Anyone else order the GoPro 10?

[Hatul]

Going to disagree, while the auto white balance on newer GoPros is pretty good, and you can get good to acceptable levels of results out of it with a little color grading in post production. Giving it a little bit of a kick with a filter when it needs it can often result in better results.

Here is a 10 on auto with and without a filter.

The filter results are much better and with a little tweaking it will be perfect. While the unfiltered results are workable, but I would lose more quality than if I just used the filter IMO.

Now this video is unfiltered with just color correction, but the water was greenish, so a red filter. I think a green filter might have worked but I didn't carry one with me. Though that has changed, I replaced the "deep" filter as I feel that isn't needed with the GP10 with the green filter. I also ordered a blue filter for my Big Blue drop light, so I can use it, as I feel that the last section would've been improved by a blue filtered Big Blue acting as a fill light since they were somewhat backlit by the sun.

Here's a link to my video from Cozumel where I experimented with the red filter. It's a compilation of several dives and the titles tell you whether the filter was used or not. All underwater clips were white balance corrected in PowerDirector whether a red filter was used or not.

In my video the clips without the red filter look more natural and better. I think the difference is that you did not correct your white balance in your software as I did. With proper software correction the red filter not necessary and makes the red look overwhelming.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I think the difference is that you did not correct your white balance in your software as I did.

That was literally the point of the test.

The closer your recorded file is to your desired colors the less quality loss you will have as once it is captured you lose a lot of data.

 

[Hatul]

That was literally the point of the test.

The closer your recorded file is to your desired colors the less quality loss you will have as once it is captured you lose a lot of data.

OK now we're coming to the meat of the argument. I'm no expert on photography and light so perhaps someone else can chime on this.

You're saying that by placing a red filter in the light path you get more accurate image than with software. So the red filter removes blue light and increases the red while the software does the same electronically. I can argue the opposite, as putting any piece of plastic in front of the lens increases reflections and distortions from imperfections and scratches in the filter. By removing the filter you're removing one source of light distortion. Do you have any supporting evidence that one method is better than the other?

In my experiments I made clips with the Backscatter Dive filter and without the filter. I set the GoPro 9 to WB auto, and I corrected all clips in Power Director for white balance. I pointed the pencil icon to a white/gray object like my white fins. And I told PowerDirector to correct the colors so my white fins are white and not blue. With this correction I found the Dive filter clips were excessive red and unnatural. Some of the red objects in the picture like the orange bungee of my dive computer were saturated and the software could not remove this.

So my conclusion is, if you go through the trouble of doing white balance correction in the editing software you should not use the red filter.

If you don't correct with software then yes you get better results with the filter.

One issue I'm still working on is that the software corrects the colors so well that at times it no longer looks like an underwater shot, so I want to find a way to not fully correct the white balance to get a more natural water look.

 

[johndiver999]

I've been unable to edit my GP-10 videos on my computer.

 

[loosenit2]

a and I’ll pick it up when I go home for Christmas.

When it gets closer to Christmas I’ll start asking questions about settings and lights. I never had these with my GP4 because I knew I’d be upgrading.

there is a known problem with the gopro10 overheating while in housings, even underwater, when used on the highest resolution (5k). They shut off at about 20 min of recording.

 

[Manatee Diver]

OK now we're coming to the meat of the argument. I'm no expert on photography and light so perhaps someone else can chime on this.

That's the problem.

The file you copy off your sd card is the highest quality your video will ever be. Any adjustments, even if they improve the presentation of the video, will result in a lower quality video. The GoPro isn't a high end camera it records 8 bit colors with a limited dynamic range, as such any adjustments of exposure or colors lowers the quality as there is no spare range to work with like you get with 10, 12, or even 16 bit colors that higher end cameras can output.

So for the best quality you should get your exposure and colors are close to your desired output exposure and colors as you can. That might mean no filter, might mean a filter, or lights.

Which was the nature of that test video, to see how the GoPro auto white balance works, and if a filter improves it. So I know when the GoPro 10 requires a filter and when it doesn't. Now if we could set the white balance it would all be pointless.

 

[Hatul]

I've had no problems editing GoPro 9 video with PowerDirector 18. I use the H.265 HEVC file format button to make the MP4 file. I use a desktop PC with Windows 10, about 5 years old.

 

[Arneu]

Now if we could set the white balance it would all be pointless.

Even if not full manual WB, just adding a few UW specific WB modes like fx Olympus TG-6 has would be an immense improvement to Gopro for UW video, and should be a pretty easy thing for them to do. I am actually quite suprised they don't. Maybe we could start a petition? And then you can skip the filters.

 

[johndiver999]

I have no problems with go pro 9 files, it is the 10 files that are a problem

 

[Hatul]

Even if not full manual WB, just adding a few UW specific WB modes like fx Olympus TG-6 has would be an immense improvement to Gopro for UW video, and should be a pretty easy thing for them to do. I am actually quite suprised they don't. Maybe we could start a petition? And then you can skip the filters.

I believe in the TG-6 you can correct the WB in the camera with a white card or slate and that's why you don't need a red filter. I think whether this correction is done by the computer in the camera or in editing software the result is the same and you can dispense with the filter. Though it would be nice if the GoPro had this WB correction as the TG-6 has.