Go Pro HD HERO 4 Black Gets 60fps at 2.7K and 240fps at 720p
Wow! Go Pro have excelled themselves with a Go Pro HD Hero 4 Firmware update that is like a whole new camera. Like a HD Hero 4+ but without us having to spend a penny!
The New Updates are as Follows
HERO4 Black Edition Camera
Feature Enhancements:
HERO4 Silver Edition Camera
Feature Enhancements:
This is super-cool!
Time Lapse Video (Black and Silver)
In the past, shooting time lapse with the Go Pro HD Hero 4 (black and silver) was a pain. Regardless of the length of the time lapse you shot, you ended up with a ton of still images. Images that still needed to be processed in order to get your wonderful time lapse.
With this update, the HD Hero 4 now completes the processing "in camera". This is huge as it simply spews out the finished product for you, but only in super HD modes. Those being 4K (16:9 format) and 2.7K (in 4:3 format).
Nice one Go Pro, should save a lot of time!
New Frame Rates (Black Only)
720p…Whoosh!
The new update gives you a whopping 240fps (frames per second) at 720p HD. This is more than enough resolution for most people...especially for sharing online. The only downside is that it can only be used in narrow mode. However, the upside is that it will give you 10x slow motion when rendered out to 24p.
2.7k…Zoom!
You even get a fantastic 60fps at 2.7k for some super cool footage that can be cropped and slowed down. This will give straight lines on super slow motion 1080p output...happy days.
Auto Rotate
Quite a cool feature for those of us who like to play with gimbals and strange locations for their Go Pro's. When set, this feature will rotate the picture automatically using built-in accelerometers. This saves the need to rotate in post processing...another really cool update.
Note: The auto-rotate is locked in position once recording starts as to not confuse the camera when flying all over the place in this mode.
This is so cool for such a little and relatively in-expensive camera. I was filming from 90 meters up yesterday using the Phantom 2 at 4K and the footage is amazingly clear. Where can this funky camera take us next?
Shame on you Canon. I am still waiting for features way less impressive than these on your next 5D Mark Whatever.
Downsides to Hero 4 Firmware Update
The only downside I can see, and something that has been pointed out elsewhere on the webinet, is that faster frame rates produce less than acceptable sharpness and detail.
Like the Panasonic GH4 at 96fps, the Go Pro at 240fps, 120fps or even 60fps can produce slightly degraded footage. Footage that at the very least, needs a bit of sharpening and TLC. I will be testing these new frame rates tomorrow and may add a video or two here.
Still, 4K or 2.7k at 30fps = amazing and great when downsized to 1080p output.
Other features in the new firmware update include a 30/6 Burst Photo mode. This captures a burst of 30 shots over 6 seconds, as well as the option to tag highlights in footage during playback.