go pro hero 3 lcd touch screen replacement free sample

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Make sure the GoPro is charged. Charge the GoPro by using provided USB connector and plugging it into a computer. You can also use the GoPro wall or automobile charger.

If the GoPro still does not charge, please use the microSD/Micro USB Port Assembly Replacement guide to replace your assembly. A poor connection inside the Micro USB port may prevent your GoPro from charging.

Older computers do not have the hardware to support HD playback. Ensure your computer can play the video by checking if it meets the GoPro Studio Software minimum requirements here.

You can have choppy video playback if you play the video streamed from the camera over USB. What this means is if you have the camera connected to a computer by the USB cable and you play the video from the files on the camera, without transferring the file to your computer, it can come out choppy. This is due to the USB connection not being fast enough to play the HD video back in real time. Before playing back a HD video, copy or transfer the file from your GoPro to your computer, then playback the video.

This product is amazing and has drastically increased the usability of my GoPro Hero 3+ camera. When I first decided on the GoPro I didn"t think the lack of an LCD screen was a big deal but in reality it"s extremely hard to take good pictures or get well framed shots without it. This LCD screen is a MUST if you want those well framed pictures and video. Also, it makes using the product itself A LOT easier since you can access certain functioning using the touch screen. The only con I can think of with this product is the fact it increases the size and weight of the camera but that"s unavoidable anyway so not a big deal to me really. You will notice though that the angle you can have the camera at with the LCD screen attached is more limited than if you don"t use it while it"s mounted on a head strap, chest strap, etc. The new housing units that come with it are great as well. They still allow the camera to be used underwater while still keeping the touch functionality of the LCD screen which is amazing. A very well thought out product and a great price too. Another con though, which you should keep in mind, is that battery power is consumed at a much faster rate with the LCD screen. I recommend turning the brightness down to its lowest setting to minimize this effect on your battery life. Keep in mind though that recording in 1080p 60 FPS consumes battery power at a very fast rate whether or not you have the LCD screen attached. Using the LCD while recording in this high quality mode will make the battery drain even worse though so be sure to order several spare batteries. They are actually fairly cheap so I recommend having at least 6 batteries in total if you plan on recording all day in 1080p mode. If you are happy with 30 FPS then that will save you a lot of battery power so I recommend using that setting when utilizing the LCD screen.

Their newest camera has just hit the market, and we have been busy putting it to the test to bring you this comprehensive GoPro HERO 10 review! Find our what all the new features are, where it shines (and where it doesn’t), as well as an honest opinion on whether the GoPro HERO10 is worth the upgrade.

See, we’re not exactly your typical tech reviewers that burn and churn through whichever product hits the market, just to move onto the next thing a few days later.

We live and breathe photography, videography, and most of all, adventure. So of course once this new camera hit the market we had to dive into the specs and use it out in the real world to bring our expert GoPro HERO10 Black review.

There are two slogans for the GoPro HERO 10 Black this year. The first is ‘A New Era’, which is a pretty massive claim for a company that has been at the leading edge of action sports cameras for over a decade.

The GP2 on the GoPro HERO10 brings about some enormous upgrades around things like frame rates and overall performance, while the general features like photo and video modes stay mostly the same as the previous model.

SPECIAL DEAL: GoPro has an incredible special on their new camera right now, and you can save a huge $210 on the fantastic ‘HERO10 Black + Accessories’ bundle deal by clicking on the button below, or save $150 on just the HERO10 camera. This special is for a limited time only, so check it out while it’s available.

A New Era of GoPro is here and that means there are a whole string of new features and upgrades when you compare the HERO10 with the HERO 9 Black action cameras.

Here are some of the new and major features of the HERO 10 Black. The number of practical changes this year isn’t as many as previous years, but the quality of improvements and technical upgrades are incredible.

Why is that you ask? Well its predecessor, the GP1, has been around since the HERO6 was released in 2017. Which in the tech world is a hell of a long time. Almost an eternity really.

Even though the GoPro HERO9 last year finally revealed a new upgraded 23 megapixel sensor, using the old processor meant that it could only achieve 20 megapixels.

If you’re not exactly sure what the processor does, essentially think of it as the entire engine to your camera. And by having a newer, faster, efficient processor, the camera is now even better than ever.

Compared to the HERO9, the GoPro HERO10 Black now has double the performance and double the frame rate across all of the higher resolution video modes.

It is now twice as smooth when reviewing footage and using live preview on the front LCD screen, and the rear LCD touchscreen interface is incredibly responsive.

And to top it all off, it’s just overall much, much faster to use. It’s quicker to launch, quicker to start taking photos and videos, and touch sensitivity is more responsive.

If this was the only improvement we found in our GoPro HERO10 review, we’d already be singing its praises and telling you that you need to stop what you’re doing and order one now. But of course, there’s more…

Thanks to the GP2 processor, frame rates across the board have doubled, and the highest resolution is now up from 5k to 5.3k video (that’s 15.8 million pixels).

But if you’re a professional user, we recommend shooting in RAW mode to full make the most out of the 23 megapixels the GoPro HERO 10 boasts with image quality.

This isn’t necessarily something that we’d consider pushes GoPro into a ‘new era’, but it’s been a massive annoyance for us for years and are so glad they’ve improved it.

GoPro photos and videos have always looked great when shooting on bright, sunny days. But they’ve often fallen apart when it comes to low light situations, such as dawn, dusk or indoors.

Noise and grain isn’t so much of a problem now, and details are fantastic, even in low light. It may seem minor, but it was something we really wanted to highlight in our GoPro HERO10 review.

Well GoPro practically killed off their own product when they introduced HyperSmooth into the HERO7, their own version of digital image stabilization.

The video footage is just as buttery smooth as HyperSmooth3.0, except now they’ve increased the in-camera horizon* levelling to cover 45 degrees instead of the previous 27 degrees.

HyperSmooth 4.0 now also works on 5.3k30, 4k60 and 2.7k120, bringing near-perfect image stabilization to much higher resolutions and frame rates, even when doing shaky activities such as mountain biking, running or skiing.

The touch screen is a lot smoother and more responsive, and this was actually our biggest gripe with the HERO9. While it looked great, the touch screen was very frustrating to use. Not an issue any more on the HERO10.

It may have taken more than a decade of versions to figure out, but finally the GoPro HERO10 Black is on par with professional expectations with how it performs day to day.

The camera itself is great, but what has always set GoPro apart from other companies is the sheer number of accessories you can attach to them, allowing you to use the camera in just about any situation you can set your imagination to.

Besides the dazzling array of random accessories like suction cups, selfie sticks, dive housings, clamps, helmet and board mounts and plenty more, it’s the ‘Mods’ of the last few years that have helped turn the GoPro cameras into a versatile beast.

The Max Lens Mod turns the already-wide camera lens into a ultra-wide lens, so you can capture more of the scene when using in selfie mode without compromising image quality.

Then there are the Light Mod (adds a light, surprise surprise) for when shooting indoors or at night, and a Display Mod, which adds another screen so you can see yourself, but the latter is kind of redundant now thanks to the front-facing LCD screen.

But before you rush out and buy one based on a bunch of fancy talk like GP2 processors and 5.3k60fps, how does the GoPro HERO10 Black actually perform in the real world?

The very first thing we noticed was that the camera fired up a lot faster than the HERO9, and the screen responsiveness did indeed seem a lot smoother and quicker.

The GoPro HERO10 LCD touch screen almost felt as smooth as our iPhone, which is pretty remarkable. So much so that it made us even more frustrated with the screen performance on the 9.

Then we fired up the standard video mode, shooting in 4K at 30fps with zero customisation, and started walking around filming to test the out-of-the-box HyperSmooth 4.0 and video quality.

One of the big things we noticed too was how much more quickly the GoPro captured and processed these images, especially in RAW mode, compared to the HERO9.

When we pulled the images up on Adobe Lightroom to check them out we were very impressed with the clarity and colour rendering that the GoPro produced.

All of the other camera features such as TimeWarp, Burst Mode, Night Photo, Voice Activation, etc performed as expected, with no real improvement over the HERO9, other than everything just being faster and smoother.

Now we don’t want to go jumping the gun just yet, because GoPros have had freezing issues forever, even with every firmware update, but the fact that we haven’t experienced this yet may just mean that the new GP2 chip has finally rectified this massive problem. Hallelujah!

Overall the GoPro HERO10 Black handles like an absolute beast in the real world, and we will be using this new camera on every single shoot we do from now on.

Like we said at the beginning of this article – this is an HONEST GoPro HERO10 review. And being honest means we’re going to tell you exactly what we don’t like about the latest camera too.

First up is the audio. Granted, for a camera this small you’re not going to have a world-class microphone built into it. But the audio when vlogging using the front-facing microphone is still slightly tinny, and not great in high-wind or crowded environments.

This is greatly improved with the Media Mod, but still we wish you didn’t have to buy an additional accessory to have a feature like being able to plug in an external microphone.

Second is that there is no optical zoom on the GoPro HERO 10. You can utilise the digital zoom, and change the digital lenses between SuperView, Wide, Linear and Narrow, but there isn’t any real optical zoom there.

We would have love to see at least 2x optical zoom built in, because sometimes you just want a different perspective for your shots rather than the typical GoPro fish-eye look.

There is a Max Lens Mod, which widens the point of view, so it makes us wonder if at some point GoPro can create a switchable lens that crops in. But at this stage you’re stuck with the digital options.

Other than that there really isn’t anything glaring at us that we dislike in our GoPro HERO 10 Black review. But if we notice anything as time goes on we’ll be sure to return to this article and update it.

Now that we’ve dove deep into what’s new, what we like (and what we don’t) in this GoPro HERO 10 Black review, you may be wondering whether it’s worth upgrading your camera, if you have an older model.

On the surface it may seem like there’s not a huge difference between the previous model and the HERO10, but with the GP2 processor almost everything is better, faster and smoother.

As you can see, the GoPro HERO 10 Black on the surface appears to be similar to previous models, using quite a lot of the same features, but it’s under the hood that everything sees improvements.

You’ve read through our review, have a solid understanding of the new features and capabilities of the GoPro HERO10, and if you haven’t already made a decision on whether to buy it or not, we’re going to help you out right now.

If you don’t already have a GoPro and are wondering whether or not you should bite the bullet and get one, then 100% yes, the HERO10 is worth the money!

This camera is perfect for travel, sports, lifestyle and even vlogging, and thanks to its waterproof body, portability and easy smartphone connectivity, it sits pretty high on the list of being the perfect all-round travel camera too.

You can literally connect your camera to the GoPro Quik app on your phone, wirelessly sync your footage, edit photos, make videos (using their ready-to-go templates), and in a matter of minutes you have epic content ready to upload straight to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Facebook as soon as you have an internet connection!

If you have the HERO 8 or an earlier model and looking to upgrade, then absolutely yes, the HERO10 is a fantastic product that sits on another level compared to the previous products.

Every part of the camera has been given an upgrade, and especially for people who like to vlog or take selfies, you’ll find the front LCD display a huge game changer over the HERO 8.

In previous years we have always said that if you are using the previous GoPro camera, then unless you’re a professional user, it’s not worth upgrading.

But if you’re the kind of shooter that tends to stick to their smartphone for photos and videos, or also uses a DSLR or mirrorless setup in addition to your standard kit, then don’t stress – the HERO9 is still a fantastic camera.

You’ve made it to the end of our GoPro HERO10 review, and considering the features, quality, durability, size, design, ease of use and of course the price, we’ve decided to give it a massive 9/10.

Thanks very much for reading our GoPro HERO10 Black review. If you have any questions please leave a comment below and we’ll answer them as soon as possible.

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The GoPro HERO10 is a huge upgrade over the HERO9 thanks to the brand new GP2 processor, which doubles the performance, speed, responsiveness and frame rates of the camera over the previous model.

If you have the 8 model or earlier, or use your GoPro more than twice a week, then it is definitely worth upgrading to the GoPro HERO10 to make full use of the new GP2 processor.

With the new 23mp sensor being powered by the GP2 processor and full RAW capabilities, the GoPro HERO 10 is a fantastic camera for taking still photos.

We break down every spec, feature and comparison with previous models in our honest GoPro HERO 10 review by taking it out the field and testing if its worth...

GoPro, Inc.GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video-editing software. Founded as Woodman Labs, Inc, the company eventually focused on the connected sports genre, developing its line of action cameras and, later, video editing software. It is based in San Mateo, California.

The company was founded by Nick Woodman in 2002.surfing trip to Australia in which he was hoping to capture high quality action photos, but could not because amateur photographers could not get close enough or buy appropriate quality equipment at reasonable prices.

On May 19, 2014, GoPro filed its Form S-1 with the SEC without specifying the number of shares or their price. The company stated that they hoped to raise at least $100 million through the sale of shares, using the money to pay off debt in full ($111 million as of March 31, 2014) and "to acquire or invest in complementary businesses, technologies or assets". They said that they planned to list on the NASDAQ stock exchange using the symbol "GPRO."

The expected price range was $21 to $24 a share; on June 25, 2014, GoPro sold 17.8 million shares to initial investors at $24 per share (totaling $427.2M).

One reason for GoPro"s decision to go public was the potential to become a media company to generate additional revenue from the content its cameras create.

Woodman worked on his first camera for two years after founding the company, eventually introducing the GoPro 35mm HERO in September 2004 at San Diego"s Action Sports Retailer trade show.

In 2014, the company was selling the HERO3+ in editions of different colors. It was capable of filming in 16:9 aspect ratio, supporting 4K UHD video and 12 MP still photographs.

On September 28, 2017, GoPro released the HERO6 Black, which claims improved stabilization over the HERO5 models and is capable of capturing 4K video in 60 FPS.

On September 20, 2018, GoPro came out with the HERO7 Black, which apart from providing improved stabilization over HERO6 models with HyperSmooth, also featured the new form of video capturing, "TimeWarp", providing a high speed effect to the videos. HERO7 also came out with capability to stream live across multiple platforms like Facebook and YouTube .

On October 15, 2019 GoPro released the Hero8 Black, which included improved in-camera stabilization by way of Hypersmooth 2.0. The Hero8 Black introduced integrated mounting "fingers" which could be folded down for use, and was also notable for not having an easily replaceable lens available from GoPro, though a third party replacement lens kit is available from a company called Camera Butter.

In 2014, GoPro entered into discussions with DJI for a private label model built with the GoPro branding. After the failure of these negotiations, GoPro entered into an agreement with 3D Robotics (3DR) for a similar partnership based on 3DR"s flight controllers. 3DR failed to meet their agreed-upon timelines. As a result, GoPro took full control of the development process in mid-2015.

Scheduled to be released early 2016, the GoPro Karma project was delayed several times before the GoPro Karma was announced with an introduction date of October 23, 2016. The Karma was released along with newer models of the HERO5 and Session cameras and features a removable handheld stabilizer (gimbal) integrated into the design. After a few customers complained about power failure during operation, GoPro recalled Karma drones and gave customers full refunds.

In November 2017, GoPro launched the Fusion camera,omnidirectional camera which is capable of recording 360-degree footage. The Fusion was the first GoPro to feature an increased maximum resolution of 5.8K.

GoPro produces various mounting accessories for its cameras including a 3-way mount, suction cup, chest harness, jaws-type flexible clamp, dog harness, surfing mount, etc.

In April 2014, GoPro was listed by Adweek as one of the "Top 10 Best Brand Channels on YouTube" based on a combination of views, shares, comments and overall engagement.

As part of its transformation to a media company in 2014, GoPro created additional channels with GoPro content on YouTube, Virgin America, and Xbox Live.PlayStation Network in 2015.

The 35mm camera (model #001) became available on April 13, 2005. It had dimensions of 2.5 by 3 inches (64 by 76 mm) and weighed 0.45 pounds (200 g). It included the camera, a clear case with quick release, a camera strap and ski glove adapter lash. It could pivot "on the fly" and be functional to a depth in water of about 15 feet (5 m). It was described as a "reusable wrist camera" and included a roll of 24 exposure Kodak 400 film.

The first generation of Digital HERO cameras (2006–09) were powered by conventional AAA batteries and included a rugged housing and wrist strap. Models were distinguished by their still image resolution and shot video in standard definition (480 lines or lower) with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Like the film camera HERO, the first-generation Digital HERO cameras were equipped with an optical viewfinder.

The original Digital HERO (DH1; 640×480 still resolution, 240p video in 10-second clips) of 2006 was succeeded by the Digital HERO3 (DH3; 3-megapixel stills, 384p video) and Digital HERO5 (DH5; same as DH3 but with 5-megapixel stills). All three of these had a 54° angle of view. A variant of the DH5 was released with an extreme wide-angle lens with 170° of angular coverage on the diagonal as the Wide HERO; the Wide HERO had a different housing than the other first-gen cameras (DH1/DH3/DH5) to accommodate its larger lens.

The Digital HERO released in 2006 (Model: SQ907 mini-cam) had a 640×480 camera and shot QVGA definition 320X240 (10 fps) video for a maximum of 10 seconds. The Digital HERO1 had 32 MB internal memory without SD slot.

The Digital HERO5 was first introduced in 2008. It had a 5 megapixel still photo sensor and supported standard definition (512×384) video capture. It ran on two AAA batteries, had 16 MB of internal memory and could function with a 2 GB SD card. Its housing was rated to 100 ft/30 meters depth. Its dimensions were 2.6 × 1.75 × 1.25 inches (66 × 44 × 32 mm).

The GoPro Wide HERO was the first model with a 170° wide-angle lens. It was released in 2008 alongside the Digital HERO5 and had the same 5MP sensor (2592 x 1944), capable of 512x384 at 30fps video with sound recording (up to 56 min. on a 2GB SD card), 5MP Photos, 10s Self Timer, 3X sequence still photo burst and Auto "Photo every 2 or 5 seconds" mode. It was powered by 2 x AAA batteries (not included in the box).

The second generation of the HERO cameras (2010–11) were branded HD HERO for their upgraded resolution, now offering up to 1080p high-definition video. With the HD HERO generation, GoPro dropped the optical viewfinder.

The basic HD HERO was marketed either with a basic set of accessories (case and mount) as the "Naked", or in bundles with additional accessories named for the intended purpose (such as the HD Helmet HERO, HD Motorsports HERO, and HD Surf HERO).

The HD HERO also offered an expansion port on the camera"s rear panel, branded the HERO Bus. Optional accessories included the LCD Bakpac, which offered a small monitor that displayed and played back video, and the Battery Bakpac, which doubled the battery life of the camera.

All three versions of the HERO3 come in a 30% smaller and 25% lighter package, with WiFi built in. The change of the physical dimensions of the cameras compared to the previous generations (HD HERO and HD HERO2 were physically identical) means that some accessories for HD HERO Original and HERO2 are not compatible with HERO3, so GoPro made new versions of those accessories specifically for HERO3, which mostly also were compatible with HERO3+, see below. Those new versions of accessories are usually not compatible with older Hero camera generations. However, a lot of other accessories are compatible with all HD Hero camera generations.

The Black EditionWVGA at 240 fps.BSI sensor included in a GoPro. The Black edition also includes the WiFi Remote. The Black Edition cannot record at 25/30 fps in 720p and WVGA resolutions; it can only record at very fast frame rates in those resolutions. This is a deliberate firmware limitation, as the manufacturer does not expect that this high-end camera model will be used at these lower resolutions and frame rates.

A timelapse recording one frame every 10 seconds with a GoPro HERO3 camera mounted on a bicycle helmet during a bike ride in Chicago. Note how the wide angle lens allows for the rider to capture wide images.

The HERO3+ camera models claim dramatically improved low light performance and have a waterproof enclosure which is 20% lighter and 15% smaller than the HERO3"s, according to the GoPro website. The HERO3+ camera housing is 20% smaller than the HERO3. The cameras are claimed to have improved image sharpness (close focus down to 7" vs about 3 ft on the HERO3, at the expense of distant focus which is slightly less sharp

The HERO4 Black Edition still has a 12 megapixel (MP) CMOS and a f/2.8 fixed maximum aperture and focus free. It adds Bluetooth connectivity, Highlight tag, Protune Available for photo and a new processor claimed by GoPro to be twice as fast as that of the HERO3+ Black Edition, doubling the frame rates in most resolutions. The HERO4 Black Edition can record 4K UHD video (3840×2160) at a frame rate of 24, 25 and 30 fps.Wi-Fi disabled at 4K/30, GoPro claims the HERO4 Black Edition battery life to be 65 minutes, increasing to a maximum of 1h 50" at 720p/240.

The HERO4 Silver Edition is basically a HERO3 Black Edition with the addition of a micro speaker,touchscreen display, Protune for photo and highlight tag (the first GoPro with this), a lower clocked Cortex-A9 and missing the Black Edition"s integrated analog-to-digital converter which supports a wider variety of professional low-sensitivity external microphones.4K video (3840×2160), but it supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and contains the sameAmbarella Inc. A9system on a chip (SoC) as in the HERO4 Black.

The HERO4 models maintain the H.264 video codec of previous versions and MP4 file formats. GoPro claims the mono microphone in both the Black and Silver Editions has twice the dynamic range of that in the HERO3+, and that the HERO4 Black and Silver Editions have improved low-light performance.

In September 2014, GoPro released an entry level camera named simply "HERO", priced at $130, alongside the HERO4 Black and HERO4 Silver. It is built into a waterproof housing, unlike the HERO4 line.

The GoPro HERO (2014) can capture 5mp still images and has a 5fps burst option. It is able to record 1080P at 30 or 25fps and 720P at 60 or 50fps on to a MicroSD card up to 32GB. It has an LCD non touch display on the front and is waterproof down to 40m.

In June 2015, the company started to sell the GoPro HERO+LCD, which provides video recording at 1080p at 60 fps and 8 megapixel photos. The HERO+LCD is also built into a waterproof housing.

The HERO6 Black was introduced on September 28, 2017.HEVC video recording at up to 60 fps and 1080p at up to 240 fps, automatic upload of footage to cloud, voice controls and 5 GHz Wi-Fi. It was the first GoPro sporting GoPro"s custom system on a chip (SoC) the GP1.

The HERO7 White, HERO7 Silver and HERO7 Black were announced and released in September 2018, as the seventh-generation action camera series from GoPro.

The HERO7 White was intended as the entry-level camera, featuring only 1440p resolutions for video and time-lapse video functions and a lack of WDR or HDR in its photos. The HERO7 Silver was intended as the mid-range camera, featuring 4K resolutions for video and time-lapse video resolutions and WDR in its photo mode. Initially, both the HERO7 White and Silver defaulted to a video resolution of 1440p with 1080p only available by cropping.

By contrast, the HERO7 Black was introduced at the high-end level and primarily encompasses the features of the HERO6 Black with major improvements. The HERO7 Black introduced a heavily improved electronic image stabilisation known as "HyperSmooth" video stabilization, which GoPro has advertised heavily as "Gimbal-Like", as its primary improvement.

During its release, the HERO7 Black largely competed with rival camera and camera accessory manufacturer DJI which released the DJI OSMO Action, which also introduced a similar enhanced stabilization feature.

On February 28, 2019, GoPro released HERO7 Black in a new "dusk white" color. This is a limited edition and it has the same specs as in regular version and differs just in color.

The HERO8 Black essentially contained the former features of the HERO7 Black, however improved on certain functions. Most notably, the "HyperSmooth" feature introduced in the HERO7 Black was improved on and named "HyperSmooth 2.0", also resulting in an improvement of the TimeWarp feature introduced in the HERO7 Black. The HERO8 Black also improved the image quality, improving the HDR functions of the camera to allow HDR to assist the SuperPhoto function of the camera that automatically chooses what image processing to use such as high dynamic range (HDR). GoPro also reintroduced the field-of-view (FOV) functionality as, "Digital Lenses" which retains the original SuperView, Wide, Narrow, Linear FOV settings. Moreover, live-streaming now streams in 1080p instead of the HERO7 Black"s 720p and the RAW imaging functionality has now been expanded for all photo modes.

The HERO8 Black largely introduced several new functions into the camera. Physically, the HERO8 Black now incorporates the connecting prongs that are used to connect accessories, directly onto the camera. Originally, the cameras would only be able to access the prongs if the cameras utilised either the frames (for cameras HERO5 to HERO7) or the protective cases for HERO4 and before. Moreover, the GoPro logo moved under the LCD screen to make way for extra microphones. More additions to the camera most notably were part of the software aspects of the camera. These included an option to switch between various settings presets, including standard, activity, cinematic and action shots and adjusting on-screen shortcuts of the user interface. Most notably as part of software, was the introduction of the night-lapse video, which similar to the time-lapse video mode, automatically stitches the frames captured by the camera at set intervals, however with the addition of improved low-light performance.

The HERO8 Black also attempts to address vloggers who may wish to use the GoPro in such a manner. As such, GoPro has also introduced an external accessory known as the "Media Mod" which includes a USB Type-C port for supplying power to external microphones and accessories, a micro-HDMI port and a 3.5mm microphone port. Moreover, the accessory includes a mount to connect either external microphones, LEDs or an LCD screen.

The HERO9 Black essentially contained the former features of the HERO8 Black, however, improved on certain functions. Most notably, the "HyperSmooth" feature introduced in the HERO7 Black and refined in HERO8 Black was improved on and named "HyperSmooth 3.0". It also features a max resolution of 5K for video and 20M for photos and adds a front-facing 1.4-inch color "selfie" screen.

The HERO10 Black essentially contained the former features of the HERO9 Black, however, improved on certain functions. Most notably, the "HyperSmooth" feature introduced in the HERO7 Black and refined in HERO8 Black was improved on and named "HyperSmooth 4.0".

The major changes new GP2 processor, HERO10 Black shoots 5.3K video with double the frame rate, 23MP photos, enhanced low-light performance and HyperSmooth 4.0 video stabilization in all modes. On top of all that, HERO10 is cloud connected—so the moment you charge it, your footage is automatically uploaded to the cloud.

Karma Drone became available October 23, 2016. The drone is compatible with the HERO7 Black, HERO6 Black, HERO5 Black and HERO4 Black and Silver. The Drone has 20 minutes of battery life.

GoPro released the 3D HERO system in April 2011, which coupled two HD HERO cameras via a synchronization cable in a single housing to form a stereoscopic 3D camera. One of the cameras is used in upside-down mode.anaglyph to be viewed wearing red-cyan glasses.

In 2014, GoPro released an update as the Dual HERO system, which provides similar functionality using two HERO3+ Black edition cameras. The updated Dual HERO BacPac sync/link cable now has an asymmetric design: the right or primary camera (viewed with the lens facing away from the user) is larger than the left (secondary) camera, and the left camera is used in upside-down mode.

The Odyssey is a 16-camera panoramic stereo rig designed to produce content for the Google Jump virtual reality platform by synchronizing the cameras and automatically stitching their footage together.Google I/O in May 2015

The Fusion was announced alongside the HERO6 Black360° Panorama video. Fusion Studio can export to several formats, including H.264 (4K), CineForm 422, and Apple ProRes 422.

The GoPro GP1 is their own System-on-Chip with the main task of image processing. It replaces the earlier used Ambarella SoC"s and launched in the GoPro HERO6.Socionext.

The GP1 encodes video in the H.265 codec, also known as HEVC. The available resolutions are 4K60, 2.7K120 and 1080p240 unstabilized or 4K30, 2.7K60 and 1080p120 digitally stabilized.

"GoPro doesn"t like their HERO3 compared to Sony"s AS15?". DigitalRev.com. March 19, 2013. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2015.

"GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition: Seconda solo a se stessa". InsideHardware.it (in Italian). October 25, 2013. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2015.

"GoPro launches 3D HERO system; world"s smallest 1080p 3D Camera" (Press release). GoPro. April 4, 2011. Archived from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.

"Dual HERO System Workflow - Setup and Recording". GoPro Support. September 30, 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.

Early last month GoPro completed their annual October ritual of releasing a suite of new units.  Like past years, GoPro doesn’t tend to make massive upgrades in their units, but rather works to add incremental features and performance bumps.

It’s somewhat rare that I group this many products into a single review.  Sometimes I’ll do two minor variations of the same product in a single post, but I think this is the first threesome I’ve had around these parts.  When it comes to the GoPro packaging though, all three units are pretty similar actually. They all include the following:

– The camera itself (duh) – The battery for the camera – A mini-USB cable – An underwater case rated to 40m/131ft – An alternate/secondary door for the case that allows for better audio – A small stack of GoPro stickers – A small quick-start guide and other paper junk – A flat adhesive mount – A curved adhesive mount – A loss prevention rubber stopper

In addition, the Hero4 Black and Silver also include a little adapter arm for the mounting system to change the direction a bit.  Of course, because everyone wants to see exactly what comes in each package, I’ve included the unboxing for each of them below.  I’ve abbreviated it a little bit though on the Silver/Base just to keep things non-redundant.  Sound good?  Let’s tear apart some boxes…

To begin you’ll find the boxes of the Black and Silver fairly similarly designed, with only the Base Hero slightly different with cheaper packaging materials to save weight and cost.

Here’s what you’ll get inside the Hero4 Black box.  It’s all the items noted above, but one little piece that many people accidentally miss – which is the flat black baseplate that the Hero comes on.  It can in effect act as a handy little tripod, yet many folks simply throw it away.

Next, the standard mini-USB plug that can be used to both charge the unit as well as download photos.  Note that this USB cable (and your attached GoPro) can be plugged into any USB outlet on the planet.

Finally, we get to the camera itself, which comes in the waterproof housing.  There is a secondary door (seen up above), that allows sound to be heard relatively clearly versus the fully sealed waterproof housing where it’ll be rather muffled.

The bottom opens up identically on the Black and Silver, which is where you’ll place the battery.  There’s a small little button you’ll press that’ll then pop open the door.  It’s a much better design than the annoying battery cover found on previous GoPro units.

The only difference in the box is the case doors.  The Silver edition includes three doors (instead of two), and two of these doors are designed to allow you to operate the touch screen. In the below photo, the two lower doors allow touch screen operation.  The left one is completely open, while the right one has a thin flexible plastic.

Here’s the front of the camera, as you can see, it’s virtually identical to the Hero4 Black.  Though, strangely in my case it actually has a small manufacturing defect on the front of the LCD screen.  It hasn’t bothered me though, and I’m too lazy to deal with returning it.

The 2014 GoPro Hero base unit is packaged slightly differently.  For example it lacks the top plastic ‘dome’ found on the other/past units, as well as the plastic baseplate.  Obviously at a fraction of the price they were looking to cut costs that were unnecessary, which, is completely reasonable.

Below are the components within the box.  You’ll find the two adhesive mounts (flat/curved), but only one mounting attachment piece between the GoPro and the adhesive mounts.  Don’t worry, you still get stickers.

Now – and this next piece is really important to understand – the Hero base unit does NOT detach from the case.  It’s molded into the outer plastic shell.  Said a third way, you cannot remove the grey camera from the outer clear plastic case.

When it comes to size, the Hero4 is identical to that of the Hero3, so there’s no changes there.  It’ll fit into all the same mounts, cases and locations that the Hero3 did.  This is particularly interesting even in the case of the touch-screen display included on the Hero4 Silver.  Of course, if you add a touch/display screen to the Hero4 Black then it’ll increase the size accordingly.

Case included the solid-door backing, and the semi-flexible backing for the Silver case. It includes a single Micro-SD card, as well as the default battery.  You can see that the Hero Base is actually a fair bit lighter, interestingly enough.

Looking at other units on the market, the GoPro remains the smallest unit with the highest quality video.  No doubt you can look at something smaller like the new Polaroid cube, but with that comes incredibly rough video (stabilization-wise).  While the baseline Polaroid 1080p video isn’t horrible when just sitting still, it’s not at all awesome with any movement at all.  And given the point of an action cam is…action, that’s sorta limiting:

Meanwhile, if you compare it to something like the Sony series of action cams, it’s sorta a wash.  The Sony cams are longer, but thinner.  While the GoPro’s appear a bit chubbier.  Both can go sans-case, though neither should be taken underwater without their respective cases.

Turning to something like the VIRB series, the GoPro is much smaller without the case, though only somewhat smaller with the case.  The VIRB doesn’t require a case unless going deeper underwater (splashing around in a pool is fine).  But, the GoPro is also roughly the size of a Twinkie compared to that of a kiwi fruit (not the bird, nor the New Zealander’s) with the Garmin VIRB.  Note that both the VIRB and VIRB Elite share the same outer shell.

Of course, to some degree comparing sizes with the GoPro is somewhat academic.  It’s well established as a completely acceptable sized unit within the marketplace – with the case.  And without the case the options are pretty much unlimited.

Let’s start off with establishing some of the basics, things that are largely common to all units.  To begin, you’ll turn on the unit by holding down the front-facing button (Mode).  This will get the GoPro ready to record, but won’t start recording:

Each of the units will require a MicroSD card to record to.  These are super-cheap though and can be found starting at about $12 for quality 16GB ones.  The Hero4 Black and Silver support card sizes up to 64GB, whereas the Hero base only supports 32GB. Note that when it comes to speed of cards, it’ll depend a little bit on how you plan to use the units.  For generic 720p/1080p content in the 24-30FPS mode, it’s frankly not going to matter too much how fast of a card you have.  But if you start recording 2.7K/4K footage at full frame rates you’re going to want fast cards to be able to keep up.

For those curious, in the Black/Silver I’ve been using the SanDisk U1 64GB Extreme Plus cards, without any recording issues.  Again, for the Hero base, this would be beyond overkill (it couldn’t use it if it tried).

With the camera powered on, all units have a front-facing LCD screen.  This screen will show you which mode you’re in, for example, video, photo, time lapse, etc…  You can simply tap the front mode button to iterate to the next mode.

New to the Hero4 lineup though on the Black/Silver models is a direct settings button found on the side.  While the button has always been there, it’s been for enabling WiFi.  Now, it’ll do both.  If you short-tap it, it’ll open up the settings menu for just that particular mode.  If you long-hold it, it’ll enable/disable WiFi.  It’s a beautifully elegant solution.

The same is true of photo modes, allowing you to then change how many shots it might take, and the resolutions of those.  It’s without question one of my favorite features of the Hero4 lineup. Of course, you can still dive into the traditional settings menu using the mode button, but now those options on the Black/Silver pertain more to whole-camera options.

For example, this is where you would change the orientation of the camera (Black/Silver/Hero), as well as change which mode the camera starts off in, for example, photo instead of video (Black/Silver).

In the February 2015 update, they also enabled the ability to do automatic orientation.  This means that the Hero4 Silver and Black can now automatically be oriented based on whichever way is determined as ‘up’.  You can also just leave it manually as well.

And, you can enable the ability to automatically shut off after a preset time.  I like 5 minutes, because that’s typically longer than I’d wait around for any action sequence to happen – and usually means that I’ve forgotten about the camera.  Since the GoPro doesn’t save too much battery sitting in standby versus recording – I prefer to keep it off as much as I can.

Now, note that on the Hero base, you’ll have considerably less options.  For example, there is no option to change which mode it starts in, nor the option to automatically shut off.  Though, those are hardly deal killers.

Also note that unlike the Black/Silver, the Hero base can’t have settings changed via the phone apps, but more on that later. Next, when it comes to actually record something, you’ll start/stop the recording (or photos) by pressing the top button on the GoPro (with the red circle).

And again, to stop it, you’ll just press the same button.  By default the unit will chirp/beep and then the red recording light will blink.  You can change the volume of the chirps.  I do that if I plan to use the unit indoors where the chirps can get a bit annoying (Side Note: I fail to understand why there is a 100% volume, 75% volume, and 0% volume level…but no 25% or 50% level).Outside of course, it’s handy to have the chirps though if mounted on a helmet. With those basics covered, let’s get onto the Silver-only touch screen, and then I’ll cover many of the features individually.

The GoPro Hero4 Silver sports a new addition to the Hero lineup, a touch screen.  While you could in the past attach a LCD screen to the back of units, it always came at the cost of increased space as well as just being sorta clunky.  With the Hero4 Silver though, it’s embedded into the back of the unit while remaining exactly the same size as previous models.

The screen is both there to display what the camera is shooting, but also to act as a touch screen to change settings.  To do so, you’ll press the little red dot and then slide down and hold a few seconds.  This ensures that you can’t accidentally bump it on, like butt dialing, but for action cameras (which, upon reflection could be really awkward).

Once you have it unlocked, it’ll show you a touch menu that you can go into and modify settings for each of the modes.  You effectively get all of the modification capabilities of the front LCD + buttons, with the back screen:

Now of course while recording, you can use this to frame your shots ahead of time and then keep an eye on things while recording.  By default it’ll shut off the screen shortly after recording to save battery. I’ve gotta say, when I first saw the marketing images of the screen I figured it’d be like the Garmin VIRB screen.  In that while the VIRB screen was marketed to look like a orgasmicly colorful experience, in reality it was like 1930’s black and white silent film.

Thankfully, the Hero4 Silver is legit color.  Brilliantly colorful and just as crisp and pretty as the marketing shots look.  It’s a bit tricky to take photos of because of the light differential between foreground and the LCD screen, but, you can get a little bit of a feel for it in some of the below:

And on top of that, it will playback sound as well.  When it comes to a screen on an action camera, this is perfect for me.  Or rather, for my wife.  I actually didn’t use it nearly as much as her – who loved being able to see exactly what she was shooting and play it back without a phone (as was the case with her cannonballs seen later).

Now with all that praise, do keep in mind one thing: For most folks, the screen is merely used for framing a shot.  So while the color is much appreciated, I wouldn’t say it’s a complete deal-breaker.  I’m able to frame shots on the 1930’s style black and white screen VIRB just as easily as the Hero4 Silver.

When it comes to video quality in an action cam, nobody has higher resolutions than the GoPro.  Period, end of story.  Well, at least today. So what does that mean from a practical standpoint?  Well with the Hero3+ Black, GoPro offered 2.7K at full frame rates.  In this case, full frame rates are anything above 24FPS.  Below that and you’ll start to get degradation viewable to the human eye in most situations.  So in the case of the Hero3+ Black, it had 4K footage…but at 15FPS. With the Hero4, things simply shifted.  The Hero4 Black got full 4K at 24/25/30FPS, while the Hero4 Silver got 2.7K at 24/25/30FPS, and 4K at 12.5/15FPS.  So basically, the following happened:

As you can see, I took the 4K video, but then cropped down just a chunk of it to 1080p.  Note that cropping is different than downscaling.  Cropping means you cut some of the image away.  Whereas with downscaling (aka ‘to downres’), you simply convert the entire video down to a lower resolution.  You don’t lose any of the picture, but you just lose quality. To explain some of the differences between the two resolutions, here’s a segment where I had all three cameras mounted side by side.  Here’s the Hero4 Black (be sure to set the resolution to 4K):

Can you tell the difference?  For most on smaller screens – probably not.  But that’s likely just because you’re viewing it on a device too small to notice the differences.  But, this is a key point in deciding whether or not it’s worth the money to pay extra for what is 4K/2.7K over just 1080p resolution found on every other device out there.

Now when it comes to resolutions, keep in mind that while GoPro has action cam dominance today, tomorrow that might change (hence why it’s always good to check out the Product Comparison Tool).  In general, I wouldn’t expect any changes between now and the end of 2014.  But I fully expect that to change starting with CES the first week of January.  CES is the annual and massive Consumer Electronics Show, where everyone in the gadget world comes out with their new stuff.

Typically speaking you don’t see new products available that same week – but rather announced at CES and then available in the months that follow.  I’d be happy to bet we’ll see a flood of 2.7K & 4K players announced then.  Of course, whether or not they’ll be any good is a totally different question.

In addition to high resolution video, the GoPro series can also do high speed video.  High speed video refers to the idea of increasing the frame rate (frames per second) recorded in order to then play it back at ‘regular’ speed and achieve a slow-motion effect.  Take for example 120FPS footage.  It’s captured (wait for it) at 120 frames per second.  But, when it comes to playback, it might be played back at 30FPS, which then results in that one-second moment of action taking 4 seconds to play back.  Thus achieving gloriously smooth slow-motion.  You can see this below with a Hero4 Black and a touchscreen attached.

Smooth slow motion is a factor of how many FPS you can capture at, combined with the resolution you can capture.  In general, each year the bar gets moved higher and higher for capture rates. So like past years, once again we saw a bump in resolution.  This becomes important when trying to incorporate slow-motion video into normal HD programs.

With these higher frame rates at higher resolutions, you’re no longer having to make sacrifices in quality or frame rates for slow-motion footage. Like other settings, on the GoPro you can modify these within the app, or within the camera itself.  In the case of base GoPro Hero, you’re only getting 1080P-30FPS, or 720P-60FPS. The exact frame rates offered for each resolution I’ve included within the comparison table at the bottom of the review.

So what does this look like?  Well, no better way to test this than a canon ball into a swimming pool.  The perfect way to illustrate slow-motion, in this case with a common 120FPS 720p clip (from the GoPro Hero4 Silver):

Now I could have gone to 240FPS on the Hero4 Black, but that reduces the resolution.  Previous to February 2015 it was WVGA, but now it’s 720 – which makes it potentially a fair tradeoff.  Still, for those wanting to keep it 1080p or higher, you could instead look to slow it down further with the GoPro studio and take the hit on frame rates instead of resolution.  In this case, I went with 20% speed playback.

Note that the GoPro Studio offers the ability specify the exact moment in time that you switch from regular playback to slow-motion playback by simply splitting the clips.  This allows you to keep at normal speed until just the moment of action, such as this where I kept it regular rates for the first few seconds, then slowed it down when she was mid-air, and then let it get back to half-speed towards the last few seconds.

Further, GoPro has also introduced what they call ‘Flux’.  The idea behind it is a bit smarter interpolation of the frames when slowing down video, allowing you to get cleaner video.  In the above case I used Flux for the middle section of slow-mo, though, it’s not really required since I shot at 120FPS already and there was plenty of slow motion as-is. But it’s more noticeable if you really wanted to slow things down even further than that.

For example, if you wanted to turn what would have been 4-5 seconds at playback speed into 8-10 seconds.  In that case you’d lose so many frames that it might be tough to get smooth video. Note that Flux is all done after the fact within GoPro Studio, and is not something done on the camera itself.  It does not require you do anything on the unit itself.

Ultimately, the Hero4 lineup offers the most diverse options in the marketplace today when it comes to high speed frame rate offerings as well as higher resolutions at those frame rates.

The Hero4 introduced a new night capture mode to the lineup, which aims to compliment the other photo modes found within the unit.  Before we dive into the night mode, it’s probably good to start with a quick overview of all the major modes found on the Hero lineup:

Continuous: In this mode it’ll keep taking photos until you stop holding the button – or until 30 photos is taken.  You can define how often it should take photos, but this is handy when you may have a chunk of time where you want to capture a range of activities that aren’t going to occur super fast (for that, you’d want burst).

Burst: This is is for capturing up to 30 photos in one second.  Or basically, a burst of photos, as the name implies.  This is best when you’re capturing a quick moment of action and you don’t know exactly what might make the perfect shot for later.  You can tweak the capture rate a little bit over the course of upwards of 3 seconds.  So you could do 10 photos/second for 3 seconds, for example.  Or, with the February 2015 update you can do 30/6 as well (30 photos in 6 seconds, or as few as 2 seconds).

Ok, with those basics out of the way, let’s get to some shots and how I use it.  In most cases, when I’m using the GoPro as a camera, I’m shooting in the highest possible megapixel arrangement with the wide option.  This is because the way the GoPro works is that even if you were to select a medium crop image, it’s simply taking the 12MP wide image and cropping that automatically.  Thus it’s much better to take the higher resolution and do the cropping yourself. For example, below if I wanted just the fish from this GoPro image, I could crop to just the fish and the sea anemone.

But what situations would you want medium over wide?  Well, for those where you didn’t want to deal with cropping.  For example, The Girl (aka, my wife), borrowed the GoPro Hero4 Silver for the day while snorkeling.  She didn’t want the super-wide shots that were coming in on wide mode, and instead preferred the zoomed in aspect of the medium mode.  For her, she’s not going to want to deal with cropping the photos afterwards on the computer or her phone.  She just wants to be able to take them and post them to whatever platform she wants – no editing.

The good piece is that both options are there (see table later in review for exact options per model), so you can do whatever you’d like. Next, when it comes to how many photos to shoot for each button press, I tend to go with three photos.  That allows me a bit of flexibility in case I fudge the shot, and since sometimes they might be slightly-action based (riding or running), I can pick the best out of the three.

And while I could simply shoot more photos at once, I find that a bit of a pain in the butt later on trying to sift through photos after my activity. Next, you’ve got burst mode.  As I noted earlier, this is ideal when you just want to capture a single action-filled moment.  For example, jumping off something, where you don’t know if you’d have the precise timing to get the exact photo in just one still.  Take the below sequence which I shot of a person jumping off the boat, as an example:

In these cases I could then go through each photo to find the ‘best’ photo of the action.  Had I just taken my usual three photos, I’d have far fewer choices.

Finally, let’s look at some night shots.  In this case, I used the Night Mode to get a longer exposure with the unit.  I toyed around with a few different exposures (aside from Automatic), but decided that a 2 second exposure worked out the best.  Here’s the un-edited shot from the Hero4 Black:

The GoPro series includes a time lapse mode.  In this mode the unit will take a series of photos at a preset interval, such as every half a second.  You can then take those photos and compile them together to make a video time-lapse. Alternatively, this mode is ideal when you want to simply have photos of/during an event, but don’t know when the moment of action will come (or won’t be in a position to press record).

For example, you might be mountain biking downhill and want to easily capture photos along the way (instead of video).  Just plop it in time lapse mode and it’ll capture photos at the defined interval. Why use this instead of video (and then take a screenshot)?  Well, the resolution is substantially higher with photos over video.  Further, you tend to get crisper photos this way. The GoPro series supports different intervals depending on the model.  Here’s the run-down for the 2014 series:

Next, you’ll need some software to turn these all into a pretty video.  Of course, if you don’t want a video, then you’re just done as-is. For the video, GoPro Studio enables you to drag the photos into the software and it’ll compile it into a video.

There’s two ways of doing this.  The first is to just drag the first photo in the series into GoPro studio (and it’ll do the rest automatically).  Or, you can manually put them all in a folder and then drag the folder in.  Whatever floats your boat:

With that, you can then adjust how fast playback will be.  At this point you’ll need to do a bit of mental math on how long you want the video to be.  In general, most times you’ll playback video at 24 or 30FPS.  In my case, I sped it up 5 times, as the original length was going to be 2 minutes and 20 seconds, which is an eternity sitting watching a single view out my hotel window.  So, 1/5th of that seemed appropriate.

Now, while this is quite functional – it can be a bit complex for the beginner.  This is one area that I’ve previously preferred Garmin’s method with the VIRB.  In their case they just build the video for you on the device itself.  So as it records each image it automatically compiles it.  You can see examples of this in my review within the VIRB In-Depth Review time lapse section. Of course, there are pros and cons to each option.

However, with the February 2015 update for the GoPro Hero4 Black and Silver, it’ll now create that same video for you within the GoPro unit itself.  I’ll discuss that in the next section.

In February 2015, GoPro introduced a new time lapse mode that automatically exports out a video file when you end the recording of the time lapse.  This means that when you hit finish on the time lapse on the camera, you immediately have a video file – instead of a huge pile of photos that need additional processing.  This option was made available to only the Hero4 Black and Silver models, via a free firmware update.

With that, you go ahead and start the camera.  For fun, I mounted two units last night outside – one on the roof and one on a window and let it run for about 6-7 hours.  I triggered one manually, and one via WiFi.  One was set at a lower frame rate, one at a slightly higher frame rate.

One of these days I’ll figure out how to do something more creative on my roof, but it’s a bit tricky since I basically have to use this tiny little window above the tub/shower, and sink.  Which typically involves not falling down into the tub in the process.

In any case – there ya go – the video time lapse functionality.  Definitely cool stuff, and so much easier to create videos than it would be through the photo method.  Of course, as noted in the previous section there are still benefits to the photo time lapse option – especially if you don’t want to make a video at all (such as just capturing photos over a long period to potentially get a very specific/exact moment).

The Hero4 Black and Silver carry through the capability of being able to control and transfer data from the camera to the phone.  This allows you to use your phone as a secondary display for the camera, or, just a quick way to get photos up to share with friends via social media.  Note, this is not compatible with the 2014 GoPro Hero base unit.

To begin, you’ll need to enable WiFi on your Hero4.  Just hold down the left side button until the blue light blinks on the front of the GoPro.  Then, on your mobile device connect to the WiFi network.

You’ll need to go through a setup of pairing steps before moving forward.  They’re fairly straight forward and ensure that you have a unique name for each unit, and unique password. Once that’s done you can go ahead and open up the GoPro app and then click “Connect & Control” to start the connectivity to the GoPro.

It’ll start on the preview screen, which shows you the exact same view as that of the camera.  You can rotate the phone as well to get a cleaner view.

If you click the little tool icon, you can go into the settings and tweak every camera mode and overall camera settings qui