http://www.digitalcameraworld.com MARCH 2021 DIGITAL CAMERA^119
As well as raw support, the Hero9
Black also has HDR and SuperPhoto,
the latter of which captures excellent
dynamic range, although taking HDR
and SuperPhoto images means a few
seconds’ wait for processing. Manual
mode allows shutter speeds up to
30 seconds and ISO up to 6,400.
Perhaps more important than all
of that is the Hero9 Black’s new Save
Frame feature: play back any video
on the app and it’s a one-button
instruction to save a 14.7MP still image
to your phone. It means you can stick
to video and think about photos later.
The most important new accessory
for the Hero9 Black is the $100 Max
Lens Mod accessory. It brings into
play a few features hitherto only found
on the GoPro Max, including 360º
horizon lock (so the camera can be
rotated through 360º) and an ultra-
wide 155º Max SuperView mode,
which captures 2.7K at 60fps.
Build and handling
While there are many similarities
between them, the Hero9 Black is
physically different to the Hero8 Black.
It’s larger at 71 x 55 x 34mm and 158g,
which is something of a surprise,
though it’s hardly obese. That’s largely
down to the inclusion on the Hero9
Black of two new displays. On the rear
it’s a simple upgrade, with a larger
2.27-inch display. That’s 16% larger
than on the Hero8 Black, slightly
bigger than on the Akaso Brave 7 LE,
but a tad smaller than what you’ll
find on the DJI Osmo Action.
It’s on the front where you’ll find
the biggest upgrade, with a built-in
1.4-inch display which can be used as
a live preview screen for framing a
selfie or a piece to camera. Even
more usefully, that can be done in
‘actual’ format, which presents it as
a widescreen image with black bars
above and below, or ‘full screen’, which
works fine if you just want to make
sure you’re in the centre of a shot or
a video. That front screen can also be
switched to ‘status only’ to show the
remaining battery power, resolution
and the current mode, or deactivated.Performance
The linear view has 360º camera-style
auto-correct horizon leveling that
happens in-camera. In theory, that
means easy-to-watch footage where
the horizon stays level. In practice,
it’s imprecise and laggy; expect it to
improve on future GoPro cameras.
In all other modes the Hero9 Black
captures peerless video that has
plenty of colour, contrast and shadow
detail, with a Boost option to really
smooth things out when the
action gets choppy.
Low-light video in Night Mode is far
less impressive and a touch noisy, with
a new HDR time-lapse of the night sky
for an hour looking reasonably good.
There’s also a new Scheduled Capture
mode for filming at a planned time.3
This new built-in
1.4-inch display can be
used as a live preview
screen for framing
a selfie or recording
a piece to camera.4
The Hero9 Black has a
23.6MP sensor for 5K
video at 30 frames per
second, 4K at 60fps
and 20MP still images.5
The Hero9 Black is
physically different
to its predecessor, the
Hero8 Black. It’s larger
at 71 x 55 x 34mm,
and weighs 158g.6
It’s equipped with the
regular GoPro mount,
but the Hero9 Black
can also be used as
a 1080p webcam.7
The optional $100 Max
Lens Mod offers a
360-degree horizon
lock and an ultra-wide
155-degree Max
SuperView mode.443GoPro Hero9 Black Action camera
76In practice, time-lapses are often the
way to go on action cameras, which is
why we like the TimeWarp 3.0 mode.
Best used for endurance activities
such as hiking, it produces fast-slow-
fast footage where sped-up video is
followed by a slow-down to real-time,
before speeding back up.
The battery life of the Hero9 Black
is rated by GoPro at 101 minutes when
filming in 1080p. Our test of it running
at 5K saw the Hero9 Black last for
90 minutes (though filling a 64GB
microSD card and running really hot).
During several four-hour sessions
with the camera when it was used
sporadically to film snippets of video,
take lots of photos and a good few
time-lapses it rarely dropped below
50% charge. Either way, this camera
has plenty of stamina relative to other
action cameras. Jamie CarterDigital Camera verdict
This action camera’s excellent stabilisation, clever
time-lapse modes and higher resolutions make the
Hero9 Black pricey, but definitely worth it, despite
its larger physical size than previous iterations.5.0 A best-in-class product
Features Build &
handlingPerformance Value5.0 4.5 5.0 5.05