Using the GoPro Hero3 in Protune mode

[MermanOliver]

I've got some difficulties using the Protune mode of my GoPro Hero3. I found an old thread (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?6512-GoPro-Software-Dilemnas-Help!) covering a lot of issues, especially the white balance problems, but there is still one point giving me nightmares:

The Protune mode seems to compress the midtone ranges to give a better resolution in the shadows and the highlights. But if I try to counteract this using an s-curve in the overall channel I soon get quite a lot of posterization in the midtone ranges. Is this normal, or is this due to my video editing software not being able to handle the video data of the GoPro properly (I use Blender, which is mainly a 3d animation tool, but can also be used for cutting videos and post-production, might not the best solution, I know, but it's the tool I have available)?

As far as I have read in the other thread, Adobe PremierePro seems to be quite nice for post-production, but unfortunately it's somehow a little out of my budget. Nevertheless, it would be nice to know if it has those posterization problems, too. Want to say: If Premiere Pro also has those problems, it can be considered a general problem of the footage, otherwise I would blame my editing software.

Thanks for any tips!

[Winged Mermaid]

Wish I could help, but that's waaaaay over my head. You would probably have better luck looking and/or posting on one of the GoPro forums, they tend to really know their stuff:

http://goprouser.freeforums.org/
http://www.goproforums.com/index.php
http://www.goprofanatics.com/forum.php

Hope you find your answer :)

[Mermaid Galene]

I have a GoPro Hero3. I just don't use the Protune mode. I find my videos come out great without it, and when not on ProTune setting I can use my cell phone via bluetooth to monitor the filming. (Although the bluetooth connection is lost as soon as the camera goes underwater.)

[MermanOliver]

Thanks! I'll definitely look into the gopro forums. When I find something and the answer is not too nerdy, I'll post it here. :)

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[Winged Mermaid]

Please do! Maybe you can post tech stuff and then the non-tech speak translation, for those of us who are clueless haha ;)

[MermanOliver]

Ok, will do. :) I already found something, just have to make some sense out of it and then wrap it up nicely. May well take up to two weeks, though.

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[MermanOliver]

So, the solution took some time, but as far as I got, the problem seemed to be the setting of the video editor. I changed some of the settings, and the posterization is gone for now. Why exactly this is so I'm still investigating, but Protune works fine with Blender now. The setting I had to change was the color encoding of the input video, which I had to set from sRGB to camera raw. (sorry for speaking geek :blush:).

During all the research I came across some nice ideas for easy color correcting underwater footage. Basically it is applying the ominous red filter digitally in post production by adding a filter layer and adjusting the color and density until the white balance is ok.
There are several other points to the Hero3 I would like to share, especially as there seem to be quite a lot of mers using that camera, but as this would be too lengthy to explain for now and would lead too far off topic, I'll prepare something and post it either as video or as instruction with pictures in a separate post.
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[Mermaid Galene]

We did an underwater video shoot (pre-mer) in Hawaii last winter. The water has very strong blue tones with a lot of glare. I used a screw-on polarizing filter on my GoPro, and it made a remarkable difference! Balanced color, and glare elimiinated.

[Mermaid Melanie]

I use a GoPro hero 3 black and I have it in pro tune most of the time - if you download the go pro studio software from the website its very easy to adjust the white balance, colour saturation, tints , def, etc its a really easy set up to use id recommend it. xx