The new action camera from GoPro has been released. After the last year's GoPro Hero 7 which impressed with the image stabilization features, GoPro felt that it is room for more so they came out this autumn with a rethought design and amazing updates.
GoPro Hero 8 Presentation
The big step up for GoPro is the HyperSmooth Image Stabilisation 2.0 which is visibly more effective than in the previous model, and a major design difference – built-in mounting fingers, which remove the need for a frame to connect the camera to your helmet, tripod or anything else you wish to mount it onto.
GoPro Hero 8 Improvements
Everybody is interested in the HyperSmooth image stabilization. Basically, this makes the old image stabilization feature more affective eliminating the need for a camera gimbal. making the Hero 8 much more convenient to use. Furthermore, now you can turn on the image stabilization in all filming mods, resolutions and frame rates, and you can choose to turn on the Bust for even more stable footage.
GoPro also got reed of the annoying mount replacing it with a built-in flip mount which is extremely easy to use more convenient. What that also does is allowing you easy access to the battery and SD card slots that are now moved to the side. That is not affecting the waterproof feature of the camera in any way in case you are worried about that.
The battery technology has been improved making it more efficient but don't worry, it’s backward compatible with Hero 5/6/7, and old batteries will still work with Hero 8. The lens strength has been almost doubled, the thickness is increased from 1.3mm to 2.0mm. Also, there are no more removable lenses reducing thinness, but GoPro claims that they have partnered PolarPro for ND filters.
The microphone has been redesigned and moved directly bellow the lends by that eliminating the wind noise. In case you want better audio, with the release of the new Mods (unfortunately available only in 2020 with preorders from December 2019), there is going to be a Mod frame that adds a built-in shotgun-mic, a 3.5mm Mic Input, HDMI Output, and a USB-C Port. As we are talking about the Mods it is worth mentioning that it will also be an addon light that fits into the frame as well a mode with flip-up screen making transforming the GoPro into the perfect vlogging camera.
An updated version of the TimeWarp, the motion time-lapse mode that can now adjust the speed based on the scene and motion. The great thing is that you can tap on the screen to drow back into realtime without stopping the recording.
Just likeLivePhotos iPhone IOS, is the new LiveBursts feature which allows you to capture a 3-sec video and then transfer it to the GoPro's app and pick the perfect frame for a single photo. Speaking about the app, GoPro has added a bunch of new editing features, for example, a horizon leveling option which is useful in case you mounted your camera crooked.
Many users, especially the ones who are new and not used to choosing the best settings for shooting different kinds of activities. So now there are available a bunch of presets that you can choose from like Munted, Standard, Activity, Cinematic and more. In addition to that, there are now programmable shortcuts on the screen so you can make quick adjustments when you need it.
There are some new settings for the digital lenses allowing you to switch trough four different views (Narrow, Linear, Wide or SuperView) easily and see the changes in real-time on the screen.
GoPro didn't forget about the photo features so you will get improved SuperPhotos and HDR photos that eliminate motion blur. Also, LiveStreaming now supports 1080p and YouTube is now supported too as in the previous version you could only live stream only to Facebook or RTMP.
Finally, they added 100Mbps Bitrate for 4K & 2.7K modes, so you can toggle the high bitrate option to get 100Mbps footage and added linear support to 4K so you can now do both 4K/30 & 4K/60 Linear.
Is GoPro Hero 8 Worthed?
Considering all the new features and enhancements, if you are looking for the best action camera with the best image stabilization on the market, yes it is worthed the 399$. If you want to save some money the GoPro Hero 7 is still a very good choice and it has great image stabilization too.
As a matter of fact, the perfect solution for vlogging will be the GoPro Max which will have the same capabilities as the Hero 8 but will provide 360 Audio and Video footage.
Both cameras will be available by the end of October but you can always preorder from the official GoPro website.
