GoPro Hero action cameras have been around for a long time, and many are familiar with their features even if they aren’t full-time creative professionals. Although buying an expensive action camera in 2022 seems a bit odd, considering smartphones are now equipped with large camera sensors, the action camera market is not (yet) obsolete, as more and more creatives and influencers want to add special footage to their videos, whether for Instagram or YouTube.
The only visible difference between last year’s Hero 10 Black and this year’s Hero 11 Black is the blue number on the side. Otherwise, the body is identical, which means all your accessories, lens filters, modifiers, and add-ons will work with the Hero 11. Unlike the iPhone 14, which requires a magnifying glass to tell it apart from its predecessor, the Hero 11 Black brings some welcome changes to the Hero series.
The biggest and most obvious change is the new sensor. It’s slightly larger, but only vertically, giving it an 8:7 aspect ratio. Previous models could shoot in 16:9 and 4:3, but the new 8:7 makes the Hero 11 a better choice for shooting video in portrait mode. This makes life easier for YouTubers, as you can now shoot in 8:7, crop to vertical for platforms that use that abomination, and also crop to 16:9 to share videos in a reasonable and meaningful way.
I make fun of vertical video, but I recognize its popularity, and that makes the GoPro an even more useful camera for a wider audience. I don’t like it, but I’m often forced to tailor things for platforms that require it. And yes, you can easily turn the older Hero on its side to shoot vertically, but then the footage is useless for anything else.
The larger sensor also allows for what GoPro calls HyperView, an even wider shooting angle than the Hero 10’s SuperView option, which is useful in some tight environments, such as climbing, but the distortion in the corners is extreme.