HERO7 is here – I’ll be taking you through all of the details from big to small. If you haven’t watched our launch spot that I (along with a talented team of GoPro media gurus) created, check it out. It’ll walk you through the basics in just 2 quick minutes! See if you can spot me 🙂

While it might look similar to a HERO6 in terms of shape, size, and internal hardware, the HERO7 has a few distinctive additions that enable many of the new features – starting with more memory. Additional RAM greatly helps the camera process multiple tasks at once as well as use more robust software algorithms to deliver the new features. Software tech under the hood is playing an increasingly bigger role in the way imaging is being done across all areas of camera technology. Using a plethora of sensors and imaging algorithms, the HERO7 produces a game-changing experience in the form of stabilization, quality, and connectivity. On top of that, users familiar to GoPro will notice many much appreciated usability changes.

If you’re just looking for the TLDR [Too Long, Didn’t Read] here’s the quick and dirty:

Show TLDR

> HyperSmooth is epic – use it instead of a gimbal. Put your max ISO on 400 or higher when using it. Turn it off for night footage.

> Shoot HyperSmooth in 4K-60 or 2.7K 4:3-30 or 60.

> TimeWarp is epic – use it for stabilized timelapses, aka Hyperlapses – even handheld or mounted. Use 15x or 30x if you’re shaky. Try less if you have a car or bike.

> There’s other stuff like live streaming and audio improvements and stuff.

> Portrait orientation is rad for social media.

> Overall, it’s a great upgrade, buy it.

If you aren’t Caleb Farro, keep reading for all the nitty gritty details. 🙂



HyperSmooth & Supported Video Modes

HyperSmooth is what GoPro is calling its ‘next-generation’ image stabilization. What GoPro nailed with HERO7’s HyperSmooth is what I would call “flow stabilization”. Much of GoPro use is mounted or used for shots that flow through space. GoPro created tech from the ground up to cater to its use-cases. HyperSmooth gets rid of most of the ticks and jolts that you might have seen in previous generations of image stabilization. For those that aren’t familiar with how digital stabilization works: it crops in on the image a set amount so it has room within the frame to move left, right, up, down, and roll so that it can attempt to match the scene in every frame. It matches frames using accelerometer and gyro data. HERO6 was really great at stabilizing small shakes and vibration mainly pointed in one direction; however, as soon as you started moving the camera all around, it would reach the “edge” of the available image, and have to re-center itself (hence, you’d see a sort of digital “tick”). If you compare stabilization side by side between 6 and 7 on a straight forward mounting, they may look the same – but as soon as the camera is moving and flowing through space, HERO7 will shine. HERO7 really nails a much needed natural movement in the camera while retaining the same level of crop as HERO6.

When looking at tests with every action-cam, along-side industry leading phones with both optical and digital stabilization, HyperSmooth blows pretty much everything else out of the water in the most extreme use-cases. Sony X3000 with their OIS comes close with small shakes, but starts to jolt quite a bit as soon as the shakes become more extreme. GoPro has done some really amazing work with the lens profile so that even though the stabilization is entirely digital, you’ll never see an ounce of warping or weird image fluctuations across the image that many are used to. HERO7 uses a unique mix of image analysis real-time to produce next-level stabilization results (how’s that for fluff? aka – I’m not allowed to talk about the technology under the hood).

HyperSmooth allows me to ditch a gimbal for everyday film tasks and most sports applications where I want to capture content to share with friends or on social media. Additionally, I’m now able to stabilize things that I previously couldn’t use a gimbal for such as high speeds on cars/helicopters, or in the water on surfboards/wakeboards, etc. Also, I’m able to capture content vertically with stabilization with the intention to share on social media – something I couldn’t do with a Karma Grip. Through the lens of a professional filmmaker (who uses GoPro in all applications), I won’t be ditching my Karma Grip anytime soon for a few select reasons. I want to make sure you know the limitations of HyperSmooth to help aid in getting the most out of your HERO7. Just as the Karma Grip has limitations (high speeds, water, heavy and bulky, etc), HyperSmooth has a couple minor caveats. That being said – it is an insanely good addition of technology and I find myself amazed each and every day with every new application I throw at it.

HyperSmooth Limitations

Stabilization at Night/Lowlight

The way EIS (electronic-image-stabilization) works is by shifting each image around to match the previous frames. When you film at night, video naturally will use longer exposure times to brighten the scene. When you combine long exposure times with a shaky camera, you’ll get blurring from frame to frame. While this doesn’t look out of the norm when the video is not stabilized (because you can tell it’s shaky), it looks quite bad when the video is stabilized. It basically looks like a stable scene, with blur jumping in all different directions. Make sense? Hard to really put it into words! I highly recommend turning off HyperSmooth while filming at night. Mechanical stabilization (a gimbal) doesn’t have this same issue because the camera is already smooth while capturing the image in the first place, so it won’t have the same sort of blur jumping around. In HERO6, it was able to tone down stabilization at night; however, HyperSmooth is a different technology that’s all or nothing.

Stabilization while utilizing ND Filters

Similar to the explanation above – ND filters basically put sunglasses over the GoPro lens to force a longer exposure time during the day (for a professional/artistic look). If the video isn’t too shaky in all directions you can get away with using these two in conjunction; however if it’s a really shaky scene such as mountain biking chesty, I would not recommend combining HyperSmooth with ND filters.

How to Help Lowlight HyperSmooth

You’ll want the camera to use digital gain instead of longer exposures to brighten a scene. Typically I film with ISO min & max at 100; however, when using HyperSmooth even during the day I set my max ISO to 400. With a higher max ISO the camera will use more digital gain to lighten the scene before turning to longer exposures. If I’m filming at dusk or in dark shadows and have to use HyperSmooth, I might set my max ISO up to something like 800 or even 1600. Keep in mind, the higher you go, the noisier the footage will be. Though when using HyperSmooth I think a noisier image looks better than blur jumping all around.

High Frame Rate Modes

Until we have more processing power in the GoPro, some modes are still off limits with HyperSmooth (1080-240, 2.7K-120). Because mechanical stabilization doesn’t affect processing power, you’re able to stabilize any resolution and any frame-rate using the Karma Grip.

Slow Horizontal Panning

The way the algorithm works, the one use-case that gets left in the dust is slow horizontal panning – meaning you’re steadily moving the camera laterally from left to right or vice-versa. It will attempt to “grab on” to the scene, and realize it has to keep moving so you’ll get those tell-tale pops and jumps. For these uses I would turn off HyperSmooth. If the pan is quick enough such as mounted on your head, it has no problem knowing where it should be.

The HERO7 features both HyperSmooth and standard HERO6 level stabilization: the latter found in some of the higher resolution/high frame-rate modes. The good news is pretty much all of my favorite filming modes have HyperSmooth, including 4K-60 and 2.7K 4:3-60. The tables below outline which modes are supported, and what kind of stabilization is offered. The amount of image cropping between both HyperSmooth and standard stabilization is identical at 10% overall. Something to note: using linear mode or touch zoom of any amount will increase the stability of HyperSmooth.

HERO7 Video Modes

New updates to the HERO7 Black vs. HERO6 are highlighted in yellow. Modes that are highlighted in green are all new modes or bigger jumps from HERO6. For example, 4K-60 HyperSmooth is highlighted in green because it went from no stabilization in HERO6 directly to HyperSmooth (skipping over standard stabilization). Similarly, 1440-120 is highlighted in green because it is an entirely new mode for HERO7. For the H.264 vs HEVC file type column, this represents the default compression the camera will shoot. You can force HEVC for all modes with a setting in the camera – more on that below. Lastly – a note about zoom: Give it a try – combined with HyperSmooth, any additional levels of zoom will give HyperSmooth more room to stabilize, thus even smoother video. I’ve shot some cool moments using zoom, and it looks quite good.

HERO7 Black 16:9 Modes

Resolution Frame Rate Stabilization Lens Type Zoom File Type 720 60 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear Zoom H.264 720 240 N/A Wide N/A H.264 1080 24 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear, Superview Zoom H.264 1080 30 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear, Superview Zoom H.264 1080 60 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear, Superview Zoom H.264 1080 120 Standard Stabilization Wide, Linear, Superview Zoom H.264 1080 240 N/A Wide N/A HEVC 2.7K 24 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear, Superview Zoom H.264 2.7K 30 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear, Superview Zoom H.264 2.7K 60 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear, Superview Zoom H.264 2.7K 120 N/A Wide N/A HEVC 4K 24 HyperSmooth Wide, Superview N/A H.264 4K 30 HyperSmooth Wide, Superview N/A H.264 4K 60 HyperSmooth Wide N/A HEVC

New Updates New Modes

HERO7 Black 4:3 Modes

Resolution Frame Rate Stabilization Lens Type Zoom File Type 960 120 Standard Stabilization Wide N/A H.264 960 240 N/A Wide N/A HEVC 1440 24 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear Zoom H.264 1440 30 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear Zoom H.264 1440 60 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear Zoom H.264 1440 120 Standard Stabilization Wide N/A HEVC 2.7K 4:3 24 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear Zoom H.264 2.7K 4:3 30 HyperSmooth Wide, Linear Zoom H.264 2.7K 4:3 60 HyperSmooth Wide Zoom HEVC 4K 4:3 24 Standard Stabilization Wide N/A HEVC 4K 4:3 30 N/A Wide N/A HEVC

New Updates New Modes

As you can see, the big story with HERO7 is 4K-60 HyperSmooth and 2.7K 4:3-60 HyperSmooth. Some much needed high frame-rate 4:3 modes were also added for activities like surfing and snowboarding. 1440-120 and 960-240 means you can film high action scenes with the most view, something HERO6 was lacking.

Abe’s Explanation & Review of the Modes

The following list is my personal review of each major mode that appears in the HERO7 Black – If you’re up for it, learning when and how to use each mode will guarantee a higher quality final output.

Explanation of Terms

POV: Cameras mounted to your head, chest, or other point of view of action.

Mounted: Similar to POV but usually refers to cameras mounted to physical objects (cars, skis, bikes, etc).

B-Roll: Any other camera mount (handheld, pole follow-cam, glide-cam, interview cameras)