I like to take photos and videos with my equipment when I have time at weekends. During the time that I am being of a photographer and videographer, I have to take lenses, batteries, equipment bags…all those things make me feel less happiness of taking photos and videos of my family life. I thought that would be great if I had a tiny camera that is portable for outdoor use to take great quality photos and videos. Then I asked my brother who has owned an action camera GoPro Hero2, a former model of GoPro. He told me that GoPro is the best brand in action camera and suggested I get the latest and the most powerful and easy-to-use GoPro ever, Hero5 Black.
Since my brother is mastered at action camera, so what he told me is good reference to buying a nice action camera. While the Hero5 doesn’t really have any major improvements in resolution or shooting specs, I was told, the improvements that have been made in design and software actually work very well and make photos and videos much better. The most notable improvements include built-in stabilization that works very well and much better audio. Audio is where action cameras have always been lacking, however GoPro has made a huge improvement for that. GoPro has also improved the user interface that is a great improvement as well. Old models took a little bit time to learn, but not the Hero 5 Black. I haven’t seen an action camera that easy to use ever, he said. So even though GoPro has carried over the same sensor from the Hero4, this camera, Hero5 Black is very much worth the improvements and of course your money. All that is what I was told by my brother, a videographer master. However, since I am curious in such a great action camera, I decided to do some research on that before I buy it. So this is a helpful GoPro Hero5 Black action camera review that I share with you here as your reference before you place an order.
Powerful and Easy to Use
As your camera for outdoor use, you probably want a simple one that presents you great ability to take photos or videos, just like the GoPro Hero5 Black does. Built to be the most powerful action camera ever, Hero5 Black is so easy to use that you can control it by voice control, touch control or simple one-button control. For voice control, say something like ‘GoPro, take a photo’, then Hero5 Black will do accordingly, so you can enjoy your time taking photos of up to 12MP in modes of Single, Burst and Time Lapse, and recording 4K videos in a hands-free way. For touch control, Hero5 Black allows you to preview and playback your shots, or to do initial and simple edits like trimming on your footage, all is on your Hero5 Black. For one-button control, it is simple to press the single shutter button on the Hero5 Black action camera, and the camera will be powered on and automatically start recording for you. Sounds great? Powerful and easy, the Hero5 Black is your first choice for outdoor activity capturing.
Durable and Waterproof
Supposed you often take your action camera while diving or swimming, you absolutely want it to be waterproof and durable for long time use. Well, the GoPro Hero5 Black is just what you expect for that. The Hero5 Black action camera is durable by a rugged design, so as to capture your water activity with an ability of water resistance without a housing that can be up to 33 feet (10m) deep underwater. You can also use that action camera for sure in rainy days for your recording without any doubt or worry about its malfunction.
Great Quality of Video and Audio
As a good action camera, it needs to be able to capture video and audio at a high level while you are moving. The Hero5 Black is of this kind to give you professional quality recordings with smooth stabilized video and crystal-clear audio. Even if you are walking upstairs or downstairs, running, climbing, swimming or surfing, your body is moving all the way, but Hero5 Black can still handle very well with advanced video stabilization tech to capture stunning smooth videos. If you want to have even greater video or photo quality, you can of course mount the Hero5 Black to your favorite gear in the range of more than 30 GoPro mounts and accessories, including Karma, 3-way, Remo and more. Just wear it, mount it, then you love it for smooth videos with clear sounds and high quality photos.
Simple to Access and Share
Cloud service, as you have been easily using nowadays, is a network storage technology and also a network private place for your personal or public files storage. GoPro is innovative to provide cloud service for you to store, access and share what you have captured and recorded with the GoPro action cameras. With an optional GoPro Plus subscription, HERO5 Black can auto upload photos and videos directly to the cloud for you easy viewing, editing and sharing on the go. You can access and manage your creative photos and videos taken by Hero5 Black with your smart devices anywhere.
Features & Specifications
- The most powerful GoPro action camera ever to record stunning 4K videos and capture 12MP photos in Single, Burst and Time Lapse modes
- Designed and made to be durable and waterproof, you can use Hero5 Black underwater 33ft (10m) without a housing
- Easy and simple to use with voice control or one-button control, so you can easily and simply have great quality videos and photos
- Uses Advanced Video Stabilization tech to ensure you have stunningly smooth video handheld
- Compatible with more than 30 GoPro mounts and accessories including Karma, 3-Way, Remo and more, so you can mount it to your favorite gear for even better quality videos and photos
- Uses a 2-inch touch display to allow you to preview and playback your shots, or to do initial and simple edits like trimming on your footage
- Dimensions: 1.8 x 2.4 x 1.3 inches
- Weight: 4.2 ounces
- Backed by a 2-year limited warranty
Simple Comparison
Since Hero5 Black is the highest level model of the latest GoPro’s product line, its price may be over your budget. If you are on a tight budget, or if you just want to get a medium or entry-level one, there are other two Hero models for you as shown in the comparison table. Bear in mind that all Hero models can capture and record well as your action camera, difference varies in features. So you can choose as what you need.
Simple Comparison Table
| Hero5 Black | Hero5 Session | Hero Session | |
| Photo (Up To) | 12MP / 30 FPS Burst / Time Lapse | 10MP / 30FPS Burst / Time Lapse | 8MP / 10FPS Burst / Time Lapse |
| Video (Up To) | 4K30 / 1440p80 / 1080p120 | 4K30 / 1440p60 / 1080p90 | 1440p30 / 1080p60 |
| Waterproof 33 feet (10M) | √ | √ | √ |
| Simple One-Button Control | √ | √ | √ |
| WiFi + Bluetooth | √ | √ | √ |
| Advanced Wind Noise Reduction | √ | √ | |
| Voice Control | √ | √ | |
| Video Stabilization | √ | √ | |
| Auto Upload To Cloud | √ | √ | |
| Touch Display | √ |
Pros & Cons
Pros: Portable for high quality videos and photos; Quickly charged for capturing on the go; Durable and waterproof, fine to work in rainy days or in water up to 33 ft without housing; Advanced video stabilization is unbelievably great without any worry about arm jiggle even if walking up and down; Simple to access and share via Wi-Fi and cloud service;
Cons: The quality is worse in the shade or in cloudy days than that in the sun light, thus video noise is noticeable.
Conclusion with Customer Reviews
This GoPro Hero5 Black action camera review would not be complete without discussing the real life customer reviews. During the research for this ever best GoPro action camera, I found more than 700 helpful customer reviews, telling me that this action camera has an impressive 4.2 out of 5 stars rating. That means that most people have given this action camera the highest scores possible.
For a more complete and further research as well on the customer reviews, I noticed that there were some minor complaints about the worse quality in the shade or if there is not enough sun light that the noise is somehow noticeable, which is not so common reported by others. However, the overall consensus is that the Hero5 Black is simply the best action camera you can find in the market on this high level as a GoPro product. If you are looking for the best action camera for your actions capturing, just go for GoPro Hero5 Black. If you have a lower budget but still want 4K video and many benefits from many features, go for Hero5 Session. If you are on a tight budget, and you just want to have an action camera at an entry level to start your action capturing, I recommend Hero Session.
Get Hero5 Session from Amazon.
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