Hero3 Black. How do I take advantage of this high definition camera?

I can shoot at 4K cinema, but how can I view this this, and how can I get frame captures from this? GoPro's website isn't too helpful. Any advice is appreciated.

I have a Windows 7 PC.

Don

You can use the supplied Cineform Studio to view and import/download directly from the GoPro unit itself. You can download the latest versions from the GoPro website.

Any other editing software or video player should allow you to grab a frame from the clips, provided it handles 4k resolution. Older NLEs do not.

I think it only shoots 4K at 15 fps so pretty useless, I think it does 2K @ 30 which would be a lot better.

The 4K with Gopro is pretty much marketing hype, Tiny sensor and small package so can't expect much. The footage lags, smudges and moire like hell.

The 2.7K 30p is something else - in an action cam! I hope they do a 3D version. Great for that price and wearable too.

Thanks for the tips. My main interest in 4k is frame grabs. I'll play with the 2.7 k and frame grabs. I played with cineform studio, but it only seems to convert these files to avi. I don't see how to grab a frame before it has been converted to avi.

Thanks again for the info.

Isn't all of that covered in the user manual??

Isn't all of that covered in the user manual??

Here is the user manual. Maybe I missed something.

http://<span style="...G_FINAL_Web.pdf

It is unfortunate that the GoPro crew does expect users to have some experience with video editing. Don, you can also use Photoshop to grab the frames.

Thanks Drew. I didn't know I could use photoshop for frame capture. I have CS5. I'll look into this. Thanks again.

I do have ACDSee, and it also does frame capture. I am not sure it is capturing the frame at full resolution. I haven't had time to really experiment too much.

You can also grab stills with VLC media player, which is free, but I've never done it.

Don

I'm not sure about CS5, but 6, one can edit video.

Thanks for the tips Nick and Drew.

I played with ACDSee, and it does get full res frame captures from MP4 files. It doesn't play these high res files too well on my low powered laptop computer.

I'll try VLC media player to see if it will play these high res files.

I found that when I was reviewing the HERO2 that Cineform Studio was incredibly wonky to use. Sometimes it worked as it should but, more often than not, it didn't function as it should have. While the HERO and Cineform Studio are couple together, they really are two separate companies. At least, that is what GoPro's support people told me.

Steve

I have just been dumping the raw 35mbps files from Hero 2 running the buggy Protune firmware straight into EDIUS, and it cuts it up piece of cake.

You can also get full size screen grabs by clicking just one button on the timeline :-)

I have been looking at the new Sony POV, its image stabilization and built in LCD and WiFi has sold me.

Just went through a full day class at PPW/NAB on integrating GoPro & other action cams into broadcast & film productions. The consensus on GoPro 4K is that it is really intended for timelapse and photo burst use. At 15fps, the 4K video is not terribly useful.

On the other hand, as others have noted, the low-light performance of the Hero3 coupled with both the 2.7K/30fps mode and ProTune format, makes a very solid image with lots of pixels to push around in post (ie. grading, reframing). Is it a RED? No. But, the camera, if configured correctly can produce great images, particularly for the web, in the right conditions.

Agree re 4k being hype. The GP 4 will capture it at 30-60fps but still, there are really few screens that will make it worth while. On the 3+, 1080 at 30fps is the most battery efficient.

VLC does screen caps. You can also use the snipping tool that ships with Windows. Vlc will probably give better results though.

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

I have just been dumping the raw 35mbps files from Hero 2 running the buggy Protune firmware straight into EDIUS, and it cuts it up piece of cake.

 

Tired to listen my friends ranting that their GP3 Black clips fall apart at depth I stole them a camera and I tried for myself.

BTW they use this tiny camera without lights. Even a RED would fall apart in pitch black conditions...

I tested the GoPro3 Black edition with my current GH2 light setup: 2x FIX Aquavolt3500 with 60cm Nauticam arms. For extra stability I used my Nauticam tray to fix the camera on my scooter mount.

To make things harder we dove the tugboat "MISENO" (70+meters deep) on a winter day with a visibility up to 6 meters.

Since the heavy rain of the previous days, the complete extension of the light's arms were not enough to avoid a lot of backscatter.

It was the first dive with a GoPro and the most difficult part was trying to frame the shots without a display. I found myself dreaming of my tiny GH2 display

Hero3 was set on 1080@30p Wide with Protune Cam Raw. Files edited and graded straight into Edius 6.05. I add a couple of transitions showing the clips before/after color correction. I didn't have the patience to go through the endless Neat Video session: after all it's just a test.

PS

Power of marketing hipe: all tutorials "suggest" that is mandatory to transcode protune files into cineform codec before editing otherwise you'll go to hell or your hard disk will be automatically formatted GoPro site credits the cineform codec magical power, something like Fountain of Youth

Actually protune files are just H.264 files so I edited and cc straight into Edius without a glitch.

Hi Davide,

I like ur video, as always, even a test video is beautifuly done.

If you choose Protune mode and more so if CamRaw WB choosen too, transcoding first to Cineform AVI or MOV will recover the details easier , where Protune records with camera processing to minimum......noise included while sharpness reduced.

No need NEAT video and the like, mess with it in Cineform Studio when file already a Cineform AVI or MOV and at the same time editor like Vegas Pro will do parallel work with Cineform Studio.

What you can do to improve with not much extra work is sharpness for your test video.

Under PROTUNE color preset, the sharpness is pushed to approx 75% and looks like the average all auto output, your scene of the corals on the wreck will be sharper. Try it and you will see, its not over sharpening , its just suitable sharp.

If you record in AWB or auto all the way and no Protune in a GoPro cam, transcoding to GoPro Studio is no worth the effort.

The powerful and easy thing about Protune and CamRaw is its color recovery capability at a distance when using ambient sunlight and water not too clear but of course you must use GoPro Studio. Its a decently powerful color correcting software and free too. More color touch up can be done with the editor you choose, which must be compatible with Cineform codec.

If one choose 32 bits floating point in Vegas Pro, the Cineform AVI is much easier to color tune for difficult scenes than a normal/standard MP4.

No doubt the MP4 Protune records in 8 bits 4:2:0, the Cineform AVI is 10bit 422 upsampled, garbage in garbage out still applies, but the color tuning flexibility of Cineform AVI is better than in its raw MP4 Protune, in hands of expert ( not me...ha ha ha ).

While GoPro so called CamRaw is not as raw as professional cameras RAW, its a great free Raw WB, for a camera costing so little.

In the capable hands like yourself, I bet you can maximize Protune + CamRaw to its maximum with Cineform AVI in GoPro Studio and parallel running to another editor.

Have fun Davide...

I wrote a long reply completely lost pressing the wrong button on my tablet

Hi SPP, Excellent tips!

I just got a GoPro 3+ Black with a Polar Pro blue-water filter yesterday, and will dive the Catalina kelp forest this weekend so no time to experiment underwater before the trip. The dives will likely be less then 70 feet or 21meters deep, ambient light under mostly sunny weather and the video settings will be 2.7K, 1524p30, Protune, CamRaw.

Since an underwater filter reduces light by half a stop (1/80sec without the filter, 1/60sec with), but lessen the need to push the white balance, what will produce lower noise videos ultimately - with or without a filter?