gopro hero 5 lcd screen replacement free sample

Replace a rear LCD display and touch screen compatible with a Black Edition GoPro Hero5 camera. Includes the Rear Glass Digitizer Panel and Flex Cables.

It’s been two years since the last major GoPro Hero launch.  No, I don’t count the Session last year.  I’m talking about a multi-camera launch like GoPro has typically done each fall for the majority of its history.  Back in September GoPro launched three new cameras, alongside a drone and a gimbal.  I cover all the basics of that launch day here.

This post is all about the GoPro Hero5 Black.  You’ll find a GoPro Hero5 Session In-Depth Review coming up shortly (a few days), and then the Karma Drone and Gimbal reviews later this month (Update: Available now!).  But even more exciting for consumers is that for the first time in a long time, we’ve got a legit high-end competitor to GoPro with the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30.  These cameras were released a mere 19 days apart, and have an amazingly close feature set.  Both have their pros and cons, which I’ll touch on throughout the review (as well as discuss in a round-up at the end).  Without question these are the best two action cams on the market today – and that competition will only make these cams better over time.  All of which is great for consumers.

As for the photo side, we’ll start with the Hero5 Black in the box.  It sits atop it within the clear case, making it easy to see how big it really is:

Then there’s the mounting adapter for that sticky mount, plus the thumb screw used for any GoPro mount.  You’ll notice the mounting adapter has a small rubber protector, that’s used to prevent the unit from sliding on a faulty mount.  It replaces that little white rubber piece you used to get that you never knew what to do with.

Then there’s the ‘Cage’ mount that the GoPro itself came in.  This has the standard GoPro mount on the bottom, and then also a hole on the side for accessing the ports (to charge while in the case, either at home or even while recording):

While the GoPro Hero5 has many of the same specs as the previous generation when it comes to video and photo resolutions, there are some new features in it.  Individually no single feature is a massive leap forward in the action cam industry, but collectively they represent a notable and substantial difference over the Hero4 Black.  This section is mostly focused on these new features, while the remaining sections take a deeper dive into the core functions of the camera, as well as touch on these new features in more detail.

Fully Waterproofed: Probably the most notable item is that the GoPro Hero5 Black is now fully waterproofed without the need for a separate case, just like the GoPro Hero4 Session was.  In fact, it has nearly the same rubberish material on the outside.

Now this won’t easily pop-off while it’s locked in place, as you have to press a button down to open it (plus slide it).  But, the trick will be not losing it after charging your camera or while the charging cable is attached.  GoPro does sell the door as an accessory (albeit over priced), and I know I plan to buy an extra door and then seal it up somewhere special in my backpack/suitcase for traveling.  Because I guarantee you that I’ll lose it at the most inopportune time on a trip to some beautiful watery location and be unable to take pictures of The Girl underwater in a bikini without the door.

Touch Display: The Hero5 takes the touch display found on the Hero4 Silver and advanced it forward.  As you might remember, the Hero4 Black actually lacked a display.  This was one reason that the Hero4 Silver was actually a more day to day favorite of mine than the Hero4 Black was.

However, the touch display acts and feels significantly different here than the Hero4 Silver.  The entire menu system has been redone to make it more intuitive to find settings.  Along the bottom it shows you the basics for that mode.  For example, in the video mode it shows you resolution and frame rate.

As I said earlier, in theory the new GoPro Hero5 Black touch display layout looks good, but in practice it needs a bit more refinement.  I found that the vast majority of the time while trying to change modes the slight display lag combined with tiny option selectors meant many missed attempts at configuring things.

This is somewhat the opposite of the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30.  In theory, that display’s menus looks more clunky by comparison.  Without touching a unit you’d give the ‘UI design award’ to GoPro.  But in practice, the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30 screen actually works better because you can easily navigate it almost every time without fail.  Still, despite the Hero5 Black’s screen oddities, I’ll definitely take it over not having a screen on the GoPro Hero5 Session.

Voice Control: Like the VIRB Ultra 30, GoPro too introduced Voice Control this fall.  This means you can simply tell your camera “GoPro, Start Recording”, and it’ll indeed start recording.  Same goes for photos, and even changing modes.  In fact, you can actually swear an expletive that rhymes with ‘hit’ and it’ll mark a highlight there.  It’s cool.

But…it’s not perfect.  I found that it works most of the time when standing still.  But once you start moving I found both it and the Hero5 Session actually perform worse than Garmin does.  At about 10MPH (15KPH) I find the ability to give commands pretty much dies no matter which way the camera is facing.  Whereas with Garmin it’ll continue working above that speed as long as the camera is facing you.

So you’ll see that GoPro has more functionality (commands) than Garmin does.  And earlier leaked manuals in August even showed GoPro being able to learn new commands you assign it (that hasn’t happened yet…but that’d be super cool).  But in usage, the Garmin actually works better when you start moving, and there’s fewer failed commands.

GPS & Sensors: The Hero5 Black contains GPS.  But that GPS won’t do anything for you.  See, the GPS on the Hero5 Black is merely used to geotag the location of your photos and videos.  Essentially it does what Facebook and Instagram do with your phone by saying ‘You were here’ when you took this photo.  It is NOT used to record your GPS tracks while you bike/ski/surf/etc… Nor is it used to display your speed on videos.  Basically, it’s not used for much of anything except saying “This was taken in NYC”.

This is obviously a huge disappointment for sports fans that wanted to overlay data like speed or distance onto their videos and have that all be done natively within the GoPro suite.  After all, GoPro bought Dashware, the leading app for overlaying such metrics.  Yet, tough beans for any usage there at this point.  The GPS tagging icon is shown at the top left of the display:

GoPro is saying that 3rd parties might be able to tap into this, and surely their program I talked about this spring is aimed at that.  But as I noted in that post, the premise and thinking behind how they want 3rd parties to use the data is laughable (and people in the industry I’ve talked too are also laughing).  Who on earth wants to write their own new video editing tools for this data on multiple platforms when GoPro is supposed to be a leader in that (an entity that’s bought three different video editing platform companies in the last year).  Sigh.

Electronic Image Stabilization, RAW Photos, Advanced Audio Tracks: I’m bucketing all three of these together, not because they deserve to be together, but because I want to call them out here before I dive into them more deeply down below.  These are in many ways some of the biggest differences between the Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session.  While the Hero5 Session does have stabilization, it does not have the new RAW photo mode, nor does it have the Advanced Audio Track capability.

That capability allows you to actually record the audio to a secondary file on the GoPro, even so much as giving you three separate tracks (one for each mic onboard).  That’s super cool for video editing scenarios where you want complete and total control over the audio to ensure 100% that it’s using the right mic.  By default the unit will auto-switch between them to reduce wind noise, and in my experience the unit does pretty well there.  But I’ve also seen one or two minor blips where it got it wrong, so having the ability to manually control that is sweet.

Ahh yes, video time.  No better place to start diving into features than video modes.  In many ways the Hero5 is similar in these modes to the Hero4 Black.  After all, it too has 4K @ 30FPS and 720P @ 240FPS, the two ends of the spectrum that people often talk about.  The footage looks beautiful in 4K – no doubt.

To understand what this look like, I put two GoPro Hero5 Black cameras side by side and went for a short mountain bike ride.  Along the way I flipped the mountain bike.  But more importantly is that one camera had image stabilization enabled, while the other had it disabled.  Here’s how that looks:

Next we’ve got new and better audio support on the Hero5 Black.  It has three mics, which allow it to record audio from three different locations on the camera.  This is used to remove the sound of wind while you’re moving at speed.  For example, in this video below starting at the 3:30 marker I’m riding with the unit hand-held in front of me.  The Hero5 Black automatically cancels out the microphones that are facing the wind, picking up only my voice (and rather clearly):

Now battery life is an interesting nugget. Mostly because GoPro has been so evasive on written answers here.  Even when talking to GoPro reps directly, you get various answers (all of which were incorrect in the end).  So earlier, GoPro was saying an hour of battery life for 4K footage.  But in reality, it’s closer to 1hr 31mins when I tested it.

While the Hero5 Black doesn’t offer any more resolution than the Hero4 Black did, it does offer a number of substantial photo-focused features.  First, the basics though.  To get into the photo mode you’ll go ahead and tap the mode button until you see photos.  Or, just tell the GoPro to take a photo using voice commands.

Next is the new WDR mode, which is Wide Dynamic Range.  This is sorta akin to an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos, where you increase the shadows and even out the overexposed spots (in fact, GoPro still calls it HDR in one menu when you enable RAW shooting, a leftover to-fix item likely). But typically in HDR photography people add more contrast in post-production.  But all start with three photos taken at three separate exposure stops.  With WDR, GoPro merges these together to form a single cohesive photo that has much better balance.  Garmin did much the same with a new bracketed option on the VIRB Ultra 30.

Overall the GoPro Hero5 Black produces some beautiful photos, no doubt about that.  And the ability to shoot raw as well as WDR photos is great for both ends of the photography crowd that either want deep control (RAW), or just simply want the resultant shot to look like someone worked on it in post (WDR).

GoPro currently has four different apps you’re likely to use with your camera: Capture, Quik (Mobile), Splice, and Quick (Desktop).  Oh, plus the GoPro Studio for those that really want to rock it old-school.

Capture: This is what they renamed the default GoPro app.  It’s where you change settings on your camera from the phone and how you download footage to your phone.

Quik (Mobile): This is used for editing footage already downloaded to your phone, it can whip up quick edits timed to music automatically.  It cannot connect to the GoPro camera directly.

Splice: This is also used for editing footage already downloaded to your phone, it’s kinda like iMovie.  It cannot connect to the GoPro camera directly.

Quick (Desktop): This is the desktop app for editing footage, as well as downloading footage to your desktop.  It can also be used for uploading footage to GoPro Plus (cloud platform), as well as updating firmware on your camera.  Further, it can download footage from GoPro Plus as well.

I’ll run through each app and how they work, starting with the one you’ll need the most, which is the new Capture app (aka GoPro app).  If you’re familiar with the existing GoPro app you’ll find this app has essentially been skinned and re-done in a new UI with a new logo and name.  It’s where you’ll configure settings on your GoPro (such as video modes), as well as how you can preview what the camera sees:

Overall the app works reasonably well, just like it did before.  One oddity though is that unlike before, you can no longer rename your cameras.  Instead, you get these horribly numerical camera names like you see above.  There’s no method to change that currently for any of the Hero5 cameras.  Same goes for the WiFi networks it creates.

Next we’ve got Quik (Mobile).  This app is designed to put together quick edits based on a collection of videos or photos.  As part of that it’ll sync to music these edits.  The app can pull from both your local video library, as well as the GoPro cloud, but oddly it can’t pull from the GoPro directly.  It works fine, though I’ve found the edits aren’t terribly concise, and end with it being a bit boring.

Then we’ve got Splice (Mobile).  This is another app that GoPro bought earlier this year, and this app…well…almost does the same thing as Quik.  Instead, it has a bit deeper video editing capabilities in terms of trimming and such and some basic effects, and unlike Quik it can’t connect to the GoPro cloud.  Still, it’s clear that none of these teams are working together, as these apps appear more like a random collection of App Store video apps than any sort of true GoPro offering.  Not to mention this app crashed constantly for me while trying to create my video, but it also took forever.

Further, the desktop version allows uploading to GoPro Plus, which the mobile Quik doesn’t.  In theory you’ll see data uploading once you plug it in, if you select the below.  However, I haven’t seen it do that unless I first transfer it to my desktop, which…I don’t necessarily want to do.

You can also access your GoPro Plus cloud content within the Quik Desktop app as well, which has a small cloud icon next to it, indicating it’s on the cloud.

Once you’ve decided which content you want, you can go ahead and select those clips to create a video.  Note that you cannot select GoPro Cloud clips to add to a video, they must be locally downloaded first.  It of course doesn’t simply offer you the ability to do this, because…well…that’d be logical.  Instead, it resets your selected list of clips and makes you select them again and choose download.  Then you can re-select them now for a third time and choose to create a video.

If there’s anything on the GoPro platform more confusing and screwed up than GoPro Plus, I don’t know what it is.  This is the only solid blight on the Hero5 launch.  And it’s ugly.  Really ugly.

Let me try and explain what GoPro intended to do, and then I’ll explain how horribly bad it actually ended up.  First, the idea behind GoPro Plus (which costs $5/month) is that it syncs the content from your GoPro Hero5 camera via WiFi to GoPro’s cloud platform.  From there, you can edit it on another device.  Sounds great, right?

You can’t.  There is no start button.  Instead, you need to plug the GoPro in to a charging port and then wait for it to finish charging before it’ll start syncing (actually, in my experience it starts slightly before it’s totally finished charging).  But eventually, it’ll finish charging and start to sync your photos and videos:

Except, it didn’t actually sync what you thought it sync’d.  Instead, it sync’d a lower resolution copy of the videos, 1080p, instead of all that beautiful 4K footage you just shot on your new expensive camera.  In some ways that’s reasonable because uploading that footage might take forever anyway if you did so in 4K.  Once it’s finished syncing (some hours later), you’ll find it on GoPro’s site (a private portion for you):

So, now we wait for your computer to re-download gigs upon gigs of videos you shot all day back to the very same couch you started this entire process on earlier that day.  Oh, but one minor catch: You can’t use GoPro’s new Splice mobile app to do this (desktop Quik does work though).  You have to use GoPro’s default mobile app to do this (called ‘Capture’ now, instead of ‘GoPro’, for reasons that nobody on earth can understand).

Now you could short-circuit this process by using the new $19 Quik adapter.  But that then defeats the purpose of paying $5/month to GoPro (which they and their investors want you to do).

Let’s say you go on vacation, which, is a core usage scenario for the GoPro (as much fun as taking my dog out to take a dump might be to film).  So you head out for a hard day of skiing and then wrap up by returning to the hotel. Here’s what happens:

*Even if your hotel supports an open WiFi network, the Hero5 doesn’t work with that either, because it thinks it needs a password.  The software requires you type a password for a network, even when there isn’t one to type. You actually have to type something in the password box.  So when it passes that random text you put in there for authentication, it fails of course.  Seriously folks, I can’t make this stuff up.

Oh, and don’t forget you only get 35 hours of footage allowance up there.  That sounds like a lot, and in some ways it is.  But at the same time, that means you can’t really use this as a backup option either, since after some number of months of weekend usage you’ll run out of space.

Again, yes, you could sync it to your phone directly from the GoPro Capture app.  But that’s not the purpose of GoPro Plus.  What I described in this section is (somehow) the purpose of GoPro Plus.

2) Figure out a way to allow me to upload on hotel WiFi networks.  There’s a handful of ways this could be solved, such as having GoPro work with some of the major internet pass providers (such as Boingo) to be automatically authenticated.  This isn’t easy, no doubt, but it’s also not the consumer’s problem that this doesn’t work in what is a core usage scenario.  Oh, and fix the open-password bug. C’mon.

3) Enable the Splice mobile apps to download from GoPro Plus: Seriously, just seriously.  How did you miss this?  You spent $100 million dollars for these two apps (Quik + Splice).  For the love of god they should work directly with your $5 platform.  Also, if I download video from one app, then the other app should natively be able to access it (it doesn’t work if you download to Quik, and then try and open in Splice).

4) Let me auto-sync cloud content in Quik desktop: When at home, I’ll simply plug in the GoPro to the wall, and then I *expect* there to be an option in the Quik desktop app to download new content automatically.  You know, like those popular services…Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and everyone else.  Do the same here.  I don’t want to re-wait for it to download each clip.

5) Don’t down-res slow-mo footage to 60FPS: This seems kinda obvious to me.  Why would you do this?  You wouldn’t put this restriction on your video editing team at GoPro for the high-end promo videos?  Of course not, they’d laugh at you.

Now, there is one positive side to GoPro Plus: You get 20% off all GoPro accessories on GoPro.com.  So that might be worth it alone if you’re planning a large GoPro accessory order.  And, that even seems to include 2-day shipping for free!

So you’re trying to choose between the Hero5 Black and the Hero5 Session.  Both solid choices, and let me give you some food for thought on deciding between the two (the next section I talk about between the Hero5 Black vs the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30).  Do note I’m specifically talking here about the $299USD Hero5 Session, and *NOT* the cheaper $199 Hero Session, which lacks a ton of features compared to the $299 Hero5 Session.  The key visible difference being the lack of the numeral ‘5’ in the Hero Session name.

That’s the basic differences. Again, both cameras are very good, you won’t go wrong with either.  For me, I prefer the Hero5 Black because I like to be able to see and frame up what I’m taking a photo/video of.  Whereas the Hero5 Session it’s shoot and pray that you’ve got it lined up.  Sure, you can use your phone for certain shots – but most of us won’t do that.

As for the Hero Session (the basic $199 one)?  It’s also good, but I wonder if it’s slightly overpriced right now.  I get that it’s GoPro’s best seller, but there’s so many more options at $299 with the Hero5 Session that I’d strongly recommend that over the Hero Session.  I feel like given everything, something like $169USD would be a better price for the Hero Session. Just me though…

The Vacation Beach Goer: If you’re looking for a camera to go on vacation/holiday and easily line-up the shots you want on the display, with a unit that’s guaranteed waterproof in all situations – then the Hero5 Black is the better choice.  It’ll give you incredible high-quality imagery (photos/video) and make it nearly impossible to kill your camera by being waterproof without a case.  You won’t get data overlays like speed or g-forces, but you will get amazing videos – no doubt there.  Also, the mobile apps are a bit better here than Garmin’s mobile apps.

Sports Action Person: If you’re looking to overlay metrics like how fast you’re skiing, or the engine metrics from your car, or the altitude while hang gliding, then the VIRB Ultra 30 is a better bet.  The fact that it has tons of sensors inside it (and actually uses those sensors) really shows through when you connect it to their apps to overlay data onto your videos (like seen in this video).  Plus, you can connect to sensors like heart rate straps, car engines, boat/marine sensors, and even a Bluetooth audio headset.  Garmin has been doing that kinda stuff for years in their cams, and it shows through.  Both cams will give you very solid 4K footage, and both can do 240fps at 720p.  The GoPro can shoot with image stabilization higher though, up to 2.7K, vs 1440p on the Garmin.

The Prosumer Video/Audio Editor: Now this is a super-tricky one.  On one hand GoPro has the ability to create RAW photos, as well as separate out the audio tracks from the three mics.  That’s cool.  Both cameras have a Pro settings mode for exposure/WB/etc… Yet on the flip-side, the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30 can connect to a Bluetooth mic/headset, which means you get a bit more flexibility there in wireless audio setups (it’s an action cam after all, not a studio cam).  Both units can connect to wired mics via adapters. Oh, and Garmin supports saving/copying settings to an SD card for quickly duplicating settings on multiple cameras.  For me, there’s no clear-cut winner here in this category.

Someone with a Gimbal: If you want a gimbal, than GoPro has the upcoming Karma gimbal, which integrates with the Hero5 cameras, albeit at a cost of $299.  Right now the Hero5 camera does work with some cheaper $200 3rd party gimbals (I used one in this post above in the video section), whereas the VIRB Ultra 30 doesn’t really have a gimbal that works great out of the box with it.  I suspect we’ll see some shortly that do from 3rd parties, but today that’s tougher.

Someone with a drone: No doubt, the Hero5 Black will work great with the Karma Drone ($799).  Sure, you can mount either the GoPro or Garmin action cams to the bottom of most drones, but without a gimbal on those drones you’ll be disappointed in the content.  At the same time, I think a lot of eyes are on the new DJI Mavic drone, which is priced in the same ballpark ($799) if you exclude the dedicated remote and use your phone instead, or $999 with a remote.

Again, these cameras are super-close and what you use it for will depend on which one is best for you.  I’d say that for me going on a trip, if I’m going to the beach I’ll take the Hero5 Black.  But if I’m going skiing/cycling/etc, I’ll take the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30.  Good luck!

There are craptons of accessories you can pick up for your GoPro Hero5 Black.  Basically, every older accessory except items that were case or shell specific will continue to work with the Hero5 Black.  So any sort of mount, remote control, clamp, etc… all work just fine.

What won’t work?  Things that were case-specific.  For example, a deep-dive case won’t work since the Hero5 Black is slightly larger (by about 1-2mm in both dimensions).  Same goes for something like a 3rd party gimbal you can’t adjust the dimensions on.  Also, batteries are different too (both in size, and connector).

1) GoPro 3-Way Pole: My favorite thing ever.  Virtually everything in this post is shot on that.  It’s part-tripod, part selfie-stick, and part thing you can stab into the ground at a beach to hold your camera.  Brilliant.

2) Feiyu Tech G4-QD Gimbal: For the Hero5 Black I’m using the G4-QD.  It’s what I was using before for my previous GoPro cameras.  The only bummer is you can’t hit the mode button.  Not a huge deal because you can change modes via voice command.  But a minor bummer.  I suspect we’ll see new gimbals from Feiyu Tech shortly that are compatible.  And obviously, we have the Karma Gimbal, which I’ll talk about in a second.  Unfortunately, I can’t use the wearable gimbal with the Hero5, as the bracket doesn’t fit it.

Then we’ve got GoPro’s newest accessories, all of which are just starting to trickle out.  I’ll update this post with more details/reviews on those once they come in.  I’ve only briefly played with these below at various media events.

Quik Key: This will be awesome for quickly transferring videos/photos from your GoPro to your phone.  It plugs in the bottom (via Lightning or Micro-USB) and allows you to slot your micro-SD card in there.  Only $20 too!

Remo Remote: This is not just a standard GoPro remote for controlling the unit from afar, but also the ability to issue voice commands to it.  I’ve had a chance to dive into this in great depth here in this video below.

Karma Gimbal: Next we’ve got GoPro’s Karma Gimbal, which costs $299.  That’ll give you control of the camera functions from the handle, as well as the usual silky smooth footage that you’d expect from a gimbal.  Here’s my preview video on it.  And yes, review coming up later this month:

Karma Drone:  Ahh yes, the drone itself.  That starts at $799 sans-camera, and $1099 if you want the GoPro Hero5 Black in it (it’ll save you $100 that way).  Or, $999 for the Hero5 Session.  You can watch my early hands-on video below about that.  Or read my early post on it.  Again, review of that coming later this month.

Phew, so many accessories.  But here’s the thing: For more common accessories, stuff like extra little sticky mounts and sorts – just head over to Amazon and buy them in bulk for a million times cheaper than GoPro.  Seriously, it’s a 16 pack of GoPro mounts for $12.  It’s where I buy most batteries and extra mounts beyond the ones I’ve listed above.

I’ve put together everything I’ve made about the GoPro Hero5 (both models), as well as my Karma drone and Karma gimbal videos in one handy to watch playlist.  There’s over an hours worth of content in there to check out, from sample footage to explainers, you name it!  You should be able to use the doohicky along the side to choose which videos you want:

While many lamented that GoPro took two years to get to this post, I agree with GoPro CEO’s statement that this was the GoPro version that they always wanted to make.  The GoPro Hero5 is without question the best GoPro out there.  Period.

It’s clear that GoPro has room to improve the software, both of the unit itself (the display), but also the cloud platform (GoPro Plus).  Not to mention getting GPS enabled for tracking speed and such, and utilizing their acquisition of Dashware to get data onto videos.  Further, I did see some some minor quirks where the unit failed to respond to button presses (primarily stopping the video) once or twice.  While the micro-SD cards I used were brand new, it’s always hard to track down if there was some sort of transient card issue there.

Still, I wouldn’t have any hesitation in recommending the Hero5 to anyone.  The camera works well and has outstanding video and photo quality at the same time.

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Got a bad habit of breaking your GoPro action cams before they’ve had time to live? You’re probably a prime candidate for GoPro’s new Plus subscription service, which now includes replacing broken cameras “no questions asked”.

GoPro Plus costs £4.99 per month and includes ‘Damaged Camera Replacement’ cover, along with a few other benefits. These include 50% off mounts and accessories (when bought from GoPro) and unlimited cloud storage, which saves all your videos and photos at their original quality.

The subscription service also includes ‘auto-offload of content’, which means you shouldn’t have to remember to backup either – the videos and photos from your GoPro will automatically transfer to the phone app and then get backed up to the cloud.

As you’d expect, the ‘Damaged Camera Replacement’ doesn’t quite translate into ‘free GoPros for life’. The smallprint says you can “exchange up to two cameras per year for the same model (Fusion and Hero 5 or later).” Which means if you have a GoPro Hero 4 Black or earlier, you won’t be covered.

The 50% off accessories part of the Plus subscription also doesn’t include activity kits, chargers, the Pro 3.5mm Mic Adaptor, anything Karma-related or non-GoPro manufactured accessories. You’re also limited to ten items per subscription in each calendar year.

Still, while the service isn’t quite as generous as its headline features suggest, the “no questions asked” replacement might be wise for the cack-handed considering GoPro’s two-year warranty doesn’t cover accidental damage.

If you need to get one repaired due to “accident or…natural wear and tear” (according to GoPro’s EU warranty), then your only options are the limited collection of third party repair services (which we haven’t tested) or buying a new GoPro. This service at least offers a middle ground, particularly if you regularly use them in settings like paintballing, which really do test action cams to destruction.

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.

After growing the number of employees by more than 500 in 2015, the company responded to weak sales in the fourth quarter by cutting about 7% of its workforce (100 workers) in January 2016.

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.

Summary: Is your GoPro troubling you? This post shares solutions to the 13 most common GoPro camera errors and video problems. The fixes are for all models of GoPro cameras — HERO 5, HERO 6, HERO 7 Black, HERO 7 White, HERO 7 Silver, HERO 8, Fusion, Max, and others. It also suggests the best GoPro SD card recovery and repair software for the camera"s deleted, lost or corrupt videos.

You love your GoPro camera for many reasons. First, it offers ample opportunity to shoot unique videos of premium quality. It is waterproof without casing up to 131 feet (40 m), eliminates lens fog, is super tough, shock-proof, has excellent stills, and can capture 4K 360-degree videos. But with this and much more to vouch for, your GoPro camera errors are technical hitches.

There have been complaints about GoPro video footage not playing after import to the computer, camera freezing, SD card errors, quick battery drainage, and more.

The solutions shared here are applicable for all GoPro models, including HERO5, HERO 6, HERO 7 Black, HERO 7 White, HERO 7 Silver, HERO 8, Fusion, Max, and others.

The ‘SD ERR’ or ‘NO SD’ message on your GoPro LCD screen indicates that your camera cannot properly connect with the SD card. If you view this error, ensure that the SD card is fully inserted into the camera.

Although formatting will delete all SD card videos and pictures, it will fix the issues causing the GoPro SD card error. While if you have missed taking a backup of the GoPro SD card, you can use Stellar Photo Recovery software that works on formatted memory cards and recovers photo and video files without affecting their original quality.

If your camera SD card has free space but still shows the error ‘SD card is full’ when you try to record videos, try formatting the SD card in your computer. Also, make sure your GoPro has the latest firmware by regularly updating your camera.

GoPro camera SD card may suddenly stop working if it is very old or continuously being used on multiple devices. Because of this, the SD card turns corrupt or inaccessible. However, you can attempt formatting to fix the issue or switch to a new SD card.

This problem may also occur using a lower Class SD card to store high-quality GoPro videos. Always use Class 10 high-capacity SD cards to record GoPro videos. Opt for GoPro recommended SD cards for your specific camera model is advisable.

Dust could be another reason for the SD card to stop working suddenly. Clean the memory card with a soft cloth and then try to access it in the GoPro camera again.

If you cannot access such corrupt SD card multimedia files, get an effective GoPro SD card recovery software such as Stellar Photo Recovery Premium that can restore video and photo files from corrupt SD cards.

Video playback issue is a common complaint among GoPro users. Sometimes, GoPro videos don’t play properly, freeze, or show a black screen. They are jerky or have choppy playback. There are also cases when the videos have no audio.

Most of the time, the issue is related to incompatible system support. For example, your media player or computer may not support GoPro videos recorded using high-quality HEVC settings. The other reason could be the corruption in the GoPro video.

You can do the following to fix GoPro videos playing choppy or jerky, etc.: Try to play GoPro videos in VLC Media Player. Unfortunately, Windows Media Player doesn’t play 1080p or above-resolution videos.

If the above techniques don’t fix the GoPro video playback problem, the video file is corrupt, and you need Stellar Repair for Video software to fix the playback issue.

Video loss from GoPro SD cards can be due to many reasons like accidental deletion, virus infection, interruption in file transfer, improper SD card handling while inserting or removing cards from the device, and more. In any such scenario, to recover deleted GoPro videos and photos, use a media recovery software – Stellar Photo Recovery. It scans the memory card for lost and deleted video/ photo files and restores them with their original name, date, and timestamp. Ensure you do not use the SD card after file loss, as it will overwrite the data.

If your GoPro videos are not opening and showing errors such as ‘Can’t play video,’ ‘File not found,’ error code 0xc00d36c4, etc., your file is corrupt. It can be due to obsolete video drivers on your PC, malware, improper file transfer, etc. You can repair any corrupt MP4 or MOV video file from GoPro HERO5, HERO6, Fusion, or other models using Stellar Repair for video software on your Mac or Windows PC. You may also once try to fix the GoPro video error with VLC Media Player as the player also has a video repair feature that sets minor corruption issues.

GoPro can withstand extreme temperatures. But some HERO 6 and HERO 7 users complained about the camera freezing when the device is underwater or at a high altitude. The problem is temporarily resolved by removing and reinserting the battery.

If you are facing such a problem, update the GoPro camera software. If your camera is in a frozen state at present, try to reset it by holding the ‘Mode’ button for 10 seconds. Next, hold the top ‘Shutter’ button. Then, on the HERO Session/ HERO4 Session camera. Before doing this, turn off WiFi and GPS, and remove any battery BacPac and all other connections.

HERO3 cameras usually run into this problem. You can do the following to fix the problem for any GoPro camera. First, remove and reinsert the GoPro battery. Next, press the Power button to power on the camera. The update should now be completed. If this doesn’t help, update the camera manually.

If the export fails every time at the same point, the section of that video file may be corrupt. You can trim that section from the video to fix the issue or use video repair software to repair the corrupt GoPro video.

You want to edit your video footage in GoPro Studio on your computer. But the videos won’t import into the GoPro Studio interface. You may see an error message like ‘Unable to play the file. The filemay be corrupted or in an unsupported format’or nothing happens as you select and import the video file.

Suppose you see the error ‘Unable to play the file. File may be corrupted or in an unsupported format,’ then update your Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA graphics card. Also, make sure it is compatible with GoPro Studio.

Import the file into the correct ‘Step’ in GoPro Studio. For example, MP4 files of GoPro cameras are imported in Step 1: View & Trim, whereas files converted into GoPro Cineform AVI or MOV format are imported into Step 2: Edit.

If you still face issues, check if the videos are playing in VLC Player or QuickTime to rule out any corruption issues. To repair corrupt or damaged GoPro MP4 or MOV videos, use video repair software.

It happens because you may not have adequately updated your GoPro software to function with the Battery BacPac. Update your camera software again to fix the audio problem in HERO.

Video files imported into the computer using GoPro Quik app for Windows Desktop sometimes don’t play. It may be because your MP4 video files are large, so that they couldn’t be completely transferred, or there was an abrupt interruption during file transfer due to which the videos got damaged. Use a GoPro video repair tool, and see if you can fix such corrupt MP4 video files on the computer.

Are you facing a ‘quick battery drain’ problem in your GoPro camera? It could be because of too many features on your camera at a time, like voice control, WiFi, GPS, etc. So turn off all the parts if not in use.

The very low temperature in a cold environment can also drain the battery faster, for instance, when the camera is underwater or during snowfall. So keep the camera in a warm place. Also, if your GoPro camera battery is very old, it will drain faster. So replace it with a new one.

The high-end GoPro cameras are not free from technical hiccups. To avoid GoPro camera errors and video playback issues, it is essential to keep your camera software updated and use the SD card recommended by the manufacturer for various camera models.

You can use the professional Stellar video recovery software to recover and repair corrupt videos in uncalled situations related to GoPro video loss or corruption.

Both these models are the latest additions into GoPro family with so many advanced features. You will be glad to hear about their waterproof body that can go under water even without external housing, it can control things via voice command and so many features are added to imaging specs. With so many updated features, there are still few things that make these cameras stand different from each other. If you are little confused about which one of these devices can fulfill your requirements in best possible manner then it is good to go for the review below.

Both these cameras are very small in size with compact look, but Hero5 Black is little larger than the other unit. This significant variation in size is just because of the added 2 inch touch screen type display and it is probably one of the most interesting features in the Hero5 Black. The addition of touch screen has made this device much easier to use. This time you need not to read those typical instruction manuals to control things from your camera. The easy navigation feature will provide you everything at one terminal with touch screen. The Hero5 Black model also consists of 3 control buttons that helps in quick adjustment of settings on small LCD panel.

Both these units can be controlled easily from smart phones using the wireless connectivity feature. On the other side, if we talk about battery then Hero5 Black comes with a larger battery backup with its 1220mAh design whereas the other one possesses only 1000mAh. In case of Hero5 you have to save your battery power till the time your shoot is over but the other one comes with removable battery so you can use the spare one during your long tours. The one more similarity between both these devices is in terms of waterproofing as they can serve up to same depth with housing as well as without housing.

The resolution sensor is much higher in Hero5 Black as compared to Hero5 session that also serves with low light image capturing facility. This camera serves with 12Mp resolution for stills whereas the other one possesses only 10MP. The extra 2 MP resolution can serve with amazing clarity and also have much higher ISO limit as that of Session device. Users are also able to enjoy the built in HDR mode with the flagship model. One of the most important aspects is that Hero5 Black can help users to get raw images that can be post processed for much better and customized results.

Both these cameras: Hero5 Black as well as Hero5 Session are capable enough to capture 4k video resolution with a frame rate of 30fps. Other than this users can switch these devices to 2.7K, 1080p, 1440p, 720p and 920p resolutions. The bit rate can go as high as up to 60Mbps and some of the additional features are auto image rotation facility and video looping. Other then this both these devices are having GoPro Protune advanced software.

Professionals say that the video recording abilities of GoPro Hero4 Black are much superior to that of Hero5 session; it can be in terms of image resolution and frame rates that improve speed of videos. The black is capable enough to serve users with higher quality as well as it possesses much flexible controls.

The audio features of Hero5 Black and Hero5 Silver are almost similar and they can assist video creators in clear voice levels. It is possible to connect external microphones to both these devices via 3.5mm Audio Jack, the mono capabilities are rated as 48 KHz and AAC compression technology is added to both these units. The advanced multi band type AGC is also an appreciable addition to these cameras.

GoPro Plus: Both these cameras can be controls via GoPro Plus application that runs over cloud. It assists them to save all recordings directly on cloud using GoPro Plus account. You can avail free trial version of this application for two months whereas the full featured original application is available with a monthly subscription payment of $4.99 only.

GPS:The Hero5 Black consists of active GPS control but this feature is not accessible in case of Hero5 Session. It helps users to set geo-tag to all captured images and videos same as that of smart phones. It simply makes your video footage ready to upload by generating tags whenever necessary.

You have to keep your budget high for both these devices, but in case if your range is below this level then it is better to go for GoPro Hero Session that offers so many amazing features with $100 less. And it is so small that you can fix it to almost any places you want, like helmet or under your saddle.

In tech, two years is a long time to wait for a new product, but that’s how long GoPro took to introduce the Hero5 Black ($399), and naturally, expectations were high.