Hi Folks-

Just got a GoPro Hero 5 Black for Christmas. What is the best editing software available?? I am not a photo guru so I would prefer something simple.

Safe Flying - Dave

Good info from a previous thread: https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/video-editing-16713

There may be updates to technology since.

I didn't see it listed in the other thread, but I recently got DaVinci Resolve 14 for something work related. It's free and downloadable at the link below. It's many steps above GoPro Studio in terms of capability but also complexity. One of those programs where you ask yourself how they could just give it away for free. A big monitor helps, it's a pretty detailed interface. However, GoPro Studio will probably get you what you need and it's extremely simple and easy to use, just less capability.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... nciresolve

Great info - Thanks !

asa wrote:I didn't see it listed in the other thread, but I recently got DaVinci Resolve 14 for something work related. It's free and downloadable at the link below. It's many steps above GoPro Studio in terms of capability but also complexity. One of those programs where you ask yourself how they could just give it away for free. A big monitor helps, it's a pretty detailed interface. However, GoPro Studio will probably get you what you need and it's extremely simple and easy to use, just less capability.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... nciresolve

Really? It's the first thing I mentioned.

Resolve is cool but it's a freemium type of thing. Many features require the upgrade.

Dave: "best" and "simple" usually don't intersect with video editing software. There's really no substitute for spending some time learning how to use it. Luckily there are many tutorials on Youtube for the popular products.

Zzz wrote:

asa wrote:I didn't see it listed in the other thread, but I recently got DaVinci Resolve 14 for something work related. It's free and downloadable at the link below. It's many steps above GoPro Studio in terms of capability but also complexity. One of those programs where you ask yourself how they could just give it away for free. A big monitor helps, it's a pretty detailed interface. However, GoPro Studio will probably get you what you need and it's extremely simple and easy to use, just less capability.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... nciresolve

Really? It's the first thing I mentioned.

Resolve is cool but it's a freemium type of thing. Many features require the upgrade.

Dave: "best" and "simple" usually don't intersect with video editing software. There's really no substitute for spending some time learning how to use it. Luckily there are many tutorials on Youtube for the popular products.

Sorry, I stopped reading your posts a while ago. Kidding, I just missed it. Maybe I haven't used it enough because I haven't ran into features that required me to pay or anything.

asa wrote:Sorry, I stopped reading your posts a while ago.

Hahahahaha. Touché.

Dave: "best" and "simple" usually don't intersect with video editing software. There's really no substitute for spending some time learning how to use it. Luckily there are many tutorials on Youtube for the popular products.

Thanks Zane- Ordered Cyberlink Powerdirector today and started the youtube training

iMovie is all I use. The only thing I can’t do with it is a movie within a movie.


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I spent a while in Premier, and less time than I maybe should have in Davinci trying to get a multicam sequence to sync properly without significant marking and tweaking. If you have cameras which save true timecode it's a no brainer, but GoPros (at least the Session's I recorded with) aren't that cool. You can get a backpack for a few hundred bucks per cam which gives sync'd timecode and remote control, but ... $$$.

Then I downloaded a trial of Final Cut Pro X last night and was playing with that. First, I tried audio sync of the clips. It took bloody forever, however at least realized I had multiple cameras, and made the attempt to sequence them. It failed, but got further than the other two before they gave up. Then I noticed it has one very interesting multicam feature the others don't: Sync by content creation time. As long as the time is set right in the cameras, the video should line up. The only other thing necessary was to set the camera angle tag for each clip (can also use cam name, but it will key from angle tag first). Then creating a completely and properly sync'd multicam file was instant. From here I just need to cut them in/out and grab the best shots. Film at 11.

I expected more from Premier honestly. I get it as part of my CC subscription I have for Photoshop/Illustrator/etc, but for as much as they tout Premier I thought it should be able to do what FCPX did. My downfall with Premier is that I don't have a good audio signal to line them up across all cameras (I should have clapped or something), and do not wish to spend a bunch of time marking every clip just to tell it A comes before B. FCPX made it as simple as I wanted it to be. I'll still play with Premier and Davinci a little more and see if I'm just missing an easy way to do this, but barring that I may just drop the cash on FCPX and quit wasting time coddling annoying app design. It's a pro level tool and will do anything the others will, especially for my uses.

NOW, if I just had a single cam then almost anything would work. You get more editing and cleanup features from pro tools and Premier would be it for me at that point. For multiple camera angles however so far I am liking the Apple software better just for time saved.

colopilot wrote:I spent a while in Premier, and less time than I maybe should have in Davinci trying to get a multicam sequence to sync properly without significant marking and tweaking. If you have cameras which save true timecode it's a no brainer, but GoPros (at least the Session's I recorded with) aren't that cool. You can get a backpack for a few hundred bucks per cam which gives sync'd timecode and remote control, but ... $$$.

Then I downloaded a trial of Final Cut Pro X last night and was playing with that. First, I tried audio sync of the clips. It took bloody forever, however at least realized I had multiple cameras, and made the attempt to sequence them. It failed, but got further than the other two before they gave up. Then I noticed it has one very interesting multicam feature the others don't: Sync by content creation time. As long as the time is set right in the cameras, the video should line up. The only other thing necessary was to set the camera angle tag for each clip (can also use cam name, but it will key from angle tag first). Then creating a completely and properly sync'd multicam file was instant. From here I just need to cut them in/out and grab the best shots. Film at 11.

I expected more from Premier honestly. I get it as part of my CC subscription I have for Photoshop/Illustrator/etc, but for as much as they tout Premier I thought it should be able to do what FCPX did. My downfall with Premier is that I don't have a good audio signal to line them up across all cameras (I should have clapped or something), and do not wish to spend a bunch of time marking every clip just to tell it A comes before B. FCPX made it as simple as I wanted it to be. I'll still play with Premier and Davinci a little more and see if I'm just missing an easy way to do this, but barring that I may just drop the cash on FCPX and quit wasting time coddling annoying app design. It's a pro level tool and will do anything the others will, especially for my uses.

NOW, if I just had a single cam then almost anything would work. You get more editing and cleanup features from pro tools and Premier would be it for me at that point. For multiple camera angles however so far I am liking the Apple software better just for time saved.

Is the video posted? Curious to see it. I think you're making it too difficult. If you want to spoof sync, just put one video track on top of the other using 2 video tracks. Find some common event where you can sync the two long clips. Then, use the razor tool to chop up the track on top into logical segments, opening holes as it were in the top track for the track underneath to appear. If you just adjust the frame handles on the end, but don't actually move the clip, your sync will be maintained.

That's not Premiere specific, just a technique for any non-linear editing tool that supports stacked video tracks.

Timecode is nice, but it also is a little rigid. I use audio from other planes, places, times. I think Premiere is awesome for allowing you to quickly "paint" like that. But, as they say, it's not always good to know how the sausage is made.

Zzz wrote:Is the video posted? Curious to see it.

Not yet, it's coming...

I think you're making it too difficult.

VERY possible. I am a rank beginner at video editing, I used to a lot of audio back in the day but not video until recently.

If you want to spoof sync, just put one video track on top of the other using 2 video tracks. Find some common event where you can sync the two long clips. Then, use the razor tool to chop up the track on top into logical segments, opening holes as it were in the top track for the track underneath to appear. If you just adjust the frame handles on the end, but don't actually move the clip, your sync will be maintained.

That's not Premiere specific, just a technique for any non-linear editing tool that supports stacked video tracks.

Timecode is nice, but it also is a little rigid. I use audio from other planes, places, times. I think Premiere is awesome for allowing you to quickly "paint" like that.

Great tip, thanks! On the other hand, I kinda feel like any software should be able to tell time at this point. I'm frustrated on principle alone that I have to manually find common events or do markups in my clips when the creation timestamp is right there. With 3-4 cams running at a time that is tedious, plus you have to then sequence the rest since GoPro chops it up into smaller files. Since cams may not all be running at the same time, the gap alignment gets interesting. I was impressed (or should I say, adequately placated) with FCPX last night when it was able to sequence them accurately, even lining up the gaps in real time that took place. Maybe there's a quick way to do this in Premier but I haven't found it. This is where true timecode would solve all issues at least for video alignment, but that's not a cheap function to add to the camera.

I don't think the presence of timecode in video would prevent you from painting in other audio, would it? It would only serve to align the clips. After that you can put in whatever track you want in whatever place you want. Again I'm a rookie at this, so I may be wrong. I need to spend time learning these skills. I just don't want to waste hours on avoidable tedium to do it.

Creation timestamp though is meaningless. It's only the time the file was written to the file system.

True timecode like SMPTE is encoded with the media and is absolute, like the Unix epoch . It's a feature that's just not worth adding to consumer grade cameras like GoPros. Maybe some have it and I don't know? 5 minutes pass. Whoah, just Googled this: https://gopro.com/news/getting-syncd-wi ... de-systems

Zzz wrote:Creation timestamp though is meaningless. It's only the time the file was written to the file system.

Right, but if all of the cameras have their clocks set correctly (or at least together) it works as a poor man's way to tell where to line up the files. It's not as cool as a true timestamp, but it's also better than dragging the clips to find the commonality. Based on creation stamp on the cameras with consistent clocks, FCP was able to line them up even though they weren't all started at exactly the same time. Of course if the cameras are not set together it's a pointless metric.

True timecode like SMPTE is encoded with the media and is absolute, like the Unix epoch . It's a feature that's just not worth adding to consumer grade cameras like GoPros. Maybe some have it and I don't know? 5 minutes pass. Whoah, just Googled this: https://gopro.com/news/getting-syncd-wi ... de-systems

Yeah that's the backpack I was referring to. Around $300 per camera to add them to the Hero, but it also gives long range remote control. One big problem I noticed with the GoPro Session 4's I have now is that the GoPro remote is not fully reliable, and unless you have the app watching the preview you can't tell if it's on or off from your seat. It's a little obnoxious if you want to only run them over interesting places and save battery the rest of the time. The cams are pretty good otherwise, especially for just being a 1.5" cube.

I do plan to upgrade my cam setup but I'm waiting to see what comes out this spring after CES, etc. If I could combine the best parts of the GoPro Hero 6 and Garmin VIRB Ultra plus guaranteed sync, it would be an awesome thing. Garmin actually hit most of the points, except multiple camera control is not a strong point, it's range limited and requires cams to talk to each other. A syncpac on a VIRB Ultra would really be something though.

Barnstormer wrote:iMovie is all I use. The only thing I can’t do with it is a movie within a movie.

Here is a movie in a movie using iMovie

iMovie is very nice if you are running an Apple machine.

iMovie Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr0H7hWTUQY&t=2s

GoPro Quick is easy for basic stuff but won't allow a lot of real editing. It's FREE!

Quick example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=105RTXw1-8k


I have been using GoPro Studio lately. It is also Free and a little more complex, but easy enough for a novice to use. Go to VidProMom for a bunch of tutorials on editing and software recommendations for the novice.

Studio Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEJNI77TZFg&t=3s

SkySteve wrote:

Barnstormer wrote:iMovie is all I use. The only thing I can’t do with it is a movie within a movie.

Here is a movie in a movie using iMovie

Pray tell where?


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So the picture-in-picture magic isn’t it? What’s movie-in-movie?

Barnstormer wrote:

SkySteve wrote:

Barnstormer wrote:iMovie is all I use. The only thing I can’t do with it is a movie within a movie.

Here is a movie in a movie using iMovie

Pray tell where?


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Just south of you....Utah. One of the larger lake areas.