GoPro Hero 8 Black Review: Thinner But More Powerful

The GoPro Hero 8 Black is currently the middle child of the action camera lineup of GoPro, above the Hero 7 Black and below the Hero 9 Black. For many, the GoPro Hero 8 Black is the best option for value though they will miss out on the 5K video power. GoPro Hero 8 Black price in India is Rs 36,500. In this post, we will provide you with a detailed GoPro Hero 8 Black review so you can know how the device turns out in the real world.

GoPro Hero 8 Black review: new features

HyperSmooth 2.0

A lot of times, the activities you want to capture with your action camera don’t give you much opportunity to decide on the shot composition, which is why on-camera stabilization and wide-angle lenses are critical. Therefore, GoPro has paid much attention to improving its HyperSmooth video stabilization feature.

Now, HyperSmooth 2.0 is available on all frame rates and resolutions. It comes with 3 stabilization modes: Boost, High, and On. The High and On mode will crop 10% from the wide-angle lens to reduce the bumps and the Boost mode crops tighter to decrease the effects of camera bounces as you’re doing extreme activities. With HyperSmooth 2.0, you will get stabilization for slow-motion videos captured at 240 fps and 120 fps but Boost only works for 60fps videos.

However, the feature still produces some jitteriness in videos, but that doesn’t affect your shots much.

TimeWarp 2.0

This interval photography feature has also received an update that makes it look better in tame lapse videos if the camera is moving. This feature comes in handy when you want to show off the entire sequence of an event without having to edit anything.

Besides, there is now an auto interval detection using an inbuilt accelerometer that adds more frames if there are a lot of actions.

Photo updates

The Go Pro Hero 8 black now offers several photography settings to help you take better pictures instead of using your smartphone. First of all, you will get the LiveBurst mode to capture a series of shots, including 90 frames so that you can pick the best one. You can also save the photo in RAW and the improved HDR mode will generate better images that have a broad contrast range as well as better low-light processing for low-light shots and night timelapse clips.

Capture Presets

These are customizable settings that will let you preset 10 favorite color and image settings for different activities while easily switching between them to save time for you when in the field.

However, when you have been used to the camera, you will realize that higher framerate shots are not good for low-light environments, some photos will look better with different color settings, and wide-angle lenses cannot do the HyperSmooth Boost with high resolutions. All of this can be a bit difficult to manage when you’re in the field. In such cases, Capture Presets will kick in and allow for customizing the camera settings for specific shot types and activities.

Video modes

Compared with the Hero 7 Black, the GoPro Hero 8 Black action camera has the additional Narrow lens perspective that you can use to capture photos and videos of people. The maximum bitrate for 4K and 2.7K has gone up from 75 to 100 Mbps so that high-resolution shots look more professional provided that you have enough memory to store them. Moreover, you can now directly send Livestream feeds in Full HD 1080-pixel resolution to YouTube, Facebook, or other platforms.

GoPro Hero 8 Black review: Design

GoPro has maintained the same rugged specifications since the 5th generation of the Hero series, so how GoPro Hero 8 Black specs are different? The main upgrade is about resistance.

The GoPro Hero 8 Black features a new Corning Gorilla Glass lens cover that offers twice as much impact resistance as that on previous models. Instead of an additional frame, the camera sports two foldable hinges used for mounting it onto a tripod or other mounts. It’s worth noting that the inbuilt mounts have caused the relocation of the battery door to the right edge of the camera. It also comes with a new mechanism to secure the unit with a compression latch.

The GoPro Hero 8 Black is 10 grams heavier than the Hero 7 Black, but narrower and thinner thanks to the inbuilt mounting system.

There is a new forward-facing microphone with a better position that allows it to capture audio from the front. The microphone comes with wind resistance to leave out unwanted noise when you record.

In addition, the camera supports a range of voice commands, you can use either default wake words or customize your own.

The battery of the Hero 8 Black has a larger capacity than the Hero 7 Black, but it also consumes more power. The battery can last for about 50 minutes if you capture non-stop in 4K or 2.K at a high frame rate. However, if you opt for a lower resolution or TimeWarp, it can last for about 2 hours. You can buy backup batteries if you plan to use the camera continuously for a long time to avoid recharging in the middle of your work.

>>> Dell XPS 17 2020 Review: A Large Screen And Lots Of Power