Opinion: A GoPro makes sense to capture special memories, not just action adventures

At the heart of GoPro is the ability to capture the action from a first-person perspective. Over time the cameras have become more capable, with the latest iteration, the GoPro Hero 11 being able to capture up to 5.3K video at 60 frames per second.

A couple of generations back when the GoPro Hero 9 was released, the evolution of hardware showed that Vlogging was now viable. Two generations on, the front-facing screen is still present in the Hero 11 and it’s making more sense to me that a GoPro camera can be used almost daily.

Action adventures: The core market

We’ve all seen stunning videos of various athletes doing things that could be considered absolute madness. Motorbike adventures, stunts, helmet cameras, and onboard motorsport views to name a few. There’s no doubt that over time, the improvements in the cameras and their capacity to capture higher and higher quality images have brought action to your living room that would otherwise require professional videographers. Now you can easily capture and share your adventures with anyone who wants to watch them; let’s be honest, YouTube is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to the content and time it has the potential to just disappear.

The reality is that they’re hugely versatile cameras with — see the GoPro site — a huge number of different mounting options. Being able to carry a camera hands-free on your chest, head or helmet, roll cage, wrist, backpack, windscreen or anywhere else you can think of just builds that potential for stunning footage.

Unfortunately, because this is the root of the GoPro market, there’s a strong reputation for the cameras only being for adrenaline junkies. While in some aspects, particularly the development of the HyperSmooth feature which now means expensive, often heavy gimbals aren’t necessary.

When we approached Pablo Lema, GoPro’s Vice President of Product Management, about his feelings on the GoPro background he said:

GoPro’s earliest adopters were action sports athletes and adrenaline seekers – individuals who were engaging in activities that most consider crazy! Or at the least, scary. But in the 20 years since, our cameras have evolved to meet a much broader user base – individuals who still enjoy all the benefits of a GoPro camera, like unparalleled image quality and video stabilization – with no parachute or helmet required.

Our brand promise has never changed – every GoPro camera provides superior image quality, intuitive set up and use, a rugged and waterproof design, and an app to make it simple to see, edit, share and store photos and videos. Our ecosystem of more than 50 mounts and accessories allows us to address a variety of use cases, whether you’re a family vlogging your first trip to Disney, an artist doing a time lapse of your latest project, or a parent trying to catch your child’s first time on a bicycle,

Vlogging: The new market

As mentioned in the introduction, at the release of the GoPro Hero 9, there was an additional screen added to the camera. This allowed users to frame themselves for talk to the camera and meant the GoPro was now an option for Vloggers as an out of the box solution, versus mods that previously cost extra funds.

You can now start recording Vlogs and publishing content to YouTube in 4K for around $800.00 in camera equipment. Something that really wasn’t viable in the past, and it’s opened a lot of opportunities for people to share ideas and content to the world.

Until recently, I’d seen the Vlogging capability of the GoPro cameras somewhat limited, in a near-professional light. But more recently, I discovered that you can actually get some pretty cool results in a sidestep from “talk to camera” style Vlogging.

Family adventures: The hidden gem

This is one area that a lot of people — myself included until very recently — are yet to recognise GoPro as capable of. It wasn’t until recently that I decided to give my daughter and nieces a GoPro to capture our day out. I’m in a hugely fortunate position to have multiple GoPro cameras I’ve purchased and reviewed over the years, so it’s not a difficult proposition to have multiple cameras going on a day out. Of course, when you’re dealing with kids and cameras, you’ll get funny faces and some very odd videos – but you’ll also get some gems along the way.

There are a few reasons that really struck me as great reasons to invest in a GoPro for specifically this purpose. Starting with the fact that you don’t need to hand over your — significantly more fragile — mobile phone, containing a large portion of your life in it, to your child and probably leave it unlocked.

But focussing on the specific capabilities of the GoPro there’s a lot to like:

• The near bulletproof hardware means drops aren’t going to damage your device
• The high resolution capacity means you’ll get the events of the day in 4K resolution
• GoPro cameras have the ability to capture not just normal video, but timelapse, hyperlapse and static images

You’ve also got the advantage of having your phone to hand, where you can still capture any moments you wish to on the camera. In the last few weeks, my GoPro has been under sprinklers, dunked in a bucket of water, dropped multiple times, hit by a car and thrown in temper… Despite all of this, they’re fully functional and people looking at the hardware would be none the wiser of the trauma that the cameras have endured; not only that, after a quick charge, they’re ready for the next adventure.

Even some of the sturdiest phones would be worse for wear, some, perhaps not even functional after this.

The GoPro App brings it all together

Perhaps the main feature that has the ability to bring this all together is the always-evolving GoPro Quick app. While it does need a subscription, there’s a huge number of advantages in subscribing that can save you an absolute pile of money.

The app itself is remarkably simple and intuitive to use, whether it’s controlling your camera remotely or downloading footage. Once you’ve got the footage on your phone, it’s then as simple as selecting items — including from your phone camera — to create a mural, movie edit or uploading it to the cloud.

Subscription: It’s genuinely worth the money!

Starting with the obvious, if you’re purchasing a GoPro for the first time you’ll spend AU$629.95 if you purchase one WITH the subscription or $869.94 without. Even if you’re not going to use the features that the subscription offers you, you’d be mad to NOT subscribe for $69.99 and save $240.00

If that immediate saving isn’t enough of an enticement, you’ll get 50% off items such as mounts, accessories and apparel at GoPro.com

The subscription also adds a couple of useful features to the app, and a service you may well make use of if you get adventurous enough. The features are the unlimited cloud backup for your footage and images, which can be done either manually through the app or via the Auto Upload feature; which then triggers the automatic highlight videos to be created in the cloud.

Finally, as mentioned, perhaps the biggest advantage of the GoPro subscription is the camera replacement with no questions asked should you actually manage to break it.

GoPro isn’t just about action anymore, it’s for action, adventures and memories

If we were talking about this a few years ago, I’d have said that GoPro was still purely focussed on the niche market of adrenaline seekers. But with the GoPro Hero 9 and the evolution of hardware from there, it’s moved so far.

Lema also commented on this, saying:

The evolution of GoPro from being ‘just an action camera’ is a testament to – and celebration of – people around the world being excited to share their lives and perspectives with the world, from the extreme to the beauty of every day.

After reflecting on what it offers with the hardware capabilities and durability, software and support that you get from GoPro, the cost presents good value. While it’s a financial outlay, it reduces risks on other precious (and more fragile) hardware, captures images and footage in outstanding quality and has such great potential to capture precious memories in a new way.

**This article is not a paid article by GoPro. It has been written based on personal experience with GoPro Products**