GoPro - HERO5 Session (CHDHS-502)

Basic summary is the X5 is out for obvious reasons (curved lenses don't work great underwater), the Action 5 tends to overdo the "blue" correction and isn't always accurate to the real colors, and sometimes loses sharpness in some scenarios. The AcePro's colors are better, but the highlights tend to be quite soft which removes some of the punch from the image. It also loses sharpness in some scenarios. The GoPro tends to have the most accurate colors and the best overall sharpness in these tests.

For me GoPro always had the best mic/audio balance. insta always sounded baseless and sucked at eliminating wind noise as well

Hero 3 Silver has a special place in my heart. Hero 5 was the first to really WOW me.

I opted for a GoPro session mounted on my chin with sugru. Press once and it starts no issues.

Unpopular opinion maybe, but gopro puts out great quality underwater footage. It depends what you're using it for and what you want to film though. I'd encourage you to go look up recent gopro 4k underwater footage and you'd be surprised how crisp and sharp the images are, even without additional lights or gear. If you're looking for close up macro shots it's not the best (although it can still take great stills or you can also simply extract a still from 4k footage). I can't count the number of times I've seen people commenting on amazing shots here and asking what camera was used, only to be surprised that it was actually just a still frame from a gopro video. Is it the best for making professional quality prints or video? Probably not. Does it put out great quality non-professional video for a vacation diver? Absolutely. If you're okay with the quality of iphone videos, you'll likely be okay with the quality of gopro videos. The most important thing if you're filming video is image stabilization, which gopro is best of class at for non-professionals. There's nothing worse than shaky cam footage underwater and it's really good at producing smooth footage even for beginners. If you want to up your gopro game, you can still do it on a budget by adding a good tray (don't buy a handle) and two lights. I use a backscatter tray with 2x Orcatorch D710Vs. It's very decent and hard to beat at the price range. Sky's the limit on price if you want to look at more premium options. The best part is that I can fit it all in a regular sized backpack, which is something you can't do with nearly any other underwater camera options. I'm, also not worried about it getting banged around as they're built like tanks. Lastly there's a huge market of used gopros too if you really want to buy something on a budget.

I think the way to look at it, is that GoPro was so far ahead for so long, there was no real competition for them for over a decade. Even DJI had GoPro mounts built in when the Phantom 1 came along. Historically, GoPro perfected their 1080P then moved to 2.7k on the Hero 3 Black. They had the best 4k on the Hero 4 Black. Then they made the whole camera waterproof and added the built in touchscreen on the Hero 5 Black, then they went 4k 60 with moderate stabilization on the Hero 6 black, built a tiny camera on the Session 4 and 5. With the Hero 7 black, they finally got stabilization in camera that started to compete with 3 axis gimbals. On the 8 they had the mount built in so you didn't have to have a frame and changed to a larger form factor with the Hero 9 black and got resolution to 5.3k. They perfected features like Timewarp and Hyperlapse where all the work was done in camera instead of post. They made GoPro labs available for most of their cameras and gave amazing levels of customization that no other cameras have even to this day. Then they really started to stagnate and features were more incremental and evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Sure they had the 8:7 sensor and got video resolution up to 24.7 megapixels, but they still use a tiny sensor and low light performance is still very bad. They also had to deal with the rise of DJI and Insta360 who started to release competing products. Dji matched 10 bit the same year as GoPro, The Action 5 and Ace Pro 2 use much larger sensors and do much better in low light. GoPro was late to the party with magnetic mounting systems and Insta360 even put 8k into their Ace Pro versions. Insta360 has the Ace Pro Line, their Go series mini camera and even had the modular R series which could be an action cam or a 360 camera. In the time since GoPro released the Max, Insta360 has released 5 consumer grade 360 cameras that get better each year and now do 8k. We have no idea when the Max 2 will be released. GoPro stock is hovering around 50 cents a share and the market cap of the entire company is only 75 million dollars. It used to be almost 11 billion dollars, so it is 145 times smaller than it was shortly after the company went public. They have had to lay off staff and that has a huge impact on R&D. They are clearly falling behind competitors with no real path forward. Depending on which site you listen to, they rate the probability of bankruptcy at 33 to 62% in the next 24 months. That is not the sign of a healthy company. They botched the launch of their Karma drone and ceded that potential marketplace to DJI in the process. The reality is that the DJI and Insta360 cameras do a lot of things better and much easier. Low light is a real thing for a lot of people and the Action 5 and Ace Pro do a very good job in the space and GoPro isn't on the same playing field. I love the new GoPro lens system, but I am an advanced user and have been using ND filters, Anamorphic lenses, and macro lenses for years with the GoPro. The new anamorphic lens is great because it does the desqueeze of your footage automatically in camera. What is annoying is that they announced the lens in September of 2024 and I was finally able to get it 7 months later. GoPro is a great camera, but for many people who never touch labs, don't care about 10 bit or color grading, never do reframing 8:7, like to shoot in lower light conditions, or won't spend the $129 on an anamorphic lens, the GoPro is not really the camera for them. Insta360 are releasing much better cameras each year and GoPro is falling further behind. I really want GoPro to come back strong, but I fear they don't have the finances to compete unless they have an absolutely amazing technical breakthrough in the action camera space.

I have my GoPro 5 Session… no needs nothing more than stabilizer… with low light works like every newer models, When they launch a gopro that really works at night I will update!! : ) nobody have 8k TVs or can look vids in 8k in social networks…

Session 5 my beloved

Hey all! I’m AOWD beach holiday diver (1-2 times a year, total of about 80 dives). Have been using an oooold GoPro 5 or 6 for years now and would like to upgrade - so, the question. I generally film the bigger stuff and not at photography level for macro. Dive case seems like a good plan, as you can add accessories AND the camera will automatically upgrade with the new phones. GoPro is just an easy choice and something familiar. What do you guys think?

Oh, that’s a great point - have so many videos of half a shark cause I pointed the GoPro slightly off!

Hero 5 Session is my favourite action camera of all time - lightweight, (some) image stabilisation, sturdy as hell and decent 2.7K image. Also, it's basically invisible to others when you're using it to film yourself, due to the size and shape, so it doesn't attract attention. It's such a shame that there was never a new generation after that H5S, or that anyone else made one in that form factor. I remember there was a rumour, something to do with a legal injunction as someone else had a patent for a similar device, which now blocks everyone, including GoPro, from using that shape. If there was a new generation of Session I wouldn't hesitate to snap it up. I've had three before but the battery always dies out and replacing it is a massive pain that involves tearing the camera apart and then soldering a new battery into it. I don't trust myself to do that competently.