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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.
What is of more concern though is the USB-C/HDMI port door. This door pops off for placement into the Karma gimbal/drone, as well as just for charging:
So what’s new and notable here? Well we’ll start with the video stabilization. Technically this is ‘electronic image stabilization’, which works by taking a larger resolution video clip (i.e. 4K) and then smoothing the video by offering a reduced resolution rate while stabilized (up to 2.7K). By doing this it essentially stabilizes by cutting the edges off the corners to make the video appear smooth. It’s the same thing that Garmin does on their VIRB Ultra 30 (but the Garmin is limited to 1440 vs the higher 2.7K), but is different than what Sony does with their new X3000R, where they use optical image stabilization. That’s better because it doesn’t crop any of the image.
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[wpsm_highlight color=»blue»]To enable image stabilization, you’ll simply swipe from the right. It’ll warn you about cutting about 10% of the field of view:[/wpsm_highlight]
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For cases where you’ve got some light chop in the roadway, or even for hand holding the unit, image stabilization can dramatically improve things. Though, that’s at the sacrifice of resolution. If your final output product’s 1080p, then it’s largely a no-brainer. Do note that it generally works better when you’re shooting something that has a large portion of the image facing one direction constantly. Versus on a helmet mount, it can get a bit wonky as you move the view around a bunch.
What’s even more interesting though is the ability to record the native audio files from each microphone separately. If you enable ProTune, you’ll see a new option to do this. Within that you have three levels:
All of these were simply taken at room temperature; obviously aspects like environmental temperature will impact things considerably, as will other modes and increased frame rates. But those give you some basic bounds to work within.
Photo mode:
While the Hero7 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.
Now there are technically different photo modes, including the ability to take a burst photo, a series of photos as a timelapse, or night photos. Note that this photo timelapse is separate from the video timelapse option. This produces a crapton of photo files, whereas the video timelapse produces a single video timelapse file.
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.
