GoPro now says you don’t need to fall out of a plane to go fully vertical with its cameras. The company’s latest action product in its Black line supports a new vertical mode for shooting those TikTok-worthy escapades, and now the company said users should expect longer runtimes, even when shooting HDR and 4K video.
The $400 GoPro Hero12 Black, announced Wednesday, shoots in a 9:16 aspect ratio when filming vertically and can maintain that same ratio even when the camera is mounted in its regular horizontal position. The new vertical mode supports up to 2X slowmo instead of the wide lens’ 8X at 2.7K. Otherwise, there’s still the HyperView and Horizon Lock, first introduced with the Hero 11. The TimeWarp, Time Lapse, and Night Lapse features, which allow for some unique light painting and night sky capture, are available in the 8:7 aspect ratio, allowing for a taller field of view.
GoPro also dropped the new and improved $99 Max Lens Mod 2.0 Wednesday, which beefs up the sensor to a 177 degree field of view that supports 4K video at 60 FPS. With the lens installed, the GoPro Black 12 can enable a new mode called Max HyperView using the 8:7 sensor. GoPro claimed this setting is for taking extra, extra wide video—several times wider and taller than the standard lens.
One of the biggest claims to fame for GoPros are their survivability, and the company is promising that the device won’t be easy to destroy at all, even with the additional lens. GoPro said this lens should be tougher than the previous iteration with more scratch-resistant glass and a hydrophobic lens coating to resist wayward water drops.
Beyond the picture quality additions, the company is touting its new action camera’s runtime. GoPro claimed that its improved power management allows for up to 70 minutes of continuous recording at the 5.3K, 60 FPS Ultra HD video with the HyperSmooth 6.0 turned on. That timeframe is twice the touted runtime of the Hero11, though higher resolution does make the device tend to run hot.
Deal Alert: Save on GoPro Hero 9 Black
Get the GoPro Hero 9 Black for only $229 (was $349.99).
Buy Now on Amazon
