GoPro Hero 4 set to debut soon

[Volffas]

The new GoPro 4 should be coming out in October. The one thing that I'm not crazy about on my GoPro 3 is that unless you are running wifi and looking at your phone, you really have no way to know exactly what you are recording. The GoPro 4 fixes that issue. "Users will be able to control the camera, frame shots, and review content simply by tapping and swiping the screen."

Also, here are resolutions and frame rates for the Black: 4K at 30fps, 2.7K at 50fps, 1440p at 80fps, 1080p at 120fps, 960p at 120fps, and 720p at 120fps. And the silver will record at 4K at 15fps, 2.7K at 30fps, 1440p at 48fps, 1080p at 60fps, 960p at 100fps, and 720p at 120fps. For still photography, the Silver and the Black have 12 megapixel photos at 30 frames per second.

Here is a link to the full article; http://petapixel.com/2014/09/25/gopro-hero4-revealed-4k-video-30fps-first-built-touch-display/

It will be interesting to see what price point the new cameras come out at.


**edited to put in picture**

 

[Williamsone46]

Going to get one of these coming for sure!

 

[Master-Spud]

Tempted, but guy from work might sell me his hero 2 with all accessories for 100...hard to pass that up

 

[Volffas]

Tempted, but guy from work might sell me his hero 2 with all accessories for 100...hard to pass that up

That is a great deal!

 

[Volffas]

GoPro announced today that the Hero 4 will be available Oct. 5th.

$499.99 for the Black Edition, $399.99 for the Silver Edition. http://shop.gopro.com/hero4

Overall, I'm happy that I bought my silver for $299.99. I just don't think that the new specs and touch screen justify an extra $100.

 

[wakeformer]

What is the difference between the black and the silver. As a noob to them witch would be better

 

[GiddYupJoe]

So after looking into the site you provided @Volffas it looks like the LCD display is only availible on the silver not the black. Am I missing something? It seems like it would be the other way around?

http://shop.gopro.com/cameras/hero4-black/CHDHX-401-master.html

 

[Volffas]

@GiddYupJoe you are correct, the black doesn't have the LCD screen, which sounds odd to me as well. Basically it sounds like the new Silver has most of the specs that the Black 3+ had, plus an LCD screen attached.

@wakeformer I think that 99% of all people using GoPro's will find everything they need and more in the new Silver. It has 1080p and 720p high def recording capabilities. I have always recorded in 720P because it doesn't use as much space on the memory card. 720p has been all that I have ever needed. The new Black can record in ultra high resolution 4K which they say is 2x clearer than 1080p. I am not a huge tech guy, but I have never even heard of 4k or 2.7k until today. As far as I know most screens and video services are limited to 1080p anyways, so I'm not sure what recording in 4k or 2.7k would do unless you plan on using the footage for a movie theater production?

In a nutshell it looks like the new features for these cameras are;
1. Built in touch display (silver only)
2. Night lapse and Night photo modes to do more in low light
3. A highlight feature that lets you mark your favorite clips to make them easier to find later on.
4. A bigger wide angle mode called SuperView
5. Auto low light mode
6. A quick capture button to let you turn on and start recording with a single touch.
7. Bluetooth capability
8. New smaller battery.

The new black can record in 4K at 30 frames per second, 2.7K at 50 frames per second and 1080p at 120 frames per second. The Silver records at 1080p at 60 frames per second or 720p at 120 frames per second. Carried over from the Hero 3+ is 12mp pictures with burst rates of 30 frames per second, and they are still waterproof to 131 feet and all new cameras will fit in the old camera mounts.

They also came out with a new camera called simply "Hero". It is an entry level camera priced at $129.99. It can record in 1080p 30 frames per second or 720p 60 frames per second. The camera is 5mp and can shoot 5 frames per second. It does not have wifi or bluetooth capability so you must plug it in to a computer to see what you have recorded. This would probably be a good camera for young kids to get into the world of recording and editing videos. For me the quality of the video and camera combined with no wifi would keep me from buying the "Hero".

 

[Volffas]

I guess YouTube can broadcast in 4k, I have just never seen a video that had that option before now.

Here is a video that GoPro put out on YouTube today.

If you look at the settings you can see that 4k is an option. The only thing is that I'm not sure that my computer screen is capable of really showing me what 4k looks like.

 

[RightStuff]

If you look at the settings you can see that 4k is an option. The only thing is that I'm not sure that my computer screen is capable of really showing me what 4k looks like.

I'm no expert here, but I do know that without a 4k monitor or TV you won't see the full resolution of these videos even if you choose the 4k option. Your screen just doesn't have enough lines of resolution to get the full effect of the videos shot at that resolution. Here's a bit of a description to see what this is all about: http://www.displayport.org/4k-ultra-hd/4k-ultra-hd-displays-what-you-need-to-know/

 

[Volffas]

I'm no expert here, but I do know that without a 4k monitor or TV you won't see the full resolution of these videos even if you choose the 4k option. Your screen just doesn't have enough lines of resolution to get the full effect of the videos shot at that resolution. Here's a bit of a description to see what this is all about: http://www.displayport.org/4k-ultra-hd/4k-ultra-hd-displays-what-you-need-to-know/

Thank you. That is kind of what I was figuring. I really don't know who would buy the black for 4K resolution unless they just want to tell everyone that they have it.

 

[RightStuff]

I agree... Only if you were shooting videos for commercial reasons (movies, commercials, tv production, etc) would you really need that high of resolution, or if you just bought a 4k TV or computer monitor.

Last I checked both (TVs and monitors) were on the high side for retail prices, so they are pretty rare for home use so far. Costco has a decent 55" for $2200 right now, so they are getting close. The same sized/brand TV without 4k is running just over $1k...

 

[Ronnie]

I don't think there are enough upgrades for me to move from the 3+s I have to the gopro 4 platforms. As a basic user i also don't think the $100 price increases to the silver and black editions are a upported by the changes made.

My recommendation to those thinking about buying a new go pro is to get a silver edition 3+. It has mid level resolution specs but excludes the remote that the black comes with. You don't need an LCD or remote since you can use your smart phone to control the camera, preview shots and / or review footage. It's also currently around $300.

 

[cwoav8r]

I see GoPro has also introduced an entry level model, at $129, competition for the Polaroid cube...

http://shop.gopro.com/cameras/hero/CHDHA-301.html

 

[RightStuff]

And HTC is about to get into the game it sounds:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/24/6840545/htc-teases-video-camera-ahead-of-october-event

 

[Ronnie]

Whether gopro will be able to successfully compete with Polaroid on the low end business or whether it even has to are still up in the air. Go pro has a strong base of loyal customers but where they nail them is on the cost of accessories. Polaroid's accessory pricing is a lot lower than gopros. If I didn't already have gopro cameras I would be buying Polaroids cube but having a bunch of gopro accessories already I feel locked into gopro at least where the gopro 3+S are concerned.

 

[Ronnie]

Something else to consider when buying an action cam is what you will do with the final footage from it. If you only plan to upload it to vimeo, you tube, etc. you will lokely do do in a lower resolution than what you captured it in. This decrease the amount of data to be downloaded and reduces the quality of the footage but also reduces the load on viewers data plans. Users in this situation simply don't need the higher resolutions available in the gopro black or silver editions. Also the higher the resolution or frame rate footage is recorded at the faster the battery (and storage space) is depleted.

 

[Julian]

When I buy a new TV in the spring (just before the Super Bowl is the best time of year to buy a TV) I'll be getting a 4K model as cable and streaming will catch up with 4k content before I get another new one (probably in 10 years!).

As for recording my own content....I often don't shoot 1080 just because editing and transferring it takes so much longer!

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Looks like GoPro is going to compete in the drone market. It only makes sense. If they can produce a quality drone that keeps it simple for $500, I would be all over it. Getting into the $1000 range I would almost have to make it a hobby to justify the expense.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2851662/GoPro-GoDRONE-Firm-rumoured-working-range-flying-action-cameras.html

 

[Ronnie]

I will be watching with interest but have my doubts on gopros ability to pull this off. There is a lot more to a good drone/rc vehicle than the camera and go pro is a relatively late entrant into the drone/rc business. I think gopro would have been better off partnering with pre-existing drone manufacturers to make custom / integrated cameras for such manufacturers drones/rc vehicles. "Gopro inside"