Quite a few of us in the office are big fans of GoPro’s action cameras; Rory had even given last year’s Hero 10 Black a solid review. This time round, they’re back with not just a new Hero 11 Black, but also a smaller and more affordable Hero 11 Black Mini action camera too.
GoPro Hero 11 Black and Hero 11 Black Mini pricing and availability
The GoPro Hero 11 Black is priced at USD499.99 globally, the same price as last year’s Hero 10 Black. In Malaysia, it’s priced at RM2,399 which is also the same price that the Hero 10 Black launched for here, meaning that despite the weakened Ringgit, GoPro has not increased its price tag. You’ll be able to get it now from its official store on Shopee just on its own or in different bundles with various accessories.
The GoPro Hero 11 Black Mini meanwhile is priced at USD399 globally, however at time of writing there aren’t any details about local pricing and availability just yet.
[ UPDATE 20/9/2022 ]: GoPro Malaysia has now also announced availability of the GoPro Hero 11 Black Mini, priced at RM1,979 and will be available from 25 October onwards. Also available is another Hero 11 Black bundle, the Creator Edition bundle which in priced at RM3,399. This will include an optional directional microphone, external mic input, HDMI port for hooking up to external displays, two cold show mounts for even more accessories as well as a high-output LED light.
GoPro Hero 11 Black specs
Right off the bat, the GoPro Hero 11 Black won’t look very different compared to last year’s Hero 10 Black. However, the biggest upgrade here is perhaps with the image sensor. GoPro has swapped out the old sensor for a new 1/1.9″ sensor and it now is able to shoot at up to 5.3K in an 8:7 aspect ratio, which GoPro says is the largest vertical field of view ever on a GoPro.
You can still shoot in regular 16:9 aspect ratio too, using the new HyperView mode, as well as in 4K120 and 2.7K240 resolutions too. Regardless of your preferred resolution, you will now have the new HyperSmooth 5.0 video stabilisation feature which they claim should offer much better video stabilisation than last year’s Hero 10 Black.
There’s also modes for capturing light trails, horizon lock and levelling, a webcam mode as well as shooting in RAW. If you want to take still photos meanwhile, you can get 27MP shots with the Hero 11 Black. GoPro claims that the dual LCD screens will offer smooth and snappy playback too. You’ll also find a new easy-to-use UI on it, though if you’re already familiar with GoPro cameras you can set it back to the ‘pro’ controls of before.
Hardware wise, the Hero 11 Black still uses the GP2 processor but is now able to film in 10-bit, allowing you to capture more video data. Powering it meanwhile is a 1,720mAh rechargeable Enduro battery, which is apparently able to last 38% longer than a regular battery.. The Hero 11 Black will also be compatible with the accesories for the Hero 9 Black and the Hero 10 Black, so you won’t need to get new add-ons if you get the Hero 11 Black.
GoPro Hero 11 Black Mini specs
As for the smaller of the two, the GoPro Hero 11 Black Mini is a compact action camera but not as compact as their previous GoPro Session before. It weighs just 133g, 20g lighter than the standard Hero 11 Black, and is quite a bit narrower than its bigger stablemate. However, the Hero 11 Black Mini is still twice as heavy as the Hero 10 Black Bones, which was a cut down Hero 10 Black that weighed just 54g and was designed for FPV drones.
For the most part though, it will perform almost the same as the GoPro Hero 11 Black. It still packs the same sensor as the Hero 11 Black for one, and also has the same GP2 silicon under the hood too. The Hero 11 Black Mini also features the same support for HyperSmooth 5.0 which should provide much better stabilisation in video than before. You’ll also find the same time-lapse features for capturing light trail videos and the Easy Controls of the Hero 11 Black too.
What’s missing though is of course the two displays found on the standard Hero 11 Black. Instead, the Hero 11 Black Mini has a small display to the left of the record button which shows you all the necessary information you need, such as resolution and frame rate settings as well as how much battery you have left. Speaking of battery, it also only packs a 1,500mAh battery. You also will need to make do without a picture mode; you’ll need to grab stills from video footage instead.
