FilmConvert has camera packs for the GoPro Hero 3 and 4. The Vegas plugin is $199. Download the trial and see what it does to the footage. I was very impressed.

If you don't want to spend that much you can emulate the look with presets for color curves, saturation, grain etc. in Vegas. The FilmConvert trial lasts forever, so it's a pretty good reference to keep on your machine.

I use color curves for contrast.

Saturation via Color corrector. Typically 1.15

Sharpening via convolution kernel.
Row 1, Row 3= -1,-2,-1
Row 2= -2, 25, -2

I have a GP3 Black and GP3+ Black. I setup the Protune in the GP3+ to be like the non adjustable Protune in the GP3.

I don't use "CAM RAW". To me, that is a train wreck to work with. ProTune is great though.

So, I use White Balance, Bright & Contrast, Color Corrector, Unsharp Mask, Levels, with VIDEO SCOPES like any footage

It would be interesting to see some side-by-sides of Protune in Vegas vs. Cineform Studio. To me, the extra time spent getting the curves right just wasn't worth it.

I don't use "CAM RAW".

Same here. I let the camera do its white balancing and keep the other settings soft and flat on the GP3+. Of course my GP3 does not have adjustable Protune, and it always does white balance.

It would be interesting to see some side-by-sides of Protune in Vegas vs. Cineform Studio. To me, the extra time spent getting the curves right just wasn't worth it.

The Protune preset in Cineform is basically applying canned contrast/color/noise/sharp settings to make the video look similar to a non Protune video out of camera. To me Protune is about a custom contrast curve to better choose your look. For me Protune is all about minimizing sky blowout and stopping shadows from plugging in harsh daylight mountain bike stuff.

Of course my filter package is canned as well but the curve gets adjusted as needed like when the cam is facing the sun one minute and away from it the next.

I created my Protune filter package in Vegas by doing something like you said and adjusting my settings to mimic the GoPro settings. I had three things on the timeline. The straight Protune MP4, and Cineform AVI with Protune preset applied and another file with a straight GoPro MP4.

"I don't use "CAM RAW". To me, that is a train wreck to work with. ProTune is great though."
Isn't that what Protune mode is?

put my vote in for using gopro's free software to convert protune to cineform (and decode the curve) before importing to Vegas. I don't think it's time-efficient to try to do the unpacking yourself...

PROTUNE allows certain adjustments rather than full AUTO mode. It also increases the file bitrate a lot to improve quality... and allows CAM RAW mode if desired.

CAM RAW is no color adjusting, kinda strait from the sensor. I didn't spend a lot of time with it, but I am not a colorist and, to me, it was too hard to "fix" where as the GoPro coloring seemed just fine. CAM RAW is a great idea, but too much work for amateurs like myself to fix in post.

If I was a colorist or into pro acquisition, I'd probably be all over it.

I am into doing my own colour correction, so I use Protune mode and import it straight into Resolve where I can tweak it to suit my needs. I then export it to Vegas as high quality intermediate.

I don't view colour correction as a chore, but as a necessary part of post production. Resolve is free and while the learning curve is steep, once you know how to use it, it takes very little time.

gopro "CAM RAW" makes it a chore. :) have you tried it? I correct and grade every clip I touch too, but the red hued cam raw is just too much work.... to me.

Thanks for the input on the various options. After testing out some of the ideas, I actually like the combination of adjusting up the saturation by about 25%, increasing contrast using the color curves and adding sharpening (medium setting). That combination seems to get a well balanced color spectrum and good (but not overpowering) blacks.

I'm not crazy about letting the camera do it all for me (turning off ProTune) - a bit of a blunt instrument really. With the ability to have track level video FX in Vegas, its pretty easy to drop all of the ProTune GP footage into one track and adjust all of it at one time, then just tweak any segments that aren't quite right as needed.

I did run some footage through Cineform Studio and created a massive MOV file but after putting into the timeline and rendering out an MP4 file, it was not any better than just dropping the raw footage into the timeline with my adjustments above and rendering out to the same format MP4. I am always using the fantastic script from Vegasvideo.de using Handbrake to create these MP4's and they are amazingly better than any of the built in codecs from Sony or Mainconcept.


Mike

"I did run some footage through Cineform Studio and created a massive MOV file but after putting into the timeline and rendering out an MP4 file, it was not any better than just dropping the raw footage into the timeline with my adjustments above and rendering out to the same format MP4. I am always using the fantastic script from Vegasvideo.de using Handbrake to create these MP4's and they are amazingly better than any of the built in codecs from Sony or Mainconcept."

Can we see examples?