Review | GoPro Hero9 Black review: action camera/webcam has 5K resolution, a new front screen and offers amazing video grabs
- The Hero9 Black has a front-facing selfie screen, better image stabilisation and a detachable lens cover
- Its 5K resolution allows for amazing photo grabs from videos and 20-megapixel stills
The coronavirus pandemic has made more of us point cameras at our faces. Typically they have been webcams for videoconferencing with friends, family and colleagues. But let’s be honest, we were all taking selfies and conducting video calls long before Covid-19.
Cue the Hero9 Black (US$349.98), the first GoPro action camera to work out of the box as a webcam and to include a front-facing screen for framing yourself in the shot.
Add a new sensor, a removable lens guard and some of GoPro’s most effective image stabilisation software, and the Hero9 Black is quite the package. However, is it too powerful – and too expensive – for the average user?
Design and hardware
It may be styled in the same matt black casing – waterproof down to 33ft (10 metres) – as previous flagship GoPro products, but there’s something all new about the design of the Hero9 Black.
There is a first for the brand; a 1.4-inch colour LCD screen. It’s there to help vloggers and selfie takers place themselves a shot with accuracy, and it works really well.
The front-facing screen is a 4:3 shape when the Hero9 Black records in widescreen, but you can choose to have it display either a full screen version or a preview with black bars above and below.
