Go Pro Studio Software. Any Good?
It's not often that you get really great software for free. There is usually a catch. Not with Go Pro Studio. Well, the only catch is that you may be tempted to buy a Go Pro after using it but is that such a bad thing? Check out our Go Pro Studio Software Review and decide for yourself.
Product Rating Summary
Go Pro Studio isn't my "go to" software as I use Vegas Pro and Adobe After Effects. However, Go Pro Studio has some features that keep bringing me back as they are geared specifically to the Go Pro cameras. Works well!
As video editing goes, this software is fairly basic. However, it has three things that I will focus on in this review that I think are outstanding and well worth looking into. Particularly if you do use Go Pro cameras. You can watch the following video and/or read on for more information…
ProTune
If you shoot video with Go Pro's, you really should be using ProTune. It is as close to the video version of RAW photography as you can get for now and can make a huge difference to the final render of your footage. I leave my cameras set to ProTune 24/7.
Once you bring the ProTune clip into the Go Pro Studio software, you can instantly improve the footage with regards to:
...and at the click of a button without losing any definition or details.
ProTune is simple to set up on your camera and easy to use in Go Pro Studio so give it a try.
Distortion Correction
If you use the Go Pro HD Hero 1, 2, 3 or 4, you will know of the "fisheye" distortion. These cameras produce distortion, especially at the wider lens settings, that can be a real pain to resolve. It doesn't look too professional either.
You can get rid of this distortion in video editing software such as:
...but they are expensive right? Plus it can be a bit "fiddly" to get it right.
Go Pro Studio software does this for you with the click of a button.
As you see in the video above, all you need to do is check one box, process the clip and it is done for you. In my opinion, looks amazing once rendered.
This software is so simple (and free). I see so many Go Pro videos online where they still have this distortion. Do yourself a favour and download this software and get practicing (link at end).
Flux Slow Motion Effect
If you are anything like me, you love slow motion footage. I have been playing with slow motion ever since cameras came out with fast enough frame rates to enable the footage to be slowed.
Rates such as 50, 60, 120 and 240 frames per second.
The Go Pro HD Hero Black edition has all of these speeds and can produce some uber-cool slow motion clips. It does this by slowing the footage down up to 10x (240 fps stretched and rendered out to 24 frames per second).
However, you can take things even further using the Flux feature of Go Pro Studio software. In fact, you can slow the footage down hundreds of times and keep it smooth and slick!
By slowing down footage shot at 60 fps 10x, you would end up with a clip shown at 6fps. This would be incredibly jittery and not very nice at all.
If you were to run the same clip through Flux using Go Pro Studio, magical things happen.
Twixtor
If you know of or have heard of Twixtor, you will know what I mean. Twixtor (and now Go Pro Studio) will allow you to slow down any footage many times and still produce really smooth footage.
It does this by adding in as many frames as it needs, in between the existing frames. It does this by reading every single pixel in those frames and reproducing them. So, for example. Let's say I have two frames of a fast action clip where in the first frame my arm is high in the sky and the second frame, it is 90 degrees lower.
Twixtor (and Flux) will look at all the pixels in those two frames and actually add in a whole new frame, or frames. This makes it appear as though those frames were always there. The result is super smooth slow motion clips regardless of what frame rate you are shooting at.
You can see more of this in the video below but trust me, this is a very, very cool feature of this software (bearing in mind that Twixtor does the same thing for roe than $300)!
Using Non Go Pro Cameras in Go Pro Studio
You are able to import clips from other cameras into Go Pro Studio. However, be aware that you will need to convert them to MP4 files first. A small price to pay in my book : )
Tip: Always shoot at faster shutter speeds. With manual cameras, go for 500th/sec and above. With Go Pro HD Hero cameras, don't add any filters and try to shoot in bright sunlight or add your own studio lights so that each frame is sharp. This helps Flux to read and reproduce each frame a lot easier than if they were blurry due to slower shutter speeds.
Caveat: When using Flux, the Studio software takes a lonnnnng time to render the clips. This is especially so for the longer clips so keep the length of your effects pretty short. If time is of the essence, long, drawn out slow motion clips can get boring anyway. Use it sparingly).
So, in a nutshell. Download the Go Pro Studio software today, have a play and see what it can do for your clips. I bet you get addicted and start slowing everything down!