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FIRST LOOK: GoPro HERO8 Black

10 December 2019

FIRST LOOK: GoPro HERO8 Black

 

It certainly felt like the HERO7 had only just been announced when we heard that the HERO Black was here, but even a quick glance at this new model reveals that things have changed quite significantly this time around. For starters, gone are the days of needing an external mounting frame in order to mount your GoPro on anything at all. The classic two-pronged GoPro mounting points are now built into the body of the camera itself and flip out when you need them. This means that although the HERO8 by itself is very slightly heavier than its predecessor, when you take into account the lack of a mounting frame, it’s actually 14% lighter. Not having a frame also means you also have access to your battery and card door at all times, so less faffing when you need to change batteries.

GoPro are also releasing “Mods” in the coming months which enhance the versatility even further. The main Mod – the Media Mod – adds an improved microphone, 3.5mm mic input, HDMI output and two cold shoe mounting points. Onto these cold shoes you can add additional Mods, of which there are currently two. One adds an LED video light, the other an LCD screen and together they make the HERO8 into quite a neat little vlogging camera.

Inside, GoPro have added a host of tweaks to many of the camera’s shooting modes but the big deal is Hypersmooth 2.0. If you are familiar with Hypersmooth on the HERO7 then you will know how impressive it is at smoothing out all of those small judders and shakes you get from a body mounted camera. On the HERO8, Hypersmooth now works in every framerate setting, not just a select few, and you can take things even further with a setting called Hypersmooth Boost. This feature crops in slightly on your frame, but delivers, quite frankly, an incredible level of stabilisation – GoPro go as far as calling it “gimbal-level”.

The GoPro HERO8 really is an awesome action cam, and they have fiddled with the menu system too, making it easier than ever to control. If you have not tried one out, you definitely should, especially as there are so many different mounting options that you can strap one of these to pretty much anything.

One word of caution. Certain accessories, like the Super Suit for the HERO7, will not fit the HERO8 so you will need to make sure that what you have is right. Similarly with batteries, things have changed slightly with the HERO8, and although older batteries from the HERO7 will work, GoPro says that some features may not work as expected. They don’t tell us what features, or how they are affected, but consider yourself warned!

GoPro HERO8 Black - First Look