New GoPro Hero 7 Review: They’ve stepped it up more than just a notch

I’m not a mountain biker, or snowboarder, surfer, or frankly much of an outdoors type.  But I sure do appreciate the power of that tiny little camera that has changed the way we film – the GoPro.  I’ve stuck many on the side of cars and inside cars for videos, and they are bloody amazing.  The latest Hero 7 Black though – next level stuff.

Stable Images

Image Stabilisation is without question it’s big claim to fame – so let me demonstrate as best I could in the short space of time I’ve had with the camera:

Now GoPro tell me that they had a lot of great feedback from their Karma Grip image stabilisation gimbal – the one released the same time as their now ill-fated drone.

But it was big, bulky and hard to use.  So they’ve worked hard to introduce “Gimbal like” stabilisation.

From the promotional videos I saw, it’s bloody amazing.  From what I shot on top of my little RC car, its bloody good.

There will be limitations – for example, it’s all software based, so when I strapped the GoPro to the RC car with the front of the car in shot – it didn’t really stabilise the surroundings, because it was working to stabilise the car itself.  Bottom line though, its better stabilisation than I’ve seen in any other camera.

Time Warp

The second big feature in the Hero 7 Black is a motion timelapse video format GoPro are calling “TimeWarp”.  It’s a high speed “magic carpet ride” and will make for some cracking good walk-through videos of crowds or stunning scenic locations

Go Live

You can now live broadcast, directly from your GoPro.  This is cool.  Easy to setup through Facebook, you use the GoPro app on your phone to program in the stream details and the connection.  So you don’t need your phone and the app open to stream, you just initiate the connection – perhaps tell the Camera to use your own WiFi network or hotspot, then let it do its thing.

A really great thing, and very well executed.

Sharing

Social sharing is improved too, with new direct to instagram story style sharing capabilities in the App – plus, it may just be me or the new camera and app, but the app just works so much easier, automatically dropping new photos and videos into my phone.

The Hero 7 Black also has a “short clips” mode, which stops the camera from just recording minute after minute of video – it’s 15-30 seconds and you’re done!

Portrait Mode

Because Instagram is where it’s happening, and “Insta Stories” are proving to be very popular – you can now tilt your GoPro sideways and record “vertical video”.  The front info screen on the GoPro rotates too, as do all the controls.  Very nifty.

User Interface

Perhaps admitting they went a step too far with the User Interface on the touch screen for the Hero 5 and 6, the’ve simplified everything in the Hero 7.  Switching between video, photo, timewarp modes is a swipe left or right on screen.

Settings for resolution and such are on screen and are a tap or two away from changing.  It is much more intuitive without doubt.

The Hero 7 “Range”

There are three cameras, and FINALLY they look different.  The White (looks grey), the Silver (looks a darker grey) and the Black (looks Black) will be priced at $299, $499 and $599.  You’ve basically got there at 1080HD camera, a 4K camera, and a 4K Camera with a whole host of extra bells and whistles – like TimeWarp and the HyperShot stabilisation.

They go on sale next Friday the 27th.