Hero 6 bad grainy performance

[bluewater8622]

I bought two of these things. Updated to 1.6 and tried using them in my recording studio. I had two lamps plus the light in my room and the quality is terrible no matter the settings. I tried iso 800, 400 and 200. The noise in the video is just unacceptable. My cheap 4k action cam looks better.

This is obviously widespread. For the money I’m shocked how bad this camera is. I’m taking these back and going for the 5.

I spent a grand for 2 of these and accessories. I expected a lot more for that kind of cash.

Any hope another firmware update will fix this or is the camera just flawed?

[danielr15 · Accepted solution]

There will be future updates; however there is only so much you can do with a CMOS (1/2.3 inch) sensor in low light.  Try setting your wb manually.  I've been getting very good results with my Hero6, although I do primarily use my action camera as an action camera. 

To get the best low light footage your settings should be:

1080/24 (You can use higher resolutions but the fps needs to be 24)

ISO max: 400 (you can go as high as 800 but this will naturally introduce some grain)

Shutter: 1/24 or 1/48 (you can speed it up if it's too bright but first set the max ISO to 100. The ideal shutter speed is 1/48)

WB: Manually set the temperature to whatever looks best to you (probably in the 3000K-45000K range, warmer will look better; however, and you can adjust the wb when editing.

Sharpness: Low - Medium (Low is ideal but Medium will work if you don't want to mess with it in post editing)

Color: Flat if you are good at color grading, GoPro color should be fine unless there are a lot of blues in the room (It can exaggerate the blue and intensify blue noise in the picture) 

I would start by making sure you are filming at the lowest frame rate 24/25(PAL) and adjusting the WB.  If it's not satisfactory, apply the other changes.

[danielr15 · Accepted solution]

There will be future updates; however there is only so much you can do with a CMOS (1/2.3 inch) sensor in low light.  Try setting your wb manually.  I've been getting very good results with my Hero6, although I do primarily use my action camera as an action camera. 

To get the best low light footage your settings should be:

1080/24 (You can use higher resolutions but the fps needs to be 24)

ISO max: 400 (you can go as high as 800 but this will naturally introduce some grain)

Shutter: 1/24 or 1/48 (you can speed it up if it's too bright but first set the max ISO to 100. The ideal shutter speed is 1/48)

WB: Manually set the temperature to whatever looks best to you (probably in the 3000K-45000K range, warmer will look better; however, and you can adjust the wb when editing.

Sharpness: Low - Medium (Low is ideal but Medium will work if you don't want to mess with it in post editing)

Color: Flat if you are good at color grading, GoPro color should be fine unless there are a lot of blues in the room (It can exaggerate the blue and intensify blue noise in the picture) 

I would start by making sure you are filming at the lowest frame rate 24/25(PAL) and adjusting the WB.  If it's not satisfactory, apply the other changes.

[bluewater8622]

it seemed no matter what settings I tried it looked bad.i tried low iso, shutter, white balance etc. all bad.

I am wondering if I should take them back and get hero 5?

The firmware update didn’t seem to help. Not good indoors.

[bluewater8622]

I did not try pal. Hmmm