

I also didn't realise you can just change a .mov to .mp4, that's my lesson for today! Cheers! :)

Steve,

Thanks for that, I've checked it out and on "first play" it looks like it's exactly what I want. I like the way you can slow it down to 10% speed and play frame by frame.

Had a quick look at drawing lines and they seem to slowly vanish, but I'm sure there's a way around this, I'll watch some youtube vids.

Thanks for the help guys, it's much appreciated.

I've only tried the slow motion 240 FPS when there's been low light, it's just usable for swing path and seeing the club face rotate (a bit blurry) but think at 120 FPS it should work better. Looking forward to trying out 240 in good sunlight to see if it has an effect.

Standard video on the iPhnone 6/ 6+ looks to be 30 FPS and it's very clear, even in early morning sun (not that bright).

I cannot for the life of me understand how my SLR cannot do at least 120 FPS video though, instead of 60 :/ Would have been nice to mess around with the shutter speed and aperture to get what I want. I can't imagine picture burst mode at 10 FPS is going to be that great for a 0.3 second downswing, the 3 frames should be crystal clear though

[ChrisWev]

If you're on Windows, try Kinovea. It's a little complicated - but it's free and does much of what V1 does and a lot of people use it so there's much in the way of YouTube tutorials, questions on message boards. If I'm on a Windows machine, can't use my Macbook, this is what I use.

Another big thanks for this, it's fantastic.

With this set up right and with good calibration could get it to measure clubhead speed, ball flight and all other kinds of movements

[billchao]

Had a quick look at drawing lines and they seem to slowly vanish, but I'm sure there's a way around this, I'll watch some youtube vids.

If you haven't figured it out already, you can set the drawings to permanent. [quote name="ChrisWev" url="/t/77519/recording-a-swing-and-maintaining-the-fps-when-editing-coverting-etc#post_1063436"]I cannot for the life of me understand how my SLR cannot do at least 120 FPS video though, instead of 60 :/ [/quote]As I understand it, it's just a software function. Canon simply didn't include the feature in their DSLRs to process recordings in 120 or 240 fps; it's not that the camera itself can't physically capture video at a higher frame rate. 60 fps is what I use. That's enough to get the gist of what I'm doing in my swing.

[ChrisWev]

If you haven't figured it out already, you can set the drawings to permanent.

As I understand it, it's just a software function. Canon simply didn't include the feature in their DSLRs to process recordings in 120 or 240 fps; it's not that the camera itself can't physically capture video at a higher frame rate.

60 fps is what I use. That's enough to get the gist of what I'm doing in my swing.

Yeah I've got the lines sorted

Yeah that's what I thought it would be, The camera burst mode can store 10 x 20 MB High Res RAW files every second (about 200MB/ Sec until the buffer gets overloaded) so it shouldn't have any issues with a 1600 x 1200 (500k) jpg's at 240 FPS (120MB/ Sec), in fact it should be brilliant at it and should be capable of twice as much.

Having spent around 4k on camera equipment it's a bit silly that my new SLR is beaten by an iPhone (in one way at least).

[ChrisWev]

Ok the problem I'm now having is any video recorded in the iPhones portrait orientation switches to landscape view in any other media media player/ Kinovea etc, other than Quicktime. I'm guessing apple record every video in landscape orientation and put a tag in to orientate it in quicktime.

When I use windows movie maker to rotate the file it changes the 240/120 fps to 30 fps, so I'm back at square one, at least for portrait videos.

I know you may say "just use landscape" but the range and my garden are a bit tight on space for that to be easy

Any advice?

[iacas]

Ok the problem I'm now having is any video recorded in the iPhones portrait orientation switches to landscape view in any other media media player/ Kinovea etc, other than Quicktime. I'm guessing apple record every video in landscape orientation and put a tag in to orientate it in quicktime.

Per the standard… yes. That's what's done. Not only orientation but which direction. You can shoot an iPhone video upside down, too, or turned left or right.

When I use windows movie maker to rotate the file it changes the 240/120 fps to 30 fps, so I'm back at square one, at least for portrait videos.

That sounds like a bug with Windows Movie Maker. A really lame bug TBH.

[ChrisWev]

That sounds like a bug with Windows Movie Maker. A really lame bug TBH.

Yeah it's what most programs do as 25-30 FPS is the standard as human eye can't see any more. Thing is that's not what I want, I want frame by frame :(

I've got a crap workaround, basically edit the video on the phone in iMovie and slow it down to 1/4 sec (120/4), this uses every frame (I think) so then when I stick it into a rotation program it's going to knock it down to 30 FPS but then it doesn't matter as I've already got the detail due to slowing it down.

Apparently Final Cut Pro X can work with 120 FPS, but I don't havea  Mac and I don't have that program, doh!

This is a pain in the ass!

[iacas]

Yeah it's what most programs do as 25-30 FPS is the standard as human eye can't see any more. Thing is that's not what I want, I want frame by frame :(

I've got a crap workaround, basically edit the video on the phone in iMovie and slow it down to 1/4 sec (120/4), this uses every frame (I think) so then when I stick it into a rotation program it's going to knock it down to 30 FPS but then it doesn't matter as I've already got the detail due to slowing it down.

Apparently Final Cut Pro X can work with 120 FPS, but I don't havea  Mac and I don't have that program, doh!

This is a pain in the ass!

FWIW in earlier version the videos would play back at full speed (i.e. 240 FPS), but they could still be gone through frame by frame.

Newer versions (perhaps QuickTime and/or iOS 8?) actually change the playback framerate during the slower portions.