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Yes, it’s action cam season. Sony’s entered the market, Contour has updated its line with the Contour+2. But what about the latest from the brand that’s come to define the category—the Kleenex of action cams, if you will?
We’ve been putting GoPro’s highly anticipated Hero 3 Black edition through some rigorous testing. And it seems pretty safe to say it’s still at the top of a very rugged mountain.
Disclaimer: The software on the Hero 3 was not yet final. Some features were missing, and the smartphone apps were not yet available for testing. Its rating is subject to change.
GoPro’s most feature-packed action camera to date.
Boarders of all types, skiers, bikers, drivers, divers, base jumpers; you get the picture. Basically anyone who spends time outside, and wants to share it with the world.
From the front, the Hero 3 looks a hell of a lot like the old Hero 2, with a larger, slightly higher-up lens. Peep it from the side, though, and you’ll see it’s way thinner and lighter, with a case that’s waterproof to 197 feet and has a more-secure locking mechanism, a Wi-Fi remote control, and several mounting options. The Hero now uses Micro SD cards (up to 64GB) instead of full-sized. There’s a built-in 3.5mm mic jack.
If you’ve used a GoPro before, it’s very familiar. There are two main buttons: one on top for start/stop/record, and one on the front for navigating menus, which display on a tiny (not backlit) LCD screen. Shooting modes include Movie, Still, Timelapse, and Burst. There are a million options in the menus. There’s also a third button for turning Wi-Fi on and off.
Image quality. The Hero 3 is capable of truly beautiful shots. In daylight—which is when action cameras are most often used—it’s hands down better than the rest of the field. Images are super sharp (especially in Protune mode, which we’ll talk about in a second).
It’s unfinished. As we said, software was not yet final, but there are some very strange anomalies. Sometimes it handles contrast impeccably, sometimes it crushes shadows. Auto white balance performance is very inconsistent. Loop mode is not yet enabled, and the iOS and Android apps (which pack a lot of functionality) won’t launch until December. We got some weird errors in testing the timelapse feature, where suddenly we would get 20 frame that were just green, then it’d come back to life. Worst of all, occasionally it completely froze for no reason and we had to do a battery pull. Again, the believe these are beta issues, but we wouldn’t buy it until they’re fixed.
It shoots 4K video at 15 frames per second. Basically nobody (except suuuuuuper rich people) has a 4K TV or monitor yet, so there’s nothing you can watch it on in all its glory. Sure you could crop way in and make it 1080p, but they you lose the wide angle. And the footage is gorgeous—until something moves in the frame, then it’s unbearably choppy. It’s not a flaw, it’s just a pointless feature.
- The Hero has by far the most mounting options of any action cam. It’s hard to imagine an activity you couldn’t use it for.
- There are so. Many. Options. That’s good for extremely detailed level of control over how your shot looks. But it also makes navigating deep into the menus (which still are not totally intuitive) a pain in the ass.
- Footage from the Hero 3 is sharper than any action camera we’ve tested, ousting the previous champ (the Contour+2) and easily besting the Hero 2 and the Sony.
- You can tilt the Hero 3 up and down when surfing, whereas the Contour+2 and Sony Action Cam were locked in place and shooting too low on my surfboard. The only problem is that you can’t truly lock its position; when I duckdived through a big wave it would get pushed down and I’d have to readjust.
- It has Protune! What the hell is that? The Hero 3 makes a lot of adjustments on the fly for contrast, sharpness, and colour when you’re shooting in Basic mode. At first glance they’re prettier, but you sacrifice image quality—a lot of detail gets lost in shadows. Shooting in Protune not only opens up other framerates and resolutions, but it boosts the bitrate and doesn’t do any compensation. The resulting footage has a flatter, but far more detailed look. It basically gives you raw video which you can really tweak in editing. Pros and semi-pros will love this feature (as we do).
- Battery life is about on par with the Hero 2, which isn’t fantastic. It was mostly depleted after an hour of shooting, which raises another point. The battery meter uses three bars to tell you how much juice you have left. Not nearly enough info. A percentage reader would be much better.
- The Hero 3 isn’t compatible with the old waterproof cases because of the slightly different layout, so you have to use the case it comes with. Thankfully, the new case is compatible with all previous mounts (for bikes, boards, helmets, etc).
- There are mini USB and Micro HDMI ports. If you shoot at 120fps and play back via HDMI to a TV, it will look like regular speed. You have to slow it down with software on a computer. Also, the cover for these ports does not attach, and you will most definitely lose it. But you don’t really need it, so whatever.
- The included, wearable, waterproof (to 10 feet) Wi-Fi remote can change modes and start/stop recording from as far as 600 feet away. By comparison, the smartphone apps for the Contour and Sony which connect via Bluetooth max out at about 15-20 feet. GoPro claims the remote can control up to 50 cameras at once, though we weren’t able to test that.
- Low-light footage is a bit of a disappointment. As you can see in the bike tests (one done at dusk and one at night), the Hero 3 gains up to brighten the image, but it adds a lot of noise. In the night shot, the Sony is the clear winner.
- Overcranking for slow-motion works really well. Shooting 1080p at 60fps then slowing it down to 24fps (it’s 30fps in the video) looks great and you don’t lose any detail. Shooting at 720p at 120fps then slowing it to 24fps (again, the video shows 30fps) produces buttery 5x slow motion and it still looks great even on a 1080p TV. There are so many resolution/frame-rate combinations, you could get lost in them.
- Of the three cameras, it is by far the most comfortable to wear, thanks to its lightness and smaller footprint.
- You can flip the video if you’re mounting the camera upside down, but that’s it. A rotating lens, like the Contours have, would be a welcome improvement.
- You can get various BacPacs for the camera, including the Battery BakPak which should double your battery life, and the LCD Touch BacPac which lets you frame your shots, review your footage, and makes navigating the menus slightly less painful.
It’s already the best action camera we’ve used, but there are too many software glitches right now to give it our highest rating. If those get fixed, this will be a must-buy. But even if they don’t, you should still seriously consider it.
The only thing other reason to hesitate is the price; £360 ain’t cheap, and you could get the Hero 3 Silver or White editions for £280 or £200, respectively. That said, we think the image quality is worth the £360. It’s a great gadget. [GoPro]
GoPro Hero 3 Black Specs
Field of View: 170° or 120°
Storage: up to 64 GB microSD
Frame Rates: 4K (16:9 and 17:9) @ 12, 12.5, 15fps; 2.7K (16:9 and 17:9) @ 30, 25, 24fps; 1440p (4:3) @ 48, 30, 25, 24fps; 1080p (16:9) @ 60, 50, 48, 25, 24fps; 960p (16:9) @ 100, 48fps; 720p (16:9) @ 120, 100, 60, 50fps; WVGA (16:9) @ 240fps
Dimensions: 2.30 x 1.55 x 0.08 inches
Price: £360
Gizrank: 3.5
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Really wish I did extreme sports stuff. Damn, if only I lived in the US. They seem to have way more opportunities to be outdoorsy and extreme in nice weather with lots of room.
Well, that’s the best excuse I can come up with.
They should do a UK pub version, make it pint mountable and water proof.
“The only thing other reason to hesitate is the price; £260 ain’t cheap”
You mean £360
You say that you sacrifice image quality whilst using Protune; detail gets lost in shadows, but go on to say that it “…basically gives you raw video..” and that pros will love it?
Gizmodo are pretty woeful when it comes to camera reviews, don’t expect these articles to make much sense, the camera doesn’t shoot raw video.
That may (or may not) but you too need to work on your education … To quote from the manual;
“Cam RAW (Camera RAW)
The HERO3 camera can record Video in Protune mode in Cam RAW. GoPro
Cam RAW mode yields a minimally processed data file direct from the image sensor that allows for more precise adjustments to be made in post-process. Working in this mode takes full advantage of the image sensor’s capabilities.”
Either nobody can read properly or I’m in the wrong job
You are in the wrong job, the camera cannot shoot raw.
I think you need to read it again …
“The Hero 3 makes a lot of adjustments on the fly for contrast, sharpness, and colour when you’re shooting in “Basic mode”. At first glance they’re prettier, but you sacrifice image quality—a lot of detail gets lost in shadows.”
“Shooting in Protune” not only opens up other framerates and resolutions, but it boosts the bitrate and doesn’t do any compensation. The resulting footage has a flatter, but far more detailed look. It basically gives you raw video which you can really tweak in editing. Pros and semi-pros will love this feature (as we do)
See? Just need to read a little slower
Hey stupid ! How’s it going ! : )
I make the simple point that the Gizmodo review is mistaken in it’s belief that the GoPro Hero3 shoots raw footage.
You correct me, your supporting evidence for your argument ? The Gizmodo review itself.
Lol. : )
If you don’t know what circular reasoning is then look it up, but let me illustrate your poor epistemic / logic like this:
Person A says: all cars are green.
Person B says: person A’s belief is a mistaken belief.
Person C says: “no, it’s true. all cars are green”
Person B asks person A to corroborate their claim.
Person B says: “Person A said so”.
Basically the Hero3 doesn’t shoot raw.
Typical Gizmodo camera review, strewn with errors, misinformed opinion and bizarre non-sequiturial randomness . . . .
>”Shooting in Protune not only opens up other framerates and resolutions, but it boosts the bitrate and doesn’t do any compensation”
No compensation ? . . . . . what on earth are you on about ?
>”the price; £260 ain’t cheap . . .”
Not only ain’t it cheap, it also ain’t the price.
>”4K video . . . it’s just a pointless feature.”
Gizmodo lacks an understanding of things like chroma subsampling, aliasing and green screen work (etc), so they look around, see none of their friends have a 4k TV and declare the function pointless.
. . . and so on . .
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you really need to get someone who knows about at least a little about cameras to write this stuff . . . otherwise it’s little better than a health article in the Daily Mail.
Shooting in 4K is not pointless just because 4K TV is not readily available. It’s the limited framerate of 12-15 FPS that might be an issue for some.
By shooting, using the full sensor resolution, you have much more scope within editing to crop while maintaining fullHD (1080p).
Sure, you will lose wide angle but who wants to shoot fisheye all the time? This is an unnatural view of the world, not something you really want to use all the time if you can help it.
As for 4K? When I bought into HD, I bought into the original, 720p format on the understanding that 1080p was many years off. Within six months it went mainstream and now the only TV’s you find below 1080p are budget or 30″ or less units. Boy, did I get that one wrong !!!