Master the Modes: New firmware coming for HERO10 Black

So, you got yourself a brand new HERO10 Black this fall and thought you’d done pretty well for yourself getting an action camera packed with all kinds of good stuff—5.3K at 60fps? 4K120 slo-mo? That’s high-octane juice! But what’s that you say, you want more juice? So do we, and we’re bringing the heat.

This December, we’re unleashing firmware v1.2 with more SuperView, Max Lens Mod support and 24fps modes than ever before, and remember, we’re also launching the new, cold-weather Enduro battery on Nov. 30—bringing more juice to your GoPro kit than the local smoothie shop.

Let’s get into the juicy details.

PRO TIP: The following is available as a BETA starting today. You can download it HERE. 

1. SuperView in 5.3K30 + 5.3K60

This one has been high on our wish list for a long time, and Santa’s bringing it a couple weeks early. SuperView, for those of you who don’t know, is one of our most immersive digital lens options. SuperView takes a 4:3 aspect ratio frame (a.k.a. the whole camera sensor) and delivers it in a 16:9 format.

If that doesn’t make sense, let’s back track a bit. (If it does, feel free to read ahead ya SuperView super user!) The image sensor on essentially all cameras has a 4:3 ratio, but most of the videos we shoot (especially if intended for a modern TV or screen) will be in the wider, more horizontal 16:9 ratio. So, cameras generally crop the top and bottom of a 4:3 shot to make it 16:9, but that’s not great for action and movement in footage—enter, GoPro and SuperView.

One of the best examples for SuperView is mountain biking with your camera mounted on a Chesty. If you shoot in 16:9, you won’t see much of the front wheel or the trail ahead, and if you do, you’ll almost certainly lose the treetops and sky, making the video feel boxed-in. This lost context is what makes your POV more compelling.

Now, you could shoot in a 4:3 mode and then manually edit into a 16:9 format in post, but frankly, it’s really hard to pull that off. So, SuperView does it all for you—in camera! It uses the whole sensor—capturing your handlebars, the trail ahead AND the tree line above— and delivers it in a 16:9 output using an algorithm to ensure that it doesn’t look distorted.

PRO TIP: SuperView is amazing for getting the most visual contest in POV shots, but it also turns over some awesome, creative shots from selfie sticks, the nose of your surfboard and other mounting angles that put you close to the camera.

SuperView has been an integral part of GoPro cameras for years, but this is the first time it’s been available in our highest resolution: 5.3K. And, it’s not just coming to 30fps, but to 60fps, too! The amount of horsepower it takes to pull that off is absurd, but luckily HERO10 Black with the new GP2 processor has the ponies to pull it off.

2. Max Lens Mod Support

We first introduced Max Lens Mod in 2020 with HERO9 Black, and thanks to having almost identical formfactors, it’s now coming to HERO10 Black, too. For those not familiar, Max Lens Mod is a physical lens (sold separate) that you swap onto the camera itself to max out your stabilization, field of view and creativity.

To build upon our SuperView focus, Max Lens Mod unleashes the widest, most immersive 155˚ field of view ever on a HERO camera with Max SuperView AND unlocks Max HyperSmooth stabilization with an incredible 360˚ horizon lock.

HERO10 Black has horizon leveling built in with the Linear + Horizon Leveling digital lens, but this has a limitation tilt of 45˚. With Max HyperSmooth + Horizon Lock you can spin the camera a full 360˚ and the horizon stays 100% level the entire time. Upside down? Sure. Wanna do cartwheels? All good. Max Lens Mod will keep the horizon locked, stabilization level and your content looking crisp.

We’re also introducing support for 2.7K 4:3 at 60 and 30 frames per second with Max Lens Mod on HERO10 Black—this aspect ratio will hands down get you the best POV on HERO10. Previously, Max Lens Mod only had 2.7K 60fps in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

3. 24fps—Wait, why is this important? What is it used for?

We folks in the action cam biz tend to spend a lot of time talking about high frame rates, and for good reason: the higher the frames per second (FPS), the more you can slow down your footage for buttery-smooth slo-mo. That’s why the HERO10’s ability to shoot 2.7K and 1080p at 240fps is a big deal; you can slow it down as much as 10x if your final video is going to be 24p (i.e. 24fps).

So, why would someone want 24fps? Well, it’s simple: It looks really good! While 30fps has long been the default for TV and video, 24fps has been the standard for movies. In all honesty, not everyone can see the difference, but those six frames per second definitely change the look and feel of your video. 24fps looks like what we think of as cinematic—crisp, yet smooth and detailed. Shooting at 24fps natively (as opposed to shooting at 30p and then converting it to 24p in your editing software) will produce the highest image quality results.

There’s another great reason to shoot in 24fps: It’s the best setting for low-light.

Think about it: If you’re shooting at 60fps, that’s 60 individual still images per second, so the longest any of those shots can be is 1/60^th of a second. Shooting at 24fps means the exposure time for each individual shot can be more than twice as long, allowing more than twice as much light to get to the sensor.

Cinematic quality, low-light capable, what more could you want with 24fps?!

BONUS: Don’t Forget About the High-Performance Enduro Battery

GoPro is supercharging the HERO10 experience with a whole new battery available starting Nov. 30. While it improves performance in all environments, it really shines in the cold.

If you’re into winter sports, you know low temps are brutal on battery life. With the Enduro battery ($24.99) + the Hero10 Black, those problems are a thing of the past. Even on bitter cold days you can expect 56 minutes of 5.3K60 video, 50 minutes of 4K120 video, 76 minutes of 4K60 video and 115 minutes of 1080p30 video recording.

You’ll also see gains at warm temperatures (think 77°F / 25°C) for:

•  An average 60 minutes of 5.3K60 video (a 28% improvement over the standard battery),
• An average 51 minutes of 4K120 video (a 40% improvement over the standard battery),
• An average 71 minutes of 4K60 video (a 13% improvement over the standard battery) 
• An average 120 minutes of 1080p30 video recording

PRO TIP: We also recently introduced three new Video Performance Modes:

• Maximum Video Performance (for all the beastly frame rates and resolutions)
• Extended Battery (which guides you toward optimal video resolutions and frame rates for maximizing recording times and extending battery life)
• Tripod / Stationary Video (kind of a hybrid of the two, where you get all the resolutions and framerates, but it disables things you don’t need while not moving—like GPS and Stabilization—to keep the thermals as chill as possible.

You can read more about the battery and new power optimizations here.

Like we said. You like the juice? We get you more juice.

VIDEO: GoPro: Intro To Max Lens Mod