Recently GoPro released its new flagship camera GoPro Hero 11 Black which is currently the best action camera on the market for both enthusiasts and professionals alike. The question is what exactly new features does it offer and is it significantly better than its previous models? In this article, I am going to cover all the new features of Hero 11 Black, what it’s capable of, and whether or not you should buy it.
In the beginning, GoPro action cameras were solely used by people who did extreme activities as these small and durable cameras can be taken anywhere. You can mount them to your car, your body, sports equipment, etc. Yet more and more people start to use them to record everyday activities, family trips, holidays, etc because they not only fit into your pocket but offer pretty good video quality. Ever since GoPro introduced Hypersmooth stabilization, these cameras revolutionized how stable a video can be. You can take it on a hiking trip, underwater, or jump out of an aeroplane and it will survive to tell the tale. People simply prefer to use a GoPro in all the places where they wouldn’t dare use their mobile phones.
Featured Articles
Pros:
- Outstanding video stabilization + 360 Horizon Lock
- 10 – bit color depth
- New taller 8:7 sensor
- 5.3k 60fps / 4k 120fps video and 27MP photos.
- 3 New Night Modes: Star Trails / Vehicle light trails/ Light painting
Cons:
- Not so great in low light / indoors
- It’s quite expensive
- Not impressive battery life
Table of Contents
Things to consider before buying GoPro Hero 11 Black:
Before we go any further I would like to make a few things straight. A lot of people take their first GoPro, unpack it at their homes press the record button and they aren’t happy with the video quality, it’s dark grainy, and unpleasant to the eye. What’s wrong with it? The thing is that because all action cameras are so small they also come with a small image sensor that needs lots of light to capture good-quality video. That’s why when you use action cameras indoors or in low light, it is simply too dark for these cameras to see anything. In order to have the best results out of it is to simply go outside on a sunny day where there is a ton of light.
Ok so who would be the ideal person to buy a GoPro? Do you seriously have to do extreme sports to have fun with it? Of course not, I personally use these cameras to record my travels around Thailand. GoPro cameras are light, and compact, and don’t really take up much space in my bag, in fact, I can put it into my pocket. Remember that the best camera is the one that you always have with you when something happens all it takes is to hit a record button and you are ready to go as simple as that. I am pretty sure that if you want to record your holidays, everyday activities or your family then it’s the perfect camera to do so. However, I wouldn’t recommend this camera to somebody who expects good quality when recording indoors or in low light. What’s more, if you are not a big fan of ultra wide angle lenses then this product not gonna be for you as it has a fish eye look that distorts the edges. GoPro offers a digital lens to straighten out the edges yet it’s all digital.
Ask yourself the following questions before the purchase
- Do you like a wide-angle lens? Are you ok with the fish-eye look?
- Do you prefer recording videos over taking photos?
- Are you willing to buy extra accessories to fully use its potential?
- Do you prefer a small and compact camera rather than a mirrorless or DSLR?
If you answered yes to at least 3 of these questions then I think you are in for an awesome journey. Now let me explain to you what GoPro Hero 11 Black is all about.
Hero 11 Black – Key specs
- 5k 60 fps / 4k 120 fps / 2.7k 240 fps / 1080p 240 fps video
- 8×7 Image sensor
- 27.13 MP photo (.jpg / raw) + Superhoto/HDR
- 120 mb/s in 5.3k and 4k
- 10- bit color or 8-bit color
- Hyper smooth 5.0 + 360 Horizon Lock
- Waterproof to 33 ft (10m)
- Hydrophobic lens
- 1720 mAh removable battery (NEW Enduro version)
- Compatible with GoPro 10/9 accessories + 40 more
GoPro Hero 11 Black – Features and Benefits
One of the biggest improvements that Hero 11 Black has to offer is definitely a new taller sensor that offers quite a lot of exciting possibilities for the camera. With the help of a new sensor, Hero 11 black can capture a much taller view meaning there is more space to further stabilize the footage, gain more viewers, and many more. For example, the new 8:7 sensor on Hero 11 Black allows you to use exactly the same video file and decide whether you want to use it for Instagram, Tiktok, FB stories, and other social media.
What if you want to upload it to youtube? Can you still do that? In the past, it was always a problem because you had to make a decision before the shoot, where you want to eventually upload this video. You had to either shoot vertically or horizontally with the camera but these times are over. The new 8:7 offers enough captured space so you can share it anywhere.
This thing just blows my mind as most of the content that I shoot is typically in a 16:9 aspect ratio and I never have time to record something for my Instagram. Now I don’t have to worry about it anymore, for me it’s a game changer, yet the 8:7 aspect ratio is only supported in 5.3k 30fps and 4k 60 fps. I kind of regret it doesn’t support 4k 30fps but who knows maybe we will get a firmware update in the future.
Since GoPro Hero 11 Black has more field of view to play with it can take Hypersmooth stabilization to a whole new level. Hyper smooth 5.0 comes with a “360° Horizon Lock” feature. Imagine you turn your camera to a side or even completely upside down and the horizon stays perfectly leveled the entire time, yes now Hero 11 Black can finally do that. With previous cameras such as GoPro 10 or 9, this feature was called Horizon Levelling and it only allowed you to level out the horizon to a certain degree between 27° to 45° depending on the settings you chose.
With 360°Horizon Lock there are no restrictions, the camera can still be tilted forward or backward but it keeps the horizon perfectly steady throughout the shot whenever you pan, roll or shake the camera. It’s just so good….. yet not everything is as perfect as it seems. 360° Horizon Lock feature is only available in a specific field of view called “Linear + 360° Horizon Lock”. GoPro created this digital lens to correct fish-eye distortion on the edges typically seen on wide-angle lenses by cropping in on your resolution. This way it can straighten the distortion and digitally fix it for you. The linear setting is my favorite field of view whenever I record cinematic shots and travel content, basically anything that’s not action-oriented.
Hyper smooth 5.0 also offers a new feature called “Auto boost”. It’s one of the few modes you can select from when choosing how much stabilization you want to be applied to your video. Ever since GoPro Hero, 8 Black Hypersmooth “boost” stabilization was the strongest amount of stabilization possible on a GoPro camera. Sadly it significantly cropped in on the final video by 22%, however, the results were ultra smooth especially if you combined it with Horizon Levelling.
On the other hand, the new “Auto boost” feature doesn’t immediately crop in on your video when selected but rather intelligently analyses the scene and determines how much stabilization is really needed depending on the intensity of your activity. It tries to give you maximum stabilization retaining the widest perspective.
With Auto boost, everything happens automatically and you don’t have any control over it. When things get a little bit too shaky it will dynamically crop in on your video but you won’t even realize it. Unfortunately, you can’t see how it works on the camera screen because this effect takes place after you capture your footage, and the best way to compare it would be to record with 2 cameras simultaneously, one with auto boost enabled and another without it.
If Auto boost determines that it doesn’t need to apply any more stabilization than it’s necessary it won’t do so. I haven’t tested it for too long but there when I used that I got smooth and stable footage, it was really good. I love the fact that it doesn’t instantly crop in on the video from the get-go and I am sure it will be a great feature for all sorts of follow-up cams where you rather record somebody else than yourself.
Since Hero 11 Black has a much taller field of view thanks to the 8:7 sensor, GoPro managed to use that extra space and digitally stretch it into 16:9 aspect ratio video creating a completely new digital lens called „Hyperview”.
This feature offers an ultra-wide field of view and is perfect for recording all sorts of POV shots. The perspective is so wide that it distorts the edges even more than the “Superview” lens meaning that straight lines are bent on the edges of your screen.
It’s awesome for certain types of shots but I wouldn’t recommend it to record anything else apart from POV. Hyperview is extremely useful if you want to record an immersive hands-free perspective showing as much action as possible.
What’s more, I also noticed that with Hyperview every activity you do feels…. faster, you can feel the speed as you drive the car, or ride on a skateboard. Personally, I always use these modes when I want to get some creative shots from my head’s perspective when I am doing something like for example how I set up the camera, etc. but feel free to experiment with it.
Another quite interesting feature would be a new 10-bit color profile. What does it mean? Well, you simply get over 1 billion colors to manipulate while post-processing your video. With 10-bit color it’s easier to color grade your footage as it simply has more details in it, the gradation is smoother and it won’t fall apart if you push it too much as 8-bit does. Unfortunately, this setting is really demanding and if you have an older computer it may not handle editing this type of footage and crash. I cannot edit these videos and need a better PC for them.
That being said this feature is aimed at pro consumers who want to have the best quality possible and are willing to spend time editing their videos on professional software. Without editing, you probably won’t even see the difference between Hero 10 and 11 cause you gonna need a 10-bit monitor which most people don’t have. A 10-bit Color profile is only available in 5.3k resolution and 4k and luckily it is possible to turn it ON/OFF. If you prefer to have smaller file sizes and don’t want to edit your videos then stick to 8-bit.
I am personally super excited about 3 New Night modes called: Star Trails, Light painting, and Vehicle Light trails. If you love recording time lapses, especially during the night you can get so creative with these. Imagine you go out camping and there is a clear sky full of stars, you just set up a tripod point your GoPro at it and you can capture star trails. On some other occasions, you can take some RGB light and literally paint your own picture. It does require some imagination and practice though.
GoPro really fine-tuned these settings and nailed it plus the camera does all the hard work of stitching these photos together so you don’t have to edit anything yourself. Your time-lapse video is finished within the camera great right?
All you have to do is simply press a button and keep the camera steady so it can do its magic. I was curious if you can do the same thing by just copying these settings on a previous GoPro but seems like Hero 11’s software does some post-processing to it and you can’t get the same results with older cameras unless you manually edit your photos on PC. It’s just such a timesaver and makes it super easy now.
Thanks to the new image sensor Hero 11 Black can now take 27 MP photos in both JPG and RAW format. However, if you rather prefer shooting videos you can still frame-grab a photo out of it and it retains a 24.7 MP quality. I would say if you are not a photo guy or simply you constantly forget to take some photos then you don’t have to worry about timing a perfect moment anymore. You can individually go frame by frame, select the perfect moment and save it a as JPG photo.
Actually, this feature was available before but now it is offered in slightly better quality. I personally still prefer to shoot RAW photos but these require preparation and editing in Lightroom so I think it’s just gonna be so much easier to select it afterward. Please bear in mind that this option is dependent on the settings you choose so for the best picture quality you need to record in a 5.3k resolution 8:7 aspect ratio, this way you use an entire sensor of the camera.
Have you ever heard of GoPro Enduro Batteries? Ever since there were lots of complaints about Hero 10 overheating issues GoPro decided to come up with a solution to it by reinventing their standard battery and fixing this issue, the result is an improved version called Enduro battery that now comes with Hero 11 Black by default. So why is this new battery any better than the previous one? Well according to GoPro’s official statement it offers significantly longer recording times by around 38%.
I personally tested it against Hero 10 black and Hero 11’s endure battery managed to record by 20 minutes more in 5.3k 60 fps which is quite impressive. What’s more, Enduro batteries tend to last longer in cold weather environments so they gonna be perfect for winter sports activities yet they also boost GoPro performance even in moderate temperatures. These batteries aren’t cheap as a single of them costs around 24.99$ but it’s good that GoPro included them with Hero 11 Black.
For those of you who are new to GoPro OR …. don’t know much about camera settings in general, which settings to use in a specific moment, and why, etc GoPro has introduced a new profile called Easy Mode. It basically sets everything for you so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. Easy mode enables 4 basic options to choose from so you don’t have to worry about: White balance, proper exposure, sharpness, and all that stuff.
Let’s say you just want to record a video at a normal speed then you select the „Normal Speed” option if you want to record slow motion then you can choose between „Slow-mo” or „Ultra Slow motion” as simple as that. I believe that it’s going to help lots of people enjoy their cameras rather than worrying whether they used the right settings.
Additionally, if you don’t want to edit your videos then Hero 11 Black can automatically edit it all for you and send you an automatic Highlight video clip once you upload your footage to the cloud. Please notice that this feature is only available if you have a GoPro subscription that costs 50$ a year.
I personally prefer to edit my videos myself then I have the most control over my footage but if you don’t know how to edit videos or don’t have time for it then it might be a great way to quickly share your videos to friends and share it on social media. The cool thing about that subscription plan is that you get 20-50% off their accessories when you purchase on GoPro’s official website and can save up to 100$ OFF on a new camera so I honestly recommend it.
All your photos and videos can be stored on the GoPro cloud, and you can easily download it to your phone at any moment + it can be automatically uploaded to the cloud while charging your camera. The video is sent for you automatically, it’s not perfect but if you record short clips it is easier for the software to find the most interesting moments in it.
I highly recommend shooting short clips 20 or 30 seconds long and having lots of variety between them. Remember that at any given moment you can make some changes to your automatic edit so if you feel like you want to delete something or maybe add a few scenes from a different day it can easily be done.
Some other interesting alternatives
DJI Osmo Action 3
DJI Osmo Action 3 uses a magnetic quick-release system that lets you instantly remove the camera from horizontal mounting and reattach it in a vertical orientation. It can record 4k 120 fps and has a really wide 155 degrees field of view. Action 3 offers rock steady stabilization that supports Horizon steady feature up to 45 degrees angle which is a bit worse than GoPro 360 Horizon Lock yet the stabilization is quite impressive.
It is a very similar design to GoPro but the dual touch screens and magnetic quick-release system + circular lens thread make the biggest difference. Plus DJI promised that 10-bit color is scheduled for an upcoming firmware update so its quite an interesting choice especially since it only costs 329 $.
DJI Osmo Action 3 key specs are
- 4k 120 fps & Super Wide FOV
- 1/1.7- inch image sensor
- Rocksteady 3.0 stabilization
- Horizon Steady
- Dual touchscreens
- Cold resistant & Long Lasting battery
- Quick release design
- Waterproof to 52ft (16m)
- Hydrophobic Lens
Insta360 One RS
This camera is quite interesting as it is entirely built around a modular design. There are 3 lenses to choose from you can use a standard lens that lets you capture a regular 4k 60fps video but if you swap it for an optional 360-degree lens then the same camera can capture spherical 360 videos for you unlocking new possibilities that you can do with your camera.
However, if you want to have the best picture quality you can purchase a 5.7K 1-inch sensor for crispy detail and precise colors. The beauty of this design is that you don’t need to buy 2 or 3 completely different cameras for the job as one camera can do it all. If you can’t decide between a standard camera and a spherical 360 then perhaps it’s the best solution for you. Insta360 4k edition costs around 330$ or 549 $ for a Twin edition ( with 360 lenses) yet it gets even more expensive for a 1-inch sensor which costs 615 $. The good thing is that all these lenses can be purchased separately if you ever decide to expand the possibilities of your camera and these are all optional.
Insta360 One RS – Key specs are
- Modular Design: 4k 60fps Standard Lens, 5.7k 1-inch lens, or 360 lenses.
- 1/2” 48 MP image sensor
- 360 degrees Horizon Lock
- 5.7K 360 Lens + 360 reframing
- 6k Widescreen mode
- FlowState Stabilisation
- Active HDR
- Waterproof to 16ft
- Powerful Insta360 app
GoPro Hero 10/9 Black
It’s no surprise that GoPro Hero 11 Black biggest competitors are its previous models which even to this day are really powerful cameras. Hero 10 Black can record a video in 5.3k up to 60 fps while Hero 9 Black maxes out at 5k 30, for most of people probably 4k 60 fps is all they really need. They both offer impressive image stabilization and very good picture quality.
I am pretty sure that if you don’t need the newest features and some of the upgrades then Hero 10 Black or Hero 9 are more than enough for an average user + you can save up some money as their prices dropped significantly.
GoPro Hero 10 Black key specs
- 5.3k 60 fps , 4k 120 fps, 2.7k 240 fps
- Hyper smooth 4.0 + improved Horizon Leveling
- New GP2 Processor
- More responsive touch screen
- 23.6 Megapixel photos in RAW and JPG
- Colorful front LCD screen
- Waterproof to 33 ft (10m)
- Compatible with Hero 11 / Hero 9 Black accessories + 40 more
Conclusions
So to summarise it all now, if you are looking for a small factor camera that you can take anywhere with you and get some awesome quality footage in 5k or 4k, a camera that’s waterproof and durable and can be attached to countless mounts and accessories not to mention your body then Hero 11 Black is the right camera for you. It has the best image stabilization on the market with a 360-degree Horizon lock meaning you don’t need an expensive gimbal and your footage will look buttery smooth. With the new 8:7 sensor, it’s easier to share your footage on different platforms as you don’t have to worry about aspect ratios anymore. Having colorful Front and Back LCD screens definitely gonna make it easier to capture your shots and vlog with the camera. GoPro is still the king of action cameras for a reason and Hero 11 Black is the best of the best action cameras on the market. Though the competition starts to slowly catch up to them it makes me quite excited to see what awesome new features and exciting new inventions we will be offering in the near future as it gets better and better.
Thank you for reading through this article, I hope I managed to share all my knowledge about this camera from a real user who uses GoPro cameras on a daily basis for my youtube channel.
If you would like to learn more about GoPro Action cameras then please visit my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxJEQH2gKyePjVm3fSwFKqg
And if you would like to purchase GoPro Hero 11 Black then you can find it on Amazon
Featured Articles
How to Upload GoPro Footage to Your Computer
