ProTune is NOT your best bet.

[DodgeP]

I pulled the first couple vids from my GP4 Black and was highly disappointed in the quality. In my opinion, they pretty much sucked! I'm confused. It's like my GP3 does a much better job straight off the card. ProTune may not be the answer for you as I'm pretty much considering to NEVER enable it again.

Top Row, ProTune with GoPro Color Setting
Bottom Row, ProTune Turned off with GoPro Color Setting

No other post work was done besides the screen grab. The colors you should be seeing are; Red, Blue, Yellow, White, Black and Silver. These videos were taken one right after the other and I tried to capture at the same angles, I was close but not perfect.

 

[Solo58216]

Did you use the GoPro Studio software and tell it you shot it using ProTune? I "think" its like shooting in raw with out the camera doing any processing> so you can have more control and options in post.

 

[Jubalr]

Like said above, ProTune is similar to shooting Raw on an SLR camera. As such, it needs to be tuned in post for best results. But, like RAW it allows for greater control and correction than non PT. If you are looking for best results without color/exposure tuning then you are better off not using PT.

 

[DodgeP]

@Solo58216 & @Jubalr - Color correction is nothing new to me, I teach photo retouching seminars. I think the RAW vs JPEG comparison doesn't really fit here because nothing is "unlocked" via any editing software when you shoot with ProTune on as opposed to shooting without it. The ProTune file is washed, in every scenario and to get it half decent looking you end up creating a video that looks like the non pro tuned version, without wasting time replacing everything that pro tuned didn't apply.

I just watched a video where a guy tried to explain the differences, only to end up saying at the end of every comparison, " well it looks like the non pro tuned version except there isn't as much this/that "

I have yet to see a video that convinced me that shooting in ProTune isn't anything more than just a waste of time.

BTW.. Not sure about you but whenever I open a RAW file and JPG file at the dimensions, the RAW file ALWAYS looks better.

I was in Rome a week and half ago. Here's an image from St.Peters Basilica one is RAW one is JPG straight from the camera. Stevie Wonder could see which image is RAW and which is JPG.

Tip.. If you ever go visit this Basilica, go early in the morning when they first open. No crowd..

 

[Jubalr]

View attachment 1245 @Solo58216 & @Jubalr - Color correction is nothing new to me, I teach photo retouching seminars. I think the RAW vs JPEG comparison doesn't really fit here because nothing is "unlocked" via any editing software when you shoot with ProTune on as opposed to shooting without it. The ProTune file is washed, in every scenario and to get it half decent looking you end up creating a video that looks like the non pro tuned version, without wasting time replacing everything that pro tuned didn't apply.

I just watched a video where a guy tried to explain the differences, only to end up saying at the end of every comparison, " well it looks like the non pro tuned version except there isn't as much this/that "

I have yet to see a video that convinced me that shooting in ProTune isn't anything more than just a waste of time.

BTW.. Not sure about you but whenever I open a RAW file and JPG file at the dimensions, the RAW file ALWAYS looks better.

I was in Rome a week and half ago. Here's an image from St.Peters Basilica one is RAW one is JPG straight from the camera. Stevie Wonder could see which image is RAW and which is JPG.

Tip.. If you ever go visit this Basilica, go early in the morning when they first open. No crowd..

Sounds like no PT would be a better option for you. PT does shoot at a higher bitrate (45vs30), but not sure how deep you have to go in corrections to pull out the differences. The washed out look is expected according to GP:
Turning on Protune in your camera causes the videos you take to look less sharp, and you’ll also notice that the colors look more washed out. This is different than what you’re probably used to, which is that crisp, bright look and feel to GoPro’s footage. We stripped this away to give our professional users more of a “blank slate” so they have more freedom in their post-production workflow.

Basically, the main purpose of the ProTune setting is to help you get more dynamic videos from your camera. We really wanted to meet requests from members of our professional community, many of whom edit footage from their GoPro cameras together with footage from other cameras. The stripped down video makes it easier for them to do that.

What this means for the every-day user is that Protune footage requires more editing to get that traditional GoPro look. That’s great if you want to spend more time editing your footage to put your own unique spin on it, but if you want to do simple editing and already like the GoPro look and feel that you’re used to, we'd recommend leaving Protune turned off.

I guess it's like everything else though; work with what is best for you. No single setting is going to be the right one for everyone.

Fly Safe..
Jubal

 

[User Name]

I just watched a video where a guy tried to explain the differences, only to end up saying at the end of every comparison, " well it looks like the non pro tuned version except there isn't as much this/that "

I think you're looking at it somewhat backwards - PT isn't something extra that's being done to make the footage look better... it's that all the stuff that's supposed to make the footage look better ISN'T being done, so you can do it yourself.

Think of PT Off as the camera automatically taking the PT On footage, sharpening and cranking up the contrast. In this light, of course the PT On footage will look less sharp and washed out - it's just giving you the straight footage as recorded with no auto processing, so you can process it to your liking.

In most cases, I find the auto stuff to be a little too aggressive on the contrast, loosing details in dark areas. Since the footage is virtually always edited anyway, it's a pretty simple step to tweak the colors in the editing process.

PT On is like RAW in that there's no auto post processing, but it's not like RAW in that there's no substantial decrease in compression or increase in bit depth.