GoProHero 3 Black - why is my footage so colourless?

[Kwaaitjie]

Hi

I've just tried my GoProHero Black for the first time, in the swimming pool and am very disappointed because the footage totally lacks colour and contrast. The lighting was great, so no need for additional lights and no need for filter as the pool is very shallow.

My settings are:

ProTune on
CameraRaw
1080 60fps
Wide

Have I got the settings wrong? How do I get good colour and contrast?

I am used to shooting video with a Canon S95 and Canon 600D and have not had such weak colours with either.

Any advice would really be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[Scubanoobi]

You are shooting in protune, this will give you flat / low contrast and low saturation output. The idea being that you color correct in post. If you don't plan to edit in post, I wouldn't be using protune.

 

[Eff]

You are shooting in protune, this will give you flat / low contrast and low saturation output. The idea being that you color correct in post. If you don't plan to edit in post, I wouldn't be using protune.

Exactly what he said. ^^^

Protune is designed to expand the gamut and exposure window, while also turning off nearly all anti-noise processing done in the camera.
Essentially, very close to raw camera data.
If you don't color grade, correct, and such - it will look like junk!

Turn off Protune and your footage will look great for "normal" use.

 

[yarik83]

I don't understand why 99.9% of people that get into gopro video taping are so attached to the protune. What is the lure? Why?

Is it because it sounds cool? Is it because there is a "pro" and a "tune" and therefore its appealing? I would not want to shoot my video with a processed pre-filter that was done by a microchip because if it messes up, video footage will be that much harder to salvage.

Shoot in regular format and you will be fine. If protune is something that is on the menu then read up on what it does before using it. Today's consumer very quickly discards user manual.

I remember when I was digging through the manual to find out what a guy on a motorbike and a cross were doing on my gopro lcd screen... have I read it the first time I would have known exactly what they were.

 

[Scubanoobi]

I'm not sure how effective it is underwater but I use protune so I can mix it in with footage from my canon 5d2. My hero 1 was unusable.

 

[ronscuba]

Protune and camraw wb is a benefit for people who are willing and able to make adjustments to their footage in editing.

I know plenty of people don't edit their footage at all. They just watch the raw clips. Others will take the raw clips and sequence them together. The next step in editing is to make adjustments to the footage itself. For people at this stage, protune and camraw wb is a big benefit. For me, the auto modes in the GoPro produce color and contrast that is inconsistent and unpredictable. This makes editing together different clips very difficult because the color and contrast is so different from clip to clip. Auto modes frequently had contrast too high, yellows and greens enhanced too much for my eyes.

If you have some footage shot with protune and/or camraw wb, just try boosting contrast in your video editor. You might be surprised that your flat colorless footage suddenly comes to life.

If you don't want to bother making adjustments in editing, then, yes, skip protune and shoot in auto mode.

 

[Interceptor121]

I feel sorry for the op of this thread

The GoPro universe is made of people that want quick solutions and don't want to dig into details. A typical post is "what is the best setting to use" this follows a long discussion with examples of other people and some of those will stand out with best results. The op will then take that suggestion and shoot in the same way then go home and come out with washed out footage and post something here. Even better to google 'best gopro setting for underwater' and then end up in the same place.

Unfortunately this is not the way to get to a good result and there is no escape to look into details if you want something decent, yes you can get amazing result from protune but you need to have a good idea of how to perform grading and post processing. The protune is especially suited to people that take short clips not to the average gopro user filming the whole dive otherwise you will need to grade by key frame which is extremely painful it can be done but comes at cost.

The average gopro user is better suited to shoot in normal mode with a resolution and frame rate that is exactly the same to the way the end clip will be produced all is then left to do in the editing is a bit of cutting

At the end of the day there are no absolute best settings, an informed decision needs to be made in consideration of what is the intended use of the footage, the shooting technique and the editing abilities. If you don't take all those things into account you end up like the op

 

[reebok]

I don't understand why 99.9% of people that get into gopro video taping are so attached to the protune. What is the lure? Why?

for me it's because protune is the only way to select camraw white balance. I had the auto-wb issue (everything is bright green) and swore that would never happen again.

 

[fbk]

for me it's because protune is the only way to select camraw white balance. I had the auto-wb issue (everything is bright green) and swore that would never happen again.

exactly!

 

[Interceptor121]

The green issue occurs when you point the camera to the sun and then to a much darker area in sequence
If you frame the shots that will never happening
If instead you shoot the whole dive eventually it will happen
I had the gopro on my wrist for whole dives and as I was never pointing it up it didn't occur
And I tell it was bloody boring to have to fast forward looking for the green part!!!
So it depends really