Hero3 Black testing underwater

[Marty Cerven]

I will put up some test videos in this thread once I get some time but first I will just show a couple photos to get an example of what the hero3 black can do uw.

This is around 25m in about 12m vis using a URPro CY filter in 12mpx single photo mode. This is wih cam raw WB in protune mode so its a little flat but gives an idea of the image quality that can be expected in fairly low light at these depths.





Quite a few dives I have used a hero2 beside the 3 black but I haven't used all modes underwater as the dives I have been doing I dont want to spend half the time fiddling with mode changes. I have been trying mostly 1080p and 2.7k modes 30p and 24p by accident once which I dont like the motion of too much. I will post some video examples hopefully in the next few days but I am blown away by the image quality this little cam can do.

Still photos have never been the GoPro's strongest point and they still arent but if you compare that image to HD2 or HD1 photos it will give you an idea of how much better this little thing is. The videos are a huge step ahead of the earlier hero models and looks like my 2's will be gathering dust and be my loan cameras to friends and family most of the time

 

[RockyHeap]

Thanks once again Marty for a factual and informative review.

My hero 3 Black doesn't ship for another 6 days 8 hours and 42 minutes and the wait is killing me.

I'm VERY curious about the higher 2.7K and 4K resolution modes, as they only provide slower Frames per second.

Please talk to your insider sources, as to what is the intent of the GoPro designers/engineers other than to be able to crop down a frame SIZE, yet maintain 1080 16:9 resolution?

What is the real world use of the 2.7K and 4K lines of resolution?


I'm really an advocate of higher FPS's over lines of resolution, I love the smoother motion capture filming on the front end at 720P x 60 FPS, and can't wait to play with 720 at 120 FPS, as watching slow 24 or 30 FPS capture is painful stutter stutter chunk chunk that reminds me of gaming on my OLD 286 or 486 cpu computer............gag.....yes I'm old.......grins.

We've come a LONG ways from 360K 5-1/4" floppy disks.


Marty could you also provide examples of file size, while capturing in RAW? Are we talking 10 meg a second, 100 meg a second? Those Gigglebytes fill up fast even in the Hero2 world.

 

[3D diver]

Subscribed

 

[JamesK]

Thank you I cannot wait to see your results. I hope to have one myself soon. This new camera combined with my combination of Sola 1200's and light monkey 35w hid lights should be phenomenal.

 

[SlvrDragon50]

Wow!!! That's incredible. How bright was it outside?

 

[Gombessa]

I'm really an advocate of higher FPS's over lines of resolution, I love the smoother motion capture filming on the front end at 720P x 60 FPS, and can't wait to play with 720 at 120 FPS, as watching slow 24 or 30 FPS capture is painful stutter stutter

Since most of my videos are posted online, are there any video sharing sites that can take advantage of higher framerates without resorting to 30fps-slow-mo?

One potential UW consequence to shooting at 60/120fps is that you're imposing a hard, decreased limit to the amount of light the sensor can take in per frame, potentially forcing additional gain or underexposure. I don't know if this is something the GoPros deal with, but I am curious to hear if there is an IQ difference in low light between 24/30/60/120fps.

 

[Scott L]

This will be my first UW camera.

 

[Marty Cerven]

Wow!!! That's incredible. How bright was it outside?

Pretty much as in those shots maybe a little darker actually, was a very nice day bu overcast.

Here are some basic shots using cineform studio with the 2.7k protune mode and cam raw wb, Using some test filters by SRP which are very cool but I cant say anything about them yet but they will make an announcement quite soon at DEMA.

This is about 20m depth all natural light and filters.



And here is one without the filter using the same settings in cineform only a couple seconds after the first 2 shots when I removed the filter.



The raw images are quite flat but can be pushed pretty far, the filter does also help retain much more colour even though in the raw image the difference is a little more subtle but when pushed a little it show how much effect this really has in retaining more colours at this level.

Raw with CY filter



Raw no filter

 

[Peter_C]

My hero 3 Black doesn't ship for another 6 days 8 hours and 42 minutes and the wait is killing me.

So I guess you decided against another Hero 2 eh?

I too am now subscribed so hopefully I can learn a few things.

 

[Marty Cerven]

I'm VERY curious about the higher 2.7K and 4K resolution modes, as they only provide slower Frames per second.

Please talk to your insider sources, as to what is the intent of the GoPro designers/engineers other than to be able to crop down a frame SIZE, yet maintain 1080 16:9 resolution?

I dont have any special sources but do get some word from the GoPro head editor in what he does and how he uses the cameras to shoot what they do. He does some strange stuff with the 4:3 modes like 960p and 1440p by not cropping but using the full image in a 16:9 frame along with some squashing and zooming which gives a bit of a different effect.

What is the real world use of the 2.7K and 4K lines of resolution?

I'm really an advocate of higher FPS's over lines of resolution, I love the smoother motion capture filming on the front end at 720P x 60 FPS, and can't wait to play with 720 at 120 FPS, as watching slow 24 or 30 FPS capture is painful stutter stutter chunk chunk that reminds me of gaming on my OLD 286 or 486 cpu computer............gag.....yes I'm old.......grins.

We've come a LONG ways from 360K 5-1/4" floppy disks.

I do like playing back 60p video myself for the smooth motion, I shot one dive in 2.7k24p by accident and I really dont like that low a frame rate for anything with motion. 30P is all we can export to for online sharing which most of my videos end up as anyway and when using a good tray setup this will give best results for this type of intended export.

4K marketing mode lol, could be used for fast timelapse shots but thats about it, anything in motion is not ideal but I think its more there to show other action cam contenders that the next gopro will do 4k30p

60p is great in motion at full speed, can also be used to slow down footage 50% with no negative effect, it also helps reduce motion blur caused by slower shutter speeds when using an unstable mounting method as in when you wear it. The negatives are darker images in lower noise but I haven't shot too much in this mode yet underwater. I will do a full mode test when I get the chance but all my current dives dont give me the chance to play with the camera too much as a few of them I was actually leading the dives and navigating while trying to get some footage. No ideal by far that but quite a few I have just hung back and let others lead but even this doesn't give too much of a chance to play with all modes.

2.7k 30p allows room to zoom in frame if needed but also simply downscaling full frame 2.7k will give a better image then 1080p in most cases, but in theory 1080p should have more data per pixel at the same frame rates but I still found I prefer the 2.7k image over the 1080p slightly. Giving room for lossless zoom in post is a bonus or also for framing your final video but downscaling always seems to do better then what the camera does at 1080p. Much the same with high end cameras like the red epic

Marty could you also provide examples of file size, while capturing in RAW? Are we talking 10 meg a second, 100 meg a second? Those Gigglebytes fill up fast even in the Hero2 world.

Data rate is generally around 45-48mbps in all the protune modes using the hero3 black on my footage so far above and below water so that is equal to 5.625-6 MB/s.

At 48mbps (6MB/s) your looking at 360MB per minute. 21.10 GB per hour

Hero2 with protune does 35mbps (4.375MB/s) or 262.5MB per minute, 15.38 GB per hour

Regular modes are around 15mbps (1.875MB/s) or 112.5MB per minute, 6.59 GB per hour

Like I said battery life is about half of the HD2 atm not sure if that will improve with future firmwares as more processing power needs more real power. A bigger batter or battery in the LCD screen would have been nice.

I am using a Sandisk c10 mobile ultra 64GB card and with this I have plenty of storage to work with and only battery is the concern. You could get away with 32GB cards if using just a single battery but with the batt bacpac shooting protune you will need a 64GB card to make the extra battery time worth while.