GoPro Hero 7 with Hypersmooth stabilization

[tellure]

Thanks for posting this, super impressive.  I'm now planning on buying one, barring any issues that come up with a bit more research.

It it surprising that we haven't seen anyone do software-based stabilizatrion with accelerometer data on a prosumer camera yet.  Looking forward to that on the A74..

[sanveer]

1 hour ago, Deadcode said:

GoPro's have around 11 stop dynamic range in Protune Native Flat mode. Actually the dynamic range is very good for the sensor size

Wow. Sounds pretty amazing. Are the dynamic range numbers in the GoPro documentation.

I saw a few videos, and the sound seems to have been improved noticeably. The bitrate still seems low (especially for a cam with a lot of moving background). Maybe they should have a few more bitrate options. 

[Adam Kuźniar]

Watching the Casey's video, the blocking and compression in forest scenes are horrendous! Nothing close to what was shown in the ad. Is that yet another episode of "no one can match their gopro videos to the sponsored ones" ?

[Jimmy]

Looks stunning... can't wait to let those loose in the alpes this winter...

Gotta ask though.. why the canon bashing? Bizarre. IS on a tiny sensor is far easier

[sanveer]

I guess after YouTube Reduced revenues for Youtubers/ Vloggers by 10-20 TIMES, they are just happy with whatever freebies they get for new product launches including free flight, stay and a few cameras thrown in. I don't blame them. It's like a millionaire suddenly making $50000-100000 a year from a million just a few months ago.

This is what the GoPro 7 should have ideally focussed on, apart from their stabilization (which wasn't too bad in 30p mode in their previous model, TBO?

1. Make Improvements in low light. With a combination of faster lens and probably larger sensor. 

2. Someone mentioned that the GoPro does 11 stops in Protune. That actually seems like a very high figure for such a tiny camera, especially considering it probably doesn't do 11 stops in stills mode. Maybe it does 11 stops in HDR. But certainly not in video. 

3. Bitrate is still a paltry 78Mb/s in 4K. While it does it in H.265/ HEVC, the video was still very jaggedy and pixelated. Maybe they should target 100mbps with a firmware update.

4. For last 2-3 generations they don't seem to have changed the sensor. It's like they regurgitating stuff now.

 

Because everyone else isn't really pushing them too much, in things apart from price, they've been complacent for the longest. Considering how amazing Sony's tiny sensors are, it strange they (and most other action and small cam makers) aren't doing more. They could have made this with 2 (or 3) cameras, to have zoom options or better low light.

[Adam Kuźniar]

14 minutes ago, sanveer said:

3. Bitrate is still a paltry 78Mb/s in 4K. While it does it in H.265/ HEVC, the video was still very jaggedy and pixelated. Maybe they should target 100mbps with a firmware update.

 

78 in 4k for a fast-paced action? Holy crap that's why it's so blocky and compressed.

[Deadcode]

35 minutes ago, sanveer said:

I guess after YouTube Reduced revenues for Youtubers/ Vloggers by 10-20 TIMES, they are just happy with whatever freebies they get for new product launches including free flight, stay and a few cameras thrown in. I don't blame them. It's like a millionaire suddenly making $50000-100000 a year from a million just a few months ago.

This is what the GoPro 7 should have ideally focussed on, apart from their stabilization (which wasn't too bad in 30p mode in their previous model, TBO?

1. Make Improvements in low light. With a combination of faster lens and probably larger sensor. 

2. Someone mentioned that the GoPro does 11 stops in Protune. That actually seems like a very high figure for such a tiny camera, especially considering it probably doesn't do 11 stops in stills mode. Maybe it does 11 stops in HDR. But certainly not in video. 

3. Bitrate is still a paltry 78Mb/s in 4K. While it does it in H.265/ HEVC, the video was still very jaggedy and pixelated. Maybe they should target 100mbps with a firmware update.

4. For last 2-3 generations they don't seem to have changed the sensor. It's like they regurgitating stuff now.

 

Because everyone else isn't really pushing them too much, in things apart from price, they've been complacent for the longest. Considering how amazing Sony's tiny sensors are, it strange they (and most other action and small cam makers) aren't doing more. They could have made this with 2 (or 3) cameras, to have zoom options or better low light.

There is a a lot to read here for you

Yes, the bitrate should be higher, but man, you are judgeing the image what you saw on a 8Mbps compressed youtube clip... It actually holds up pretty well, even after colorgrading.

[webrunner5]

Well there is ONE video on Vimeo for the Hero 7. So the quality on there surely is better than YT. looks pretty decent.

 

[sanveer]

1 hour ago, Deadcode said:

There is a a lot to read here for you

Yes, the bitrate should be higher, but man, you are judgeing the image what you saw on a 8Mbps compressed youtube clip... It actually holds up pretty well, even after colorgrading.

Thanks for sharing this. I had read a few articles on cineform earlier, but that 11Stops dynamic range seemed much. Then I did a bit of an online search and apparently the DJI Phantom 4 (not Pro), which shared a similar sized sensor (1/2.3") is rated for 11.8 stops of dynamic range ( https://www.dxomark.com/dji-phantom-4-review-lofty-ambitions ). So I am guessing that may be possible for RAW photos at the very lowest ISO.

I also noticed that the GoPro footage doesn't make the sky unusually blue, like most smartphone footage does nowadays. 

[wolf33d]

5 hours ago, Adam Kuźniar said:

Watching the Casey's video, the blocking and compression in forest scenes are horrendous! Nothing close to what was shown in the ad. Is that yet another episode of "no one can match their gopro videos to the sponsored ones" ?

 

3 hours ago, Adam Kuźniar said:

78 in 4k for a fast-paced action? Holy crap that's why it's so blocky and compressed.

This is because of youtube. My GP6 has 0 compression and blocking, image looks great. I did not find it was the case with the 4 or 5. They made a leap forward in IQ with the 6. The 7 is about stab, and having this stab in 4K60p (no stab in 4k60p on the 6 at all) is what will make me get it. 
Do not forget it is h.265 so more equivalent to 150mbps 

I do not use my GoPro often but when I do that's the only camera that could work. 

[Emanuel]

 

[thebrothersthre3]

That if its all just software stabilization it probably takes up a lot of processing power. When you have a small sensor it gives you more room for processing power. Still impressive that they fit it in such a small body.

That said if they really wanted to be innovative they should be giving us 4k 120fps. Such a small sensor should be capable.

[newfoundmass]

I think I saw that this was only $399. That seems lower priced than the last time I looked into a GoPro, no? 

[DBounce]

I’ll pass, there are better options.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

3 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

That if its all just software stabilization it probably takes up a lot of processing power. When you have a small sensor it gives you more room for processing power. Still impressive that they fit it in such a small body.

That said if they really wanted to be innovative they should be giving us 4k 120fps. Such a small sensor should be capable.

The camera have sensors to record the camera movement, hence the software knows the direction and the intensity of each camera movement.
Did not looked extensively, but I guess that the footage does not comes stabilized straight out of camera, guess that you have to stabilize it in a GoPro software - than you don't need a lot of processing power on camera, it only records the footage and sensors data to feed the software. But I could be wrong.

[thebrothersthre3]

7 hours ago, Márcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

The camera have sensors to record the camera movement, hence the software knows the direction and the intensity of each camera movement.
Did not looked extensively, but I guess that the footage does not comes stabilized straight out of camera, guess that you have to stabilize it in a GoPro software - than you don't need a lot of processing power on camera, it only records the footage and sensors data to feed the software. But I could be wrong.

oh its done in post not in camera? Interesting. It certainly does look very nice. Almost tempted to buy one, but that tiny sensor wide lens look is kind of off putting for the majority of things.

[tellure]

Damn the compression artifacts in that Vimeo video are pretty terrible.  Sigh.. guess they must be recording their promo videos to an external recorder or something.

100% crop:

[Deadcode]

1 hour ago, tellure said:

Damn the compression artifacts in that Vimeo video are pretty terrible.  Sigh.. guess they must be recording their promo videos to an external recorder or something.

100% crop:

You guys are even real? ?

Vimeo is using 12-15 VBR codec to compress 1080p footage. And hyperlapses require much higher bitrate then usual.

Why dont you check normal footages with higher resolution...

[kye]

On 9/21/2018 at 10:36 AM, Adam Kuźniar said:

Watching the Casey's video, the blocking and compression in forest scenes are horrendous! Nothing close to what was shown in the ad. Is that yet another episode of "no one can match their gopro videos to the sponsored ones" ?

When I bought my gopro hero 3 I read a lot of articles about how to make it look good, because my attempts didn't, and found a great article written by the person who filmed the snorkelling girls in the promo video. Unfortunately I now can't find it, so apologies for not linking it.

The basic outline was that for the 3-6 shots in the promo they had a half a dozen person team and it took a week of 12-18 hour days to shoot.

The first day they shot a lot and it was all unusable but they were learning the camera, the second and third days were the same and once they got it dialled in with all the right settings and rigging and NDs and filters and grading techniques then the last couple of days were about getting the shots.

He confirmed that you really can get those results, but only if you are a very experienced operator and you have all the resources and time in the world.

I've read other people also say the same thing of manually working out what ND strength gives what shutter speed etc etc. It's like playing chess and you have to get to checkmate to get the shot!

I know the current ones give more manual controls, but you still need to try every video mode and lighting condition to see how they all turn out, as from a professional perspective apparently some modes are lovely and others are awful.

[webrunner5]

Well the 2.7K has been the sweet spot on GoPros for the last few models. I think 4K is a bridge too far for anything really serious. Although the new 7 looks a Lot better side by side to the model 6. A lot less artifacts. Even looks to be a different, improved color science also.

Hey it is not a Arri Alexa, but for 400 bucks I don't see anything that can top it for all it can do overall. I mean these things are aimed at a hobbyist, vacation stuff, not for Star Wars 10. I think from what I have seen so far it may even top smartphone footage, especially for stabilization.