Next bit of learning…

The only way to shoot more professional 360 video UNDERWATER with a pile of GoPro’s (six to be exact) is to make sure you get versions that have Protune option in setup. The ability to manually set exposure and color so that it does NOT auto correct is key to a good stitch. Don’t let anyone or the interwebs tell you otherwise, and if they shoot 360 topside and say ‘oh, it will be fine’, well, yeah, it will ‘work’, but the differences in color will make it look half baked. Topside seems to be less imperative, but underwater I can’t emphasize enough how important this is.
Do your research carefully with regards to what gopro models have protune available. These would be Gopro 3 black and silver, but Gopro 3+ is black ONLY (this is key, the Silver 3+ does NOT have Protune), and of course Hero 4 and 4 session.

The Silver 3+’s will be turned back into topside units and replaced with 3+ blacks this upcoming week. Stay tuned for more better video. Unfortunately Autopano video and Autopano Giga is VERY expensive software (on my non-profit / free lance filmmaker budget) so till I save up enough cha-ching or they opt to give me a discount for do-goodery (I’m director of this program www.tox-ick.org, and will be using the footage to educate people about stormwater runoff and other environmental issues our Oceans are facing) it’ll be a lot of practice with 30 second watermarked exports for sharing.

You can see what i’m talking about with regards to color and exposure in the videos

If you want to see the 360 in action, use chrome or firefox (or youtube mobile on iPhone)