As you should all know by now the GoPro Hero 13 is going to hit the market on September 4th. The questions on everyone’s mind though at the moment is “Is this camera worth buying?”. The reason being that there’s been no reported update with the sensor, it’s the same basic overall design and now it turns out that people will have to invest in new batteries for this model. So will I even be purchasing this camera?
The answer is simple. Yes, yes I most definitely will as I reckon GoPro have finally made a true “Creators” camera with this new GoPro Hero 13. Let me walk you through why I think this is going to be an amazing camera for creators.
New Lens Mods!
Lens modes are nothing new to GoPro, they’ve offered us the Max Lens Mod since the Hero 9, the Hero 12 supported the Max Lens Mod 2.0. However, the Hero 13 is offering us two extra lens mods, a Macro lens Mod and a Wide angle mod (with a reported 2:40:1 aspect ratio). Those are the two mods I’m most looking forward to as I believe these will really up the creator game. Here’s why.
When I film footage for myself or my channel, there’s time when I want to get close up shots of an item. Whether it be an accessory for my video channel such as this excellent video light from Ulanzi
or even a set of premium spark plugs for my car.
However, as you know, the GoPro camera with its wide angle FOV, doesn’t do close up shots. This means I have to grab my Canon Rebel 7ti equipped with a Macro Lens to get the close up shots that I want. This means I’m using two separate cameras, two separate video files and now I have to spend extra time color matching the shots in post.
Now with the Hero 13, I will be able to quickly and easily swap lenses on the fly. Use the regular lens for my presentation shots and then for the up-close shots, quickly swap in the macro lens mod. All shots in the one camera, no swapping around cameras, managing multiple SD cards and multiple file types. Even better, the GoPro Hero 13 has automatic lens detection!
That’s a huge advantage when it comes to quickly creating and outputting video content. At the risk of sounding like a TV infomercial, I’ll have to say “But wait, that’s not all….”
The Wide Angle Mod
This is the one I’m really looking forward to. Although the GoPro can easily manage a nice 16:9 widescreen output, it just didn’t seem…. cinematic. You would either have to film in 8:7 and then add black bars in post (therefore really just cutting into your resolution) or you could use a 3rd party Animorphic lens… which means you would have to turn off stabilization, film in a narrow FOV and the then de-squeeze the footage in post. So, it was a lot of work for the shots that you wanted to get (even if the results looked amazing with proper cinematic lens flare).
The fact that GoPro are releasing their own Wide-Angle Lens that will be supported by the camera natively is a HUGE advantage. Now creators can use their small form factor GoPro to create truly cinematic looking footage with just a lens swap.
So now that I’ve listed the some of the things I’m looking forward to, let’s talk about the other advantages of this new GoPro model.
Battery life!
The new GoPro uses a new battery design that offers about 17% more shooting times (resolution and frame rate dependent). Now some people have complained about this, after all, if you bought a Hero 12 just last year, you’re probably not happy about having to upgrade batteries for the Hero 13. However, be aware, the current form factor batteries were introduced with the Hero 9. The Hero 10 gave us the Enduro battery variant, and the Hero 11 and 12 used the same batteries. So, for a lot of people out there, it’s about time that GoPro updated the batteries. I doubt anyone is going to complain about longer filming times with these new batteries and I just hope that these GoPro batteries finally support fast charging options (the one thing a lot of people have complained about in the past).
Enhanced Audio!
This is a bit of a tricky one to address. If we look at the design of the new GoPro, a lot of people seem to think that the grill under the front lens is a heat sink to keep the camera cool. I actually believe this represents a new microphone for the GoPro that offers better wind reduction. GoPro’s actually have pretty good audio, however once the wind comes out, then you’ll need to use either a media mod (with foam windscreen) or use an external mic with a dead cat for premium audio. I think GoPro have been working hard on this one and we’re going to see better “in camera” microphone quality as evidenced by the new mic design under that front lens.
Bluetooth improvements?
Although Bluetooth audio was introduced with the Hero 12, it only supported HFP (hands free protocol) so you could really only use it with headsets (which usually have built in digital wind reduction which lowers audio quality massively). It looks like the Hero 13 may have upgraded the Bluetooth audio on offer (however I can’t confirm this at the moment) and if they have, then it’s yet another reason to purchase.
However, there’s the final reason I’ll be upgrade for sure and that would be one of my favorite ways to shoot and that’s slow motion!
Slow motion is one of the most underused features of a GoPro camera. They can currently shoot at up to 240FPS (10X slow motion). The ability to slow down time to get buttery smooth slow motion is amazing and GoPro have upgraded this feature too. Now they are offering an insane 13X slow motion at 320FPS! I simply cannot wait to have some serious fun with this one. This makes a perfection “Action camera” enhancement that will seriously rock your footage.
So with all of that in mind, am I excited about this release on September 4th? Yes, I am! I think this is seriously one of the most exciting models that GoPro have released in quite some time, and they put creators first and foremost with this release giving them a huge variety of tools to help up their game!
Roll on September 4th, I’ll be purchasing the GoPro Hero 13 for sure, and I cannot wait to review this exciting model camera for you!
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