this is the original gopro HD hero I'm calling it the HERO 1 today for
simplicity versus the GoPro Hero 8 Black its latest and greatest
now I'm Ben from authentech in today's videos just for fun I thought it'd be
kind of cool and interesting to see how far camera tech has come over the years
now to put it into context the release date of this HD hero was early 2010 that
was Haiti earthquake days now the hero 8 black was the end of 2019 so that's
close enough for a decade I'm calling today's video a decade of
difference no this is not the very first gopro ever created but i believe it was
their first HD camera and huge shout out to my brother for letting me borrow it
now without further ado let's jump right in it's pretty funny as we compare
things on the hero 1 there is no touchscreen no previewing your shots
very old-school menu system I literally needed to use their user manual to
interpret the codes and change the settings it's battery actually still
holds a charge so that's impressive the size of the battery is pretty funny to
compare inside is 1,100 milliamp hours versus the hero 812 hundred and 20
million powers pretty funny we've only gone up a hundred and 20 milliamp hours
in 10 years the hero 1 use mini USB to charge and we finally have USB type-c on
the hero 8 that one needed regular sized SD cards now we have micro SD cards on
the hero 8 oh and if you're wondering why I taped the hero 1 to my camera rail
for the side-by-side that's because the waterproof case that I have it will have
messed up the audio test a bit and there's some small scratches and scuffs
on the cover which I want to make sure I was capturing the very best quality
image out of this old thing starting with some photography snapping a few
shots the hero on has a 5 megapixel sensor the hero 8 has 12 megapixels
which I also shot in its super photo mode firstly that color temperature and
RGB on the hero 1 is pretty awful and funny it has that antique look to it
like it was shot on an old Polaroid camera the hero ones resolution honestly
isn't horrible when we're zoomed all the way out in some of these shots but of
course the dynamic range looks better on the 8 and it's better
sharpness and clarity becomes a lot more apparent when we digitally zoom in one
thing I do respect is how wide-angle the original hero one hand I think as a
hundred and seventy degree field of view which is crazy wide-angle for an old
camera and maybe this makes sense why GoPro took off in those beginning days
because as ultra wide lens helps capture all those action sports really well and
the small cube-like shaped camera could fit inside your pockets never really
seen before now speaking of form-factor can we have
a little laugh how their dimensions of these two cameras is almost the same
after 10 years now leave an F in the chat for the hero session I love that
compact cube design in these video tests this is where things get fun first the
max video resolution on that HD Hero 1 was 1920 by 1080p 30fps and here's what
that looks like on the hero 8 this is 4k 30 and it's interesting to see and
analyze the differences between 10 years of technological and camera sensor
advancements the 4k looks so much better and sharper the hero eights colors have
that nice vibrancy pop to them while still maintaining a semi accurate white
balance the noise grain and compression of the hero 1 is pretty dang rough it's
fun to see how far we've come with dynamic range the bright sunlight
contrasted with dark shadows here under the trees we're able to see so much more
detail in the tree bark and the leaves and the branches on the hero 8 going for
a quick jog and this test doesn't make me want to bash the hero 1 for its
shakiness and wobbles it's revealing what the true unsteadiness of that
selfie stick looks like but while just look at the hero 8 and it's pretty dang
insane to watch the background horizon stained super steady and that hyper
smooth 2.0 is really impressive and this is an ahmadi o test audio on the GoPro
Hero HD Gen 1 and this is the GoPro Hero 8 black
audio test 1 2 3 4 how does the audio sound and compare audio test 1 2 3 4 how
does the audio sound and compare let's live authentic let's live
authentic it's nice to see the advancements we've made with wind
reduction like here on the hero 8 it's doing a good job filtering out all that
ambient noise so we can more clearly hear my voice it's actually kind of
funny there were some audio clips on this hero one that I couldn't even hear
my voice over the wind to change the camera settings on the hero 1 makes me
extra grateful for touchscreens nowadays I needed to find that original user
manual in order to interpret its menu settings also funny the video resolution
menu codes were permanently printed on the back of the gopro here's our 4 which
is 1280 by 960 it was almost like GoPros super view before it was a thing it's an
even wider shot and I believe it's squeezing more vertically into camera
frame at the top and bottom of the screen funny enough I actually think
it's wider angle than the hero 8 here in super view mode but of course the hero 8
has way better stabilization so it's probably cropping in on that sensor for
that E is which by the way that stabilization is looking pretty smooth
for that ultra wide-angle when I jumped on my cycle board for some fun action
shots I'm just so thankful how far we've come with electronic image stabilization
smoothing out so many bumps and wobbles enhanced clarity a 4k resolution to be
producing these kind of shots on a small action camera with no gimbal needed
really opens up a world of creative storytelling and yes I've gotten a lot
of questions on this cycle board rover that I'm riding around I made a whole
review on it and it's crazy fun I'll give you that link if you want to check
it out down in the description no he can't forget a slow-mo test and while
the hero one didn't really have slow motion the max framerate available with
60fps and here's what WVGA looks like 848 by 480p vs. hero weights 1080p 240
FPS thank goodness for advancement now
GoPros have always been pretty terrible in low-light situations in my opinion
and I'm a little surprised and impressed with these low-light photos on the hero
one for super low-light it actually does an okay job the hero eights and low
light mode has gotten much better though at reducing noise and
improved dynamic range very different story and low-light video and to be
honest I kind of messed up and forgot to change the video settings back to normal
HD so this is what WVGA 60 FPS looks like in low-light but it's still funny
to compare and see this is what you get for a decade old camera unusable blurry
mess while the hero 8 looks soft and grainy but at least we can make out some
details it's a little bit closer to what my eye can see so a friend on instagram
harry ty suggested a fun idea let me try editing a hero one-shot and
see how good can we get it now I'm not that great at color grading but here's a
sample photo with a little bit of balancing of color and a tad of
sharpening applied the your a one shot can look a bit closer to the hero 8 and
a tad better overall video is much harder and here's a little bit of color
grading trying to match the tube and the hero one looks a bit similar but when
you're dealing with heavy compression and lower resolution there's just a lot
less data in the file to enhance and work on it's like what my old video
professor once told me you can't polish a turd
now I thought it'd be fun to see what stabilization would look like with some
auto trackers and they surprisingly did a fairly okay job this first one is the
built in final cut stabilizer and with all the settings turned way up the
second one is a plugin from pixel film studios and it's pretty cool with lots
of customization like in this clip I told it to track and stabilize my face
and it's doing a pretty good job at keeping me center a frame but then we
can also try tracking a different data point like this background object and
I'll stabilize and lock on to that subject it's kind of cool
there was no hyperlapse or built-in waterproofing or even replaceable lens
covers oh just joking the hero it can't do that either
so this was kind of fun to see how far we've come in a decade of action cameras
now we have 360 cameras and modular action cameras I want to hear what you
guys think where will we be in 10 years what do you think the future holds for
action cams is it way better stabilization or insane low-light
capabilities what about 8k resolution at a 120 fps consider sticking around for
some more fun action camera videos I have in the works I post every single
week thanks so much for stopping by and until I see you next week let's live
authentic