Latest GoPro HERO4 News - The Best Action Cam Gets Even Better

It seems like everyone and their accountants have known someone who had the inside scoop on the details surrounding the highly anticipated GoPro 4. Every week, Facebook feeds would explode with the latest outlandish rumors,  getting even the most tepid of us excited. Well, these latest rumors may in fact be the real deal. 

PetaPixel seems pretty confident that their latest article's rumored specs will hold up on October 8th, the projected announcement date for the GoPro 4. As has been the case in recent GoPro cameras, there will be two versions of the camera for customers to chose from. Of course, also keeping with tradition, these are the HERO4 Black and the HERO4 SIlver. 

GoPro HERO4 Black

This year's flagship GoPro model is all about the 4k video resolution, and the higher end Black edition will capture 4K at 30 frames per second. This is a considerable bump from the 15 FPS that the HERO3 was able to provide. Any filmmaker, professional or amateur can tell you how important FPS are, and at 30 FPS, we should be seeing some amazing GoPro 4k footage being used in more and more videos. 

All of the resolutions and frame rates are noted below. 

4K at 30fps, 2.7K at 50fps, 1440p at 80fps, 1080p at 120fps, 960p at 120fps, and 720p at 120fps.

The camera retains the 12 megapixels that were available in the HERO3, and can shoot at 30 frames per second, also a carry over from the HERO 3. 

Audio supposedly will be improved, with twice the dynamic range capturing as the HERO3. 

As with the HERO3, you can choose from three different field-of-view settings. Narrow, Medium and Ultra Wide. 

GoPro really brought underwater video and photography into the main stream. No longer do you need expensive housing to free dive to get those beautiful clips of those pretty vibrant fish on your family vacation. Just simply throw your GoPro into a waterproof housing and jump in! The HERO4 is waterproof up to 131 feet. 

Videographers can select important moments in their footage using a "HiLight Tag". Other features include built in Wifi, Bluetooth, new nighttime shooting exposure settings, auto low light features, and a QuickCapture feature which can both turn your camera on AND start recording, all with the press of a button.

And the question we all want to know the answer too. Do I have to buy all new accessories? Nope. Both models of the GoPro 4 will  be backwards compatible, so all of your mounts will still be useful. 

GoPro HERO4 Silver

The good news? The HERO4 Silver as a cool built-in touch screen! 

The bad news? No 4k video recording at 30 FPS. 

All of the resolutions and frame rates are noted below. 

4K at 15fps, 2.7K at 30fps, 1440p at 48fps, 1080p at 60fps, 960p at 100fps, and 720p at 120fps.

The still camera specs will match the Black (12MP + 30 FPS) and all other features described above will be included with the HERO4 Silver edition.

New Accessories

The HERO4 will bring some cool new accessories with it, including a new matte black housing, a removable battery pack to get more of that much needed power, a dual battery charger, a wearable waterproof remote, and a new buoyant grip so your camera won't sink. 

My Thoughts 

Well, I have been patiently awaiting this new GoPro since my accountant started hearing the rumors, and if this is all true, it sure sounds like it won't disappoint. Originally, I primarily used my GoPro for shooting time lapses. Take a photo every 5 seconds, make a stupid video highlighting your weekend in Yosemite. 

But ever since I got a DJI Phantom 2, I have been shooting a lot of aerial video footage. So the addition of 4k video is the biggest advantage to me, and I cannot wait to capture incredible landscapes from the sky in glorious 4k. 

But, wheres the 240 FPS GoPro? I love super slow motion, and have been lucky enough to capture lots of it using a Sony FS700, so not having this option in an action camera is a disappointment. Some incredible action packed moments have been captured on GoPros....it's a shame we won't be able to live that excitement in Super Slow Mo. 

As a photographer, I am very disappointed with the lack of substantial updates on the still camera. I can't even fathom shooting in JPEG anymore, yet, GoPro forces me too. I have gotten some beautiful landscape photos from my DJI Phantom 2, but sadly haven't been able to do much with them, since I don't have the power to recover shadows and tone down the highlights. This crucial missing feature has me wishing I had also bought the DJI Phantom 2 Vision +, which can shoot 14MP still images in Adobe DNG RAW format. 

Add to that the carry over Megapixel and Frames Per Second that the HERO3 included, and GoPro is falling far behind in the action "still" photos race. 

And last but not least, it really can be a pain to constantly get my iPhone out of my pocket just to preview the position of my camera. First, I have to turn the HERO3 WiFi, then connect my iPhone to the wireless network, then open the GoPro App, THEN connect the camera...just so I can see what the camera sees. I really don't mind this, but why GoPro would include the built-in touch screen onto the Silver model, but not the Black is beyond me. Hopefully there is a good reason for this, but if you are trying to make the "Best of the best", why not make every excellent feature available on your flagship model?

Only time will tell if PetaPixel has the stats right. They claim that an October 8th announcement is in the works. The camera should be available in the weeks following, so we should be filming our Holiday present unwrapping in crisp 4K from a quadcopter in the living room. 

[VIA PetaPixel]