I've had this idea for a while to use my GoPro (Hero3+ silver edition) for exploring. The thing is I'm certain editing would be needed to be done to what I film, and I noticed when it gets really dark everything is pitch black in the recording (which is bad because a lot of places I explore are not well-lit), if there's anyway to even slightly increase the brightness just to see even the outline of stuff I'll be looking at that'd be great, I'm also waiting for my head mounted flashlight to come in too so that might help. Are there any tutorials out there for editing? What program would you recommend for video editing?
I'm going to be using this video for practicing editing with:
https://www.facebo...455&type=2&theater

Do you suggest I make any adjustments to the current video settings as well? And if so, what would they be? Otherwise I'll just continue using the factory settings.

When you're filming in a dark place you will have to bring artificial light with you. It's not like with pictures where you can just increase the exposure time, all you can do is widen your aperture and increase the ISO.

Neither of those can be adjusted with a GoPro so your best bet is to bring a lot of flashlight power with you. GoPro's low light performance is pretty bad by the way, the Hero 2 is worthless in the dark, Hero 3 should be a bit better.

There are a lot of software packs for editing. I use Adobe Premiere Pro, but you might want to consider Final Cut Pro (only for Mac), Pinnacle studio or Sony Vegas for example. They all have pro's and con's. All I know is that Premiere Pro is pretty easy to use but there aren't a lot of options/effects available (combined with Adobe After Effects it can be very powerful I guess).

Psychosexy is right about all of the light issues... The gopro will be terrible without extra light sources so bring as much as you can. I filmed a short film at night on an old hospital years ago and all we had were flashlights and lanterns but we able to pull it off fairly well with a terrible low light camera. Reflect when possible... Use white walls to shine and bounce your light around... Or pick up a pack of Car windshield reflectors from Walmart or something. Easily portable and effective.
Editing I use final cut pro and like it a lot. I also have premiere and have only slighted experimented with after effects. If you are just doing basic cuts you can use something Luke iMovie or PC equivalent to that.

Get one of these:
http://www.amazon....1A4MAPCC33KXB5Q0J0



They're amazing.

In general, you'll just want to spend some extra money on your flashlights and headlamps to get ones that are really bright. Of course, this doesn't help you when you're in a location at night where you have to be careful with your flashlights... Don't know if there's any good solution for that. But for underground or daytime exploring, crazy bright flashlights are your friend.

And on the topic of flashlights, here's a good thread for you:
http://www.uer.ca/...d=1&threadid=55082

Your best bet using a GoPro Silver Edition and capturing in lowlight is using 1080p at 60 frames per second. If you use a Black Edition, use 2k at 30 fps. Wearing a headlamp around your head while wearing your GoPro works wonders also. Using a Black Edition, I generally keep Protune off, but it's up to you. Keeping Protune on means you can adjust the white balance, but they footage is generally noisier, depending on the conditions.

GoPro.com has a video editing software called "GoPro Studio", you can use to easily format your video, increase your brightness and contrast, etc. It's good software for editing the look of your GoPro footage in post, but I'd definatly use another editing software, such as Adobe, for actually editing it. GoPro Studio is free by the way.

GoPro footage is only as good as it's edited. GoPro footage unedited in generally crappy. It's needs to be edited correctly to look good, like any footage. It by itself won't look that great. Watch some GoPro videos and see what they do that makes it look good.

A general problem with the GoPro headmount footage is that it's usually always shaky. To help fix this, use a Warp Stablizer in a video editing software, I'd recommend Adobe Premiere Pro, or maybe even Final Cut Pro X. Another way you can fix shakiness is to point the GoPro down towards your body, since your body is shaking with the camera, it won't appear shaky. Filming with a GoPro, if you point it down towards where it's mounted, it generally won't as appear shaky. It's always better to point it down more than you might think you want it. Keep in mind it is a wide angled lens.

If you're using Silver Edition, I'd definatly say consider investing in Black Edition. It has nightshot mode, which captures better in the dark, and it also has white balance adjustments, which help as well. If you're gonna get a Silver you might as well spend the extra $100 because you'll get a lot more out of it if you're serious about video footage.

If you're really serious about capturing video in the dark with a GoPro, certain companies take GoPros and modify them and turn them into Infrared Night Shot cameras. Those are pretty cool. They go for about $499.

Hope this helps anyone in general.