Hero 4: Silver or Black?

[RJP]

Sorry for strafing this forum with queries that have probably been hashed out time and time again.

I'm wondering what folks think about Silver vs Black for dive use. Seems that some feel that the extra features/benefits of the black aren't worth much in typical diving situations and that, in general, 4k is still just over the horizon. But how much of the Silver sentiment is financial?

Yeah, the Black is more money... but I didn't get into diving to save money. And, in life in general I'm usually happy buying the top model of most things, and very unhappy when I save a few bucks and "buy down" only to upgrade quickly. (I have a basement full of "first" guitars, golf clubs, bikes, etc that have been abandoned in favor of their replacements.)

In looking around for reviews on-line there's no real consensus. The opinions fall into three, entirely expected buckets, mostly in the less-than-helpful third...

1. I say choose the Silver... it's financially cheaper.
2. I say choose the Black... it's technically better.
3. I say the choice is yours... the Silver is cheaper, but if you don't mind spending the extra money the black is Better.

While I don't mind spending extra money for marginal utility... I wouldn't want to spend extra for features/benefits that won't mean anything to me. The camera will also be used by family for skiing, surfing, cycling, and all sorts of other nonsense as well... though my primary "concern" is diving.

Appreciate any thoughts or insights folks may have.

 

[kelemvor]

Keep in mind, the silver comes with a screen. Black does not. To truly make them comparable you need to add the screen cost to the $100 price difference.

Related: GoPro HERO4 Black vs Silver Comparison


Personally, I find the high definition features the only reason I'd want to upgrade from the hero2 I currently have. That said, I haven't dropped the coin on one yet. I know they both technically do 4k, but my opinion is that 15fps "video" isn't video at all. Unwatchable and therefore a useless feature on the silver.

When it comes to action sports (skiing, cycling, surfing etc) that high speed feature in the black is going to become very valuable. Watching a fish swim by in slowmo on someone's dive video is probably not worth doing.

 

[MikkelBC]

I have just done 34 dives during this vacation with a Hero4 black with LCD. I recorded in 4K 30 fps, which I believe is impossible with the silver. I agree that 15fps is useless. The 4K video is incredibly sharp and crisp - much better than 1440 on the Hero3 Black.
I don't intend to publish video in 4K, but I believe that the ability to crop or stabilize or just the extra sharpness is totally worth it. "worth" however is very subjective depending on how much the extra money is worth to you.
Happy filming!

 

[BDSC]

To be honest, I'm kinda like you when it comes to buying stuff. I typically like the top of the line model with all the features, but here what usually happens with me. We needed a new washer a few years ago. We go in and look and come away with an LG that has every setting you can imagine to wash clothes. In the several years we have owned it we have used two setting....normal and delicate. Thats why I would buy the Silver.

First off I don't think you will shoot in 4K anyway underwater or above. We were told to shoot in 1080 at 60 and both do that. I figure by the time 4K is the norm, maybe in a few years, there will be a couple of new versions of GoPros to look at anyway. So if you upgrade from a Silver, it will probably be to a Hero 5 or 6 by then and who knows what features it will have.

Also, it is about $180 cheaper when you figure in buying the LCD back for the Black. You will also need the extended back plate for the housing once you put the LCD screen on but I think you said you were going to get a dive housing anyway so I think it will come with the extended back. I also think you will get better battery life from the Silver with the LCD screen as compared to the Black with the same.

You really can't make a wrong decision. Both will be great for what you are going to do. I just don't see that you are going to be using any of the Black features for diving that aren't available on the Silver.

 

[RJP]

Related: GoPro HERO4 Black vs Silver Comparison

Another one for the third "the choice is yours..." bucket.

:d

 

[rhwestfall]

[video=youtube;zfBG0d5Oj3c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfBG0d5Oj3c[/video]

killing me to figure it out too.... (subscribing)

 

[MikkelBC]

To elaborate a bit on my post above: I don't shoot 4K because I expect to produce 4K video in my final result - I do it for the added benefits that it had for my workflow. It allows me to crop and if I don't want to crop I can still scale it easily and still get a sharper result. I see no benefit to shooting in 60fps unless you want to slow down motion, which I don't. I like my fish to move at their natural speed. Changing frame rates in editing also complicates sound sync. So I see a benefit to shooting in higher resolution than I need in the final result but no benefit to shooting in higher frame rates.

 

[tamas970]

Personally I bought the black: 4k is the future, or at least, top-quality 1080p, compressed from 4k material. The screen might speak for the silver, but honestly, the tiny screen won't help much if someone wants to use the gopro as a pro (arms, tray, etc). If the cam is 'just hung up somewhere, there is no need for a screen. One real point, where the silver wins: battery time. You can film through a double-tank dive without the need to change the battery on the boat. True, that the black does tha same with the battery BacPac. However, the black tends to overheat with the BacPac, I don't know if it becomes an issue in hot water (30°C) dives. Where I dive the most (swiss lakes) I can't think of any camera that overheats .

I have yet to see a real silver-vs black comparison, where IQ of the black is fully exploited (4k converted to 1080p) and the RAW sample vid is available, crappy youtube compressed material doesn't help much here.

Long story short: the silver is a great camera, it IS cheaper and it has a longer battery life (and if someone prefers it HAS an LCD). OTOH, the black might have an edge in IQ.