GoPro Protune / RAW vs. Auto Color and WB ?

[justinsthompson]

I've been shooting in Protune / RAW mode lately and am wondering what other opinions are to this vs. Auto color/WB. Basically, I don't think that I'm very good with color correction yet, so the colors that I get are probably worse than auto mode. Also, the size of the RAW files are huge. What are the opinions there?

Also, can anyone point to color correction tutorial videos ( I use Adobe Premiere Pro) or do you have other tips?

 

[toozler]

If you are not using a filter, then RAW would be your best bet to avoid getting overly greenish footage (which is a freakish AWB bug that happens very often), while still having some flexibility in post to improve the colors. If you are using a filter, I would't see a reason why not to shoot with auto white balance (AWB) and save yourself the work of color correcting each scene in post.

I shot the video below with a filter and AWB, the only post correction done was a little bump on the contrast.

[video=youtube;s3X3AYUcO3w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3X3AYUcO3w[/video]

 

[ElGaucho]

Protune is NOT raw!! It is just a better recording mode in terms of amplitude and bitrate. RAW implies many other things that ProTune does not accomplish. WB is pre set in ProTune too.

 

[ronscuba]

I like protune mode camraw wb.

I usually just boost contrast.


Original
[vimeo]57119893[/vimeo]

Contrast boost
[vimeo]64353126[/vimeo]

 

[toozler]

Ron, have you experimented increasing contrast using the "curves" filter rather than the "contrast" function? It gives you more control on what you are bumping (shadows, mid, highlights). I noticed that on your video, the change in contrast makes the sponge and the "deep blue" look great, but the sand is a little blown. I pull the lower part of the curve down a little and the upper part up, but just a tad bit.

 

[ronscuba]

LOL. Funny you mention this. Actually, I always use curves and not contrast. Just thought contrast alone is lot easier to do and explain while still getting decent results. For the above clip I did a quick contrast boost as an example for this thread.

I used to try to explain how to make an S-curve and some people reacted like I was trying to teach them voodoo. After a while I gave up and said just boost contrast.

 

[fbk]

If you are not using a filter, then RAW would be your best bet to avoid getting overly greenish footage (which is a freakish AWB bug that happens very often)

This.

The value of protune itself is arguable (higher bitrate, battery drain, heat issues etc) but it's the only way to use Raw WB. If you do shoot in PT and can't be bothered with manual colour correction you can always use the one button preset in Cineform which will get you pretty much back to the processed gopro look. EXCEPT that your WB won't be all over the place due to the freaky green AWB bug mentioned above.