GoPro has announced its new HERO13 Black, along with a new mini camera called the HERO. Can they help maintain the company's reputation in an increasingly crowded action camera field?
GoPro has been under pressure to keep up with the ever increasing competition in the action camera segment. With companies like DJI producing products that offer a real alternative, it was imperative that GoPro pulled a proverbial rabbit out of the hat for this year's release. Has it succeeded?
The ultimate proof of whether the HERO13 Black can still hold out to the competition will reside in the testing, which we'll be bringing you soon. But, from what we've now seen, the HERO13 Black would appear to have made enough advances to keep a wide range of users happy. Additionally, GoPro has announced a new HERO camera alongside it, which fulfils a similar role to the HERO11 Mini, albeit with a user friendly rear touch screen for framing and control.
The two most notable new features on the camera itself is the new battery design and finally, a magnetic mounting system.
Battery life is incredibly important to action camera users, and while GoPro has been improving things over time, it has taken things a step further this year by redesigning the battery to be higher capacity and more efficient. The result is that the new camera can record over an hour and a half in 5.3K 30P modes, and 2.5 hours in 1080/30p.
The magnetic mount system is something that users have been demanding for a few years now, and finally it has come to fruition. GoPro said that it has been trying to find a solution that still allows for the use of the standard fingers and 1/4" screw mount, as well as the new magnetic system. It's a very welcome development, and one that will make switching between mounting points much faster and convenient than the traditional thumb screw method.
Related to the new battery system, GoPro has also introduced an optional new charging door to the camera, called Contacto, which can be connected to a magnetic charging connector. What's great about this is that not only is charging made a bit easier, it is also fully waterproof at the connection point. So, for example, you could connect a long cable to the magnetic charging door, and submerge the camera in water while powering it from a land based power pack. This feature will also make any future fully waterproof version of the Volta handle system a realistic proposition, too.
While the above features are in my opinion, some of the most important, most of the flagship announcements relate to new lens mod choices. If you're familiar with recent GoPros, you'll be aware of the Max Lens Mod, which gives the camera an ultra-wide POV with full 360 horizon levelling. Last year, the Max Lens Mod 2.0 was introduced, increasing the FOV even further, as well as adding more environmental protection and strength.
This year sees the introduction of not only a new Ultra-Wide Lens Mod, but a whole series of new lens attachments, which GoPro is calling the HB Lens series. More notably, they are all 'smart', meaning that the camera automatically recognises which of them has been attached and switches the camera to the correct mode. Previously, users had to manually tell the camera that the lens mod was attached, so this feature alone adds a whole ton of convenience while using them.
The new lens attachments include the aforementioned Ultra-Wide, but also now a Macro Lens, an Anamorphic Lens, and a series of ND filters.
I'll come to the macro lens in a moment, but the ND filters are some of the most interesting. Unlike third party NDs of the past the camera not only recognises which ND has been attached, but it optimises the shutter speed so that you achieve natural motion blur without sacrificing HyperSmooth stabilisation performance. If the ND that you attach is too strong or too weak, the camera will recommend using a stronger or weaker filter.
The Macro Lens Mod also introduces a lot more creative options to the mix. It gives the camera manual close focus abilities, along with peaking to assist in achieving a sharp image. The Macro Lens is still wide, but it means the camera can be used to get shots that simply weren't possible before, such as close-ups of faces during activities, close-ups of bicycle gears working etc.
When the lens is close focussed, shallow depth of field is introduced, giving an entirely new look for action camera shooting. One of the other beauties of using the Macro Lens is that focus can also be set to infinity and the camera can then be used as normal, so for many situations you won't have to keep attaching it and removing it.
The Anamorphic Lens Mod, which is slated for release in 2025, is also pretty interesting. As the name suggests, this gives the GoPro a wide 'scope' image, complete with the requisite light flares you'd expect. Again, it's a whole new look for camera of this type. Although third party attachments have been available in the past, the convenience of the camera recognising the attachment automatically and performing the de-squeeze in-camera, makes this a much more attractive proposition.
The new Ultra-Wide Lens Mod adds the smart recognition functionality, but otherwise remains similar to the Max Lens Mod 2.0. Although when it is attached to the HERO13 Black it adds a 1:1 ratio mode for flexible reframing in post, which is slightly taller than the 8x7 ratio, allowing for slightly more flexible reframing in post.
Okay, so those were the main headline features, but there were some other new nuggets as well. The most notable of these was the slow-motion burst mode. It's been known that the sensor inside the HERO11, 12, and now 13, since all use the same chip, is capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions. GoPro has decided to enable these for burst video capture at very high frame rates. For example, you can capture 400fps at 720p resolution for 5-seconds, 15-seconds of 900fps at 360p, and 15-seconds of 120fps in 5.3K.
Ultra-high frame rates are possible on other action cameras, but the reduction of practical resolution means that the quality makes the image unusable for anything but a phone screen. Hopefully, these settings will still offer an overall higher quality on the GoPro, without compression artefacts and other issues that can affect cameras that I've seen in the past with similar modes. Another addition that some users have been crying out for is a true HLG recording mode, and GoPro has also obliged with this addition, too.
WiFi-6 also is now included for a claimed 60% increase in wireless footage transfer speeds. GPS has thankfully now been reinstated, too. Unfortunately, there was no mention of fast charging within the camera itself, although a new battery eco-system has been introduced, with new charging pods and accessories.
Regarding continuous runtime, GoPro is open about the fact that the new camera will still have a thermal shutdown if particular modes are used for extended periods. However, it did say that it has made gains in extending those runtimes over the HERO12 Black by over 60% in some cases.
The HERO13 Black will retail for $399.
One more thing. Alongside the HERO13, GoPro also announced the HERO. The HERO takes a similar concept to the old Session cameras and the HERO11 Mini. The HERO is tiny, being around the same size as an AirPods case. Unlike the Session and HERO11 Mini, it has a rear LCD touch screen for framing and interface control.
The small size and light weight makes it ideal for helmet mounting, and with the built in lens having an FOV of 165-degrees, it will be perfect for immersive POV shots without the need for the Ultra-Wide Lens Mod or Max Lens Mod.
Just like the Session and 11 Mini, the HERO has a no replaceable built in battery. Although it is claimed that it can still record 1.5hrs of 5.3K/30P footage, which is a significant leap over those cameras.
It wasn't clear whether the HERO would work with the new magnetic mount, but from the images I've seen it doesn't look like it does, which is a bit of a shame. The great thing is that it costs $199, and for users who do not need all the extra in-depth functionality of the full blown HERO13 Black, it will make for a very cost effective, and unobtrusive alternative. The HERO will be available from the 22nd Sept 2024.
When the time for the announcement approached, I have to admit to feeling a little cautious, mainly because I knew that the HERO13 would be still be using the 10nm process GP2 processor. With rivals moving to much small processes, and hence better thermal performance and battery life, it was obvious to all that GoPro would have its work cut out.
It is very likely that there'll be a GP3 chip in next year's camera, but for now it would appear that GoPro has come up with the goods and is offering some very compelling additions to the line, as well as making noticeable improvements to battery life and thermal performance.
The new Lens Mods won't be for everyone, but it would appear that GoPro has recognised that there is a distinct market for action camera users who are using their cameras more creatively, and hence want a lot more versatility and adaptability, and those who just want to shoot without fuss, hence the announcement of the HERO.
With internet rumours strongly suggesting an announcement from DJI incoming soon, the action camera market is about to get very competitive once again!