GoPro - HERO8 Black

There’s larger sensors in the insta Ace Pro2 and the DJI Action 5 that handle low light conditions very well. I have the GoPro 8, 11, and the DJI Action 5 and I always grab the DJI over the GoPro for night work.

As most people here mentioned, there are trade-offs and physics/technological barriers. GoPro actually had slightly better lowlight back in hero8 while the sensor was still 12MP. It also had less issues with overheating before the camera pushed to super high resolutions and high FPS. But the market seemed to want innovation in resolution and FPS back then. And if you ask many creators, they praise GoPros large 8x7 sensor and super detailed 5.3K res as factors of why they like GoPro. Over the years GoPro addressed most things except lowlight (mostly due to tech availability), but they have been incrementally addressing overheating each year. You only see these as “constant issues” because GoPro chose to prioritize features over those two remaining physical challenges. If GoPro went a different direction you might be saying “GoPro has done everything except for it’s stuck in the past with low resolutions, low FPS and low megapixel photos.” Hard to say which is the better tradeoff now, but competitors saw where they could differentiate and chose to attack those directly - lowlight and overheating - albeit they still aren’t perfect. It’s all about perspective - but we all agree GoPro is due for a technological advancement in lowlight and heat.

Hero 8, 9, 10 user here. Go for Insta360. But if you’re looking between GoPro and dji, go for dji. In other news, I’m looking to sell my hero 10, if anyone is interested (Kolkata or vicinity) let me know. I’ve got all accessories and a boatload of additional stuff for it. Asking for 20k.

Have yet fo find a worthwhile knockoff action camera. I still rock a hero 8 black and am super happy. If you wanna save cost get a few generations old!

Just get an old GoPro. I have 8s that are still used for a variety of things and work decently well

A GoPro 7 or 8 then. I don't recommend less know action cameras brands like Akaso, not terrible but not great either. Sound quality is really bad and the image stabilization performance is inferior compared to the GoPro or the DJI Action cameras.

Please stay away from cameras with brands like Vivitar or Polaroid. Look for used GoPro like the 8 or 9. Also the DJI Action 2.

Used gopro. Hero 8 black has been great for me.

I use a GoPro hero 8. Does a pretty good job. My only issue is battery life. I caught a huge fish on my last trip but couldn't record it because my battery died and I didn't notice. I have a lot of batteries to use but I don't always know when it dies.

I’ve been using my hero 8 black since I got it when it came out and had zero issues or complaints.

I think the way to look at it, is that GoPro was so far ahead for so long, there was no real competition for them for over a decade. Even DJI had GoPro mounts built in when the Phantom 1 came along. Historically, GoPro perfected their 1080P then moved to 2.7k on the Hero 3 Black. They had the best 4k on the Hero 4 Black. Then they made the whole camera waterproof and added the built in touchscreen on the Hero 5 Black, then they went 4k 60 with moderate stabilization on the Hero 6 black, built a tiny camera on the Session 4 and 5. With the Hero 7 black, they finally got stabilization in camera that started to compete with 3 axis gimbals. On the 8 they had the mount built in so you didn't have to have a frame and changed to a larger form factor with the Hero 9 black and got resolution to 5.3k. They perfected features like Timewarp and Hyperlapse where all the work was done in camera instead of post. They made GoPro labs available for most of their cameras and gave amazing levels of customization that no other cameras have even to this day. Then they really started to stagnate and features were more incremental and evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Sure they had the 8:7 sensor and got video resolution up to 24.7 megapixels, but they still use a tiny sensor and low light performance is still very bad. They also had to deal with the rise of DJI and Insta360 who started to release competing products. Dji matched 10 bit the same year as GoPro, The Action 5 and Ace Pro 2 use much larger sensors and do much better in low light. GoPro was late to the party with magnetic mounting systems and Insta360 even put 8k into their Ace Pro versions. Insta360 has the Ace Pro Line, their Go series mini camera and even had the modular R series which could be an action cam or a 360 camera. In the time since GoPro released the Max, Insta360 has released 5 consumer grade 360 cameras that get better each year and now do 8k. We have no idea when the Max 2 will be released. GoPro stock is hovering around 50 cents a share and the market cap of the entire company is only 75 million dollars. It used to be almost 11 billion dollars, so it is 145 times smaller than it was shortly after the company went public. They have had to lay off staff and that has a huge impact on R&D. They are clearly falling behind competitors with no real path forward. Depending on which site you listen to, they rate the probability of bankruptcy at 33 to 62% in the next 24 months. That is not the sign of a healthy company. They botched the launch of their Karma drone and ceded that potential marketplace to DJI in the process. The reality is that the DJI and Insta360 cameras do a lot of things better and much easier. Low light is a real thing for a lot of people and the Action 5 and Ace Pro do a very good job in the space and GoPro isn't on the same playing field. I love the new GoPro lens system, but I am an advanced user and have been using ND filters, Anamorphic lenses, and macro lenses for years with the GoPro. The new anamorphic lens is great because it does the desqueeze of your footage automatically in camera. What is annoying is that they announced the lens in September of 2024 and I was finally able to get it 7 months later. GoPro is a great camera, but for many people who never touch labs, don't care about 10 bit or color grading, never do reframing 8:7, like to shoot in lower light conditions, or won't spend the $129 on an anamorphic lens, the GoPro is not really the camera for them. Insta360 are releasing much better cameras each year and GoPro is falling further behind. I really want GoPro to come back strong, but I fear they don't have the finances to compete unless they have an absolutely amazing technical breakthrough in the action camera space.