GoPro Hero6 Black - 4K Ultra HD Action Camera - Review

By
Susan Giles
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GoPro Hero6 Black

The new GoPro strikes as a pricey version of its predecessors, same size, same battery life, and same controls and ports. However, it’s more about the new updates it brings rather than the external shape.

The major update for the GoPro HERO6 is the 4k 60fps and super slow motion full HD 240fps video. Other improvements to the HERO6 show in its image quality, smaller file sizes, and faster transfer speeds. It’s still durable and waterproof to 10 meters and has the same touch screen on the back just like its predecessor.

Features

The new features for the HERO6 Black include 4k video at the speed of 60fps, 1080p video at 240fps, and still image capture of 12MP quality, thanks to its new and first GoPro custom chipset, the GP1 processor. HERO6 Black maintains a high resolution while capturing super slow-motion video and can output a stabilized image in 4k.

This can all be transferred to your phone at much higher speeds than we used to get from the older GoPro models. The GP1 processor allows the GoPro HERO6 Black to activate image stabilization while shooting 4k footage. There’s a new built-in HDR mode for high-contrast views.

It can capture 12MP images in a single burst and time-lapse mode. The GP1 processing engine also lets it capture more detailed images in shadows and highlights. There’s a night mode, of course, for low-light shooting with better details.

Build

When it comes to looks, it’s indistinguishable from the HERO5 Black. The camera is available with a wide range of accessories, and it comes with a small logo on the front, which almost cannot be seen when the camera is wearing its frame. Its design is compact and durable, and the camera is waterproof without housing to 10 meters underwater.

The GoPro HERO6 Black comes with a strong plastic frame for camera mounts. The microSD card is placed tightly against the user-swappable battery, which is the same battery that was used in GoPro HERO5 Black. You can find a small 2-inch touchscreen on the back that is made for reviewing photos and videos and also for adjusting the camera settings.

It also uses a very small touch-based user interface. Even though both screens on HERO5 and HERO6 look similar, the one on HERO6 provides more clarity.

For those who find it hard to navigate through the small touchscreen, HERO6 Black also offers voice commands. This feature is not automatically active and needs to be enabled from the preferences menu, once enabled, it lets you say your commands to the camera instead of manually entering them.

These commands include telling the GoPro to “take a photo” or to “start recording”. You can find 12 simple commands activated by voice in the new GoPro, they are pretty much everything you will need from your GoPro camera.

When the GoPro HERO6 is switched off with the voice commands enabled, it can be switched on again also using voice commands, but this will use up a little more extra battery power due to the listening mode that will be activated waiting for the next command.

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/revyou.com/uploads/thumbnail-960/161832709384191JGLKAOr8L._AC_SL1500_.png GoPro Hero6 Black - 4K Ultra HD Action Camera - Review

GoPro Hero6 Black - 4K Ultra HD Action Camera - Review

Quality of Video and Photo

As for the videos and photos, the new features include amazing video footage updates, enhanced image stabilization, and advanced control, thanks to ProTune. With the new HERO6 Black updates, you can now shoot 4k videos at 60fps and use the slow-motion feature to dial it back to 120fps at the resolution of 2.7k, you can also dial it back to 240fps at 1080p.

It’s like the HERO6 is designed entirely to capture super-fast action in impressive quality. It is still good for recording videos at normal frames too. The updates also affected the image stabilization to enhance it and crop the photos to reduce shakiness. For these results, you have to keep the GoPro Karma Grip though.

That is because the software stabilization features are not as effective as when you use the Karma Grip. The new processor offers an improved dynamic range and allows for a better image quality even in low light, which was not something we could say about the performance of the last GoPro.

For still images, Raw support is available, but you will need to shoot from a decent angle and a stable grip to maintain image quality, that is because of the sensor’s small size. It’s good for capturing high-quality images though when you don’t want to use your phone or main camera.

Editing and Apps

The new features include the new 5GHz wireless frequency, the new HEVC video codec, and the refined QuickStroies app. GoPro HERO6 Black can take uncompromised videos, but the problem comes with offloading the raw footage due to the large sizes of files, which is mainly a problem for older phones.

However, this can be resolved in many ways with the new GoPro. For updated mobile operating systems, the new High-Efficiency Video Coding (video codec) is supported and can divide file sizes into two halves, which helps in saving the internal storage in your phone and in reducing the time needed to transfer the files from the camera to the phone.

HERO6 Black also uses a 5GHz wireless frequency, which makes the transfer speeds 3 times faster than the previous GoPro and saves a lot of time. With QuickStories, you can transfer files and compile the footage into an automatic video collage. You can also add transitions and music if you want.

This, of course, allows you to access fully editable videos and make changes to them, which is the best part about QuickStories. Transferring long 4K 60fps videos and 240fps super slow-motion videos used to be a lot of work and take much of our time. Now, this is no longer a problem as HERO6 Black resolved these time-consuming issues with its new file size management.

Final Verdict

The amazing new slow-motion features are what makes this camera great, shooting 4k videos at 60fps and super slow-motion footage of 240fps at 1080p.

And if this is not enough, the image stabilization and low-light image quality will get you hooked. Not to mention its new wide dynamic range. HERO6 Black also came to resolve the transferring time problems that used to be a pain in all the older versions of GoPro, while offering smaller file sizes to top it off.

The camera shows no updates in the exterior design and looks indistinguishable compared to its predecessor. However, when you get to try the new updates you’ll understand why the price difference is worth it.

We can say that the only problem we find with GoPro HERO6 Black is that its image and video quality is too high for the capabilities of most phones and computers. However, we can always use GoPro's edit-in-post software, which was enhanced back in 2017. Other than that, the HERO6 Black is considered the best action camera that can be purchased at this price.