Working with the Hero 7 Black: A Vlogging Test

Everything's in focus, we're in linear 2.7K right now with the flat picture profile this is the vlogging test, all I'm doing is just hand holding the camera I don't have it in a tripod I don't have it at anything else, I have it basically set to auto everything and I still just think it's such great it. This is one of my favorite cameras ever made, this is and I know the Hero 8 Black is coming out in the next couple of days which is obviously why we're making this video to see if this still stands up. This absolutely still stands up now that it's gonna be even cheaper the Hero 8s gonna have to do something crazy to make me recommend the Hero 8 over this one cuz this one's just so darn good.

Okay, I'm gonna go enjoy this lake some more, you guys get back to the studio, back to hit up the third pillar, durability look look, GoPro wins all day long. Under ability it was only recently again that DJI released their action camera with a lot of features that were clearly reverse engineered from the GoPro line but this is the king. I've taken a GoPro all over the country with me and I haven't been particularly gentle with this camera and it's still doing great, yeah, I mean it's got some it's got some scratches and some dings on it but it's still alive and still works perfectly.

The best feature I think GoPros ever come up with is this removable lens cover. It's not that the lens itself would get shattered or busted on a rock however, it's really easy for a rock or other piece of debris to scratch. I mean, look at glass scratches and the outdoors is a wild place. On the Hero 7 though, it's not a big deal, you just pop this cover off and you put another one on plus it's kind of an elegant solution for ND filters. We'll talk about those later.

Plus like we already mentioned, this sucker is waterproof without a case but still amazing, and as we've seen in my how durable our GoPro cameras video, this body takes a huge amount of abuse before finally succumbing and breaking. Like durability is never something I worry about with the Hero 7 soap. I'm not gonna break it though, I like this camera.

Next up is compatibility with GoPro style mounts and accessories. I love this section when talking about actual GoPros because I don't know if you know this but GoPros are compatible with GoPro accessories who knew right? Mission complete status over well what's nice here is the default action camera is there are a huge amount of like cages lights ND filters there's just all sorts of accessories that are made to work with this specific body. It's connections is the iPhone of the action camera world not yeah I hear you in the comments because it's overpriced, not because it's overpriced but because it works with everything and everything in the action world is made for this camera.

You'd be hard-pressed to find another action camera that has this level of compatibility. I'd argue that there isn't one even among GoPros like this is the standard and last but certainly not least in the pillars as this is the camera that shattered all the expectations of this stabilization in the recent years action cameras have uniquely positioned themselves to now be the most stable cameras ever, and the hyper-smooth stabilization, the Hero 7 still blows my mind. I cannot believe the levels of stability you can get with this camera handheld hand-held I take this thing running with me all the time and it's insane could you get better with a gimbal maybe but it's just so much easier to carry this camera and the stabilization is good enough to not need a gimbal since this came out. Seriously, don't know where my action camera gimbal is and it used to be something I carried with me all the time.

I am legitimately amazed that this exists, and that's why I say this is a revolutionary design but who cares right what we really need to know is the Hero 7 Black still worth getting now? Did before making this video, I checked the Hero 7 black is currently $329 on the GoPro website, but I'm under the impression I think when I remember from their press releases that when the dust settles this will be the $299 offering, and honestly at either of those prices yes, the Hero 7 Black is absolutely is 100% worth it. Like I said in the beginning of the video, the Hero 7 Black is a revolutionary camera, it took two worlds and combined them together so well, it's going to be a tough act to follow now.

I am excited to try out the Hero 8 Black but at this point, it's got some serious shoes to fill if you like this video I bet you'd also like this video that compares the Hero 7 Black to the Osmo Action.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhile this is no longer the top of the GoPro line honestly this might be the best evolution and upgrade that we'll ever see in the action camera space like ever it has huge technical leaps over every other system and has a few key features that puts it well ahead of GoPros offerings prior to this camera but yes the time for upgrade is again upon us and the hero 8 black should be hitting the streets here soon in like days and that makes this the perfect time to find out is the hero 7 black maybe the one that's actually worth buying all this time later let's find out what's up everyone I'm the everyday dad and if I can figure it out you can figure it out man it feels like it's been way too long since we've made an action camera video and while I wish I could take all of the blame for this on myself it's really easy to push the blame on other people because it's one of the problems with the market right now there are only really two companies innovating in this space that's DJI and GoPro but I mean I can't really blame them either because the cellphone has basically usurped most every vertical of any camera ever like mirrorless DSLR and action cameras the cell phone range is like the looming shoulder of like now okay let's actually play a game here really quickly how many times I say now in this video let me know in the comments below I happen to think that the GoPro Hero 7 black is the pinnacle of action camera design and feature setting I haven't had the Hero 8 in my hand yet hopefully my pre-order will be here soon it's gonna have to do some crazy things to justify the extra expense over this bad boy now I pre-ordered this GoPro when it was first announced and I've been using this ever since nobody gave this camera to me I have worked with GoPro in the past to give stuff away but they've never actually given me personally anything ok enough talk have at you or you that's a Castlevania reference if I'm a nerd if you've ever seen any of my regular camera videos we do things slightly different here in action land and the criteria for comparison are even more devilishly genius it's like the one good thing I've ever come up with action cameras have it much tougher and must stand up to the pillars of action to get a recommendation here first up decent video quality now you may have noticed that qualifier decent image quality look these action cameras have teeny tiny little sensors and they've got these robust bodies that they've got to fit into so they've also got heat problems so I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit of video quality for some other things that we'll talk about later they're like the rest of the pillars they're all important like you can't build something without the pillars but how does the actual image quality of the GoPro Hero seven black look well it still looks great I mean nothing has changed here since the cameras come out this can still record up to 4k 60 frames per second and 1080p and up to 240 frames per second looks fantastic the big additional feature on the 7 black as opposed to the earlier cameras the 5 or the 6 is you can use all of these frame rates with the built-in electronic image stabilization that they call hyper smooth and there will be much much much much more on that later the image quality looks great I've used this camera all over the place and I've never been disappointed with its output it even does really well in a studio setting well for an action camera it doesn't do as great low-light again because it has such a tiny sensor but it's so good something I do want to mention though is while there have been firmware updates and upgrades to the functionality since release the auto ISO is pretty darn aggressive to this day so my recommendation would be to cap the auto ISO to around 400 if you want to get video that doesn't have that gross like the grain over it even in moderate light like the auto ISO on these cameras it's pretty it's pretty aggressive the 2 included picture profiles do give you a little bit of leeway to do either post-processing or if you want to or be like most normal people and don't what surprises me and myself is while I started off really liking the GoPro colors sometimes they're just a tad too contrasting for me so I've been using the flat image and just not grading it I mean as I get older I feel like I like less poppy colors those darn kids and their vibrant blues when it comes to slow motion this is actually a bee of a slow-motion camera and if you remember the old reviewing the cheapest videos I used to do we had to be crucible or we'd go outside and we'd break stuff and most of that slow-motion was done with the GoPro 240 frames per second it gives you a fantastic looking descent before something breaks I do wish you could use the linear field of view with you 240 frames per second but it's still doable and let's let's back up a bit to that linear field of view because if you are new to action cameras they have a problem with fisheye distortion as their lenses try to capture everything I mean it's trying to capture all these that's a good thing it wants to capture all of the excitement but if you don't want all of the excitement and you just want to talk to the camera or use the camera to capture footage that isn't hugely distorted and has nice straight lines the hero 7 does have linear mode that linear mode is still really wide by the way and that will give you everything will then line up more it crops and more so you don't get that wobble on the outside the problem is you can't use it in 4k or the high frame rates now I have a philosophy on I don't watch any other videos on something that I'm gonna make videos about so I haven't seen any of the hero 8 videos but if GoPro fixed that for the Hero 8 that will be a reason for me to upgrade don't spoil it for me image quality is only half of the video battle and the real key feature in the GoPro Hero 7 black is the audio recording capabilities it used to be that you had to pick do you want a durable waterproof body but real muffled audio or a breakable camera with an exposed lens but fantastic audio now they combined you don't have to pick the hero 7 black to this day has the best in-camera microphones that I've ever heard of on an action camera and yes I'm including the ever-popular FDR X 3000 as a Sony action camera in that list for being waterproof it has no reason to be this good but it is frankly that's amazing I'm it's so good second up in the pillars is ease of use before the DJI Osmo action the GoPro was really the pinnacle of just pinnacle of design in this area nothing could come close now while I personally don't think it owns that particular mount anymore the hero 7 is still pretty darn easy to use I've never had a problem with its big touchscreen on the back and sorting through the menus is still as easy and efficient as ever the thing is right you never want to have to fiddle with the camera when you are out of the trail in the mountains or having family fun I mean some of those shots some of the things that you're trying to record will only ever happen once if you are messing with the camera like button button button button if you're messing with it you will absolutely lose shots and you don't want to that's why the user interface is just it's insanely important now I do prefer the Osmo action style of scrolling instead of having to tap on everything but this is still one of the best and I would gladly take this over most other action cameras on the market and really quickly since we've covered ease of use and we've covered video quality let's hop outside and do a quick vlogging test now I don't normally do those in action camera videos but I have been doing them more because his action cameras get better video you'll start using them for vlogging camera so see outside and welcome to the vlogging test of the GoPro Hero 7 black yeah it's been a very very long time since we've used this camera in this kind of way but I still think this is one of the best like action cameras for vlogging like if you want to be very like discreet you still want to get great audio you still want to get great video you want that amazing stabilization this is really it's still such a good op I know that's kind of like giving away the thing of the video but I really kind of think so if you if you look at product evolution right there's revolutionary and there's evolutionary and I think the GoPro Hero 7 Black was a big revolutionary step where they took everything that they learned about the image quality and audio quality of the GoPro Hero 4 line and then they took the waterproofness and just overall like ease of use from the hero 5 hero 6 line and they combined it into a very nice package and something that I'm very excited about is as you can see here it just works like it just works everything's in focus we're in linear 2.7 K right now with the flat picture profile this is the vlogging test all I'm doing is just hand holding the camera I don't have it in a tripod I don't have it at anything else I have it basically set to auto everything and I still just think it's such it this is one of my favorite cameras ever made this is and I know the hero 8 black is coming out in the next couple of days which is obviously why we're making this video to see if this still stands up this absolutely still stands up now that it's gonna be even cheaper the hero eights gonna have to do something crazy to make me recommend the hero eight over this one cuz this one's just so darn good okay I'm gonna go enjoy this Lake some more you guys get back to the studio back to hit up the third pillar durability look look GoPro wins all day long under ability it was only recently again that DJI released their action with a lot of features that were clearly reverse engineered from the GoPro line but this is the king I've taken a GoPro all over the country with me and I haven't been particularly gentle with this camera and it's still doing great yeah I mean it's got some it's got some scratches and some dings on it but it's still alive and still works perfectly the best feature I think GoPros ever come up with is this removable lens cover it's not that the lens itself would get shattered or busted on a rock however it's really easy for a rock or other piece of debris to scratch I mean look glass scratches and the outdoors is a wild place on the hero 7 though it's not a big deal you just pop this cover off and you put another one on plus it's kind of an elegant solution for nd filters will talk don't worry accessories are coming later plus like we already mentioned this sucker is waterproof without a case but still amazing and as we've seen in my how durable our GoPro cameras video this body takes a huge amount of abuse before finally succumbing and breaking like durability is never something I worry about with the hero soap I'm not gonna break it though I like this camera next up is compatibility with GoPro style mounts and accessories I love this section when talking about actual GoPros because I don't know if you know this but GoPros are compatible with GoPro accessories who knew right mission complete status over well what's nice here is the default action camera is there are a huge amount of like cages lights nd filters there's just all sorts of accessories that are made to work with this specific body its connections is the iPhone of the action camera world not yeah I hear you in the comments because it's overpriced not because it's overpriced but because it works with everything and everything in the action world is made for this camera you'd be hard-pressed to find another action camera that has this level of compatibility I'd argue that there isn't one even among GoPros like this is the standard and last but certainly not least in the pillars as this is the camera that shattered all the expectations of this stabilization in the recent years action cameras have uniquely positioned themselves to now be the most stable cameras ever and the hyper smooth stabilization the GoPro still to this day blows my mind I cannot believe the levels of stability you can get with this camera handheld hand-held I take this thing running with me all the time and it's insane could you get better with a gimbal maybe but it's just so much easier to carry this camera and the stabilization is good enough to not need a gimbal since this came out I seriously don't know where my action camera gimbal is and it used to be something I carried with me all the time I am legitimately amazed that this exists and that's why I say this is a revolutionary design but who cares right what we really need to know is the hero 7 black still worth getting now I did before making this video I checked the hero 7 black is currently $329 on the GoPro website but I'm under the impression I think when I remember from their press releases that when the dust settles this will be the $2.99 offering and uh and honestly at either of those prices yes the hero 7 black is absolutely is 100% worth it like I said in the beginning of the video the hero 7 black is a revolutionary camera it took two worlds and combined them together so well it's going to be a tough act to follow now I am excited to try out the hero 8 black but at this point it's got some serious shoes to fill if you like this video I bet you'd also like this video that compares the hero 7 black to the Osmo action click here and check it out thanks for watchingwhile this is no longer the top of the GoPro line honestly this might be the best evolution and upgrade that we'll ever see in the action camera space like ever it has huge technical leaps over every other system and has a few key features that puts it well ahead of GoPros offerings prior to this camera but yes the time for upgrade is again upon us and the hero 8 black should be hitting the streets here soon in like days and that makes this the perfect time to find out is the hero 7 black maybe the one that's actually worth buying all this time later let's find out what's up everyone I'm the everyday dad and if I can figure it out you can figure it out man it feels like it's been way too long since we've made an action camera video and while I wish I could take all of the blame for this on myself it's really easy to push the blame on other people because it's one of the problems with the market right now there are only really two companies innovating in this space that's DJI and GoPro but I mean I can't really blame them either because the cellphone has basically usurped most every vertical of any camera ever like mirrorless DSLR and action cameras the cell phone range is like the looming shoulder of like now okay let's actually play a game here really quickly how many times I say now in this video let me know in the comments below I happen to think that the GoPro Hero 7 black is the pinnacle of action camera design and feature setting I haven't had the Hero 8 in my hand yet hopefully my pre-order will be here soon it's gonna have to do some crazy things to justify the extra expense over this bad boy now I pre-ordered this GoPro when it was first announced and I've been using this ever since nobody gave this camera to me I have worked with GoPro in the past to give stuff away but they've never actually given me personally anything ok enough talk have at you or you that's a Castlevania reference if I'm a nerd if you've ever seen any of my regular camera videos we do things slightly different here in action land and the criteria for comparison are even more devilishly genius it's like the one good thing I've ever come up with action cameras have it much tougher and must stand up to the pillars of action to get a recommendation here first up decent video quality now you may have noticed that qualifier decent image quality look these action cameras have teeny tiny little sensors and they've got these robust bodies that they've got to fit into so they've also got heat problems so I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit of video quality for some other things that we'll talk about later they're like the rest of the pillars they're all important like you can't build something without the pillars but how does the actual image quality of the GoPro Hero seven black look well it still looks great I mean nothing has changed here since the cameras come out this can still record up to 4k 60 frames per second and 1080p and up to 240 frames per second looks fantastic the big additional feature on the 7 black as opposed to the earlier cameras the 5 or the 6 is you can use all of these frame rates with the built-in electronic image stabilization that they call hyper smooth and there will be much much much much more on that later the image quality looks great I've used this camera all over the place and I've never been disappointed with its output it even does really well in a studio setting well for an action camera it doesn't do as great low-light again because it has such a tiny sensor but it's so good something I do want to mention though is while there have been firmware updates and upgrades to the functionality since release the auto ISO is pretty darn aggressive to this day so my recommendation would be to cap the auto ISO to around 400 if you want to get video that doesn't have that gross like the grain over it even in moderate light like the auto ISO on these cameras it's pretty it's pretty aggressive the 2 included picture profiles do give you a little bit of leeway to do either post-processing or if you want to or be like most normal people and don't what surprises me and myself is while I started off really liking the GoPro colors sometimes they're just a tad too contrasting for me so I've been using the flat image and just not grading it I mean as I get older I feel like I like less poppy colors those darn kids and their vibrant blues when it comes to slow motion this is actually a bee of a slow-motion camera and if you remember the old reviewing the cheapest videos I used to do we had to be crucible or we'd go outside and we'd break stuff and most of that slow-motion was done with the GoPro 240 frames per second it gives you a fantastic looking descent before something breaks I do wish you could use the linear field of view with you 240 frames per second but it's still doable and let's let's back up a bit to that linear field of view because if you are new to action cameras they have a problem with fisheye distortion as their lenses try to capture everything I mean it's trying to capture all these that's a good thing it wants to capture all of the excitement but if you don't want all of the excitement and you just want to talk to the camera or use the camera to capture footage that isn't hugely distorted and has nice straight lines the hero 7 does have linear mode that linear mode is still really wide by the way and that will give you everything will then line up more it crops and more so you don't get that wobble on the outside the problem is you can't use it in 4k or the high frame rates now I have a philosophy on I don't watch any other videos on something that I'm gonna make videos about so I haven't seen any of the hero 8 videos but if GoPro fixed that for the Hero 8 that will be a reason for me to upgrade don't spoil it for me image quality is only half of the video battle and the real key feature in the GoPro Hero 7 black is the audio recording capabilities it used to be that you had to pick do you want a durable waterproof body but real muffled audio or a breakable camera with an exposed lens but fantastic audio now they combined you don't have to pick the hero 7 black to this day has the best in-camera microphones that I've ever heard of on an action camera and yes I'm including the ever-popular FDR X 3000 as a Sony action camera in that list for being waterproof it has no reason to be this good but it is frankly that's amazing I'm it's so good second up in the pillars is ease of use before the DJI Osmo action the GoPro was really the pinnacle of just pinnacle of design in this area nothing could come close now while I personally don't think it owns that particular mount anymore the hero 7 is still pretty darn easy to use I've never had a problem with its big touchscreen on the back and sorting through the menus is still as easy and efficient as ever the thing is right you never want to have to fiddle with the camera when you are out of the trail in the mountains or having family fun I mean some of those shots some of the things that you're trying to record will only ever happen once if you are messing with the camera like button button button button if you're messing with it you will absolutely lose shots and you don't want to that's why the user interface is just it's insanely important now I do prefer the Osmo action style of scrolling instead of having to tap on everything but this is still one of the best and I would gladly take this over most other action cameras on the market and really quickly since we've covered ease of use and we've covered video quality let's hop outside and do a quick vlogging test now I don't normally do those in action camera videos but I have been doing them more because his action cameras get better video you'll start using them for vlogging camera so see outside and welcome to the vlogging test of the GoPro Hero 7 black yeah it's been a very very long time since we've used this camera in this kind of way but I still think this is one of the best like action cameras for vlogging like if you want to be very like discreet you still want to get great audio you still want to get great video you want that amazing stabilization this is really it's still such a good op I know that's kind of like giving away the thing of the video but I really kind of think so if you if you look at product evolution right there's revolutionary and there's evolutionary and I think the GoPro Hero 7 Black was a big revolutionary step where they took everything that they learned about the image quality and audio quality of the GoPro Hero 4 line and then they took the waterproofness and just overall like ease of use from the hero 5 hero 6 line and they combined it into a very nice package and something that I'm very excited about is as you can see here it just works like it just works everything's in focus we're in linear 2.7 K right now with the flat picture profile this is the vlogging test all I'm doing is just hand holding the camera I don't have it in a tripod I don't have it at anything else I have it basically set to auto everything and I still just think it's such it this is one of my favorite cameras ever made this is and I know the hero 8 black is coming out in the next couple of days which is obviously why we're making this video to see if this still stands up this absolutely still stands up now that it's gonna be even cheaper the hero eights gonna have to do something crazy to make me recommend the hero eight over this one cuz this one's just so darn good okay I'm gonna go enjoy this Lake some more you guys get back to the studio back to hit up the third pillar durability look look GoPro wins all day long under ability it was only recently again that DJI released their action with a lot of features that were clearly reverse engineered from the GoPro line but this is the king I've taken a GoPro all over the country with me and I haven't been particularly gentle with this camera and it's still doing great yeah I mean it's got some it's got some scratches and some dings on it but it's still alive and still works perfectly the best feature I think GoPros ever come up with is this removable lens cover it's not that the lens itself would get shattered or busted on a rock however it's really easy for a rock or other piece of debris to scratch I mean look glass scratches and the outdoors is a wild place on the hero 7 though it's not a big deal you just pop this cover off and you put another one on plus it's kind of an elegant solution for nd filters will talk don't worry accessories are coming later plus like we already mentioned this sucker is waterproof without a case but still amazing and as we've seen in my how durable our GoPro cameras video this body takes a huge amount of abuse before finally succumbing and breaking like durability is never something I worry about with the hero soap I'm not gonna break it though I like this camera next up is compatibility with GoPro style mounts and accessories I love this section when talking about actual GoPros because I don't know if you know this but GoPros are compatible with GoPro accessories who knew right mission complete status over well what's nice here is the default action camera is there are a huge amount of like cages lights nd filters there's just all sorts of accessories that are made to work with this specific body its connections is the iPhone of the action camera world not yeah I hear you in the comments because it's overpriced not because it's overpriced but because it works with everything and everything in the action world is made for this camera you'd be hard-pressed to find another action camera that has this level of compatibility I'd argue that there isn't one even among GoPros like this is the standard and last but certainly not least in the pillars as this is the camera that shattered all the expectations of this stabilization in the recent years action cameras have uniquely positioned themselves to now be the most stable cameras ever and the hyper smooth stabilization the GoPro still to this day blows my mind I cannot believe the levels of stability you can get with this camera handheld hand-held I take this thing running with me all the time and it's insane could you get better with a gimbal maybe but it's just so much easier to carry this camera and the stabilization is good enough to not need a gimbal since this came out I seriously don't know where my action camera gimbal is and it used to be something I carried with me all the time I am legitimately amazed that this exists and that's why I say this is a revolutionary design but who cares right what we really need to know is the hero 7 black still worth getting now I did before making this video I checked the hero 7 black is currently $329 on the GoPro website but I'm under the impression I think when I remember from their press releases that when the dust settles this will be the $2.99 offering and uh and honestly at either of those prices yes the hero 7 black is absolutely is 100% worth it like I said in the beginning of the video the hero 7 black is a revolutionary camera it took two worlds and combined them together so well it's going to be a tough act to follow now I am excited to try out the hero 8 black but at this point it's got some serious shoes to fill if you like this video I bet you'd also like this video that compares the hero 7 black to the Osmo action click here and check it out thanks for watching\n"