GoPro Hero 4 Silver – An Aspiring Technical Pro Users Review

by Kevin · Published May 19, 2015 · Updated March 16, 2016

GoPro Hero 4 Silver

GoPros Color Profiles.

Like all Digital RGB images, you need a color profile or digital spectrum range of Color data. Using Protune gives you the biggest possible color spectrum so that you can Edit and fine tune it for your final produced images.

When shooting Video with Protune there are two Color modes:

FLAT – This is similar to Camera RAW and it compresses all the data the image sensor can see into a scope range below the cutoff point but it keeps much more color information. These images will actually appear very “flat” and not much contrast, depth etc. This is where image and color correction and adjustment come in.

Pros (and aspiring pros like me) will actually use a program like Adobe Photoshop (stills) or Adobe Speedgrade (video) to manually adjust these levels within the scope waveforms (tools in these programs) and stretch out these values to get the desired looks all while keeping or editing the data from the camera’s image sensor. The result is (if you do this correctly) are images that are just amazing depth and contrast.

GOPRO COLOR – This setting is also a great default setting in the GoPro Camera and creates very nice looking images. The Color profile of this “look” is GoPros own tuned color corrected profile it applies to the images right on the camera when this is turned on. Some image data is lost and not as good as RAW however most users may prefer to shoot in this mode as a baseline for other images you may want to correct or if you don’t intend on doing any correction (or have the software to do it) then this is the mode for you. Stunning images when shooting scenes with lots of light.

Note: I typically use the GoPro Color mode for most of my shots (call me lazy) although I occasionally switch over to FLAT mode for scenes that I think could benefit from color or tone correcting. This not only provides a better “RAW” shot but allows me to color grade the shot better. The ability to compare the other GoPro Color shots I took with that color profile for a baseline works well. It also allows for adjusting certain high contrast shots better because you have more detail to work with and can make sure your highlights and your darks don’t wash out entirely.

This image was taken with the Hero 4 BLACK which has the same image sensor as the SILVER. Notice how the FLAT image looks “flat” but also that it has more image detail in it.
As a comparison with shooting with Protune off, the images look similar to with protune on and GoPro color profile however there are some subtle quality differences between the two and the Bit Rates at different meaning that there is less information to work with in the Protune off mode. Color correcting would be more difficult (not impossible however) with not having Protune on, but you would save on space on your hard drive.

I always keep protune on, because hard drive space is relatively cheap now days and high performance micro SD card prices are coming down slowly. If it means getting and keeping that few special shots that you took and making them look more beautiful when you have time to work on them then why not ! This is an art form with a little bit of science thrown in.

In Conclusion

Video camera and Still camera technology has come a long way from 10 – 15 years ago. Delighting us with spectacular shots of color and scenery.

In General if you are an action oriented person or want those amazing perspective home movies then look for no other action cam and “Go Pro”. The GoPro Camera and how far its come to date is spectacular. If you’re a guy like me trying to replace his old camcorder and do Photography and video capturing amazing images from amazing all for under $1,000 (accessories included) then the GoPro SILVER or BLACK is definitely the Camera for you.

For Serious Stills and Some Video requiring special lenses or framing, you may want to also have a newer DLSR that takes video. Between the two of these cameras you would have your own movie studio.

For me the HERO 4 lineup was a small advance over the HERO3+ lineup. There were some new nice features.

There were also like I said previous some build or manufacturing bugs in some batches, (if you are the unlucky one to receive one of these, contact GoPro right away or if under your stores warranty take it back with no hesitation to get a replacement).

Go Pro’s 2015 Line up (Dare I say the HERO 5 ?)

Although as of this article written in May 2015, I haven’t heard any word yet about a new GoPro lineup

however Here’s what I would like to in a potential HERO 5 Lineup (I hope GoPro is listening)

Make a decision on the GoPro line and include an LCD screen in every model.
Lower the Cost to a reasonable mainstream level, lets say $449.00 for that single model
Increase the cooling ability of the GoPro camera (perhaps active cooling but shield the noise away from the microphone somehow in order to vent that nasty Heat buildup from the A9 processor when shooting 4K video).
Make 4K 60 fps (or even better – 120 fps a reality) standard.
Include a Frame 2.0 (3.0 ?) and a Dive housing (or water proof housing) as standard included equipment bundle with the GoPro.
Include both a square lens cap and a round lens cap for each GoPro housing as well as the LCD port cap so that it doesn’t get damaged.
Design a GoPro Housing Adapter so that lenses or other lens equipment can be attached to the GoPro in either housings.
As part of #7 make the GoPro’s Front housing detachable easier for Custom Camera conversion setups like the conversion kit to C style lenses.
We need more Battery life then on the Hero 4. Perhaps researching some newer battery technology partners would help. I hear that newer battery anodes types are being experimented with with a large success.
For Godsakes include at least a single charger for batteries with the camera separate from the camera with a USB cord. People can buy dual or quad charges later on if they want.
Please bring back a dedicated stereo microphone jack for standard microphone set ups !
Add a Microphone and sound level check meter to the GoPros options to show on the LCD screen.
Add the ability of USB daisy chaining devices to the GoPro’s USB 3.0 port in order to take advantage of other potentially useful audio equipment.
Would be nice to add a USB SSD drive to the Camera and use that as a storage device. Allows for a cheaper way to store long video sequences or whole day shooting without pausing.
Make the Integrated LCD screen able to be flipped out or changed out and stacked. Example, have the LCD sunk into the housing flush to maintain the GoPro dimensions but have a release button to change it out for a Battery Pac, an active cooling system Pac, a portable SSD drive enclosure or some other option and then have a port on the back of the battery pack have a port to plug the LCD screen back into ! Essentially expandable ports. For us Frame users this would be the cats meow and give us more options !
Make the GoPro’s Firmware Open Source so that the user base who loves this product can more easily mod the camera. This gives more life to the product and would sell more cameras by having a user base that is actively making suggestions and coming up with intricate ways of making the product better.
If #16 isn’t possible, at least Make the OS of the GoPro Android based to allow for open development and application support.