GoPro 11 Settings

[danpass]

Very tempted by the Hero 11. I used to be tempted by the Mini Hero 11, until I discovered it has no spot meter / exposure control.

Even the Session cameras had exposure control. Spot meter specifically, which I like best. Also because you could set-and-forget and not mess with having to set it each time lol like on Hero 5 Black.

 

[ReadyTo Dive]

Any other settings to adjust/consider if not using proper software for post production but only an app such as Dive+?

 

[S7ewie]

How do folks find auto white balance? I set manually or use Native as I'm scared that it'll change mid shoot and be obvious in the footage.

 

[passeparici]

How do folks find auto white balance? I set manually or use Native as I'm scared that it'll change mid shoot and be obvious in the footage.

For me it is exactly what it does. But it doesn't bother everybody. Although it doesn't do it a lot and each time you take a video...

 

[ScottsdaleSteve]

How do folks find auto white balance? I set manually or use Native as I'm scared that it'll change mid shoot and be obvious in the footage.

I just tested my new GoPro 11 in Roatan. I used Auto White Balance - Big Mistake, but a learning experience. The color temperature changes constantly during the dive, and it is VERY noticeable and distracting in the footage. Next time I'll pick a fixed WB like 5500 or 6000.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I love my Hero 11, am no expert having had it for less than a year. But I love the horizon lock feature with 4K, as well as the wonderful hyper smooth boost.

 

[ScottsdaleSteve]

Here are some additional thoughts on my testing…

I shot at 1080P, but in the future I will shoot at 4K. Why? 1080P videos looked great and resulted in reasonable file sizes. BUT…Screen grabs from a 1080P video are only 2 Megapixels, whereas screen grabs from a 4K video are 7 or 8 Megapixels. I discovered I like grabbing photos from my videos, and an 8MP grab lets you crop and still have enough info for a good print. (Yes, you can switch to PHOTO mode underwater, but that's a pain in the butt when you can just grab a good photo from your video).

I shot at 60 frames/second, and this was really useful to slow “fast fish” down by a factor of 2 in post. I can see why, in certain situations, someone might want to shoot at 120 frames/second so they can slow it down 4X in post. 60 frames/second was good enough on my test dives, but perhaps I would wish for 120 frames per second if was lucky enough to see a shark or manta.

 

[broncobowsher]

I may have to try that. I was running a photo every 2 seconds, time lapse. When I found a subject I really wanted a picture of, just keep it aimed for a little longer. I still missed a few things and was thinking of dropping to 1 per second. Screwed up once and had the output as video instead of a stack of stills. That sucked, still have not bothered going through the video frame by frame to pull the stills.

 

[MB NZ]

going through the video frame by frame to pull the stills.

I did exactly this after a recent trip. It worked quite well, although I would reiterate that it's a good way to get holiday snaps. This technique would not compete with a still camera setup.

As an aside, in the old days, GoPros had a combined video and photo mode which I used quite a lot above water. Photos were taken every 3 seconds. Too slow for underwater wildlife, but it would be good to see a modern iteration of this mode on future cameras.

 

[broncobowsher]

I miss that video + still mode. I thought I just couldn't find it but I guess it is gone.
My other issue was the GoPro case buttons start sticking below 160'. So I have to set into time lapse to get photos as I can't do a single photo button press without it jamming. I know, need a new case, already have a thread going for that one.