Review GoPro Hero3 Black

I reviewed this originally on Amazon. The following is a cut and paste of my Amazon review.

UPDATE: 03/26/2014 - GoPro has recently released a firmware update v2.0 for the Hero3+ Black.

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Just about a year ago I bought the GoPro Hero3 Black. It was frought with issues and I felt it had been rushed out the door without adequate testing. Fortunately, some 3 firmware updates later, the GoPro Hero3 Black has become a reliable sports cam for me.

For some things the Hero3 Black is superior to the Hero3+ Black. But battery life is definitely better and some people will love the new "super wide" mode that really gives you a stronger fisheye effect.

I have been using the Hero3+ a lot for time lapse phtography and for recording bike rides. I also travel with it and use it for capturing stunning wide-angle still shots. A recent Hot Air Balloon ride enabled me to use the GoPro to caputre some utterly amazing video and stills from 1000 feet above ground.

As for the claimed increased sharpness... well that's a mixed bag. What they've actually done is slightly decreased the depth of field so that you now get increased sharpness for closer objects (like yourself) while the more distant background has become ever so slightly less sharp. I use mine more for photography where I want as sharp a focus as I can get for scenic shots but I have not noticed a very significant decrease in sharpness for distance. This is a non-issue for me. Some people complaining of significant loss of sharpness actually have a defective camera and this has been confirmed by GoPro.

One huge improvement I've noticed is the significantly better color accuracy. There is a pronounced color shift of the Hero3 Black when compared to the Hero3+. The Hero3+ has a much more accurate, neutrual color bias which is more pleasing to me. The Hero3 had a more yellowish bias.

The Hero3+ does much better in bright, snow (and probably sand) situations as can be seen in my video.

The new "super" size setting gives a significantly wider field of view. As such you will notice a marked curvature of the image at the edges. This bending is most noticeable when an edge is present, You notice this much less if you're shooting at sky,,, skydiving, ski jumping etc. This is typical of a super wide angle, nearly fisheye, lens.

▶︎ Battery LIfe:
The Hero3+ comes with a marginally higher capacity battery (AHDBT-302.) It's rated at 1180mAh vs the prior battery which was rated 1050mAh. The Hero3+ gives me a solid 2 hour recording time. So the battery life has most definitely been improved in the Hero3+.

▶︎ Waterproof Housing:
The housing is lighter, less bulky and has just a one-step single latch. It doesn't feel as sturdy to me. The Hero3 and Hero3+ will fit and operate in either housing... they are interchangeable. The Hero3+ housing is rated to 30M (131') underwater vs 60M (197') underwater for the Hero3. The best thing about the new housing is the ease with which the buttons now work. They're larger diameter and much easier to push.

▶︎ Low Light setting:
The Low Light setting does improve video in lower light situations but there is still visible grain. It is a definite improvement but it's still not excellent... just a lot better.

▶︎ Firmware updates:
The Hero3+ firmware update process has changed. When on the GoPro website you go through a web-based update process before you can download the firmware. You have to decide whether you want to update the WiFi and the camera firmware or just one or the other. Then you download the update and unzip it, you do not move just the files from the firmware update folder to the MicroSD card, but rather you move the entire firmware update folder to the MicroSD card which you then put into the GoPro Hero3+ and turn on the camera to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

▶︎ Blurry backgrounds:
If you get a camera that has a really bad lack of sharpness, you may have gotten a defective camera and should either immediately exchange it or at least contact GoPro for further guidance.

The Hero3+ is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. If you are a current Hero3 Black owner, I wouldn't necessarily feel like you are stuck with a dinosaur. The Hero3 is still a very respectable camera in many ways.

I recently got a Sony HDR-AS30V and the short story is that it's not nearly as good as the GoPro Hero3+ Black. It is much more basic in its availabe shooting modes & has downright lousy battery life. The waterproof enclosure is only good to 16' underwater and the display is pretty poor if you ask me. I find it difficult to read because Sony has chosen a some kind of a segmented font that looks like a 1970's Texas Instruments calculator. It's really really bad.

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