Optimal camera/recording settings for GoPro Max?

Contributing and equipment
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@GITNE

I think you mean Native . Native is not at all “natural” or what you may think to be natural toning. Native is a photo sensor’s specific or “raw” color temperature, which is determined during a sensor’s production process.

The code he used initially is “cN” which, according to Go Pro documentation, means “Color Natural” (but it’s documented only for H10-13). The 2 others options seems to be “cF” (Color Flat) and “cG” (Color Vibrant, old “GoPro Color”).

I think “cN” is actually ignored on GoPro Max, as the interface only propose Flat or GoPro, and when “cN” is used in configuration, it actually select “GoPro” on the camera.

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Thank you for the clarification. I was not sure if @flug32 was referring to “White Balance” or not. You are right, the cN code is not supported by the MAX.

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Okay, @GITNE last message put me on the right track. For some reason, the configuration QR code sets the white balance to Native even if the white balance is not actually part of the configuration (bug ? default value when something is not set ? effect of the “cN” configuration on MAX ?). And it’s this configuration which produces a “washed” image.

If I change the configuration to include White Balance = Automatic, everything looks nice (at least, as much as the Max can for videos…).

I also brought back sharpness to high, I think it produces better results (from my tests, the images are a bit less blurry, and texts are more readable).

The configuration I now use:

mTp2oMPRES="8,Mapillary-HighBi"mTb1i8M1x.5wAsHg1!MBITR=200

which produce this QR code.

Break down explanation:

mT     > Mode Timelapse video
b1     > High Bitrate
i8M1   > 800 ISO Max with 100 ISO Min
x.5    > EV +0.5
wA     > Auto White Balance
sH     > Sharpness High
g1     > GPS on
!MBITR > Persistant bitrate 200 (maximum)

NB: I use HEVC only for Video Compression.

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What size and kind of memory cards are you using? My recording ended after 1 second at 200 bit rate, after about 6 seconds with 150.

Ah, write speed max is 130 for me: 256GB SanDisk Extreme microSD™ Card for Mobile Gaming | Sandisk

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I have a SanDisk Extreme PRO 256 Go on my side.

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For your information but I think you are confusing units

200 Mbps / 8 = 25 MB/s. So in theory, a card with V30 is enough, but this is a theory that does not always work. Yours has much higher write speeds.

I would make a copy of the files from this card and format it (in a device or computer) but not with fast formatting but with slow formatting or use Low Level Format (minus it shortens the life of flash memory, on top of that it takes a long time) and see if it improved after that. Because sometimes formatting helps with writing problems. But it is not always a remedy, although they even indicate themselves to sometimes format the card for best results. GoPro Support

Don’t you have another card at hand to check on it if it is the same?

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28

Yeah, I do not think it is an SD card issue per se, at least in this case.

@czecko might be onto something with filesystems because these SD card write speed figures are actually for continuous block writes only. Sometimes, other files can get in the way for full block file writes. @czecko, what filesystem would you suggest to use? The GoPro MAX supports FAT16/32, exFAT, NTFS, and ext2/3/4. Initially, I went with FAT32 with a 1k cluster size and it basically worked but had lots of crashes. Increasing the cluster size to 4k worked better but continued to have only few crashes. Because I was fed up, I then switched to GoPro’s filesystem by letting the camera format the SD card. Things generally improved further but still aren’t as stable as I would like and the numbers would suggest. So, I am going to experiment a bit more with filesystems. But, I am surely going to preclude NTFS because it is overly complex for what a GoPro camera needs to do on a SD card. Thanks @czecko! :+1:

Please, do not use so called “Low Level Formatting” or “Slow Formatting” on NAND memory like SD cards and SSDs because this is nothing other than a 0‑write‑read check on every sector. This is actually what shortens a NAND memory’s lifespan. There is really no need for a write‑read check because all NAND storage devices have builtin error checks and signaling. 0‑write-read checks are basically only meaningful on magnetic media.

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@czecko

I would make a copy of the files from this card and format it (in a device or computer) but not with fast formatting but with slow formatting or use Low Level Format (minus it shortens the life of flash memory, on top of that it takes a long time) and see if it improved after that.

A low level formatting shouldn’t me necessary. If it’s slow because of the fragmentation of the File System, you just need a new virgin FS structure. The FS driver will then just ignore any pre-existing data / structure on the mass storage device, i.e. the fact these data was zero-ed before with a low level formatting shouldn’t matter as they are not read anymore.

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30

Well I forgot I always scan the card beforehand for bad or slower sectors. Especially when there is some problem with writing.

@GITNE rather, I format in the device in which I use the card, and leave what it has chosen for itself. But this will also work on one card and may not necessarily be optimal on another. Sometimes it can also be the fault of the card itself because on another identical card it will be ok.

As for the low level format you are right and it is also important.

Let’s say we can scan the card for slow sectors, bads, etc. We can also try and seemingly repair these sectors with programs, which may work, but not always.

We don’t have the beautiful Secure Erase option like in ssd drives.
Which we use to momentarily delete everything irreversibly and is recommended when ssd drives slow down after a long time, and such an effect is not given by deleting partitions and quick formatting.

Also, in theory, overwriting each memory cell should “speed it up” , “unlock” and eventually “finish” it.

That there is a controller and supposedly watches over everything is one thing, but you know there are different cases, this is electronics. Cheap ssd drives are a good example of the fact that the controller can be a weak link, they can lock up due to a seeming problem with the flash memory, and after uploading the same or new firmware continue to work, sometimes briefly sometimes for a long time.
This is such a vast topic that people could write books about it. The more complicated something is, the more it can break down.

I used LLF myself to check the writing speed, which by hitting a slower sector could drop to 0 MB/s. I do a second formatting to see if it is the same or if it has improved. And I’ve already had several cases in which the writing speed returned to normal, as well as those in which it did nothing. It all depends, too, because once it may or may not work.

From my own practice and reading a lot of posts on the Internet about memory cards, recommendations of car camera manufacturers to format the cards from time to time, but not fast but slow formatting, which usually solved some of the problems. I am of the opinion that fast formatting is poor when you spend a long time moving large amounts of data through the sd card.