(Credit: GoPro)
GoPro is the first name in action cameras. It literally invented the category and led the pack in video quality and ruggedness for what seemed like forever. But it's faced challenges in recent years. Competitors like the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and Insta360 Ace Pro lines beat its Hero13 Black in several areas, and the company's stock price is in the tank. Five years ago, it was trading for more than $13 per share, and now it's at less than a dollar. I know a lot more about cameras than I do about business, but even I can tell that's not great news for a public company.
Still, GoPro is not afraid to take big swings, and it's aiming for the fences with the first in a new camera series, the Mission 1, introduced today. The Mission series will live side-by-side with Hero, which sticks around for the extreme sports crowd, and has a feature set that makes more sense for content creators and will slot in better as a mountable crash camera for cinema projects.
The Mission 1 Pro Has More Pixels and Promises to Cut Down on Overheating Issues
The Mission 1 Pro has the largest sensor that GoPro has ever put in an action camera, a large Type 1 (commonly called 1-inch) chip that's the same size as Sony puts in its RX0 video camera, with support for 4:3 aspect 8K30 video, 8K60 at 16:9, and 50MP photos. The 8K TV market is dead, but the extra pixels make sense for vloggers who want to pull out both landscape and vertical video from the same clip, and also export out 44MP still frames. Its lens also offers the widest coverage among single-lens action cams, covering a staggering 159° diagonal viewing angle, and, of course, supports narrower views for vlogging with reduced distortion.
In addition to the Mission 1 Pro, there's a regular Mission 1 that will cost less (GoPro hasn't yet announced pricing for either camera) and has most of the same features, minus Open Gate 8K video. The standard Mission 1 records 8K30 at 16:9 and can record Open Gate 4K at up to 120fps.
There's more to video than pixels, of course. The Mission 1 records in SDR, HDR, HLG, and 10-bit GP-Log2 color spaces; the latter is ideal for editors with the know-how to color-correct footage. For audio, the camera has four built-in mics, one more than the Hero13, plus it works with Bluetooth and (with a USB-C adapter) 3.5mm mics. GoPro is even bringing out its own wireless mic system to compete directly with the DJI Mic 2, and has a new Media Mod coming for the Mission 1 that includes an upgraded onboard mic with configurable pickup patterns ranging from omnidirectional to cardioid.
And while I haven't yet had a chance to actually use the Mission 1, the Type 1 sensor should give it a huge edge over the Hero series in dim light, and will give it an advantage over the Osmo Action 5 Pro. If you're more interested in recording on city streets after sunset, diving down in murky waters, or using an inconspicuous camera on stage for concert footage, the Mission looks like the ticket.
GoPro is also making a concentrated effort to improve upon the Hero13's relatively poor battery life and thermal control with the Mission 1 Pro. The camera works with a new battery, the Enduro 2, and a more power-efficient processor that promises to provide about 96 minutes of record time at 8K30 without overheating, 106 minutes at 4K120, and can go for more than 3 hours at 4K30. It can also run off an older Enduro 1, but with shorter record times and no support for fast charging. Compare that with the GoPro Hero13 Black, which overheats after 26 minutes of 4K60 runtime.
I'll run a proper battery test when I review the camera, but that's better than the 154 minutes I got with the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro at 4K30. GoPro also claims that the Mission won't overheat in most modes; only its 8K60 and 4K240 record modes are heat-limited to about 35 minutes of continuous record time. The Osmo Action 5 Pro tops out at 4K120, so a direct comparison isn't possible, but it looks like GoPro is trying to solve the overheating and battery issues to better compete with DJI.
And if you're part of the adventure crowd, don't worry, the Mission is tough. Nicholas Woodman, GoPro's CEO, says that it's "designed to go to hell and back." Woodman is known for being bombastic, but GoPro's track record in making indestructible camera gear is unmatched. The Mission 1 Pro is fully waterproof and good for dives down to 66 feet. It's also small enough to mount on a helmet and weighs in at 7.3 ounces. It includes an OLED touch screen on the rear and a non-touch LCD on the front.
An Interchangeable Lens Edition and Accessory Bundles Further Entice Creators
If that's not enough to pique content creators' interest, GoPro is also teasing an interchangeable lens version of the Mission 1 Pro, the Mission 1 ILS, set to debut in the autumn. It swaps the built-in lens for a passive Micro Four Thirds mount, which means that it'll only work with manual lenses with mechanical focus and aperture support, but opens up more creative possibilities.
The ILS looks like a camera that you'll want to lock down on a tripod or mount to a fixed position, but could be quite interesting for speciality applications. I think it'd be fun to set it up with an F1.4 lens to get a shallow depth-of-field look, add an anamorphic lens for a widescreen, cinematic look, or use it with vintage lenses to give your footage an old-school vibe. Still, I think the ILS is more about filling a niche than appealing to a broad audience. GoPro isn't afraid to make cameras that are out there, like the GoPro Hero10 Bones, which worked only with FPV drones in 2022.
The Mission 1 series works with GoPro's existing line of accessories. It includes mounting clips, works with the magnetic mount introduced with the Hero13, and also has a tripod socket. There are some new add-ons coming for the Mission, including a photo handgrip with a shutter button, and a dive housing that's rated for about 196 feet (60 meters).
GoPro hasn't yet announced any pricing for the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro, but preorders open on May 21, a week ahead of its ship date. It will also sell a Grip Edition that's bundled with the aforementioned photo grip, a Creator Edition that comes with the Media Mod cage and microphone, Volta 2 battery handle, the wireless mic kit, an extra magnetic mount, and a carrying case. And if you want to go crazy, the Ultimate Creator Edition comes with everything in the regular Creator bundle as well as the Fluid Pro AI gimbal and the Light Mod video light.
Will the Mission 1 Save GoPro?
Calling GoPro's recent updates to the Hero line incremental is generous; it's trotted out pretty much the same camera for the past few generations with little changes here and there. Granted, the Hero13 Black is a fantastic action camera, with a nice color profile, extreme frame rates, and superb stabilization. But even so, the Hero12 and Hero13 were both boring updates that didn't do enough versus the Hero11 Black to compel upgrades, and didn't address weaknesses like battery life and low-light picture quality. The Mission 1's larger sensor, upgraded processor, and higher capacity battery are all worth getting excited about. On paper, the Mission 1 trumps the latest from DJI and Insta360. I'm eager to see how it compares in reality.
I'm not sure if I love the name, though. Nikon famously flopped when it tried to go after GoPro with its KeyMission line, a one-and-done set of action cameras from a decade ago. I'm not superstitious, but let's hope the name doesn't bring any bad karma. I'm also curious to find out what DJI and Insta360 will make in response. DJI is locked out of the US market because of an FCC ban, but there's nothing stopping Insta360 from updating its well-regarded Ace Pro with a larger image sensor and bringing it to the US. Competition is good for consumers, though, because I'm dubious that the Mission 1 would pack so much tech inside its small frame if it weren't for the pressure from other brands.