Is an upgrade worth it for me? Hero 4 vs 7

[lamarpaulski]

Hi folks,
I'm a crap videographer, but I like shooting interesting critters and cool formations when I see them. I use a hero 4 silver now. Is it worth upgrading to the 7 black? Put another way, would someone without great skills really notice a difference or would the vids look more or less the same? Thanks very much!

Yes. Plus.
If you send any old working or not digital camera to Gopro they take 100$ off too. 300$.

Stabilization and hyper lapse and greater sensors, greater FPS or 4K. The better specs are out there and it produces a nice product. You still have to be a decent diver and keep camera still but it definitely smoothed and enhances over old models.

 

[ReefHound]

Sensor size is still 1/2.3. Keep in mind that 4k will be in H265 codec which some software doesn't support and some computers can't keep up.

 

[W W Meixner]

Hi folks,
I'm a crap videographer, but I like shooting interesting critters and cool formations when I see them. I use a hero 4 silver now. Is it worth upgrading to the 7 black? Put another way, would someone without great skills really notice a difference or would the vids look more or less the same? Thanks very much!

AM...

I think you've answered your own question...

Best...

Warren

 

[Manuel Sam]

Like yourself I have the Hero 4 Silver and was happy with it. But, I just took the plunge to the Hero 7 Black - betting the house on the promise of its Hypersmooth Stabilization. I've seen what my crappy videos look like if shooting when kicking hard while snorkeling in mildly choppy waters or swimming against a mild current during a dive. Or when I get scatter-brained and distracted admiring the animal(s) instead of focusing on keeping the subject properly framed, altho I am not counting on the stabilization being the cure for this.

I'm also banking on a potential improvement in low-light situations - for example, early in the morning at depth or shooting downwards at a relatively distant subject. These usually come out a bit too grainy.

The $100 off mentioned previously made it an easier decision, altho all of that (and more) went into getting the housing, a new charger, new batteries, and (optional) new microsd cards. I haven't received it yet and it doesn't get wet for another month, so I can't tell you if it was a good bet.

I'm definitely not doing it to shoot 4K/60 fps. I'm still going to shoot 1080p/60fps......otherwise I'll have to buy a new monitor, computer, and wide screen TV.

 

[Hatul]

When the 6 came out I thought I'd upgrade from my Silver 4 to the 6. I tried the 6 on one dive here in S Cal and did not find much improvement over my 4 so I returned it.

I use the Silver 4 on a carbon fiber stick with a Backscatter filter and video light and at 1080p at 60 fps. The old 4 has one more button for better controls under water.

I'm tempted to try again to upgrade to the 7 but it's not a high priority for me.

 

[ReefHound]

If you didn't find the 6 a worthwhile upgrade over the 4, then the 7 isn't going to be either. Pretty much the same camera as the 6 with most of the new features not applicable to underwater. The 6/7 mainly give you higher resolution/fps than the 4 but if you shoot 1080/60 then it doesn't come into play. I've seen enough side by side comparisons to feel like the 6 offers much better color than the 4. But like you said, the 4 has better controls uw, esp. since you can change settings on the big back color screen than the tiny grey one on front.

Gopro has been on an annual October cycle so six more months to the 8, possibly.

 

[divinginn]

am I the only one still using a original Go Pro?

 

[ReefHound]

am I the only one still using a original Go Pro?

Hopefully. Why so stubborn?

 

[Mike1967]

And by stubborn, he means tight

 

[EvilOtter]

I'm a crap videographer

No you aren't! Your videos are quite interesting. Quit beating yourself up!

Not much the 7 has over the 6 that would be useful uw.

Objectively, the stabilization on the 7 is really on another level compared to the 6. Granted, this is much more noticeable above water, but it will significantly improve the stability and watchability of video for the majority of underwater GoPro users. If you have other use cases for your GoPro, I feel that the upgrade is a no-brainer.

Keep in mind that 4k will be in H265 codec which some software doesn't support and some computers can't keep up.

This is certainly true for all of the video models that support HEVC only. However, you can still use H.264 for 4K30, 2.7K60 and 1080p120. You can also transcode any video mode from HEVC to H.264 using a third-party app such as Handbrake if you really want to use 4K60 or 1080p240 and your NLE can handle it.