Another Video Editing Software Question

[divemonkey33]

I have a helmet cam that I dive with but it only records raw video, no settings no filters, it just records. I have attached a snapshot from the video. I'm looking for some software to maybe now add the filter or something to make it look better and reduce the “blue”. So after reading a few posts I figure these three programs are worth a try.


Adobe Premiere Elements
Sony Vegas Movie Studio
Pinnacle Studio

That said I’m still looking for some input about these three before spending a ton of time on free trials or money. Does anyone have any before and after pics or vids that they could share? And if so maybe alittle explanation of what they did to process the vid?

Thank you

 

[Marty Cerven]

I think you will really need a filter to start with, what depth was this shoot at? I have tried to see if I could do anything using adobe premiere pro cs6 and magic bullet colorista plugin which I use for most of my UW video correction. Not much can be done if your source file is like this, its very badly overexposed on the sand lacking any detail and there is hardly any data in the red channel.

I dont think much can be done in post with what you have to start with in this particular shot. You will either need a filter or some lights, lights will only give you any benefit up to around 1.5m from the light source so a filter will be your best option. With a good filter you will get best results down to around 20m but this also depends on the camera, in good light you will still get some benefit down to about 30m but 25m is normally where a filter starts to drop off pretty bad.

If your going any deeper then that only lights will help you, software alone I have found it very hard to get any good results beyond 4-6m depending on light conditions using a gopro camera and that will be about where all basic auto action or helmet type cameras will struggle at. With a filter I have had some real good results to 20m and even at 25-30m in good vis and light its been possible to get a bit of colour with a filter and touch up in post.

 

[supergaijin]

+1 Red Filter, stay shallower than 30ft and focus on objects within 15ft of your camera.

Post production can only boost red colours- not create them when they don't exist.

 

[Marty Cerven]

Here is an example of another video that may look pretty bad due to auto wb being off using a GoPro HD hero2 and URPro green water filter. I got this video off youtube and used my Colorista 2 Pluggin for adjusting the wb using his slate and dive computer as a white reference point.

Because this was recorded with a filter there was still more colour detail captured compared to shooting without a filter or lights. I only had a youtube encoded source file to work with so there would be better results if this was done with the original footage. Unlike your example though the footage isnt lost because of the filter being used and all you need is to correct the wb and you will get a much better result.

The water is pretty murky green here and vis/light isnt great but its still amazing what this little plugin can do and I use this for all my underwater colour correction. I have shot other GoPro videos myself without a filter and this method doesn't work beyond about 4-8m because it simply didn't record enough colour detail. Combining a good quality filter and software correction will give you the best results.

Here is the original video, this was uploaded as is with no colour correction.

[video=youtube;alQMirzB5no]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alQMirzB5no[/video]

And some screen grabs I corrected from the video above. Using Premiere Pro and Colorista 2 plugin.



I tried a few methods until I stumbled on to the Magic Bullet Colorista 2 plugin and it can be so simple but also very powerful if you need more. I highly recommend anyone to try this plugin especially if you have a camera with no manual WB control and are using a filter. All you need is to shoot a regular white point like a slate or even a mid grey as in the dive computer here and the pluging will give these sorts of results with just one click. You can then fine tune any other possible option to do with colour if you feel you need to do a little bit more. Red Giant - Products - Magic Bullet Colorista II

If you had a camera that could record video in RAW mode then you would get the best possible results, gopro's new Protune firmware is moving towards a more "RAW" cine style higher bit-rate format which will make this work even better for anyone that has a Hero2 camera once its released.

 

[stilldivin]

I use Pinnacle Studio HD ultimate ver. 15. It has many tools, including a RGB color tool that will make the water look better and clearer than it really is. It can easily take out the green, blue or red colors or balance them to your liking. Pinnacle was recently bought by Avid, so it may be better to get Avid Studio. Hopefully it has the same tools and more. You can often download free trial software to test them out. Be aware that the Pinnacle stabilizer tool does not work. I don't know if Avid Studio has one and if it works. Pinnacle and Avid are must cheaper than red giant; in fact Fry's often has them for free after rebates.

 

[jbomb001]

I like power director 10 has plenty of options

Sent from my galaxy S5 Active.