A couple Hero 3 questions, some advice needed

[irishtn]

I upgraded to the H3B for a trip to Roatan in June but the housing was damaged so I never got to fully try it out. I'm heading for another trip in a few weeks and need some help and have a few questions. I read through the forum but I'm still a little unsure on a few things:

1. What resolution to shoot in? I see alot of people saying they shoot in higher than 1080, like 2.7, than reduce it but I'm not sure if that is easy to do in post or not. I am no expert, especially with the editing, I use Vegas but I'm not very adept at it. I want to watch the videos in 1080P on my TV and post them to Vimeo as well for family/friends.

2. What FOV? With the H2, I used medium view, 1080, and was fairly happy but I see some people say that quality is reduced? I wasn't a huge fan of the fisheye effect so thats why I chose Medium. But again Ive seen people say you can fix that in post, but is it a fairly easy fix?

3. I have the Sandisk 32 GB card but recently ordered the advised Samsung one in 64 GB. I'm wondering if I should get another 64 GB card also, since I will be diving 4 times a day, and not sure if I will be shooting in 1080 or larger, depending on what everyone advises me.

4. Protune....use it or not? Again, I am not a video editor. I dont mind learning though, so if it makes a difference I will set aside some time and learn how to properly use Vegas.

Thank you very much for everyones help.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Hi irishtn,
I'll try to answer best I can.

1. If your not adept at video editing and want to keep it simple then record at 1080p. I do and unless your horrible at framing shots, 1080p should be fine. I watch my videos at 1080 on my TVs as well.

2. I would use Wide FOV. Underwater it does not seem to have much of a fisheye effect. Also, it makes framing the subjects easier and you simply get more of the view in front of you into your shot. I've shot my video in wide and I see no fisheye and have no need to fix in post.

3. Good choice on the Samsung Pro 64. With that card recording at 1080p/60 fps, protune on and WB RAW, you'll get around 3 hrs of video I believe. Now if you record at 30 fps you may get some more time out of your card but not sure how much. If you want to play it safe, since your recording for 4 dives, I would get a 2nd card.

4. I would use Protune. That's one of the advantages of the Black Ed. It also gives you the maximum bitrate (quality) of video. Since you have a Samsung Pro card, Protune will work correctly. You will need to do a some color, contrast correcting in post but you will get a nicer finished product. I would also use the Camera RAW White Balance. Some say that the Auto Balance can go on the fritz and ruin your footage.

Which version of Vegas are you using? There are many How-To videos that can help you with editing in Vegas. If your version supports Color Correction FX, you might want to consider using White Balance reference cards during your dive to make corrections in post a lot easier. I have an explanation of that process here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/go...e-using-white-reference-card.html#post6838103

 

[irishtn]

Thanks.
I just have the cheap version Movie Studio HD Version 11.
I will get the camera out this weekend and try the Protune out.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Their webpage says that your version has a "new" Automatic White Balance tool. So you might be able to carry a White card with you and use it in post editing to help correct your colors. Your version does not have the Color Correction plugin which would have been even better.

 

[avigulf]

You will need one or more spare batteries if you are not able to charge between dives! -Protune (and LCD-backpack) drains energy......

 

[mayur]

This thread is useful since I was going to make a similar one.

My bacpac does not have LCD (will be using a head mount with the ZGEAR strap to attach to arm). How long does the battery + bacpac last? 2 dives? I'd probably record in:
1080p/60fps or protune, RAW, auto WB (first day). I will doing 2 dives a day. Then overnight charge, n a 64gb card.

 

[irishtn]

I have 2 extra batteries. But I will run some testing this weekend to see what I get usage wise using Protune.
I've read that 30 FPS is better in low light than 60 FPS, the fact that I do not plan on using much slow mo should I go ahead and take advantage of the low light ability of 30 FPS?
And I think I'll order an extra SD card.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

I did a test recently on the battery time. I was filming at 1080p/60 Protune and WB RAW on. I got 1hr 6min till the battery died.
If your not going to be slowing down any video then I think filming at 30 fps would be better with lighting, battery time and memory card space.

 

[TheTrickster]

From what I've seen, for underwater you really need to stick with 1080p30 or 2.7p30. There is less noise on each frame compared to 60fps.

As others have said - stay with the WIDE FOV. The other FOVs do not use the full sensor - they are just using the centre pixels (a bit like the old 'digital zoom') and then upscaling back to your required resolution = loss of quality.

As to protune or not... I really am in two minds...

I do believe, if you have the patience you will get much better results with Protune and MWB - BUT, I get enough grief from the wife diving, let alone spending a whole day sat in front of a PC playing Spielberg . So I haven't fully grasped the complete workflow for getting results out of Protune that equal using the GoPro in normal mode with a filter (and that requires zero effort on my part)

For a 'keep your sanity' point of view, I really wouldn't bother with Protune, instead get a Filter!

With protune the camera is giving you loads more data to play with less compression (35Mbps vs 15Mbps) and a much flatter profile.
These are great so you can adjust in post and get loads more detail out of your shots, you will be able to get detail out of the dark areas and get further info from the highlights. But without any adjusting the Protune video looks dull and actually really bad compared side by side to normal mode, so going Protune you WILL HAVE to do a lot of work in Post.

From my understanding, you can't take Protune encoded video straight into iMovie, FCX either and benefit from its features, you have to work with it with CineForm first - and I think its also shockingly bad, it will get frustrating too.

Aside from the flatter profile - its not doing any noise reduction either. So these two automatic steps the camera does (while not in Protune mode), you will now have to do with each clip when you start editing them. Add to that the MWB feature and you have given yourself a lot more work to be doing sat in front of the PC.

As much as I would like to think of myself as a good videographer (which I'm not!) - as my videos are being compressed up to Vimeo anyway, I think at the moment I'm going to live with the AWB and default noise reduced video. I will one day figure out Protune properly!

 

[hellhole]

If u have time before the trip to explore protune. Then do so. Else.
Put it aside first and just enjoy the trip and the video after.

Maybe during the trip u can take 1 or 2 protune video while u do safety stop just to play around when u are not diving.

I would certainly get that filter if possible...else... Hey enjoy the diving