GoPro 11 BEST Underwater Settings
Hey, in todays post i will introduce the settings that i like to use when filming underwater videos with the gopro hero 11 black!
Now let me explain why i use these settings in a little detail!
Once you get used to using these settings you may want to tweak them slightly to your liking. Lets start with the resolution!
10 bit: on
One of the new features of the GoPro Hero 11 Black. Gives you a wider range of colour in your footage.
Resolution/Frame Rate: 5K/60
Ideally you want to set the resolution to the highest that your pc/mobile can handle.
60 frames per second (FPS) is sufficient in most situation as it gives you enough frames for slow motion if you need it later when editing!
A little about Frame Rates:
If you film at the native 24 frames or 30 frames of gopro, you will not be able to make your clips slow motion due to insufficient frames.
If you film in 60FPS, it can be slowed down to 30 frames giving you 2x slow motion.
So essentially you can double the length of your clip. If a shark passes by your gopro in 3 seconds, you can slow it down to 6 seconds.
If your planning on filming a super slow motion from the start then you can go for higher frame rates like 120 or 240FPS. The Gopro hero 10 black allows for filming in 4k/120fps so this might be the best settings if you have plenty of space in your memory card and have a good pc for editing.
With the Gopro Hero 10 Black your able to film in 5k/30fps. However i dont recommend this too much for underwater as you cannot switch the footage to slow motion even if you want to and 5k is not used that widely as of now.
4k is great but most youtube videos/instagram videos will be seen in 1080p so if your low on storage/dont have a high end pc for editing then shooting in 1080/60fps is completely fine!
Shutter Auto
In an ideal world its best not to have the shutter on auto, however lighting and subjects constantly change underwater and you cannot change the settings when underwater so i have it set to auto.
Ev Comp -0.5
I find that the gopro has a tendancy on blowing out the highlights a little too much. I set the evcomp to -0.5 to tone down on the highlights on days when it is sunny.
I change the EV comp back to 0 on days when it is overcast and there is less natural light available.
WB Native or 5k
Red colours are lost when filming in water so I like to have the white balance on a slightly warmer colours than usual.
When I’m snorkeling near the surface with plenty of sunlight I do not use filters.
If you are scuba diving to deeper depths then it might be a good idea to use a red filter to compensate for the loss of red colours.
Usually the underwater housing is required to use filters. Make sure to pick the correct ones that fit your housing. I recommend using the official housing released by GoPro.
ISO Min 100 / Max 400
I try to keep the ISO values as low as possible to reduce grain and noise in my gopro videos as low as possible.
The lowest ISO value possible on the gopro is 100 so I use this whenever there is plenty of sunlight on a sunny day.
If it’s a overcast day and there is not that much natural light, then I would recommend increasing the max ISO to around 400.
Keeping the ISO values low will give you crisp and sharp looking gopro underwater videos.
Sharpness Low/Med
Its easy to increase sharpness in post production but more difficult to reduce it so i recommend shooting in low/medium.
If the footage needs sharpening, editing softwares such as davinci resolve will do a great job at making your footage look crisp and sharp.
Colour: Natural/Vibrant
Shooting in vibrant colour gives a saturated and appealing look straight out of the gopro.
If you dont plan on colour grading your footage then this setting is completely fine.
Colour: Flat (if grading footage)
However, if you are planning on colour grading your footage then shooting in flat mode will give you a lot more flexibility in post production.
If you know how to colour grade or want to learn how to grade then i would reccommend shooting in flat mode.
Here is an example of a before and after colour grading flat gopro footage.
Colour grading can be done on editing softwares such as Davinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere Pro.
The free version of Davinci resolve is amazing and extensive colour grading can be done here.
Adobe Premiere Pro is the most mainstream video editing software and you will be able to find lots of tutorials online.
There is a free trial which I recommend trying out to see which editing software you like more!
Adobe also has many other softwares that will come in a bundle with Premiere pro.
If you are planning to do photo editing and other creative things then I would recommend getting a Adobe Premiere Pro subscription.
I personally use davinci resolve for most of my colour grading, however I also own a Premiere pro subscription for certain projects and for all of my photo editing.
Below is a tutorial on how to colour grade underwater gopro footage if you would like to learn how to colour grade.
If you would prefer this guide in video form then below is a video i made on the settings i use for my gopro hero 11 black underwater.
The video might be a little more detailed and has some examples of gopro footage taken with these settings so please take a look if you would like!
