GOPRO HERO7 BLACK
There are reasons GoPro has been at the top for so long, and they’re all here
Menus are simple to use, with intuitive gestures that are easily picked up
Instead of trying to deliver ever-higher resolutions or more frames per second, GoPro’s latest flagship focuses more on making your videos less shaky. The result is a new technology called HyperSmooth: built-in electronic stabilisation that enables you to ditch the gimbal and capture smooth, professional-looking footage all the time. You do still get 4K video at a slick 60fps, of course, as well as 8x slo-mo at Full HD. Crucially, the image quality is excellent, with vibrant colours and great dynamic range. The higher bit-rate and advanced colour profile option are welcome news for pros.
HyperSmooth works incredibly well, and doesn’t present any of the traditional warping or artefacts found on older GoPros. It is, just about, the best auto-smoothing on the market so far, but it’s not so far out in front of the DJI Osmo Action that it’s a clear winner – it’s just a teeny, tiny bit more natural.
One of our other favourite features on the Hero7 Black is the ability to record TimeWarp videos, which uses GoPro’s image stabilisation to create handheld, moving timelapses. These are ideal to set the scene, convey time passing, or to add variety to an edited video.
To accompany the improved video options, audio recording capabilities have also been boosted here. The
built-in microphones are able to capture more dynamic range (deeper lows, higher highs), and there’s built-in processing that targets and eliminates vibration sounds.
Just like the Hero6, there’s a touchscreen on the rear of the Hero7 Black. However, the user interface has been completely redesigned. The menus, modes and settings are now much more simple to use, with intuitive gestures that can be easily picked up by anyone. You’ve also got voice control, which is really handy when you can’t physically reach the camera or are wearing gloves.
When you connect to the GoPro smartphone app you’ll have another cool feature to play with: live streaming. You can send video directly to Facebook Live or YouTube (via your smartphone’s internet connection).
Impressively, all of these new features have been crammed into a case the exact same size and shape as its predecessor, and that casing feels that little bit more premium than the plasticky DJI Osmo Action. The Hero7 Black is waterproof to 10 metres on its own, or you can expand that to 30 metres with a waterproof housing.