The specifications of the new GoPro Hero6 have been finally announced, although they have been all over the internet for days. With the popular action camera now official, let’s do a direct comparison of specs for a good old fashioned GoPro Hero6 Black Vs GoPro Hero5 Black.
Some of the standout features of the GoPro Hero6 Black are its 4K at 60fps and 1080p at 240fps video capability, a new digital zoom, automatic cloud back-up, touch zoom and a price tag of £499/$499. But lets take a closer look at how the GoPro Hero6 Black compares against the Hero5 Black, its predecessor.
Body Design
Starting our GoPro Hero6 Black vs Hero5 Black comparison with the look and design, and there is little, if any, difference. The Hero5 was after all, pretty understated, and due to the dramatic change in styling from the Hero4 it has up until this point been instantly recognisable as the Hero5 over the Hero4, 3, 2 or Hero.
Now that the Hero6 has arrived it’s going to be difficult to tell the two apart (If only they’d gone for my colour scheme ideas) but then this is a running theme with GoPro, the Hero4 Session and Hero5 Session are almost identical.
Prior to that the Hero3, Hero3+ and Hero4 all looked the same, aside from the large number tattooed on the front. This time GoPro has been even more reserved with the version number. You’ll just see Hero 6 printed on the side of the lens. Check it out in the image at the top of this page.
Sticking with the design introduced with the Hero5 all makes sense for GoPro. Look and colour remain the same; after all GoPro doesn’t want to annoy all those customers who have just invested in the Karma and Karma Grip. Especially the Karma grip, as the whole Jabber team has now invested in these devices!
In this first round of our GoPro Hero6 Black vs Hero5 Black comparison the Hero6 takes the lead when it comes to physical dimensions and weight, measuring 6.2 x 3.3 x 4.4cm and weighing in at 117g. The GoPro Hero5 Black measures 6.2 x 3.3 x 4.4cm and weighs in at 118g, a whole gram lighter.
Resolution
The next big feature is the resolution, and this is where we really start to see a demonstrable difference between the GoPro Hero6 Black vs the Hero5 Black. The Hero6 Black makes the leap up to 4K at 60fps from Hero5’s 4K at 30fps. The GoPro Hero6 Black also is capable of 1080p at 240fps for ultra-slow motion movies.
I already have my reservations about that leap. The GoPro Hero5 Black, when pushed to 1080p with a frame rate of 120fps, was really only usable in idea sunlit conditions. Beyond that it produced pixelated and lackluster footage. Could this be resolved with the GoPro Hero6 Black’s new GP1 processor (I think that stands for GoPro 1)? We’ll see when we get busy testing.
Processor
Another win for the GoPro Hero6 Black vs the Hero5 Black is that new faster processor to cope with the increased demands of resolution and frame rate. In Nick Woodman’s speech at the launch he did mention that the processor will also boost the low light performance and we hop the quality of the high frame rate quality.
Although the new GP1 processor was talked about any further details on what this processor has to offer in terms of power have yet to be announced if ever. I’m keen to check the performance out against the Yi 4K + that features Ambarella H2 Soc processor.
It’s easy to get blown away by specifications such as 4K resolutions at 60 fps and features like voice control but what makes this possible is that new GoPro-produced GP1 processor inside.
The frame rate jump is welcome but this update could be more about the GP1 processor and sensor than anything else. If it’s able to push up that quality and capture truly usable footage at 60fps for 4K and 240fps at 1080p then that’s impressive.
It’s now known that the new camera will feature the Optimised GP1 capture chip, a break from its traditional tie with Ambarella. It’s also unusual for GoPro to announce the chip set inside, so it must be a big thing.
There’s no insight yet into the sensor that this will be coupled with. In the past it has been part of the Sony Exmor family, and with the RX0 having been announced from Sony this could mark an incredibly interesting leap in quality.
The new processor looks to push another big win for the GoPro Hero 6 Black with the following performance highlights.
Image Stabilisation
It looks like the image stabilisation has also taken a step-up as this is listed as one of the big features. Image stabilisation was introduced in the Hero5 Black and it was pretty good, but nothing compared to the Karma grip. I’ll draw this one for now and revisit when I get to see it first hand.
Wifi speed takes a leap with 5 GHz WiFi that will provide super-fast offload speeds for photos and videos. This all ties in with the new automatic cloud backup feature, I look forward to seeing how this works and will bring you a full demo as soon as possible.
This all means that the GoPro Hero 6 Black will be integrated as part of the Smart home with backup to the cloud.
Surprisingly the streaming feature I wrote on the Hero6 Black has gathered a good following but at present it doesn’t look like this is a feature.
It seems quite obvious that although the specs don’t hit the headlines many clamoured for of 8K and a billion frames a second, this addition to the GoPro stable is all about processing power and image quality. I really can’t wait to take a closer look.
GoPro Hero6 Black vs Hero5 Black specs compared
For now, here’s the specs for the GoPro Hero6 Black and Hero5 Black. You’ll see that aside from the resolutions, they’re almost identical. So like the GoPro Hero3 Black to GoPro Hero3+ it looks like this upgrade is indeed all about the visual quality and processing power of the new camera.
Here’s a quick look at how the key frame rates compare:
- GoPro Hero6 Black 4K at 60fps Vs GoPro Hero5 Black 4K at 30fps
- GoPro Hero6 Black 1080p at 240fps Vs GoPro Hero5 Black at 120fps
And below is a side-by-side comparison of the GoPro Hero6 Black and Hero5 Black specs.