Hello.Today I'm going to be looking at the new GoPro Hero Session 4 Camera.
AdoramaTV presents 'Capture the Action' with Martin Dorey.
Hello I'm Martin Dorey and you are watching AdoramaTV. Today I'm going to
be looking at what's in the box of the new GoPro Hero for session camera.
Right, this is a new GoPro. It's completely new. It's completely different. Everything's
changed. It's been improved and today I'm going to have a look at what you get and
what you can expect from it.
First of all, you'll notice it's very small. Now the Session 4 Camera is, GoPro says,
about 50% smaller and about 40% lighter than the HERO4. Now, all I've got to
compare it with is a HERO 3+ so when you put them side-by-side,
you realize it is actually a very small camera. Now, what this means is that it's
lighter, smaller, it's going to be less intrusive when you're using it, so if
you're trying to be a bit covert or maybe you're mounting it on the Head Cam, something like that,
you're going to notice it less, which is only a good thing
OK, so, the first thing you're going to notice about this camera, which is really vitally important is that it is
in itself the entire unit is waterproof up to 30m, I think, GoPro say.
Now, what that means is that you can use it as it is in the water, dirt, grease, all that kind of stuff.
You don't have to worry about making sure that you've got a housing.
But of course, it still has to come in a housing so GoPro have invented this new
sort of housing frame which the camera will sit in.
And as you can see already, if we start making comparisons with the HERO3+ frame,
you can see, it's tiny, it's really small. So, it comes in a box in one frame.
And in the box there is another frame, this one. Now, the advantage of this
one over this one is that it enables you to mount the camera in a lower profile
position so the one the camera comes in will mount like so, say for example on a camera
it's quite high. The other alternative mount will allow you to mount the camera
with a completely different view so you're actually really low. So, if you're
mounting it on a surfboard, on a helmet, on a bike, anything where wind resistance might be
important, where you don't want it to get bashed, where being lower profile will help,
this is the mount to use and it's very easy to work. The camera literally
slides in, clips in. Now, because it's square, it will go in
anywhere you want it to, which can be useful. So, if you have to mount upside down, you can
simply mount the camera upside down. Very, very useful. Now the other thing that you
may notice about the mounts is that they've got a new little rubber safety bar
on here. All you do is you clip it into your mount and then shut that down and
that won't open accidentally, so that's a really nice little safety feature. I like
that a lot. OK, also in the box, we have a new mount, which includes a little rubber safety mount, as well but
also is like a little ball and socket joint. You see that now? It has limited movement but
if we, for example, wanted to mount the camera, and we
weren't getting quite the right angle, the little ball and socket joint will allow us
a certain amount of flexibility, so we could go on the side, we can come forward, and we can also go back. So, actually
it makes getting the right angle a lot easier. I like that. It's a nice little touch and it's obviously been
very well-planned and very well-thought out and also, you know, it's pretty stiff so you can be
pretty sure that once you set it, it's going to stay in that position,which is fabulous. Standard in the box, as
with all GoPros as you'll know already, a flat mount and a curve mount, for mounting on helmets.
Also, a charging cable and that's pretty much it, which is actually quite a lot of kit.
You've got loads and loads of flexibility here and obviously, you know, if you've
been working with GoPros like we have over the last weeks you'll be into your
mounts, you'll be using your gooseneck mounts or whatever you want to and this is just another way
of doing it. Right, so on to the main event, the camera itself. What's it all about?
OK, well it feels really nice, it's got a rubberized outside, it's got a tiny
little LED screen there and it's basically just feels like it's all lens, because it
hasn't got, it doesn't come in a waterproof housing or have
skeleton housing or anything like that you use it as you see it.
Now, as far as I'm concerned, the danger there is you might be
more easy to get thumbprints and fingerprints all over the lens and also
if you do scratch it you're going to have to change the lens cover. What's great about this is
that it's really easy to use. Right, it is. It's got two buttons, on/off and the wifi
on/off button so even a child could use it. But possibly if you wanted to get into
more functions than simply turning it on and off, you might need a child with a
PHD to use it because the fewer buttons you have, the more complicated the menu system,
which means you need to use it with the GoPro App and we'll talk about that in the next
episode but for the time being one press of the on/off button will power up the
camera and start recording so it starts recording straight away, so that means
you don't have to have the power on in between shots, you just bang it, hit it
when you think you need a shot and away it goes.
It's got two hours of battery time so it will last you a huge amount of time so if
you're surfing for 4-5 hours and only pressing the button each time you want to take a
shot then you gonna be fine for battery time and
there it is, away it goes, recording straightaway. The next press of the button
will, there you go, stop recording and power the camera down. So from a simplicity point of view,
as I said, even a child could use it. I gave it to my daughter and sent her out surfing.
She got on fine with it from about the first thirty seconds.
The other thing about the single button on the top is that if you press and hold, it will start doing a photo burst.
So now it's taking pictures.
Now the default is a picture every half a second, so in theory we should be taking pictures as
we go. We should have a nice little time-lapse sequence here, and again
Press the button to stop and power the camera down and it's so easy. That's basic functions.
If you want to get into more functions then we need to go and look at the app. So, since we're talking
about taking it straight out the box it comes with a quarter charge something
like that so you could take it out the box and start filming straight away with
just one push of the button, which is pretty smart to be honest. The only thing you need is a
microSD card which goes in this little waterproof slot on the side here along
with the charging cable which goes straight into any USB if you want to get
a bit more complicated it will do Pro Tune. It has all the versatility of
using the remote control wifi plus the GoPro App, which means that it's a lot more
versatile than it actually looks. What it doesn't have is a lot of the kind of
high-definition, high-end recording quality of, say, the HERO4+ or 3+ such as the 4K and a lot more
choice when it comes to super views, wide angles, close-ups, whatever, although it will still do that.
So as far as kind of plug-and-play, use it straight out of the box is concerned, you know this thing
is pretty good and actually for anyone, I know that I've spoken about this before but for anyone who grew up
in the eighties and nineties using 60mm cameras. Video cameras were like this size. It is absolutely remarkable.
And I cannot wait to start getting some footage on it.
Right, that's it for now. I'm going to go and put it through its paces for the next episode.
Now, look. Thanks for joining me on AdoramaTV today. Don't forget you can go to the Adorama Learning Center
for more great tips and tricks. And also please subscribe to AdoramaTV for more great videos.
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