Mini GoPro! Hero4 Session: Full Review, Tests, Comparison Footage

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Hey guys I'm Brent Rose, tech writer and

chum to both sharks and humans.

I'm out here in Northern California checking out

the new GoPro Hero 4 Session.

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First off the Hero 4 Session is waterproof on it's

own up to 33 feet.

That means it doesn't require the same plastic

waterproof housing you need for the other GoPro cameras.

You should be fine for surfing, swimming, snorkeling

other water sports other than scuba diving.

Because of that the session is 50% smaller than

the Hero 4 Silver or Black when waterproof and

ready to mount.

It's also 35% lighter.

Basically if you've always dreamed of having a camera

so small you could mount it on

your pet mouse,

today is your lucky day.

It's also small enough that we're probably going

to see it in some very interesting places in porn.

Ya.

You'll also notice that the Session takes a dramatically

different form factor from any other GoPro of the past.

It's a perfect little inch and a half cube

whereas all the other GoPros were these little rectangles.

This gives the Session some unique advantages.

For instance, you can drop it into it's frame mount

in pretty much any orientation.

This means it's basically the first

GoPro you can side-mount to things.

Like a helmet without using an awkward

elbow joint type mount.

It comes with two different frames as well; standard

and low profile.

To test how much drag it had, I swam

across a lake with the camera strapped

to my back.

And then again with it on my chest.

I could feel the straps catching a little water

during freestyle but nothing on the camera itself.

And during the breast stroke, I pretty much forgot

it was there.

Which is impressive.

GoPro is really trying to play up the ease

of use with the Session.

It has just two buttons; you press the main

button on top, turns the

camera on and starts recording.

Hit it again, it stops shooting and turns off.

I found that this saved a ton of battery life.

And it actually lasted a lot longer than the

Hero 4 Silver I was comparing it to

despite it having a smaller battery.

It takes about four seconds to turn on

and start recording.

Which feels like a very long time when there's

a wave coming.

If you long-press that same button, it'll go

into a time lapse mode, shooting one

pic every half second.

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The other button in the back toggles

wifi on and off, will display the video

mode you've selected, and will add a highlight

tag while you're rolling.

Unfortunately you can't actually change the

settings or the mode on the camera itself.

To do that you need to pair it with your

smartphone or a GoPro wifi remote control,

which is sold separately.

This kinda sucks as it's not always practical to

have those things with you.

Speaking of modes, it can shoot 1080p video at up to

60 frames per second, 1440p at 30 frames a second

and 720p at 100 frames per second.

Some of those modes also support superview which takes

a 4/3 ratio shot and compresses it down to a

standard 16/9.

This gives you a lot more of the top and

the bottom of your frame.

It's the mode I use for things like surfing,

mountain biking, and snowboarding.

Audio test, 1,2 1,2, high notes, low notes, audio test

1,2 high notes, low notes.

So the Session has two microphones that are specially

built to help them drain quickly when they get wet.

They actually work pretty well.

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What's interesting is that the price point

is still pretty high.

At $400, it costs the same amount as

the Hero 4 Silver which has more resolutions

and frame rates to choose from, a swappable

batteries, and a built in LCD touch screen,

which makes it really easy to use.

So you're basically paying for the

small form factor here.

Unfortunately, image quality takes a major hit

for that form factor.

Compare it to the Hero 4 Silver and

it's just no contest.

Take a look at the sharpness here.

This is the Session.

And this is the Silver.

Look how much more detail you can see in

the grass in the front, the bushes

in the middle, and the trees in the

back in the image on the left.

Or check out the lighting in this scene.

This is the Session.

And this is the Silver.

It almost looks like they were shot on

entirely different days.

The Silver on the left is far brighter

and truer to life than the Session on the right.

Look at the colors here.

This is the Session.

This is the Silver.

Session.

Silver.

The image on the left has brighter, richer,

more vibrant colors.

For low light, the Session really cranks up the game

which reduces a pretty noisy and very red image.

The Silver on the other hand is a lot cleaner

and a lot more natural looking, but

it's also dark as hell.

We'll leave it to you to decide which one you prefer.

I also found that water droplets were far

more prone to stick to the lens of the Session.

I don't know why that is, but I definitely ended up

with way more usable footage from the Silver.

Finally, this shot encapsulates everything I've

been saying about image quality.

Let's pause it right here.

Check out that dynamic range.

Despite the fact that I'm back lit, the Silver has

my face nicely exposed, while the Session

loses it in the shadows.

The Silver has a higher bit rate too,

which gives you more detail and makes

color correcting easier.

Look at the detail on the bluff behind me

and even up close on my wetsuit and surfboard.

Basically, in image quality, the Silver blows

the Session out of the water by every metric.

And in my opinion, image quality is king.

Considering there's no difference in price,

there's just no way I'm going to recommend

buying the Hero 4 Session over the Hero 4 Silver.

If they could pack the same image quality and

usability of the Silver into the form factor

of the Session, they'd really have a winner.

But for now, stick to the one that takes

prettier pictures.

So what do you think?

Is this the camera you've been waiting for

or are you more likely to go for the more powerful

Hero 4 Silver which costs the same, or the

even more beastly Hero 4 black, which costs

100 bucks more?

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Subscribe to Wired if you haven't already.

And with all that being said,

there's only one thing left to do.

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Ah.