GoPro Test Fail!

Well, that didn't work!

Above is a sample screen from the footage I took on Sunday with my GoPro. This is pretty much a typical example of the quality of exposure I got (4k, wide angle). Very disappointed - so didn't even bother to cut an edit - but I think I know what's wrong, so it's back to square one again.

To be fair, it was actually one of those miserable grey December days that we get in Yorkshire. The sky actually did look like that, and everything else did look a little bit flat as a result, but not this washed out!

Although you do expect to do some correction in post - mainly to compensate
for the 'GoPro bend' that the camera's extra wide angle lens produces the
vignetting caused by the filter is still a bit annoying.

Here's a screen shot I took of one of the movie frames - which I colour adjusted
in Photoshop - to illustrate the sort of exposure and contrast (and perhaps sharpness)
I was actually hoping for. I know the GoPro is capable of this in the right
circumstances and with the right settings.

The problem seems to have been to do with some of the fiddling about I did in the GoPro's advanced settings (ProTunes), as I adjusted the ISO and the colour set-up in order to try and get a flat colour profile so I could grade the colour in post...But I didn't expect it to turn out this flat!

The other issue was the very obvious vignetting, which was caused by the 52mm filter adapter I added to the GoPro's lens. Unfortunately, in 4K mode you cannot adjust the lens mode to anything narrower than 'wide', which may account for it picking up the edges of the filter. I suspect this filter adapter was really made for 1080p footage (where you can set the 'lens'- field of view - to 'narrow').

Not to be disheartened, I have readjusted the GoPro's settings and bought an alternative lens protector and I will try again. While there is nothing I can do about the miserable grey skies we are getting at the moment, I hope I can make the other colours - and contrast - in the movies look a little more vibrant in future.

The official GoPro Protective Lens. £20 for a pack of two from Amazon.

I'll try out the 52mm filter again in 1080p, just to see if it is the ultra-wide 4K that they are incompatible with. A bit annoying, but my fault for not researching the product thoroughly enough before buying it, Lesson learned.