Interesting GoPro HD2 firmware upgrade on its way

[Marty Cerven]

[video=youtube;x3KnH2NdiIk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3KnH2NdiIk&[/video]

And the official press release.

GoPro Partners with Technicolor to Incorporate CineStyle

 

[quikcolin]

Wow, this is huge! A cinestyle picture mode for a gopro! The color editing on the gopro is going to be take to a whole other level! This is big. I'm excited

 

[Marty Cerven]

Once you see the quality difference it will blow you away too. I hope its not too far away but Im amazed gopro is doing this via a free firmware upgrade. Many other companies would have rebaged the hd2 put on the new firmware and called it a hd3.

It is a much bigger jump then going from the orignal gopro to the hd2, but i guess they will get plenty of sales from people still using the hd1 who will most likely upgrade once they see this in action.

It shows how big a deal buying cineform was and will put them a fair way ahead of the other action cameras. There will most likely be some extra features when using the premium versions of the cineform software but you will still get great benefit using other editing options and even the free cineform gopro studio.

Im very excited too lol, maybe some more pics and videos may leak out from nab to show everyone how good this looks.

 

[irishtn]

I need this by June!

 

[Marty Cerven]

I need this by June!

Lets hope they don't run into any issues while testing, as its out in the filed in some lucky hands already and I cant wait to give it a go too.

The flat colour profile which is pretty much a raw format should be great for scuba, we don't have a manual wb but the way I see it this should do pretty much the same thing only you set the wb in post without having to deal with doing it underwater or relying on the random auto settings we get atm.

I could be wrong here but someone that nows more about how a manual wb button works can correct me. I think setting a manual wb whilst underwater is getting the raw image and then telling the camera what to set the wb as. It then adjust all the footage to this level and records the corrected footage, if recording in a flat fixed cine or raw style then you can just do in post what the camera would have done at the point of recording.

This I see as a better option as if you didnt quite get it right at the point of recording underwater its very hard to undo in post and correct it properly. By setting this all in post though you can just do your dive and make sure you use your slate or whatever at regular intervals at changes of depth and then balance to this in post and you can make fine adjustments as needed.

I kind of do this already but your always fighting the shifting auto white balance which is a major PITA so using the raw video should just make this so much easier and more effective.

Some people may not want to do this and seeing gopro are releasing their own UW housing at some point, there may be some preset colour profiles that people could use if they don't want to do it all manually themselves included in the GoPro software. Or you can still just record in full auto mode as it currently is for those happy with what they get atm.

 

[JamesK]

I hope this does not take as long as the flat lens housing.

 

[Marty Cerven]

Here is a new video with more info, looks very promising.

[video=vimeo;40634267]https://vimeo.com/40634267[/video]

Release is apparently "Early Summer"

 

[ktomlinson]

Sweet! Hopefully early Summer.

 

[SandPhantom]

Interesting.

 

[quikcolin]

Again, I couldn't be more pumped about this. I'm a new(er) DSLR video junkie, and shoot Cinestyle with my T2i... this means that the color editing I do with my T2i, will match that of the Hero2 when used together for the same shoot! Very cool stuff.

Now.... GoPro (as much as I love them) are well known to have very late release dates! A perfect example is their blurfix housing. It was supposed to be released this winter... well that never happened, and from what they've told me, we shouldn't expect it in the near future either. Sooo, don't hold your breath for this update. It's coming, and it will be awesome... but its a ways out.