Be a hero.. or not
If you are not familiar with GoPro, it’s the world’s most famous action camera and considered by many the best of its kind. That’s due to the fact that it’s a versatile action camera coming in a compact but durable design, adapting to the users demands easily by changing mounts or even housings so that the best shot is taken in every possible scenario. But where is the catch in this extraordinary camera? Let’s find out.
1. Too expensive
You get what you pay for, in this case you have to pay more for what you get. As a GoPro user myself I was super excited at the beginning with the features GoPro gave me but in time I realized that I might had paid little too much for a camera that has no timer, no flash, no zoom and even for the Hero 4 Black edition it doesn’t have a touch display on the back. If that wasn’t enough GoPro’s mounts and accessories that make it versatile, don’t come in cheap either.
2. Different options on the two editions of the same camera
To be honest there are several very useful options available such as protune (a tool ideal for post production phase), spot meter and low light (just like the previous version) but some things vary on different editions of the camera. For example: on the Black edition, the highest resolution for video quality is 4K at 30fps and on the Silver edition is 4K at 15fps, giving in all aspects the Black edition an edge over Silver edition.
3. Poor image quality
Users around the world are pretty satisfied with GoPro’s performance and good quality overall but it’s not flawless. There are people that complaint about washed-out colors in some occasions due to the lighting (the lack of flash that we mentioned earlier) or the protune, well just because is there it doesn’t mean you have to use it, leave some things to the experts. Other quality complains that GoPro faces, is having rough lines where there should be straight ones caused by the processing and saving the picture.
4. Low battery life
Not just GoPros but most of the action cameras if not all, tend to suffer from short battery life. That can be very frustrating especially when you are outdoors or somewhere that you don’t have power source to recharge it. As this wasn’t enough if you do have a spare battery with you, you have to take the camera out of its protective waterproof housing so that you can change the battery, making the camera and most importantly the lens vulnerable to water and any other hazards that may harm your camera.
5. Connection problems
GoPro Hero4 provides three ways that you can control your camera. First one and the most common is by pressing the MODE(power) button and shutter button that you can cycle through the camera options and modes which can be pretty frustrating sometimes. Another way is either you can use the touch display (on the Silver edition ONLY), or connect with the GoPro remote via Bluetooth which are just the same frustrating controls found on the camera itself and costs about $95 to purchase it from their website. Finally the best way and the most problematic is by connecting your camera with Wi-Fi to your phone, controlling it easier and getting live feed at the same time. But if you can’t get it to work is either because you have an older version of android or the camera just won’t connect for a variety of reasons.