The latest update to the GoPro flagship line for 2023 landed in September with the new Hero 12 Black bringing longer battery life, Bluetooth headphone/mic connectivity and a convenient grub screw to mount to a standard tripod or third-party accessory.
The Hero 12 Black is available now for a RRP of $649.95 and offers more than double the runtime of its predecessor in 4K/120fps and 5.3K shooting modes. There are battery life improvements across the board, but GoPro has just optimised the power management via software updates, so you’ll only get an extra 15% increase in less demanding shooting modes like 1080p/60fps.
Mods to the Max
There’s a new Max Lens Mod 2.0 to accompany the latest Hero 12 Black, that can be purchased for $169.95 on its own, or as a bundle for $820. New lens offers a market-leading 177º field of view that can be captured at 4K/60fps for amazing first-person action shots. This combines with a new HyperSmooth 6.0 video stabilisation update that will AutoBoost when a lot of movement is detected, while maintaining the smallest possible cropping effect, and now offers Horizon Lock in a wider array of uses.
Putting the pro in GoPro
The new update brings plenty for professionals with new HDR capabilities for 5.3K video and GP-log shooting modes with lookup tables (a flat RAW-like gamut that’s ideal for colour grading work). There’s also Bluetooth connectivity for a range of devices like Apple AirPods or wireless headphones, and microphones that allow you to capture voiceovers and commentary in sync with the video. There’s even new timecode sync settings and dual microphone recording to ensure what you hear is as good as what you see.
Go-in-the-dark camera
For the hobbyists, the Hero 12 Black offers up to 8 times slow motion when shooting in 2.7K resolution and there’s far more vertical shooting modes that are better for smartphone-based social media platforms. Night photographers will also be pleased with the added nighttime hyper-lapse modes for capturing car and starlight trails.
There isn’t much new in the way of physical camera changes, but the device maintains its 10m waterproofing and still offers question-free replacement to GoPro subscribers for any cameras killed in action – so you never have to worry if a shot is worth it.
The company has also announced intentions of releasing a new computer-based Quik editing software in November. That’ll be the first time in a few years that you’ll be able to use the easy and speedy GoPro editing tools from a laptop rather than just a smartphone.
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