GoPro Hero 11 Black first impressions: The camera opens up new possibilities
If we look at the design and physical dimensions then it is new GoPro Hero 11 250 mAh Battery It is almost similar to its old model. If 11 Black is not seen written on the side of the camera, it is difficult to differentiate between the two. This new camera of the company comes with a rugged design and is waterproof to go in water up to 10 meters. It has a 2.27-inch touchscreen back display and a smaller display on the front, which is a color display but touchless. The lens cover can be removed and the camera supports Max Lens Mod. Mounting fingers are provided at the bottom and a flap is provided on the side to protect the battery and USB Type C.
The Hero 11 Black GoPro camera comes with an Enduro battery, which was available for purchase separately in the older model. This time the company has promised 38 percent longer recording time. The Hero 10 Black brought the GP2 processor with it and the Hero 11 has a new sensor. It is 1/1.9 inch larger, while its horizontal resolution remains the same. Being taller, it offers higher vertical resolution and comes with a new 8:7 aspect ratio.
Due to the larger sensor, 27-megapixel photos can be taken from GoPro Hero 11 Black. Apart from this, a new HyperView lens has been provided for video recording, which gives a wider field of view than the SuperView lens. Hero 11 Black supports 10-bit color and 120Mbps video bitrate, which can be enabled by going to ProTune settings. The new model has the latest version of HyperSmooth 5.0, which supports 5.3K resolution while shooting Timewarp videos. Apart from this, new presets for vehicle lights and star trails have also been given in the Timelapse menu.
Like the Hero 10 Black, the maximum video recording resolution on this new model is 5.3K at 60fps and up to 4K at 120fps. There are a lot of variations for framerate and resolution that can be played with. With the 8:7 aspect ratio, the company says that it can be used to later export the video in 4:3 and even 9:16 via the Quik app. In this process, the video quality remains the same.
If you’ve used a GoPro device recently, the user interface on the GoPro Hero 11 Black will be easy to get used to, but the settings menu has been better organized. The new Video Mode settings now allow you to switch to Extended Battery mode, which shifts video recording to a lower resolution and disables the 8:7 aspect option. You can customize the video presets as well, but switching to Extended Battery mode gives you quick access to video presets that help keep the battery from draining too quickly. With the Controls toggle button, you can switch to Easy mode, which gives you a single, uneditable preset for videos, photos, and timelapses. This is useful for those who just want to quickly point the camera at their subject and shoot.
I haven’t spent much time with the GoPro Hero 11 yet, but so far I’ve found the image and video quality to be quite good. GoPro has always offered great stabilization, and the Hero 11 Black now also comes with Auto Boost, which only takes on stabilization when needed, so that the frame doesn’t get permanently cropped during the clip. I also found a cool feature called Horizon Lock, which is used for 360-degree rotation, meaning the horizon stays put, and the camera rotates 360 degrees. This was one of the main features of the Max Lens Mod and the GoPro Max 360-degree camera, but the Hero 11 Black now supports it natively.
If you missed out on the GoPro Hero 10 Black, the Hero 11 Black might look interesting to you and at Rs 51,500, it is also slightly cheaper than the older model. Apart from the new, larger aspect ratio, does this new sensor also prove to be any better than the older model in terms of image quality? We will be testing the GoPro Hero 11 Black in the coming days, so don’t forget to check back here for a full review.
