Hot on the heels of why I think the GoPro Max is the best camera on the market for running, here’s my review of the five things you need to know about the GoPro Hero 9 Black.
The brand has come a long way since 2013 when I started shooting with the Hero 3 Black and is still the leader in the action camera market and a must-have despite the fact that you carry something with just as wide a lens and is almost waterproof in your pocket every day.
And, well, I’ve come a long way with my video filming and editing in that time, too, I guess we’ve grown up together.
But this isn’t a walk down memory lane, let’s get to the camera.
First things first, yes, it’s worth it. But with a caveat.
I’m not going to get into all the specs that make this camera different from it’s predecessors or it’s competition, I’m going to tell you why I think this is worth the money you need to spend to get this in your hands.
And just as a note of transparency, I paid for this camera with my own hard earned cash. No one is reviewing this or commenting on it, or giving me messaging to say to you. You’re going to see post this at the same time the folks at GoPro see it.
The Basics of the GoPro Hero 9 Black
Before we get into it, I need to talk about the basics, this camera records in the largest format of any of the GP Hero series, you can record in 5K which means your files will be HUGE but you’re able to be super messy with framing and as long as got what you wanted in the frame, you can crop in pretty far in while in post without too much distortion.
The 9 has even MORE stabilization with Hypersmooth 3.0. TBH, all of the footage I shot to compare, didn’t blow me away. But there were still differences that I could see.
Five Reasons to Get the GoPro Hero 9 Black
Front Screen
The first is the most obvious, the front facing screen. I know a lot of folks will be telling you that it’s great for vlogging, but that’s not my reasoning.
As wide as the lens can get, it can still be hard to set up a shot on the camera. So if you’re out there taking a selfie, which I still feel is the predominant use of the camera for most folks, you’ll be able to set up your shot perfectly.
Hindsight
I love this feature. So say you’re trying to get the perfect take.
Well, with hindsight on, the camera is constantly recording internally for up to 30 seconds. And once you get the perfect take, hit the shutter button and the footage (again, up to 30 seconds) dumps to the SD card and continues to record.
It’s basically a way to keep you from having to edit out a bunch of footage you don’t want in post production.
Horizon Lock
Horizon Lock – this is something that was introduced in the Hero Max and it’s awesome. If you’ve set up the camera at an angle, or say, carry it while you run and don’t realize you’re not holding it steady, if you put Horizon Lock on, it will keep a level horizon regardless of how the camera is oriented.
To get the full 360° lock, you’ll need to get the lens mod which isn’t on the market yet, for now, here’s a chart of the degree which you can shift the camera and still have the horizon lock with the different lens settings.
Removable Lens Cover
Did you scratch the lens when you were doing that awesome couch jump dismount? Well, now you can replace it.
And apparently GoPro will be coming out with one of their mods. An ultra wide lens. But you know, we’ll see when that hots the market.
But you can bet all of the third party manufacturers are running around like chickens designing all sorts of add ons for this beyond just ND filters, so I’m excited to see what’s gonna come from this.
Scheduled Capture
Scheduled capture is something that we saw introduced on the Hero 8 through GoPro labs. It was kinda complicated to use, but it worked if you could get it, but it’s now been added as a feature in the operating system.
Why would you use this? I don’t know, want to record a sunrise series and not have to wake up at the crack of ass every day for a month? Create a time lapse of traffic at a certain time of day over a certain amount of time? Whatever you want, the creativity is up to you, the turning on and off of the camera is up to them.
My Caveat
So, yes, I like this camera, and if you’re using a previous iteration of the Hero series, I highly suggest upgrading to the Hero 9 Black. The features on this camera are worth the money to upgrade even if you only use them once in a while.
However, if you’re using this camera to capture racing and running, I feel like the best camera on the market for that purpose is still the Max. It gives you more options and more flexibility in post production.
If you want to get a GoPro Hero 9 Black, it would be great of you would use this link that goes to my Amazon Associate account, so I’ll make a couple of shekels to keep the site going but at no charge to you. Thanks!
