In India, the content creator economy is mostly fueled by smartphones and mirrorless vlogging cameras. So, when it comes to getting a new camera, people tend to delay purchase decisions thinking about costs. But talking about the GoPro, there’s clearly two types of audience in India– someone who has never used a GoPro camera ever and feels that transferring footage from a GoPro to a smartphone is cumbersome. The second type of audience swears by the one GoPro camera that may have been bought a couple of years back.
But in 2023, if you are a content creator and you wish to upgrade your videos, the latest GoPro HERO 11 camera may add a different dimension altogether– even wide aerial shots that look like you have a drone.
For those unaware, the GoPro Hero 11 is the latest in the GoPro series that was launched in India in September 2022. In fact, the company introduced the cameras- HERO11 Black, HERO11 Black Creator Edition and HERO11 Black Mini. HERO11 Black is launched in India at Rs 51,500. HERO11 Black Creator Edition costs Rs 71,500 and HERO11 Black Mini is priced at Rs 41,500.
After using the GoPro HERO 11 Black for nearly six months, here’s our review.
If you see the new HERO 11, you may think that it looks the same. But a lot has changed this time and the upgrades are vivid.
So, what’s special about these cameras? Well, all three cameras feature a larger sensor, 10-bit colour depth, better video stabilisation. GoPro claims that the new HERO 11 Black series features the widest field of view ever in a HERO camera. If you are into making videos related to travel, food, sports or cars, it goes without saying that the new GoPro Hero 11 will provide the most stable video output, good colours and you don’t have to worry about wide angle shots at all. In fact, you also opt for short format videos like Reels or YouTube Shorts as well. GoPro has planned really well to make sure that people find the GoPro Hero 11 useful in almost all kinds of video productions. Not to forget, it’s simple to use, compact and can be attached almost anywhere to get the perfect shot. You can even click pretty wide-angle photos too. Also, it’s tough and waterproof.
If you haven’t used a GoPro yet then the HERO 11 may be just the right place to start with. Also, if you are using an older GoPro HERO camera then it’s time to upgrade. One of the most significant upgrades in the new 8:7 aspect ratio sensor along with support for 10-bit colour.
Of course, the 8:7 aspect ratio sounds weird. But it’s actually useful. Given the large number of subjects you can accommodate in your frame while shooting, with this aspect ratio, you can easily crop out and adjust your frames as you want for both Short videos and traditional longer videos. You get more room to play around with this aspect ratio.
Another important aspect is the new HERO 11 can now shoot videos in 10-bit colour which offers a lot of options for colour correction while editing. GoPro cameras are known to be stable but what’s more interesting is that the company has improved it further with the new HyperSmooth 5.0. This feature detects shaky frames and zooms accordingly. Along with that, the Horizon Locking feature helps greatly in keeping the frame straight.
There are other cool features as well which includes better Time Lapse videos and Light Painting, if that interests you.
Like always, this GoPro camera also comes with handy attachments to get you started out-of-the-box. You may want to upgrade your microSD card slot and an additional battery will obviously help. Talking about battery, there’s an improved Enduro battery which lasts around 1 hour of recording. Battery life depends a lot on the video resolution and climate conditions.
Now talking about the most crucial element. What’s the experience of shooting on the GoPro and posting them on social media? Well, for most professionals, GoPro footage will, of course, go through post production. But if you are someone who needs to create quick Reels or edit videos on your smartphone then the GoPro Quik companion app is of great help. You can actually transfer videos or photos from the GoPro HERO 11 on your iPhone using the app, real time and even start editing on the app itself. The basics are covered in the free version but for more handy features you will need to get a subscription.
You may have to be a bit patient while syncing the GoPro HERO 11 with your phone initially but once it’s done, it’s pretty smooth to operate. This app enables you to do a lot with your GoPro Hero 11 footage and the company has done a good job.
While GoPro itself may sound like something that is made for professionals, what’s interesting is that the company has made using the device very simple and easy. You really can’t get anything wrong while using the GoPro HERO 11. The app UI is simple and even the camera UI is pretty basic. You wont need to spend a lot of time learning about your new camera.
For starters, we feel that GoPro should do more to educate users about what can be done with the new HERO 11. There’s no doubt that people love to watch videos shot on GoPro because it delivers a different perspective itself. But what the company needs to do more, at least in India, is help budding content creators understand how easy it is to use the HERO 11 and what kind of projects can be done.
There’s no denying that GoPro should have thought about changing the design a bit with the HERO 11. But it seems fair because it’s the stabilisation, colour quality and wider-angles that the end-users actually care more about. One key aspect that may annoy users is that the GoPro HERO 11 tends to get super hot and you may start getting high temperature notifications while shooting on warmer days. The camera can get very hot at times and it may scare you to stop recording altogether. Also, we wish GoPro could extend the battery life further and also introduce faster charging tech.
If you have never used a GoPro camera before then the HERO 11 is the right choice to make to upgrade your content quality by miles. Period. If you have an older model like HERO 7 or 8 then you already know what the HERO 11 is capable of and it makes sense in upgrading. However, if you have recently purchased the HERO 10 Black then upgrading to 11 may not be a value-for-money choice.
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