As expected, GoPro has just announced the Hero 12 Black, the manufacturer’s new high-end model. On the menu, some welcome improvements, but no revolution. And of course, a price hike.
The Hero 12 Black has identical dimensions and appearance to the Hero 11 Black: you can therefore change the camera and keep your previously acquired accessories, including the batteries.
We must believe that the designers of the newcomer were touched by Grace since they (finally) added a 1/4 ”thread. We can now attach it to a pole or a standard tripod without having to bother with an adapter.
HDR video
On the technical side, the camera has some interesting improvements. HDR video makes a remarkable entrance by authorizing capture in 5.3 K (16:9) 30, 25, 24 fps and 4K 60, 50, 30, 25, 24 fps. HyperSmooth video stabilization technology is now in version 6.0 and has an Autoboost mode capable of analyzing up to 4 times more data than HyperSmooth 5.0.
GoPro emphasizes capturing in 8:7 format, which uses the entire sensor of the camera and allows a posteriori framing in 4:3, 16:9 or 9:16. This will help creators producing for social networks who will not have to rack their brains before each shot.
Professional functions
The pros are not forgotten with the addition of GP-Log encoding (raw video format equivalent to camera RAW) and support for LUTs files (LookUp Table, kinds of software filters intended for professional rendering of the image).
The synchronization of timecodes (timecodes) is also emerging to facilitate editing from several cameras on software like Premiere or Final Cut Pro.
The photographic function gains an interval shooting mode (from 0.5 s to 120 s) offering an interesting alternative to the now traditional timelapse.
No change in the resolution of still images which can reach 27 Mpxl, or 24.7 Mpxl when extracted from 5.3 K videos in 8:7 format.
GoPro has done a lot of work on power consumption. The Hero 12 Black can now record 70 minutes in 5.3K 60fps (compared to 35 minutes with the GoPro 11).
This score increases to 58 minutes in 4K 120 fps (28 minutes with the GoPro 11) before the thermal shutdown is triggered. These figures, to say the least impressive, are valid with HyperSmooth 6.0 activated.
Finally, the Bluetooth connection is now able to support up to 4 devices simultaneously (wireless headphones and microphone).
The manufacturer is taking advantage of this launch to update its Max Lens optical complement, which is now in version 2.0. Its field of vision thus increases to 177° (against 155° for the previous version) and supports a maximum resolution of 4 K 60 im/s.
GoPro Quik on Windows and macOS
The software range is enriched with Windows and macOS versions of the Quik application. It should offer the same possibilities for mounting and managing the GoPro Cloud as the smartphone versions. GoPro specifies that Quik Desktop will be available in the fall of 2023 for macOS and during 2024 for Windows.
Price up
Unsurprisingly, the prices are revised upwards. It will cost 450 euros to get the Hero 12 Black (50 € more than the previous version). The Max Lens 2.0 optical complement is billed at 110 €.
Finally, the Creators Edition including the camera, the Volta handle-battery-remote control, the media module and the lighting module is charged at €680 (compared to €620 for the previous version).
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