IMAGE QUALITY
Aside from its burst and timer settings, the Hero7 Silver only provides a few basic controls over image capture. You can adjust exposure by pressing the LCD where the main subject appears – much as you would on a smartphone – and you can also call upon a spot meter and use the Touch Zoom function to zoom into the scene, but that’s about it.
The level of detail in images is reasonable for such a small sensor, although you probably wouldn’t want to make any enlargements
The level of detail in images is reasonable for such a small sensor, although you probably wouldn’t want to make any enlargements
The WDR system kicks in where necessary, and you can see its attempts to better balance trickier scenes. Scenes with moderate contrast end up very well exposed and it’s good to see plenty of highlight detail retained. The camera also does better than expected in high contrast, although you do need to keep an eye on exposure and compensate for this where necessary.
Details aren’t too bad in high-frequency areas, and close-up subjects fare well, although artefacts are prevalent across flatter areas such as skies, pavements and so on. This becomes more of an issue when using the Touch Zoom function, whereby the zoomed-in image is upsized to bring it up to 10MP. Incidentally, using this feature is the only way to capture images without most of the fisheye-esque distortion from the lens, which is great for expansive scenes but less so for anything with straight lines and edges.
Detail in 4K footage is very good, and artefacts are kept to a minimum, while motion is captured with a pleasing fluidity when the camera is relatively static. Sound quality is also relatively clear and well balanced, without any obvious bias towards bass or treble.
The stabilisation system does a decent job to keep things steady as you move with the camera, although you do tend to see the occasional dropped frame and constantly alternating exposure. The difference between the stabilisation system here and the advanced HyperSmooth feature found inside the Black model is obvious, so if you know you’ll be moving across bumpier land with any frequency you’re better off saving your pennies for that model.
The time-lapse feature is good fun, and you can opt to capture this in either 4K or at a lower resolution in conjunction with the Touch Zoom feature. Slight bumps and movements from whatever the camera is mounted on are more apparent in the footage, although if you’re travelling in or on something that’s moving smoothly, the results are perfectly fine.
The GoPro Hero 7 Silver might not provide the more ambitious user with the kind of control they’d want over capturing their exploits, but it’s easy to use and capable of pleasing results.
GOPRO HERO 7 SILVER
$369 Shop.gopro.com
CRITICAL SPECS
4K video: up to 30fps; 1440p video: up to 60fps; 1080p video: up to 60fps; Still images: 10MP (JPEG only); 2.0-inch touchscreen; Image stabilisation