GoPro HERO 11 Black Review

The latest camera from GoPro has a new, almost square sensor and some interesting new features to go along with it. Are the upgrades worth adding one of these to your camera bag? Chris and Jordan have been testing the GoPro HERO 11 Black, and have some thoughts.

Rental equipment provided by The Camera Store

0:00 - Intro
1:08 - Sensor
1:59 - Field of view
2:50 - Sample footage
4:23 - Cloud upload
4:50 - Photo features
8:14 - 10-bit recording
9:04 - Video quality
9:51 - Slow motion recording
10:22 - Horizon lock
11:39 - Should you buy it?
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[dpreview]

For those wondering, this was filmed on the Panasonic GH6 @ 4K/60P.

[cameralabs]

Thanks for the review! I've been using the previous Hero 9 and 10 to film family holiday videos over the past couple of years. I love the fact you don't need to worry about the weather or stabilisation as both are fine, and in good light the quality looks decent, albeit a bit over-sharpened. Horrible in low light, so just avoid it. It's also great to take it underwater - I was snorkelling with it, and even shallow scuba was ok without a housing. I find them incredibly flexible cameras to take on family trips as you just don't need to worry about them. PS - the old Hero 9 could do the horizon lock trick if you had the Max Lens Mod fitted.

[JoshBirge]

Horizon locking has been something that Insta360 has been doing for a while now. To me this is a supped up Insta360 Go 2 just with a larger footprint.

[GoPro]

Great stuff, Chris + Jordan! Thank you for putting the GoPro HERO11 Black through its paces. 🙌

[johnbunani]

So glad you guys changed the way you explain sensor size. Adding the word Type in front really explains it well and makes total sense!

[JudoSurfer]

Just a note for those wondering about all the features of the HERO11 (and in most cases the 10 & 9), with Labs firmware your camera can do (and you can do to it) much more than it’s advertised on the box and what’s in the user manual.

Most importantly, it’s actually very easy to use, especially with the QRControl mobile app (Android & iOS).

With Labs firmware installed you not only get all the goodness of the latest general release firmware, you also get:

200 Mbps recording
Motion detection recording
Speed detection recording
Audio decibel (noise) detection recording
Global tone mapping On/Off
Local tone mapping On/Off
Global and Local tone mapping
Max shutter angle control
Exposure damping control
Extra long (days) time lapse on one battery
GPS time synchronization
USB power trigger
Burn in overlays
Custom file naming
12GB file length chaptering
GPS synced Sunrise/Sunset recording
Time code support via LTC
Auto generated Adobe style proxy files
On screen histogram
Burn in lap times
Luma sweep
Embed personal logo into video
Control length of Hindsight timeout (instead of default 15 minutes)
Increase digital gain of audio
Clean monitoring without overlays
Mute one or more channels of audio
True 24.0 (Cinema) frame rate (instead of broadcast 23.976)
Increased write frequency for higher precion file recoveries
Alternative exposure controls and more.

[RayMak]

I have the 4 and 8. This is a huge upgrade

[allencoin]

The horizon locking feature seems cool and I can think of a few interesting shots you could get with it, but overall doesn't seem like much of an upgrade over my GoPro 9. A comparison with the last couple GoPro editions would be great, especially whether GP has addressed the overheating issue of the GP10.

[KieranCoughlanWicklow]

Many thanks for not using vertical video on Jordan’s shower scene

[Tnkcommander]

I had already ordered an 11, but am enjoying watching footage to pass the time until I get mine. Watched most of the reviews at this point; yours is by far the funniest!

[BigOvlogger]

A GOOD review like always! Two thumbs up from Kingsport, Tennessee!

[Cake...]

So looks like the 8×7 sensor has little to do with improving low light capability but more to do with bringing horizon lock capability and larger frame size.

[BlueHasia]

they really miss the mark why people buy these.

we dont buy them for how good the video is, of course better video quality is a plus

but that buttery smooth footage we get as we walk, run, ski, without a gimbal is a huge reason these are so amazing

[Actioncamflix]

For photos one point not mentioned is voice command, "GoPro take a photo" or "GoPro start record" for video, and using the GoPro remote is very handy. Toggle between video, photo or hyperlapse modes quickly with the remote. Yea these add ons cost $ but provide huge versatility for Vlogging, mounting on a grip stick or gimbal. As shown in your review GoPro is not really designed to be used as a hand held pocket camera.

[joehicks]

Best DPRTV intro to date! 🤙
Strong, lads, keep it up! 💪

[zfisher]

Jordan, the non-gopro footage in this video looked great! Also really like the over-the-shoulder shit of Chris playing chess. Well done!

[scott]

With the horizon lock + spinning capability it sounds like they brought 360° functionality to the Hero 11 but in two dimensions. Sounds game changing.

[studioprairie]

Ahahah, that shot of Jordan having coffee was epic!

[davidlovephotog]

You wanted to show if it was worth using next to pro camera quality and did in the first 10 seconds. Gopro looks like actioncam over sharp, super digital or basically a phone video now. They should just promote it as the tik tok camera but then why would you need 4k at all? What's the dynamic range, 3 stops? Out of the kindness of their hearts they will let you upload to their servers and make a highlight video for you? Then what happens to your footage?

[HR-wdcw]

The one thing I've found useful with GoPro's (as it relates to photography) is doing video while I'm shooting, because in some instances, I can mount the Go-Pro into an adapter on the hot-shoe of the camera and almost give a POV video of close to what I'm seeing, and sometimes I like to use it as I do photography hikes. I have my regular camera to get stills, and the GoPro sort of records everything else on the hike. Sometimes I'll take video with both (but the video with the actual regular camera will be more focused on something specific -- whereas the GoPro will be still more for overall footage). So yes I think they can be useful for regular stills photographers, and especially for those shooting video as they have gotten quite good you could use them for BTS shooting, and considering the cost, you can buy a few of these for the price of even a modern APS-C ML camera.

That being said, I'm still using my Hero 8 black and have no real intentions of upgrading. The 4k30 from the Hero 8 is plenty for what I do, and while the newer ones may offer better stabilization (the Hero 8 isn't bad by any means) I personally just can't justify the upgrade. IF I was doing vlogging or making money with my videos, then that would be different, but much of my videos and photography is for personal use and not really ever sold. But I do like the idea of being able to record a video of things while I'm shooting, especially if I'm hiking because I can just turn my head and look at things and capture it with the camera (as i use a headmount a lot when doing hiking with the GoPro).