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24p movies with this one will be very expensive. 🙂

Go for it. I'm loving the camera - but, as I said, my previous cameras were CDAF MTFs. When you have some spare cash, take a look at the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 - is almost glued to my X-S20. And, for video, I think it is even a bit better than the Fuji 18-55 (which I have and love, but will probably sell).

That's great stuff, and we can see why you had some frustrating experiences. But you could read the history as GoPro responding to issues: eg, create the Enduro battery precisely to improve battery life in the cold, overcome the heat and battery life issues of the highest resolutions and frame rates, improve the responsiveness of the lcd to touch, add 10 bit color, provide log gammas, add full-sensor framing (8:7), up resolution, improve stabilization, make performance more reliable. And all the while keeping the same form factor and robustness and price. No to mention GoPro Labs innovations and the the use of QR codes. Having failures is a symptom of innovation. There are really still no competitors (leaving aside 360 for now) that are not just trying to match, unsuccessfully, Hero's. No real innovation by anyone else. And, we should keep complaining, because GoPro evidently responds!

Of course, I don’t judge the quality (hw, sw and video) from their stock price 🙂. But they are under enormous pressure to survive, it is not like being a private company. They did many miss steps so now they seem to be ripping off customers to try to stay afloat. Btw I was a GPRO stockholder. My first Gopro was Hero 2 and went up Hero 10. In parallel I started using insta360 cameras and now I’m Gopro free 😊 although I use sometime some of my customer’s ones as backup cameras. I filmed in harsh situations so my experience could be different than others. I have mounted on Rally Cars in Lapland and Africa, on wings of Military Jet, on desert's Buggy, Alaska Heliskiing, MTB etc.. The number of freezes, overheats, battery draining (enduro battery was made because the standard one was basically useless in winter conditions...wtf) that I had it was just so frustrating. Gopro Hero Max is so old that is insane that they still sell it and the software is ridiculously bad compared to the insta360 one. Gopro Mini, Session etc they still don’t know what to do… seems a trial and error approach Gopro 10 was probably the buggiest camera that I had from all the camera that I have owned. Just do a google search for freezes, overheats, battery drain... and you will see that I'm not the only one. And let’s not talk about their subscription model that they try to “lock you in” with hw discount hoping that you will not cancel a pretty useless subscription. I was a big gopro fan, but they failed so many times on me that I don’t trust them anymore. The 12 should have been a FW fix of the 11.. but as quoted company you need to bring more revenue and is a declining market too as form many a phone is a better solution than a gopro.

5.3K 60p is the mode that is mostly likely to lead to thermal shutdown, *according to GoPro*. Indeed that mode is where on the Hero 12 they claim to have made the most improvements in battery life and heating. Anyway, the relative thermal and battery life performance suggest 5.3K 60p is the most taxing on the GoPro. I agree downsampling is strenuous; I wonder if the 4K modes are line skipped or pixel binned. GoPro has never revealed how they achieve full sensor framing at lower resolutions. I often downsample 5.3K in post to 4K and that takes more time than just rendering at 5.3K. Similarly, rendering at 8K from 8K RAW takes less resources than rendering at 4K. So I produce 8K and 5.3K videos and let YouTube do the downsampling to 4K if I upload!

Are we judging cameras by manufacturers stock prices now? 🙂 I have been shooting with GoPro's since the Hero 4 (including 3D!). GoPro has indeed from model to model made substantial improvements while essentially keeping the same form factor and price. That is the history. The 4's, for example, overheated but did not have thermal protection so that they did not turn off (and thus you got images that bloomed), each successive model had an issue. But also new capabilities. I agree the 12 is a very, very, very trivial improvement on the 11, especially if you use Labs firmware - amazing capabilities. GoPro software is irrelevant (and they mostly have dropped whatever they had)- but who needs it who is serious about editing? Subscriptions do give you discounts on new cameras, so it does cheapen the hardware upgrades non-trivially. If you subscribe, sell the Hero 11, you can probably pay a net of $150 for a new Hero 12. Yes, that's a lot for a "firmware" upgrade, but you do get an added and fresh battery and a new warranty (including the subscription insurance)! Is it fair to say the 12 has the least "bugs"? And, if it has some, what exactly are they? I have shot loads of Hero 12 video at 5.3K 60p - the most extreme and taxing mode, at 180 Mbps, with 10bit color and the full color gamut and log gamma. And 4K 120p too. I have not encountered a single problem. What am I missing? should I worry about something? Let us all know. I have a shoot coming up.

I'd say it is prosumer, it straddles the range across from consumer cameras to "pro" cameras. Just like how the Zoom F8n is a prosumer recorder. And the Sennheiser G4 is prosumer wireless. The Sony a7 series of cameras, are also prosumer cameras.

its a marketing stunt obv, and nothing will change because of this movie, but it’s still a cool accomplishment to shoot an ambitious feature length film with a consumer camera. I wish i was shooting features.

Late, but I support xs20 over anything else, unless you have the budget for xh2s

Ok, two days from this post, I have an X-S20 on the way. Looking forward to trying it out.

Well confession time and that is I am doing a complete 180 on letting them go and instead cancelling my Zf pre-order… I would rather flip to Nikon but the finances don’t stack up and I did fluff up my own limited S5ii (photo) test by having a LUT burned in to my raw files. Forgot to reset that feature. Doh. I did wonder why they were so bad…🤨 Been having a play today with my wounded one. Another doh, - I sent off the fully functioning one to be fixed 🤪 But otherwise, initial start up time not brilliant but after that, not too bad or I am used to it so no big deal. Not a fan of the shutter button feel or sound, but that is coming from the ‘in another league S1H’. I would also rather have the rear screen from the S1H. And its build. And battery life. And OLPF. The S1H, which is the better stills camera IMO, is however going in to the static video role, ie, on a tripod with the biggest and heaviest lens. The pair of S5ii’s are going from video roles into hybrid with various max 750g lenses so no single big heavy unit (my S1H combo was 2.8kg) which was a bit much on a typical 12+ hour shoot, so no single in the hand unit will ever be above 1.5kg and most options well under that. Cost? Nothing. In fact I’m going to sell a couple of lenses so taking a hit on depreciation, but putting something back in the bank and lightening the load which is a primary aim. I still think the Nikon/Lumix combo I was considering (Z9 + Zf + S1H) would suit me better, but my man maths says it’s at least 5k to change and that aside, I can’t be arsed to go through the rigmarole, especially after ironing out a few kinks in the set up. I like my video output, though it could be improved. I like my stills output (just need to make a few tweaks from S1H to S5ii). I’m familiar with the system and actually hate change unless something needs to be changed or fixed or the new thing is quantifiable better. It’s more than decent kit. Niggles yes, but actually easily the best kit I have ever had or anyone in my position could ever need, so remaining Lumix for bodies and Sigma for lenses. For the time being at least…😉

Well that is one I’m eyeing! I think I might go for it since the XT3 has sold and if something comes out better I can always flip it. The raw video features have me thinking too. Crazy.