GoPro Hero 8 Black, the GoPro for Vloggers

Oct 2, 2019 Camera, Tech News

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Hero 8 Black, GoPro for Vloggers

The GoPro Hero 8 Black has been officially announced! GoPro has officially announced the long-rumoured Hero8 Black – price tag $399/£379 and a release date of October 15 – which builds on its video capabilities and some of GoPro’s signature technologies.

At first glance, the GoPro Hero 8 Black retains the same traditional body design; however, eagle-eyed GoPro users will notice a slight, yet important, tweak to this design. GoPro has added folding fingers to the body of the Hero8 Black and the Max 360 camera, also announced today.

What this means is that the traditional GoPro mount is now built into the camera and mounts and accessories can now attach directly to the camera itself. You no longer need to use the cage.

This is probably one of the most exciting innovations for GoPro cameras in some time because the folding fingers are also replaceable, which means that you can replace them with your own bespoke mount that bolts directly to the camera. This makes the whole system far more versatile. What’s more, the GoPro Hero 8 Black body is now 14% lighter.

Digital Lens

The Hero8 Black debuts a new digital lens. What this means is that the GoPro Hero8 Black can now offer four different focal length ranges from which to shoot. These are SuperView, which is 16mm; Wide, which is 16-34mm; Linear, which is 19-39mm; and Narrow, which is 27mm.

GoPro Hero 8 Black Audio Improvements

GoPro has revamped the three microphones one the Hero8 Black body. The front mic has been wind-optimised to reduce noise, while all three mics have had high-fidelity audio improvements.

Audio also gets a boost by using the new Media Mod unit, sold separately.

HERO8 Black can also be transformed into a vlogging or production powerhouse with the new modular accessory ecosystem from GoPro. The Mods enable on-demand expansion of HERO8 Black’s capabilities without sacrificing the signature compact ruggedness of the HERO camera design

Key Features GoPro HERO 8 Black:

Streamlined Design – Frameless mounting with built-in folding mounting fingers, more pocketable and 14% lighter. The frameless design also makes changing batteries and SD cards even faster; plus, the lens is now 2x more impact resistant.
HERO8 Black Mods – Vloggers, pro filmmakers and aspiring creators can do more than they ever imagined with quick-loading accessories that bring flashes, microphones, LCD screens and more to HERO8 Black.
HyperSmooth 2.0 – Improved overall baseline performance and dramatically improved stabilisation in pitch-axis movement. HyperSmooth 2.0 also features a new Boost mode that cranks up the stabilisation when desired. Plus, HyperSmooth 2.0 works in all resolutions and frame rates and features in-app horizon levelling.
TimeWarp 2.0 – Automatically adjusts speed based on motion, scene detection and lighting. Tap to slow down to real time and again to speed back up.
Digital Lenses – Toggle between Narrow, Linear, Wide and SuperView.
Capture Presets – Customise up to 10 presets, or use pre-loaded video presets for Standard, Activity, Cinematic and Slo-Mo shots for quick access to settings
On-Screen Shortcuts – Customise your screen with the shortcuts to the features you use most.
LiveBurst – Record the moments 1.5 seconds before and after your shot, so you can choose the best single frame for the perfect 12-MP photo or share an amazing 4K 4:3 video.
SuperPhoto with improved HDR – Capture killer 12-MP photos with improved HDR – while in motion or stationary – with reduced blur and serious detail even in low-light areas.
Pro-Quality 4K60 + 1080p240 Video – Stunning video resolution, with studio-quality bit rate options of up to 100 Mbps and 8x slo-mo ultra-high frame rate 1080p240 video.
RAW in All Photo Modes – RAW mode delivers the most flexibility and is now available for time lapse and burst photos.
Night Lapse Video – Capture amazing time lapse videos at night in 4K, 2.7K 4:3, 1440p or 1080p, all processed in-camera.
Live Streaming in 1080p – Get HyperSmooth stabilisation as you broadcast via the GoPro app and save footage to your SD card to check out later.
Voice Control – Go hands-free with 14 voice commands in 15 languages and dialects; “GoPro, take a photo”.
Advanced Wind-Noise Reduction – Enjoy crisper, clearer audio quality with a new front mic location and improved algorithms that actively filter out wind noise.
Rugged and Waterproof – Waterproof without a housing to 10 m.
GPS-Enabled – Track speed, distance and elevation, then highlight them by adding stickers to videos in the GoPro app.
Transfer to Phone – Your photos and videos transfer automatically when connected to the GoPro app for on-the-go sharing.