After filming color grading and camera settings.

RideOnTwo

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Was not sure if I should post this in camera setups or in here as it can apply to both and if you do not do both it is risky on auto or downright blah if you don't correct after. I will let the moderators decide if this should be in the other thread or at least a link there to get people here.

There has been a lot of talk recently in the various forums and FB places I follow about color correction. I research the crap out of things as I am always looking to get information from someone that is experienced and then start from there for my own testing purposes. I am not home so I can not look at my cameras but I wanted to get this thread started and Talk a bit about why the camera needs to be set up if you plan on using software to edit your color. I will add my camera setting later so others can try the same to see if it works for them.

Why take the camera out of auto?

If your camera is in auto mode for settings it will make adjustments during the video as it sees fit. This means if you go from bright sunlight to a dark road with overhanging trees it will make an adjustment at some point after you enter the trees. If you are going to use the camera on auto and not correct this is fine. If you are planning to color grade this can be a problem. If you correct the sunlight portion, the tree portion can turn out too dark or too saturated and look bad. The opposite can be true if you correct the tree footage. By putting your camera if possible into manual setting you are guaranteeing that no automatic adjustments will be made during the video. You want people to know that it got darker when you went under the trees, it will make them feel like they are there with you! If the camera changes white balance, color settings or shutter speeds it can make color correcting a nightmare without chopping the video up.

By putting White balance at a set value (dependent on the day), ISO, shutter speed, EV comp etc to set values and color to flat you are getting a constant video that can be corrected later with ease. Some testing may be required to get what you like out of it. I had tuned my camera in and then decided after more research I wanted to change the shutter speed, when I returned home I discovered that I had opened it too much and recorded my video in over exposed bright conditions. I was able to correct this and use the footage but barely.

I am going to talk about GoPro settings, this is the camera I use and most high end cameras should have some if not all of these settings. WILL ADD TO THIS POST LATER WITH CAMERA IN HAND
 
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HippoDrone

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I currently keep most of the settings on my camera as they come, think the only thing I have changed on all my GoPros is the sharpness down to medium. I have tried doing some colour correction and like you say, the auto tune can mess with it and make some parts look too much.
 
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RideOnTwo

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I currently keep most of the settings on my camera as they come, think the only thing I have changed on all my GoPros is the sharpness down to medium. I have tried doing some colour correction and like you say, the auto tune can mess with it and make some parts look too much.
Yes but by putting all of the settings in manual it eliminates that problem
 

RideOnTwo

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Most of these settings are supposed to work better with ND filters.

If you are looking for the best cinematic footage you will want to set your shutter speed to double your frame rate. but this is better accomplished with ND filters, my footage has been very bright when setting shutter manually but I am still testing different settings and will update this thread as I learn more.

I am going to list the settings below considering you are going to leave the shutter in auto. These will give your camera the best information to record so you can color grade after!

Sunny or Bright out!
Protune - On
Shutter - Auto
EV comp -1.0
White Balance - 5500K
ISO limit - 1600
Sharpness - low
Color - Flat

This works on GoPro 4 and up to 7. My Hero 7 has a few more settings and I have been messing with them but have not settled on anything different from these original ones. During cloudy and overcast days changing the white balance is all that is needed, takes a whole 30 seconds. Only issue I have had is wifes camera was set in sunny mode when we left and it got overcast so the footage wasn't as good later on, because I forgot to change it. Any of my earlier video's with the GoPro 4 were all color graded with these settings. It takes a few minutes to grade the color for the whole upload.
 
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RideOnTwo

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Auto is great for good footage. Every professional I have seen or read anything from says cameras make the wrong choices when left to decide. Learning how to set the camera will allow you to get great footage in all situations.
 
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HRMV

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Auto is great for good footage. Every professional I have seen or read anything from says cameras make the wrong choices when left to decide. Learning how to set the camera will allow you to get great footage in all situations.
Aye that's definitely true. Maybe one day I will get to the stage of the having time to learn more and improve. Unfortunately too much other stuff on at the moment.
 
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RideOnTwo

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Aye that's definitely true. Maybe one day I will get to the stage of the having time to learn more and improve. Unfortunately too much other stuff on at the moment.
To each their own, I am looking to gain that better look from my footage. It is not possible to get the cinematic look from a straight GoPro on auto. I aim to learn how to set up my camera so I am in focus but whatever I am standing in front of is not. Getting the right amount of motion blur so it looks great not good etc
 
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Moto Mengy

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Since I've started motovlogging I've simply filmed with my Hero 8 in auto modes. GoPro Color, Hi Sharpness, Auto White Balance, etc. For the most part I've been happy with it honestly.

That said, next day I ride to work I'm going to film test footage in Low Sharp, Flat Color, and Native WB, and then I'm going to play around with it in Shotcut using filters to see if I like the results compared to how I've been doing it fully auto.

I'm worried that the extra editing time won't be worth the effort, but hey I'd like to try it just to see for myself.
 
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WEB

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I grade my GoPro footage. It looks worse than if I had of left the camera on auto. Only reason I do it is so the output somewhat matches the other footage I take with other cameras. If you're vlogging, only using GoPro's and aren't going after some sort of particular video look, I 100% would not bother - After all it's an 8-bit Sony sensor designed to use minimal power and be robust. The OS on the machine itself has algorithms that mess with the output (bitrate, compression etc) to maximise battery run time and stuff like that, so you can't heavily grade it without everything turning into a big fat mush. On auto mode, it knows exactly which parts of the algorithms to run over the footage, so it's tailored to look great.

There's a reason why things like the Sony RX0, Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera etc exist.
 
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FloridaMan

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@RideOnTwo I'm with you man. Auto may give clear footage, but if you want to stand out from every other gopro video out there you need to do stuff yourself. GoPros IMO come no where near to capturing the actual color of things, it always looks washed out to me and so I always add color to it and sometimes you want to change the style of your shots. Some people like to film gloomy shots and others like to shoot vibrant shots. It's all preference and you can make your color grading be like your signature. Thanks for sharing your settings. I had mine figured out, but then added ND filters and have to get my settings dialed back in now.
 
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Meifesto

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For me it is easy.
My old Drift doesn't have those options xD

But it is something to try and understand before i ever get a new camera ;)
 
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Moto Mengy

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Maybe its more of an issue with older cameras? I'm really pretty happy with the colors and footage from my Hero 8 Black.

Tomorrow is going to be a nice day, I'm riding to work and on the way home I'm going to do some tests, then play with editing them to see if I prefer full auto or full filter editing.
 

Moto Mengy

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Well, my experiment with manual settings on my Hero 8 did not go so well!

This is how my footage turned out looking:

overexposed.jpg


I've been trying to correct it in Shotcut and no amount of filtering and such can fix this, LOL!

Here are what my settings were:

ISO: 100-800 (low to hi)
1080p @ 60fps
Shutter: 1/120
Color: Flat
Sharpness: Low
White Balance: Native

And here is how a ride one minute later looked at the same spot with my normal fully auto settings:

autosettings.jpg


The manual setting seems very overexposed but I'm not sure what setting is causing it?
 

WEB

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too much light, throw an ND filter on it
 
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Moto Mengy

Motovlogger from PA, USA
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too much light, throw an ND filter on it

I don't have an ND filter, and I'm not sure you can with the Hero 8?

And too much light seems like a settings error to me. Maybe if I force the ISO down to a lower range?
 

WEB

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I don't think the Sony IMX377 has extended ISO ranges so 100 is as low as you can go. Anyway native ISO should be 400 or so for best dynamic range you'd lock it at 400 and use an ND filter to stop it down 4 stops or so. Yes the Hero 8 uses the same ND filters as any of the cameras since the Hero 5.

I have these

Well, 3 of them anyway. My ND16 filter died when the camera fell off a car. Stupid suction cup mount

 
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WEB

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The Hero 8 has a different sized lens cover to the 5/6/7

Just reading this now. And the glass isn't even removable now? Holy crap. It keeps getting worse. Guess if my 5 dies it's a 7 for me, my 5 has had 3 glass replacements due to rocks

Then again could hold out for an 8 with busted glass and ship it off to back-bone to become an H8 Pro, now that would be cool
 
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HippoDrone

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I've put a "tempered" lens cover on mine, but I don't hold up much faith in it surviving a stone strike at 100mph
 

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