Help with go pro 3 underwater settings with red filter, Caribbean, 30-80 ft. Protune?

[Phantom Menace]

Hi,
new subscriber to ScubaBoard here - although I have to admit I have not SCUBA dived for about 5 to 6 years as I have taken up free diving. I have recently bought a GoPro Hero 3+ Silver and could do with some advice. As a free diver the depths I will be filming at range from the surface to 40m (130 ft) - my current personal best depth and, being in New Zealand, the visibility varies a lot too.

Given the above, what filter should I be using? and how am I best to process the footage (currently have a Mac and just using iMovie)?

Here is my first attempt at filming and editing - no filter, out of the box settings and a head mount (so it is jerky - sorry), and no color correction. To give you an idea of conditions in this case we could see the top of the wreck easily from the surface (16m or about 50ft) so the visibility would have been close to 20m / 65ft. The bridge that I enter is at 22m and the sand the wreck is sitting on is 34m (about 110ft.)

Any advice would be appreciated.

[video=youtube_share;2U9AUxT0hz0]http://youtu.be/2U9AUxT0hz0[/video]

 

[jcep]

All,
First time poster here.:banana:

I just got a GoPro Hero3+ Black and have a question about Protune and FPS settings. I'm taking a dive trip to Belize in a couple of weeks and it will be my first chance to use my GoPro underwater... so I would like to not mess it up : ) I will be shooting in 1080p and will snap on my red filter around 15 feet.

I understand Protune w/ RAW takes some extra post-processing work, but can result in better video. I'm happy to put some time in, but have never done any video editing before. So my question is: How difficult is it to do post-processing well? I'm thinking I'm just going to use GoPro Studio. If I've never done it before, and I take 1080p Protune Raw video, will I be able to make it look good? Is GoPro Studio sufficient for post-processing?

Second, I'm not sure if I should shoot 1080/60 or 1080/30. I understand 60 is better for slo-mo & is smoother, and 30 is better for low-light. I might use slo-mo a little bit, but not a ton. I expect most of my dives will be on reefs ~30-40 feet and I'm hoping the water will be clear. I'll just watch my videos on a big TV, so no worries about Youtube settings. So... do you suggest 30 or 60 fps? Memory isn't really an issue, as I have a 64 GB card and will be underwater < 2 hrs / day.

Thanks so much for your advice!

 

[carlkcarlk]

How difficult is it to do post-processing well? I'm thinking I'm just going to use GoPro Studio.

jcep,

Here is a video that shows the GoPro Studio color-correction steps. I was mostly picking stills, but the same steps apply for video. I would recommend a lower frame rate (even 1/24th) so you get the most light. (In my opinion, slow motion isn't worth the cost in terms of light and besides GoPro Studio can fake slo-mo with software)

[video=youtube;54bwE5N7G_c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54bwE5N7G_c[/video]

- Carl

 

[Dauntless]

All,
First time poster here.:banana:

I just got a GoPro Hero3+ Black and have a question about Protune and FPS settings. I'm taking a dive trip to Belize in a couple of weeks and it will be my first chance to use my GoPro underwater... so I would like to not mess it up : ) I will be shooting in 1080p and will snap on my red filter around 15 feet.

I understand Protune w/ RAW takes some extra post-processing work, but can result in better video. I'm happy to put some time in, but have never done any video editing before. So my question is: How difficult is it to do post-processing well? I'm thinking I'm just going to use GoPro Studio. If I've never done it before, and I take 1080p Protune Raw video, will I be able to make it look good? Is GoPro Studio sufficient for post-processing?

Second, I'm not sure if I should shoot 1080/60 or 1080/30. I understand 60 is better for slo-mo & is smoother, and 30 is better for low-light. I might use slo-mo a little bit, but not a ton. I expect most of my dives will be on reefs ~30-40 feet and I'm hoping the water will be clear. I'll just watch my videos on a big TV, so no worries about Youtube settings. So... do you suggest 30 or 60 fps? Memory isn't really an issue, as I have a 64 GB card and will be underwater < 2 hrs / day.

Thanks so much for your advice!

OK, 60 fps gives crisper frames (think about camera shutter speed 1/60 vs 1/30th) but at the expense of less color saturation (Kodachrome effect) 30 fps is good unless you are shooting fast moving fish or maybe if head mounted GoPro 60 fps might be better. Slow Motion is not a concern to me, in fact, sometimes I speed up a little in processing. The RAW is not really raw but a faux raw that is enhancing software, I prefer setting Protune to ON and WB manual to 5500K daylight. You will find that works well with or without the filter in both ambient and video light. When you say watch on TV, is that rendering to DVD or plugging in the camera or attaching computer to TV? You computer will dictate much of the processing/editing. You might try Openshot as a easy to use free software program to get started. OpenShot Video Editor | Simple, powerful, and free video editor for Linux! (the URL says Linux but is in Windows also amd Mac)GoPro Studio has made advances and may be all you need but haven't looked at the new versions. If you are starting editing from scratch, look at re purposing a multicore 3+ Ghz CPU computer to XUbuntu linux and Kdenlive software (turn on proxy files). Some readers will say What but all of the highend Hollywood video editing software is now available in Linux versions i.e. Lightworks and Da Vinci (Da Vinci Resolve cost $29,999 for the software :amazed

 

[Orxion]

Hi, I am new here .. just to check, by using protune - it is like in photography to switching from RAW to JPG, right? So when I try some more post processing in FCPX it will go worse .. correct?

thx for all the tips, I had no idea that running camera at 60fps will result in worse light condition .. but it might explain few things ..

 

[fish80]

I have a gopro 3+ black, you will need a filter. I use the SRF filter, works great up to about 60ft, after that to get good colors you will probably need a light.

As a set up, I shoot in M, wide is too much. I use 1080, 30fps. This is what you get:


Not to bad IMO. Have fun!