Be a HERO

Daddy bought a new toy—a GoPro HERO7 Black. Woo hoo! I upgraded from my HERO3+ Black to take advantage of the following features in the HERO7 Black: waterproof body, 4K60 video, HDR photo mode (and an enhanced HDR option which they call SuperPhoto), image stabilization (which they call HyperSmooth), a touch screen interface, and GPS tagging. There are other nifty features such as live streaming and voice control, but I don’t expect to use them much. However, while playing with the settings in the GoPro iOS app, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of 2 more features that were not well advertised on the GoPro website.

The first feature is RAW image file format. When browsing the touch screen interface, you’ll see a RAW option in the photo settings that you can toggle on or off. Note that this setting does not appear to be available in the GoPro iOS app. When toggling the RAW setting to on, the GoPro stores both a .JPG and .GPR file. The .JPG file allows you to view the photo in your camera, while the .GPR file can be processed like any other RAW image file in Photoshop or Lightroom. One of the things I like most about RAW image files is the ability to reduce noise from images taken in low light as well as the ability to adjust highlights and shadows (to a much greater degree than .JPG files). The .GPR files averaged 6-7 MB for 12 MP photos taken at 4000x3000 resolution. Interestingly, unlike the GoPro HERO3+, there is no option in the HERO7 to save photos in smaller resolutions (not that I’d use those options, which is probably why they no longer exist). See What is RAW Format? for more information. For a nice overview of photo features, see this article.

The second feature is H.265 video compression, also known as high-efficiency video coding or HEVC, which basically means that videos are compressed more efficiently than ever before. While this setting does not appear to be available in-camera, the GoPro iOS app lets you toggle between “Most Compatible” (H.264) and “High Efficiency” (H.265) options. With H.265 video compression, files are approximately half the size as compared with H.264 for the same recording quality. See HEVC Explained for more information.

So far I’ve just been experimenting with my new GoPro at home, but I’ve been impressed with all the new features that have been added in the last several models. I can’t wait to start shooting actual events with my new toy.