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Innovations, not revolutions: We tested the GoPro HERO 9 | Israel today

2020-09-23T10:56:12.059Z


| ReviewsThe American manufacturer's new extreme camera has several upgrades - like a front screen and particularly impressive stabilization • But has the company really learned the lessons after lukewarm reviews in the past? • Here is the full review Photo: Yinon Ben-Shoshan Last week, the extreme camera maker GoPro announced its flagship camera for 2020, the HERO9 Black.  The launch came with increas


The American manufacturer's new extreme camera has several upgrades - like a front screen and particularly impressive stabilization • But has the company really learned the lessons after lukewarm reviews in the past?

• Here is the full review

  • Photo: Yinon Ben-Shoshan

Last week, the extreme camera maker GoPro announced its flagship camera for 2020, the HERO9 Black. 



The launch came with increasing competition, after chilling reviews of the previous generation, and the American company has high hopes for the new camera.

For this reason, GoPro is making great efforts to add more and more features, and for the first time one can also find a front screen, 5K photography, and improved stabilization.

Design

As mentioned, the most significant change in HERO9 over previous generations, is not necessarily in the quality of photography or software improvement, but in something I asked myself a few years ago how it has not yet been integrated into the camera.

This something is the front screen, which until the previous generation was appallingly simple - in black and green - and displayed the battery indicator, the amount of free memory and the type of photography.

Now, at last, GoPro has heard the cries of users and now you can see yourself on a small screen taking selfies.

Along with it, the main touch screen also grows a bit, but with a slightly disappointing touch for 2020 that cannot be compared to the experience you are familiar with from the smartphone.

The two physical buttons - on / off and shooting - remain in place at the top and side of the camera, along with the two small legs at the bottom of the camera that provide the company's dedicated connection to various accessories.

Impressive stabilization

Because this is an extreme camera - if you shake it while moving, the video will make you mostly dizzy, and for that you will need a stabilizer.

Remember, the company invests in digital image stabilization capabilities (EIS) known as HyperSmooth 3.0 and not optical (OIS), and yet the results are no less perfect ... and probably until you try for yourself you will not understand what it is.

To shoot the videos I used a professional GoPro telescopic pole, and the result is quite impressive mainly due to the fact that no more external accessory is needed for docking.

This means no need to take a gimbal, and even in the running mode the movements were very slight and the video maintained almost perfect stability.

user interface

The operating system still does not support Hebrew, but the entire interface is arranged in a simple way and you can get around the menus quite easily.

On the other hand, I would be happy for an experience that includes a less in-depth search within submenus and dozens of photography options.

Because you can, I just want to shoot video with a click (like on an iPhone).

Quality and shooting conditions

As usual, GoPro provides very high quality video photography, which looks great in daylight, but in more challenging lighting conditions - inside a building for example, it already suffers from noise (grain).

Due to the closure a large part of my tests with the camera I did on the balcony at home, and you can see in the video that in the more shaded areas the quality is less high.

The Hero9 offers 4 shooting modes in 5K quality at a rate of 30 frames per second - Wide, Linear Lens, Narrow, along with the new shooting mode Linear + Horizon Leveling that keeps the image stabilized in any mode.

You can shoot in the same 4K quality at 60 frames per second, and in SuperView mode you can shoot in 4K at 30 frames per second.

In addition, in order to straighten a line in the company, they took inspiration from the smartphone, and as in the previous generation, it is possible to shoot at height.

When you rotate the gopro 90 degrees, the interface rotates on the screens for years - the main and front.

After filming, the video itself is ready in height format and you can publish it in your story.

There are also stills

The images, in the quality of 20 megapixels, come out quite well in daylight, but I think it is better that you take your still photos with any other smartphone, if possible.

On the other hand, if you ski in Austria, ride a bike or dive in the sea - it is better that you use a Hero9 camera.

And what about night photography?

You should know that still, like the previous generation, it seems that the company has not invested too much effort in improving photography in places with problematic or dark lighting conditions.

If you chose to shoot stills with the GoPro, you can of course select the manual mode and control the aperture speed, ISO level and a few other things, to upgrade the image.

In addition, it is also possible to do a digital zoom (but less recommended).

application

Do yourself a favor and take it down.

The connection takes a few seconds and it will save you the clicks on the small and not-really-convenient screen.

You can quickly change the shooting settings, turn recording on or off - and of course click stills.

In addition, it also allows all content to be transferred wirelessly to a smartphone.

The bottom line

For those looking for just a camera with a selfie stick for a trip or a story, the Hero9 will be too expensive, and any smartphone will probably do the same or even better job.

But if you are looking for a small, separate camera from your phone to take high-quality, or of course extreme trips around the world - such as cycling, surfing, mountaineering or skiing - it is the best solution for you.

Source: israelhayom

All tech articles on 2020-09-23

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