GoPro Hero4 Silver: 3 faulty cameras out of 4. Alternatives/suggestions?

[Karfelibro]

Ordered a Hero4 Silver direct from GoPro (to the UK) last year, took it on a 2 week dive trip and it was next to useless. Whole unit would freeze, buttons and screen unresponsive, the only way to do anything was to pull the battery - obviously not ideal underwater! Fortunately my friend also bought one from a local retailer just before we left, and was doing courses for a lot of the trip so I got to use his for most it, which functioned perfectly.

Spent a long time on increasingly frustrating emails back and forth with GoPro, jumping through all of their hoops as they walked me through the 12 steps to GoPro Enlightenment (eg. 1. You didn't update the software before using it (my argument that buying something the week it was released should not require a software update in order to function fell on deaf ears), 2. The Classic - You're using the wrong memory card (they didn't care that it was a Class 10 SanDisk Ultra that worked with no problems in my friend's Hero4 for 2 weeks, or that the camera froze even when not reading/writing to the card), etc. etc.).

So after forking out for the super supremo card the recommend, doing the long-winded update process the lay out etc, eventually got passed to someone not confined to reading from the Holy GoPro Bible, who insincerely apologised for my inconvenience and arranged a replacement in January.

Since diving is the only thing I use the GoPro for, I didn't use it until my next trip in May. Seemed to work perfectly, until I got back and got a proper look at the footage. Almost all of the footage was intensely green, and you can often see the camera attempting to right itself mid-clip. Here's the video I put together to send GoPro to try and pre-empt the inevitable repeat of the above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl25Zk_S89U

Now GoPro have admitted the second unit I have is faulty and have started the replacement procedure. But another friend has also just bought a Hero4 Silver, took it diving at the weekend (they're more willing to brave the British waters than me!), showed me the footage and it shows all the signs of having the same fault - green footage, colour-switching etc.

Before buying the Hero4, I had always borrowed a friend's Hero 3+ Black and had no problems whatsoever. So am now wondering whether to try and get a refund for the 4 Silver and get a 3+ Black with an LCD backpack.

I have seen various cases of both sets of faults (freezing and colour issues) on the web, has anyone here had similar issues? Can anyone give me a glowing report of theirs? Anyone had similar issues with the 4 Black? Perhaps I could push for an upgrade to the Black with an LCD backpack if the Black is less prone to problems (I would miss the extra battery life if I went back to the 3+, would also have to buy a load of 3-compatible batteries, charger etc!)

Anyone got an alternative to GoPro that they love?

Sorry to waffle on! Any thoughts/suggestions/useful anecdotes appreciated.

 

[toozler]

That intense green is exactly what I used to get without a filter, using one fixed it for me.

ps. HERO3.

 

[Karfelibro]

Forgot to mention toozler - already using a red filter (Polar Pro switchblade). In fact both the cameras used in the youtube video above were using the red filter.

At least unfiltered footage can be easily colour-corrected, because the rest of the colour-information is there lurking in the image. The greens you get with this faulty camera are very hard to correct because it doesn't actually record the natural colours.

 

[phoenix31tt]

hey Karfelibro...

the one on the right looks like it's shooting in protune/raw white balance... yours appears to be shooting with auto white balance, i noticed some part of the video you actually got good color, which indicates the white balance corrected. I have had horrible experiences shooting auto white balance with my gopro, filters or not, so i protune with raw all the time.

Also the camera on the right appeared to have lights as well, lights help the gopro do auto white balance properly, no lights you get messed up colors... so camera on right either is in protune/raw white balance or it's the lights.

At least that's from the video... if there are other issues it could very well be the camera is faulty

 

[toozler]

Forgot to mention toozler - already using a red filter (Polar Pro switchblade). In fact both the cameras used in the youtube video above were using the red filter.

At least unfiltered footage can be easily colour-corrected, because the rest of the colour-information is there lurking in the image. The greens you get with this faulty camera are very hard to correct because it doesn't actually record the natural colours.

My older HERO2 also produced the same green colors, without and sometimes with a filter (I had a SRP Dome red filter). What solved it was rebooting the camera once at depth.

My theory was that if the camera was turned on at the surface with a red filter on, the auto white balance would try to counter that extra redness by bumping up the blue and green, continuing to do that even when underwater, thus making it all extra greenish/blueish. Rebooting it underwater would then reset that surface auto white balance. I'm not sure if this is how the firmware worked, but it seemed to do the job.

ps. On the auto white balance vs protune discussion, I still use auto white balance and it works great for me (with a different filter), no need to adjust colors at all later.

 

[Wookie]

Had the same issues as your first one. Those AND it got extremely hot while turned on, too hot to touch. Sent it back to GoPro and also had the 12 steps to enlightenment you did, and the new one works like a charm.

Some seem to be lemons.

 

[phoenix31tt]

My older HERO2 also produced the same green colors, without and sometimes with a filter (I had a SRP Dome red filter). What solved it was rebooting the camera once at depth.

My theory was that if the camera was turned on at the surface with a red filter on, the auto white balance would try to counter that extra redness by bumping up the blue and green, continuing to do that even when underwater, thus making it all extra greenish/blueish. Rebooting it underwater would then reset that surface auto white balance. I'm not sure if this is how the firmware worked, but it seemed to do the job.

ps. On the auto white balance vs protune discussion, I still use auto white balance and it works great for me (with a different filter), no need to adjust colors at all later.

hey toozler, just to be clear. When you say reboot just a simple turn on and off right? Because i don't usually turn on my camera on the surface... i don't even have the red filter on at the surface however I do switch from filter to no filter at times, lights vs no lights etc depending on what i'm shooting...

i'll need to try that rebooting thing and see how it works, protune is great but it adds another step in my editing, if i can get the same results without it i would use that method. For me i suppose i would have to give the camera a fresh "turn on" everytime i take of filter or something like that

 

[Karfelibro]

hey Karfelibro...

the one on the right looks like it's shooting in protune/raw white balance... yours appears to be shooting with auto white balance, i noticed some part of the video you actually got good color, which indicates the white balance corrected. I have had horrible experiences shooting auto white balance with my gopro, filters or not, so i protune with raw all the time.

Also the camera on the right appeared to have lights as well, lights help the gopro do auto white balance properly, no lights you get messed up colors... so camera on right either is in protune/raw white balance or it's the lights.

At least that's from the video... if there are other issues it could very well be the camera is faulty

Thanks phoenix31tt, I actually took both sets of video (the one on the right was when I borrowed my friend's camera when my first unit was faulty) and have never used protune, as I want to keep my post-production to an absolute minimum - ideally just trimming and combining clips. I tend to only adjust the frame rate and resolution so I think the white balance will have been on auto for both.

In the right hand clip of the blue spotted ray I was shining my torch, but it had a very narrow beam and was fairly ineffectual.

After seeing the clips, GoPro have admitted that the camera is faulty and are going to replace it but it's an interesting point about the white balance - all the footage I have from the working 4 Silver and the 3+ Black displays good colour like the right-hand clips, but perhaps the fault in my current 4 Silver is white-balance related.

Which model do you use?

---------- Post added July 9th, 2015 at 12:56 PM ----------

My older HERO2 also produced the same green colors, without and sometimes with a filter (I had a SRP Dome red filter). What solved it was rebooting the camera once at depth.

My theory was that if the camera was turned on at the surface with a red filter on, the auto white balance would try to counter that extra redness by bumping up the blue and green, continuing to do that even when underwater, thus making it all extra greenish/blueish. Rebooting it underwater would then reset that surface auto white balance. I'm not sure if this is how the firmware worked, but it seemed to do the job.

ps. On the auto white balance vs protune discussion, I still use auto white balance and it works great for me (with a different filter), no need to adjust colors at all later.

That's an interesting idea... if the auto white balance is just plain bad on some models and the 2nd replacement does the same thing, I will try this trick. Thanks toozler.

 

[phoenix31tt]

Hero 3+ black. Any kind of light affects the white balance though as long as the gopro picks up the light. And yes the fault is probably white balance related as you see it "compensates" sometimes.

In terms of switching back to a 3+ black, the only thing you would be sacrificing is the lcd (which i guess you can get for the black), and the bluetooth (not sure if that's important to you). I think if you keep getting lemons with the 4 silver you could stick with the 3+ black

 

[Karfelibro]

Had the same issues as your first one. Those AND it got extremely hot while turned on, too hot to touch. Sent it back to GoPro and also had the 12 steps to enlightenment you did, and the new one works like a charm.

Some seem to be lemons.

Yes Wookie, my first one had that overheating issue too. And because it would often freeze up at the beginning of a dive, I wouldn't be able to open it up and pull the battery for perhaps an hour, by which time I would imagine that amount of heat in that confined space (and not in cold water either) must take it's toll on the workings.

Good to hear your replacement works, having tried 3 of them personally and seen footage from a 4th, and 3 out of those 4 have been faulty I've lost all faith that I'll get one that works before my warranty runs out!

Perhaps it's standard practice but when I enquired about it, they told me that they won't renew the warranty with each replacement unit, so the could potentially continue sending me faulty cameras until the warranty runs out and there'd be nothing I could do about it after that. Outrageous.