GoPro - HERO7 Black

I've had * Hero 3 White * Hero 4 Silver * Hero 7 Black * Max (1) * Hero 12 Black and I still have all but the 3 white. The 3 white was the only 'bad' one I think, one where the camera really didn't live up to the hype for me and hence I upgraded quite quickly. As for my favourite? In the context of when they came out the 7 felt the most incredible, it really was a big jump with the stabilisation. But I probably shot most of my coolest footage on either the 4 Silver or the Max, just because of the time in my life I was using them and the novelty of 360 footage at the time.

Reliability, price to performance proposition. At first when I got the Hero 7 Black, I thought the same. Great image, great stabilization, set your expectations correctly and it will do the job it was designed for. . .and then the over heating, cpuffy batteries, app connectivity problems, features missing from previous iterations, glitchy cameras turning off randomly, not recording or saving the file, freezing, very expensive and inferior two 35

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 wouldn't necessarily say hate. But I'd switch to DJI I think when I need a new one. My gopro's have always been buggy, the app sucks and never connects and I had a waterproof one die on me and somehow leak. So I don't trust them being waterproof. DJI seems better in low light and I kind of preffered the image. Though saying that I saw a blind test of gopro, dji and Insta360, and surprisingly I still liked the gopro image a tiny bit more. But for being consistently buggy (freezing up, randomly shutting down - always at the worst moments) I'd rather swap and try out a different brand at least for the next one. But Gopro's don't seem to have had any major upgrades in a while. I still have my 7 and 9.

Objectively the 7th gen gopro looks better. But that makes sense. Less distortion and the GoPro is able to utilize its full resolution for the image. I’m not sure if action mode means single lens mode, but by the images you provided I wouldn’t say the X5 is better. The edges of the X5 image is incredibly soft. A bit disappointing considering that GoPro is now up to the hero 13 and releasing the hero 14 this September (2025). I still think insta360 is the leader in consumer 360 products. But if you’re not interested in reframing a standard action camera will always perform better.

You are supposed to remove the front lens cover from the GoPro when you put it into the waterproof housing. It’s not going to fit if you don’t remove that. If you are looking at the GoPro from the front, twist the square lens cap cover hard to the left. It should unscrew off. Then it will fit inside of the housing. At least, that’s how it works on my hero seven black. Source: I’ve used a hero 7 black for many years

An iPhone 17 pro would be far, far better than a GoPro. GoPro is intended to be an action camera, meaning it’s great for video. It *absolutely sucks* for still photography, especially smaller stuff or macro. I will note that if you plan on using your iPhone, please make sure that you have AppleCare+, or a separate rider on your homeowner/renter’s insurance. Given a long enough timeline, every housing fails. All it can take is a piece of your hair falling on the seal as you close it to end up with a flooded case and totally ruined phone. Last, always back your phone up before you go diving (or at least, before your trip, assuming that you’re OK with the possibility of losing anything added that isn’t also in the cloud since your last backup). Oh yeah, and have a game plan for how you will communicate if your phone does flood - for example, bring along an unlocked older gen iPhone to use until you can get yours replaced. As others have mentioned, you need a light source if you want to have the best results. The fact that you have a new phone doesn’t change that. As you descend further underwater, certain colors (like red) gradually disappear - that’s just physics for you.. a new phone won’t magically add that red back into the water. So yes, if you plan on shooting ambient light photos deeper than snorkeling depth, you’ll need a light source or red filter. Or an app like dive+ to do post processing in. If you have the money, I’d recommend a used Olympus tg6 and backscatter mf2 strobe for macro and small critters. Pt059 housing. It’s the best combination of quality and affordability.

For video I use my GoPro without lights then run it through the dive+ app. Sometimes I use my tg6 if I need to zoom, but for the most part, video = GoPro. If you check out my posts from around March to June of this year, and a year before that around the same time, you can see various shots with both devices. Actually, I’ll just link a sample of a few of them below. Regarding your friend, without seeing the video, I can’t really comment… But most of my GoPro video are natural light. I use a strobe that has a guideline, but it’s not powerful enough for a video work. Not unless it’s super small critters. If you usually shoot video, yeah, I would go with something like a GoPro, DJI osmo, or insta 360. I haven’t really seen many videos shot on an iPhone underwater, but of the few that I have, I do remember the quality being pretty good.. so if I had to answer, I would say that you could pick either/or. Although one of the benefits of the GoPro in my opinion is that you can throw it on some pair of cord with a bolt snap, and then just clip it off to a d-ring when it’s not being used. That’s how mine is set up, so I don’t have to think about it. Here’s what it looks like: https://imgur.com/a/yclKbMG One of the drawbacks to GoPro is that you can’t really do much in terms of optical zoom - whereas with a iPhone, you can. So an iPhone would definitely be more versatile if you’re going to do stuff like small seahorses and also large manta rays. GoPros generally are best for wide angle videos, not small stuff. Edit: GoPro 7 with dive+ processing: https://www.reddit.com/r/scuba/s/fGUw8MIpaT Tg6 video with dive+ processing: https://www.reddit.com/r/scuba/s/Xvj8FEWy4o Tg6 macro photos with mf2 strobe: https://www.reddit.com/r/nudibranch/s/iSzO8AJhEu Tg6 small critters with some macro + mf2 strobe: https://www.reddit.com/r/scuba/s/PlQgpBBuyP

Oh me too, in Motosports tho. One thing the later GoPro's offer is the 8:7 sensor. And the 12/13 have GPlog in 10 bit which is the flattest available log file from an Action Camera, helping grading..around 13 F-stops, tested. GoPros generally save in HEVC but can be output in ProRes via GoPro player. I think your 7 offers H.264 as well. Prores from GoPro Player could help minimize surplus re-compressions. The 7 does around 78 Mbps in 4K...the 13 can do close to 300 Mbps on a good card, or even All-I (first and only action cam that can do that).

Guy on YouTube (not paid by camera company) put a GoPro Max 2 low light capture thru Davinci Resolve Studio. Noticeable change? A Hero black is a bit more capable here, more resolution too. This is easy to do! I use Resolve Studio but have never done this. I'd just use a vlogging camera or mirrorless instead. Would not use those for action tho. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvwuvD3uqac](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvwuvD3uqac) https://preview.redd.it/b9yju5wlrf9g1.jpeg?width=2500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23bc6dcdee14d08def7440d3c0108a10478b55cd

Please don't buy a cheap camera, if you can find a second hand GoPro for around 100 I'd recommend the Hero 7 Black, its still an awesome camera and you might find one within your budget.

I can share them, but I dunno how helpful they'll be? I've designed them specifically to mount to my bike and its geometry. I don't think it'll help translate to other bikes very well, however if you know fusion360 or another CAD program I'm happy to share those files and you could modify it? They're also camera specific, so the footage above is from a gopro 7 black, but I now run an 11 black that sits on the front of the stem and an 11 mini that's at the rear, it's like a box it sits in but with a lock bar and heat inserts to keep it from flying out, but yeah other cameras wouldn't fit in it. I would worry if I only had the finger clamp bit to lock onto the plastic may break.

I would get at least a Hero 5 black if you use an external software for stabilization, and at least a 7 black to rely on the base stabilization.