Is GoPro Really Worth the Hype and Hoopla Surrounding It? Everything You Need to Know about GoPro Cameras and Critical Pros and Cons to Consider Before Buying One (2020)

The history of mainstream cameras is over a century old, like most consumer electronics, but these GoPro cameras have been around for about two decades. They have been quite popular in the Western and European countries, but their hype in India is relatively new, thanks to the onslaught of adventure travellers who prefer a camera that can withstand any conditions thrown at them. GoPro’s cameras were designed for this purpose only, to enable you to capture ridiculously good pictures amidst even more ridiculous conditions, such as during surfing, hiking, or any other adventure activity.

However, over time, they’ve evolved from just being “adventure capturers” to mainstream camera devices as well, and are preferred by some people for a variety of reasons. But of course, these are not preferred by others, so the questions we’re going to answer in this article include whether a GoPro camera is actually worth it or not, which one should be your first GoPro camera and so on and so forth. So, let’s begin!

If you placed a toy camera alongside a GoPro, you wouldn’t probably be able to differentiate between the two if you were seeing it for the first time! That’s how compact and small it is – it fits entirely in your palm, but as the proverb goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, you cannot judge it based on its size! After all, as we mentioned, it was primarily built for adventure travellers. And yet for this small size, they are built like a tank – we’re not exaggerating; you would easily be able to find videos of people having their GoPros run over by cars without any damage to them at all!

And of course, they eliminate the need to carry those heavy digital SLRs, which you obviously can’t carry along on your river rafting or paragliding adventure. And lastly, even their accessories are as small as these are, so if you want to take better pictures, they provide you with additional respite.

You might think that for such a small size, they might not be able to produce excellent photos or FHD/4K videos for you, and we don’t blame you; it might seem a little skeptical at first that how could a thing so small create such amazing photos, but these indeed are a technological marvel; you would be able to click and record some of the best memories you’ve had.

The newer ones even come with advanced EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation) technology that allows you to capture breath-taking still shots without having to use gimbals. And the latest versions, such as the newest Hero9 Black, would be able to capture videos in 5K and live stream 1080p videos online as well.

As it’s an adventure camera, features such as being waterproof and lightweight are expected, which it duly delivers. But there are tons of other features as well, as mentioned earlier, EIS, and other incredible features like slow motion, which are absolutely astounding. The latest one can record 8x slow-motion videos at 240 fps; time warp, which enables you to capture hours long activities into smaller, shareable videos; scheduled capture, through which you would be able to set a timer to capture a beautiful sunrise or sunset or any other moment you don't want to miss capturing. It also comes with 3 microphones which make sure that there is no disturbance in the recorded sound either. Last but not the least, the latest GoPro Hero 9 Black also comes with a voice assistant as well.

Although you won’t be able to use some accessories while you’re skydiving or diving into the deep sea, you can still choose to buy them as these would make your photography and videography experience much better from regular photography. These accessories include mounts, tripods, additional mods and lenses, cases & covers, and gear for protection.

The GoPro App makes it convenient for you to control what your camera captures from a distance. For instance, you could leave your camera to capture a scenic setting and check it live right on your phone. The app makes it much easier to manage your photos and videos. You can easily offload the files from your camera to your phone from anywhere. Other noteworthy features of the app include:

You can check out more features of the GoPro App on Google Play Store.

If you are a photography enthusiast and an avid traveller, you can go ahead and buy a GoPro without thinking twice! You won’t find any other camera from any brand offering such amazing compactness and features. If you are wondering which model to buy – then it makes sense to go with the latest GoPro Hero 9 only, which was launched recently, and comes with many improvements compared to GoPro Hero 8.

Those of you looking to buy "any" camera for casual photography can also go ahead with it, for it’s so easy to use and can be controlled from the comfort of your smartphone as well. But for serious photographers looking for a compact alternative to a bigger camera, it might not be able to do justice to your photography and videography preferences, as primarily it serves as an action camera only!