Camera Raw test video of the GoPro Hero 3 Black+

bpippin · Feb 17, 2014

https://vimeo.com/86945042

I shot this on a GoPro Hero 3 Black+ mounted on a DJI Phantom 2. Shot in Camera Raw and color-corrected in Final Cut Pro X. Music: Weekender- Sunday Session
1st time I've tried camera raw. Color post processed in FCPX. I used some settings I found on the internet... the internet is always right, correct?

Anyway, does anyone else use the camera raw setting on the GoPro? Would love to hear about your experiences/techniques.

Thanks!

Fair Game · Feb 18, 2014

Impressed by the lack of video noise in your pictures.

To my eyes there seems to be a warm color cast in the mid tones, which is easy to remove (as you clearly know) in FCP X using the color parade scope for guidance. Maybe a touch of sharpening needed? Could be the resolution up uploaded to Vimeo?

Nice steady picture too.

ianwood · Feb 18, 2014

Those settings you found on the Internet might not be the best. Your image is very warm. FCPX is a pain in the butt for color correction. For those of us without sufficient coloring and grading expertise, a color picker would make a world of difference!

GoPro Studio has a WB color picker. After you take off, hold a sheet of white paper in front of the camera, use that for WB reference.

I am still working on finding a decent workflow myself. I've been shooting Protune CamRAW and processing through GoPro Studio before bringing it into FCPX. Seems to be helping but I am not always happy with the GoPro Sutdio's choices for exposure and saturation. Too often you end up with something that is too HDR looking.

P.S. Good track.

mauiboy86 · Feb 18, 2014

Personally I just set the gopro to Protunes mode at 2.7k and use Red Giant Color to modify in post. It turns out much better then just using the stock settings in premier. From what I hear, if you use the raw setting, the white balance will be all over the place. Since I am slightly color blind I tend to trust the auto white balance more then my own judgement.

Here is a sunrise from the other morning.. adjusted in Color. Mainly just added a graduated neutral density filter and some contrast. http://vimeo.com/86824960

Of course time of day makes all the difference in the world. If you keep your shots mainly around the golden hours of sunrise and sunset your footage will be at its best.

Griggs · Feb 19, 2014

Does anybody color grade in Lightroom? I believe the WB adjustments including a color pickter would work in there. The only concerned I have is loss of quality from an additional export step.

bpippin · Feb 20, 2014

Yes, I feel this first cam raw test of mine was a bit warm in the mid tones as well (after color correction). But it did allow a greater dynamic range for adjustment. I will experiment more...

Not sure why the video doesn't upload sharper... It looks great on my computer, but after upload to YouTube or Vimeo, seems to be a little blurry. I've seen other videos on YouTube and Vimeo that were shot with the same GoPro and they look crisp.

Thanks for the comments!

HeliRy · Feb 21, 2014

Griggs said:
Does anybody color grade in Lightroom? I believe the WB adjustments including a color pickter would work in there. The only concerned I have is loss of quality from an additional export step.

Pretty sure Lightroom is strictly for photo editing. But you can colour correct video in Bridge and export (or parent it) to Photoshop/Premier PRO/After Effects from there.

Griggs · Feb 24, 2014

Pretty sure Lightroom is strictly for photo editing. But you can colour correct video in Bridge and export (or parent it) to Photoshop/Premier PRO/After Effects from there.[/quote]

Lightroom can edit and color adjust video. It's been included since I believe Lightroom 4. That said, I have yet to hear of many people using it to color grade. I like it because I'm so familiar with the tools.

bpippin · Feb 26, 2014

spanktimonious said:
bpippin said:

Not sure why the video doesn't upload sharper... It looks great on my computer, but after upload to YouTube or Vimeo, seems to be a little blurry.

Click to expand...

How much sharpening did you apply during editing?
What data rate is the file that you uploaded to Youtube/Vimeo?

I sharpened it 2.5 in FCPX. Maybe should have gone higher? Since I posted the video, I adjusted the sharpen setting to 7 and exported a full res version to my desktop. Seems better.

Also, the export option in FCPX doesn't give me any info on the data rate. So I have no idea what it is on the video I upload to Vimeo. However, I did some research and discovered I could use Handbrake to compress the video and control the data rate. So I did just that and ran the full res version, that I had saved on my desktop, through Handbrake and set the data rate to 8000kbps. The full res version is over 6GB. The new compressed version through Handbrake is only 116mb, with no difference in quality! I guess this what I should have done the first time? Anyway, still learning... Thanks in advance for your comments/advice