I’ve been testing and writing about GoPro’s small action cameras since the first one was launched in 2004, watching as those cameras evolved from cumbersome chunks of plastic worn on your wrist to the content-capturing machines that they are today.

The two newest versions from GoPro, the Hero13, and the original Hero, continue that evolution. One is the most versatile camera GoPro has ever produced. The other might be the easiest to use. But which is the best option for you?

I spent the last month testing both in a variety of situations, from an epic ski trip to Palisades in Tahoe to a surf trip to Costa Rica to tame adventures on local trails in the Southern Appalachians. Throughout that period, I alternated between the two cameras on bike rides, golf rounds, ski days, and surf sessions, trying to determine which camera was the best.

The result is an enigma: The camera that I like the most personally is not the camera that I would recommend to most people. Here are my thoughts on the Hero13 and the Hero.

The Hero13Ěý

The GoPro Hero13 Built-In Features

Let’s start with the Hero13, which is GoPro’s most versatile camera to date, ideal for serious photographers and content creators who need to get a variety of footage. The new camera uses the same sensor and processor as the previous ($288) but adds a few key upgrades that make it far more capable. That includes interchangeable lenses, a magnetic mount, and a suite of built-in features that allow you to customize the footage you capture by adjusting the resolution, aspect ratio, and even sound before you start shooting.

The Hero13 shoots professional-grade 5.3K video, which is rendered incredibly smooth thanks to the in-camera HyperSmooth 6.0 video stabilization. I shot some shaky ski videos recently that were so silky you’d think they were shot on a gimbal. The fact that this stabilization happens inside the camera means you’re not forced to edit your video in GoPro’s Quik app (more on that below).

It’s waterproof down to 33 feet, but even better is the hydrophobic lens, which sheds water, giving you crystal-clear shots when you bring the camera back up above the surface. I have a lot of useless footage from past surf trips when I used older GoPros that didn’t have this water-shedding lens; instead of epic footage, all I got were videos of blurry water drops. That’s less of an issue with this new lens. I used this camera during a week-long surf trip to Costa Rica, and probably 95 percent of the videos I took while in the surf were crystal clear. On previous surf trips with older models of the GoPro, I’d say that ratio was probably 50/50.

My favorite aspect of the new Hero13 is the tall image sensor, which allows you to shoot wide, vertical, or square videos and images without having to adjust the camera’s settings or lenses. I take a lot of videos for Instagram, which requires a vertical frame, but I also do some scenic and gear videos for this magazine and YouTube, both of which require a horizontal frame. I can switch back and forth from those two perspectives on the touch screen with the swipe of a finger before I start the video, or even better, I can shoot everything in Full Frame and decide later if I want to edit and publish vertically or horizontally in the GoPro Quik app.

This versatility means you can shoot footage with or without GoPro’s signature fisheye perspective, which is handy if you’re vlogging, getting scenic landscapes or closeups, or even if you just want a more straightforward first-person perspective. It also makes it easier to pair footage from the Hero13 with footage from other cameras, like your iPhone.

Hero 13 Add-Ons

And that’s just what’s built into the Hero13. You can also purchase add-on HB Series Lenses, like a Macro that gives you 4x zoom or an ultra-wide that offers a 36 percent wider field of view than the standard GoPro lens. Clip these lenses onto the Hero13, and the camera automatically recognizes which lens you’re using without the need to manually adjust the settings.

Most casual photographers won’t need to purchase these extra lenses, but everyone will appreciate the new Enduro Battery that comes with the camera, which is an absolute game changer. One of my biggest complaints with every GoPro I’ve ever used is the subpar battery life, especially in cold temps. This new battery is a beast with a reported 2.5-hour constant run time. I filmed with the Hero13 over several hours, from cold ski days to hot beach days, and never once ran out of battery.

Another fun tool in the Hero13 is the built-in Burst Slo-Mo, which offers three slow-motion options with different levels of quality. This is key if you ever want to throw your videos up onto a big screen; slow motion video from a low-quality camera blown up on a TV’s big screen can look blurry, but the Hero13 gives you five seconds of slow motion in crystal clear 5.3k quality.

The Hero13’s Downsides

Some professional photographers complained that the Hero13 didn’t get an upgraded sensor from the Hero12. While I do publish videos and photos on a variety of platforms, I don’t consider myself a pro photographer, so GoPro’s decision to stick with their previous sensor doesn’t bother me. I will say that the versatility of the Hero13 comes with a price; there’s a learning curve to the system, and it has taken some trial and error to figure out exactly which features I need. It’s like ordering from a menu that’s five pages long—with so many options, it’s hard to settle on a single choice.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m blown away by the Hero13’s capabilities. Straight out of the box, it drastically broadens the kind of footage I can capture. Considering all of the potential add-ons, from the new lenses to external lights and microphones, the Hero13 is out of the action camera category altogether. It is a powerhouse that can be my primary content-capturing tool, whether I’m standing in front of the camera for a vlog, attaching it to my handlebars for action footage, or just capturing a photo to support an article.

The HeroĚý

Ěý

The Hero’s Upsides

Take the Hero13, cut it in half, and you have the Hero. It’s half the weight (86 grams to the Hero13’s 159 grams), roughly half the size, about half the price, and is even waterproof to about half the depth (16 feet to the Hero13’s 33 feet). That said, the tiny size is one of this camera’s selling points, especially if you like to mount a camera on your helmet.

Just like the Hero13, it has flip down mounting fingers, a removable hydrophobic lens cover, and a large touch screen on the back of the camera that you use to adjust the settings. It even has voice-activated controls, just like the Hero13, so you can tell this GoPro what to do without touching any buttons. Very cool.

The Hero’s Downsides

That’s where the similarities end, though, as the Hero is a straightforward, easy-to-use action camera without the bells and whistles of the full-featured Hero13.

For instance, you can’t change the resolution on the Hero (4K is the only option). It doesn’t shoot as well in low-light situations, and if you zoom in on the 4K footage, it’s a little blurry compared to the 5.3K Hero13 footage. You also can’t change the frame ratio; like older GoPros, it only shoots ultra-wide lens, fish-eye type footage, which might be a deal breaker for some users. Another limitation to note is that the HyperSmooth stabilization doesn’t happen in the camera. Instead, you have to upload your footage to GoPro’s Quik app before the video stabilizes. That’s not a big deal for most of us, but if you’re editing in a different software and bypassing the Quik app, you’ll be dealing with shaky footage.

The battery life is roughly half as good as the Hero13, and that’s being generous. The Hero repeatedly died halfway through each day on a recent ski trip. Granted, I was filming heavily, and it was cold, but I’ve been able to get through full days with the Hero13 under similar conditions. The Hero’s battery is within the camera, which eliminates the option of swapping out an extra battery.

Personally, my main issue with the Hero is that it only shoots ultra-wide lens footage. That’s a handy viewpoint for some shots, but I don’t want all of my videos to have a fish-eye view. You also have to mount or hold the Hero vertically in order to shoot vertical videos, which sounds like a silly thing to complain about, except most mounts hold GoPros horizontally. This kept me from getting vertical video during my Palisades ski trip, which makes for an awkward transition if I’m trying to match that footage with a vertical-oriented camera, like my phone.

Which Is the Better Camera For You?Ěý

It sounds like the Hero13 is the camera I’m going to recommend, right? Not so fast.

I love the Hero13, and I think it’s the best GoPro I’ve ever tested. It’s the right camera for me, and I’m excited to keep using it for the various ways I capture photos and videos. But I think many of those features that get me excited aren’t necessary for the majority of users out there. While I mentioned many of the Hero’s limitations, I think it’s a great action camera, especially when you consider the budget-friendly $199 price tag.

The question you have to ask yourself is, what kind of photographer are you? If you just want to get the occasional clip of a surf session or a POV of you sending it on a gap jump at the park, then the Hero is probably the right camera for you. The tiny size means you can bring it almost anywhere and get some really beautiful footage that you might not be able to capture with your phone. But if you’re looking for a single camera that can capture a variety of styles of content in a small package, the Hero13 is the obvious answer.

Or maybe you’re like me, and you’ve convinced yourself you need both cameras: the Hero13 for its versatility and everyday capabilities and the Hero for its diminutive size, which makes it the ideal shooter for POV angles on a helmet mount.

Yeah, maybe that’s the answer here. Both cameras are the best cameras.

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As a professional photographer and filmmaker, relies on his versatile collection of gear to meet the demands of his work. In the past, he often turned to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace to find used cameras and lenses. But numerous last-minute meetup cancellations and alarming stories of friends getting scammed pushed him to seek out a more reliable option.

That’s when he decided to give a try.

He began trading some gear that was collecting dust in his closet and found the process easy and smooth: no need to coordinate in-person swaps with strangers from the internet. Plus, the option to trade took some pressure off his wallet. Creatives can save up to 40 percent on retail prices, which is a big boost whether you’re on a budget or want to allocate the savings toward other business expenses like travel, accessories, or more camera gear.

“One of the biggest hurdles for me in photography has always been how expensive gear can get,” Shainblum explained. “I’d often delay buying lenses because of the steep price tags. But trading and buying used gear changed everything—it opened the door to experimenting with new lenses and exploring different styles of photography.”

Shainblum also got the buying confidence he wanted from MPB. As the leading reseller of used digital cameras and lenses* in the United States, MPB’s online platform is a trusted resource for photographers and videographers to buy, sell, and trade equipment. Every item on the platform has a free six-month warranty and is 100 percent MPB Approved, meaning product specialists thoroughly inspect and photograph each piece and document any imperfections before it’s listed. Creatives can explore a , read in-depth reviews of popular models, access valuable how-to guides, and directly on the site, starting with a free quote.

A hallmark of MPB is its commitment to making visual storytelling accessible to everyone, regardless of skill level or budget. By offering trust and consistency in what has traditionally been a fragmented market, MPB is fostering a circular resale economy within creative communities. This approach not only supports sustainability but also strengthens the sense of connection and community.

Tammy Oler, vice president of marketing at MPB, describes a circular economy as one that works to minimize waste and pollution by circulating products and materials for reuse. Oler explains that MPB puts this model to work by buying, selling, and trading used gear. In addition, MPB was the first camera reseller to transparently , while also publishing its goals and progress.

“Our sustainability efforts are linked directly to our purpose: to open up the world of visual storytelling in a way that’s good for people and the planet,” Oler said. “We make it easy and worthwhile to give unwanted gear a new life, which puts affordable used gear into the hands of more creatives.”

is the largest global platform to buy, sell, and trade used photo and video equipment. MPB provides a simple, safe, and circular way—for amateurs to pros, with any budget—to trade, upgrade, and get paid for gear.

*MPB is currently not buying or selling film or analog cameras, with occasional exceptions.

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I’ve owned half a dozen GoPros in my day, ranging from the Hero 2 to the Hero 10 Black. Despite packing them along for plenty of backpacking trips and snowboard sessions, I rarely get goodĚý clips to prove it. The experience usually goes like this: see something film-worthy, pull GoPro out, realize the battery is dead. Or the SD card is full. Or the settings are off. By the time I get it sorted, the moment passed.

Yes, you can chalk that up to operator error, but as an entry-level filmer I’ve always hoped that GoPro would eventually produce a Hero to save me from myself. With last week’s release of the ($550)—featuring extended runtime battery, auto-upload capabilities, and two user interface options—GoPro might have actually done just that. The Hero 11 Black introduces a few capabilities that drastically improve my chances of getting the shot, and other features that ensure the shot will be superior to anything my intermediate skill-level typically affords. Let’s talk about why.

Bigger, Better Battery

GoPro’s extended runtime battery, Enduro, which was an accessory for the Hero 10 Black, now comes stock. GoPro claims the Enduro lasts up to 38 percent longer than their traditional battery, and after a few filming sessions that appears true. In its highest resolution video (5.3K), the new GoPro can shoot for up to 80 minutes on a charge, and at 1080P it’ll run more than two hours. And it juices up quickly: I was able to charge it from one to 100 percent in under an hour. It also automatically shuts off after fiveĚý minutes when not in use, which keeps me from killing the battery accidentally.

More importantly for snow sport enthusiasts, the Enduro is GoPro’s first battery that holds a charge in freezing temperatures. Gone are the days of wrapping my camera in a hand warmer for the slopes.

Automatic Uploads and Highlights

Automatic uploads to the cloud are a new feature of GoPro’s subscription service ($50 annually). Once connected to wifi, the 11 automatically transfers new content to GoPro’s cloud storage platform, negating the need to download it onto a phone or computer. Now I can keep the SD card clear without taking up space on my phone.

Along with auto-uploads, the new subscription offers an auto-highlight feature that uses AI to pull the best footage from a shoot, pieces together an edit, and sends it to the user’s phone automatically. GoPro’s leaning heavily into this feature Hero 11 Black marketing, and for good reason. It puts together a surprisingly good reel—with music—that you can then tweak to your liking. It makes going from the shoot to Instagram almost brainless.

If you’re considering buying a Hero 11 Black, the subscription is probably worth it right now. Buying the Hero 11 Black packaged with a year subscription is $400 (the regular price is $550, and the subscription is $50 a year). The package comes with unlimited cloud auto uploads, use of the editing app, discounts on GoPro.com, and most importantly, no-questions-asked camera replacement (for a fee between $69 and $99).

User Friendly Shooting Modes

The 11 supports two user interfaces—Easy and Pro. The former automates settings to present a clean, unfussy menuĚý where you simply choose a medium (timelapse, video or photo), press record, and capture. Pro Mode opens up the hood and lets the user manually control every setting. Despite that usability, Pro Mode is surprisingly intuitive. I’m decidedly not pro, but it didn’t take long for me to abandon Easy Mode altogether for better control.

Improved Field of View

GoPro introduced a new 1/1.9 sensor with the Hero 11 Black, which opens up an 8:7 field of view option. Pair that with the 11’s capacity for shooting 5.3K video at 30 frames per second, and that translates to 40 percent more resolution compared to GoPro’s previous 5.3K resolution, which maxed out on a 16:9 digital lens. In other words, you can now shoot a wide, almost-square frame at high resolution, then crop into any ratio after the fact. It’s a convenient asset for content creators posting to multiple mediums, as they’ll no longer need to shoot different fields of view for varying use-cases, be it TikTok or Youtube.

This raises another point—with how great the video quality is, shooting photos on a GoPro could be obsolete. It’s far easier to shoot video and pull a still frame after the fact—even GoPro suggests using this method now.

Millions More Pixels

If you do insist on shooting photos with the Hero 11 Black, it’ll produce 27 megapixel photos, up from 23MP on the Hero 10 Black. Again, paired with the new 8:7 sensor, that equates to millions more pixels to work with. The 11 also introduces four new photo burst modes, in addition to six the Hero had already.

Ten-bit color comes built-in to the Hero 11 Black, as opposed to eight-bit on the last rendition, which seems a trivial difference. But considering the Hero 10 was capable of seeing around 16 million shades of color, and the Hero 11 sees upwards of a billion, it’s a substantial upgrade. For advanced editors, more shades means more to work with in color grading. For everyone else, it means less apparent “stripiness” to the image, solving an issue that plagued GoPro in the past.

Light Trail Modes

The most novel and visually impactful features in the Hero 11 Black are, in my opinion, the night modes embedded within the camera’s Timelapse function. There are three of them—Star Trails, Light Painting, and Vehicle Light Trails—and each is appropriately oriented toward capturing those subjects with a trailing effect, automating a photography technique that is difficult to get right with a traditional camera. This video effect yields a timelapse of the light trails forming, which makes for some pretty radical footage, but as with any Hero 11 Black recordings, you can also pull high-resolution still frame.

These coveted night effects will, in and of themselves, undoubtedly attract hordes of TikTok influencers and other entry-level shooters to the Hero 11 Black, if solely to be able to capture these pro-looking night shots.

Horizon Lock and Image Stabilization

360-degree horizon lock was an available feature with the Hero 10, but only with the addition of Max Lens Mod accessory, which was an additional $100 and added bulk to the system. Now, Max Lens Mod is built into the camera lens. The result is enhanced stabilization and the option of 360-degree horizon lock, which essentially allows you to turn the camera completely upside down, whileĚý the horizon stays perfectly level and upright. Hypersmooth 5.0, the latest iteration GoPro’s stabilization layer, is negligibly better than the last version in my opinion, because Hypersmooth 4.0 was already pretty dialed. It adds gimbal-like smoothness to footage without the need for any extra accessories, so you can literally be bounding down a rocky trail while filming, and the footage comes out perfectly stable.

The Best POV Yet

GoPro’s new Hyperview, is the brand’sĚý widest field of view ever and an asset to any athlete with a penchant for POV shots. ItĚý essentially takes the new 8:7 view and stretches it into a 16:9 frame, resulting in a broader periphery and more immersive, close-feeling footage when paired with, say, a chest or helmet mount. Coupled with all the other enhancements of the new Hero, Hyperview only increases my odds of capturing something epic, and making it look even cooler. Now all I have to do is remember to hit record.

Coming Soon: Hero 11 Black Mini

On October 25 GoPro is also releasing the Hero 11 Black Mini, a more compact, simplified version with all the same functionality packed into a one-touch capture system. We’ll be testing that out soon, and we’ll let you know what we think.

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Content will always be king. Put another way: you have to tell a good story if you want an audience to pay attention—be it in Hollywood or on Instagram. Thankfully, it’s never been easier to create mesmerizing images and videos that will galvanize your viewers. These are the cameras we recommend for the job.

DJI Mavic 3 ($2,200)

Our favorite upgrade to the Mavic 3 drone is the new Hasselblad-made 4/3 CMOS sensor that shoots 20-megapixel photos with great color and improved range. The result: incredible high-contrast images and crisp shots in low light. Other notable features include 5.1K video; a second, built-in 162-millimeter-equivalent zoom lens; and improved obstacle avoidance. 31.6 oz

Insta360 GO 2 ($300)

This action camera makes our list because of its size. About the dimensions of a baby carrot, it nearly disappears on your body—significantly more so than similar, better-known models. The video quality isn’t quite as nice as a GoPro’s, but you still get buttery smooth and richly colored clips that are perfect for Instagram. 0.93 oz

GoPro Hero10 Black ($500)

The Hero10 costs only $100 more than the Hero9, but it’s significantly better in every way: mind-blowing electronic stabilization, ultra-rich 5.3K footage, and 23-megapixel photos (you can also pull enormous stills from the video). All that plus GoPro’s best-in-class ecosystem of accessories. It’s an easy-to-use but powerful camera that amateurs and pros will both appreciate. 5.4 oz

Google Pixel 6 Pro ($900)

The photos you get from the Google 6 Pro and Apple iPhone 13 Pro are fairly similar. But the 6 Pro stood out this year because the resolution is higher and the overall tonality is just slightly better. We were also impressed with the new software that automatically shoots accurate portraits of people with a variety of skin tones. Bonus points for a relatively reasonable price considering that it has three lenses, a 4X zoom, and software that helps with low-light photos. 7.4 oz

Sony a7IV ($2,500)

Unless you’re a full-time pro, you don’t need Sony’s flagship a1 mirrorless camera. That’s why the brand launched its a7IV, which costs less than half the price of the a1 but still comes with plenty of top-end features, such as whip-fast and highly accurate autofocus (for tracking movement), the ability to shoot up to ten frames per second (for capturing peak action), and respectable 33-megapixel files (big enough for gorgeous prints). 23.3 oz

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I spent the first two-plus years of my professional photography career shooting on a , a camera that those in the know would labelĚý“”Ěýat best. That single body helped me make a livable wage not because I’m a photo savant, but because I paired it with premium lenses. One of the long-held yet rarely written rules of photography is this: quality glass rules all.

But as camera technology becomes more advanced and use cases become more extreme, that paradigm is shifting. Full-frame cameras still hold the upper hand in resolution and editability (RAW files have no equal), but the delta between the two has shrunk considerably. While Apple deserves a tip of the hat for clever algorithms that replicate a short depth of field, your smartphone isn’t the best pocket-size adventure camera, in my opinion. I think that award goes to the new ($500).

GoPro has built a reputation as a maker of waterproof and durable action cameras—with capable photo and video engines to boot. But the Hero 10 improves on the performance chops of its predecessors. It incorporates a noticeably faster processor and new video stabilization, among other upgrades, which have earned it a permanent place in my camera bag.

The Ideal User

The true calling card of the Hero 10 is its durability—that’s what the line has always been based on. At just 5.6 ounces, with a burly waterproof casing and lens (down to 33 feet, according to the company), the 10 is able to tackle jobs that even the smallest mirrorless camera can’t. It’s ideal for ultrarunners, mountain bikers, surfers, kayakers, scuba divers, dirt bikers, and climbers who want to dip their toes in pro-level photo and video editing, without dropping thousands to get their feet in the door.

Among professional shooters, though, GoPros have long been a punchline. Their promise was good in theory, but in practice the footage rarely, if ever, was useful: video was often shaky, blurry, and, until the last couple iterations, relatively low-resolution for pro videographers. The Hero 10 Black is different. It’s a great tool for immersive point-of-view video clips and a capable still-photography camera too, thanks to high-enough resolution and RAW formatting, which improve postproduction editing.

Notable Upgrades

The biggest improvements start with the new GP2 processor, which delivers double the frame rate of the Hero 9, up to 5.3K at 60 frames and 4K at 120. With the 10, you can now capture photos at 23 megapixels—that’s three megapixels more than my trusty Canon 6D. It can capture 8x slo-mo and allows users to grab 19.6-megapixel stills from footage. These specs make the Hero 10 Black a worthy upgrade from the Hero 9.

Cruising on flowy singletrack (Video: Andy Cochrane)

After a few weeks of testing, those stats are far from the full story. GoPro rolled out HyperSmooth 4.0, a video stabilization and horizon-leveling software that helps make my mountain-biking footage look like I almost know what I’m doing. Even for bikers who over-brake in rough, rutty, and technical sections of trail, the footage won’t make anyone nauseated. (şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř covered the brand’s impressive HyperSmooth 3.0 technology before, but the 4.0 makes video look even silkier.) There is better in-camera preview functionality as well, so you can see clips out on the trail instead of waiting until you get home. The 10 also has 50 percent faster file transfers that streamline the download process. The touch interface is more responsive and easier to use, despite the same size screen.

What Could Be Improved

GoPro’s Achilles heel—poor battery life in cold conditions—persists. The Hero 10 uses the same battery as the Hero 9 (still a 30 percent boost over older versions) but has the same, if not worse, battery life due to higher frame rates and a larger demand from the upgraded processor. Although I haven’t tested it extensively in winter, on early-morning runs with temperatures floating near freezing, the battery life was subpar. Skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers should bring hand warmers to keep spare batteries warm, especially if they plan on shooting all day.

The Upshot

The Hero 10 Black comes with a few nice additional upgrades worth mentioning. The new lens cover is removable, splashproof, and scratch-resistant. The 10 can be used as a webcam with 1080p video and a wide field of view. It can also be used for livestreaming, time-lapses, and scheduled shooting. While I didn’t test any of these extensively for this first look, I do see them as viable tools in the future.

GoPro also improved its noise reduction in its video, which is especially useful in low light. While it’s still far from my go-to camera at dawn and dusk, it did capture an evening trail run without feeling like The Blair Witch Project. Like previous versions of the action cam, the Hero 10 offers a handful of unique that can expand the field of view and provide a directional mic, a light, and a flippable screen.

If you’re still on the fence about upgrading to the in preference to the , another action cam, or your smartphone, the decision will come down to how—and how much—you plan to use it. The price could feel fairly steep if you plan to use it as an occasional tool for capturing fun clips for friends and family. However, if you’re looking to frequently record and produce pro-level images and videos with lots of motion, the noticeably improved processor, stabilization software, and photo capabilities make it a worthy addition to the tool bag.

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The key to making a top-notch fly-fishing film is just to watch literally any other fly-fishing film, because, according to world-renownedĚýguide , “it’s super easy.”ĚýRight. Videography can be an intimidating endeavor, but the best way to beginĚýis to pick up a camera and start shooting.

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Video editing sucks. It takes entirely too much time, and many of us end up with hours of unseen footage—especially from POV action cameras. That could soon change.

Late last month, GoPro released , an addition to its Quik mobile editing app. The software is a big first step toward automated editing. Once you finish shooting, pair your GoPro to your phone andĚýswipe down in the GoPro Capture app, which thenĚýstarts analyzing all the new clips on your camera. Ten minutes of footage takes the app about 30 minutes to edit and deliver the results with accompanying music. You can change the song orĚýthe edit style, add or remove clips at will, download the footage, and share it on whatever social media platform you like.

I’ve been playing with QuikStories for more than a month. While it does everything it promised, there are still some kinks to work out. It sometimes failed to transfer clips, and 4K footage bogged it down. But my biggest complaint is scene selection: QuikStories turned footage from a kayaking run at the Vail GoPro Mountain Games into that’s watchable but by no means exciting.

To avoid this pitfall, GoPro’s developers told me it’s best to shoot in short, 10- to 15-second clips—like you would for an Instagram story—so the software has a better chance of getting the good bits. That’s fine if you’re walking around with your camera but will suck if you’re doing anything active or dangerous and don’t want to fumble around with a shoot button. If you just let the camera roll, QuikStories tends to pull bits at random and often misses the best moments. You can help it along by adding highlight tags to your video before sending it to your phone, but obviously that’s not automatic.

GoPro isn’t the first company to try automatic editing. Two years ago, TomTom introduced the Bandit action camera, which could automatically add highlight tags when it sensed sudden accelerations or decelerations, vertical drops, changes in g-forces, quick rotations, or the moment when you hit top speed. Using those tags, the camera and its app would then cut a one-minute highlight video. Even then, the software often missed the peak action, and the clips looked less than great.

For its part, GoPro plans to make future versions of QuikStories smarter. The company won’t say how the current version chooses highlights, but in the future, GoPro hopes to tap into data from the camera’s GPS and accelerometer to better identify share-worthy moments. The software may also find a way to use the audio track to listen for whoops, screams, claps, and “oh shits.” With facial recognition—something GoPro is working on—the software could eventually know when it has a crisp shot of a person. If a future GoPro camera (think: the Hero6) has more sensors, then the app will also be able to leverage those.

If this all sounds half-baked, that’s because it is. But let me tell you this: As someone who plays with new gadgets every day, I’m truly excited for what comes next. GoPro has a good idea and a good first edition and just needs to work out the bugs. How long that will take is anyone’s guess. Whether GoPro will be the company to nail the technology is another unknown. But I’m guessing pretty-good automated editing will be here soon, and we’ll all be excited to use it.

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The new GoProĚýHero5 Black, releasedĚýlast month, is theĚýCalifornia company’s first action cam withĚýbuilt-in GPS. At launch,Ěýyou couldn’t use it for anything more thanĚýgeotagging photos, which…lame. With an update last weekĚýto GoPro’s , you can finally overlay some of that telemetry data—things like speed, a traced GPS path, altitude, etc.—over your footage.Ěý

Other options include G-force, elevation gain, distance traveled, and a speed graph. You can choose to enable these gauges individually,Ěýand each can then be moved around and resized. What’s currently available looks good and is easy to read, but it must be said that Garmin and Sony both offer far more options in terms of fields and styles to choose from. GoPro is playing catch-up here. It will work only with the Hero5 Black,Ěýas it’s currently the only GoPro camera that has GPS.

To add these overlays onto your video,Ěýgo into the Quik for Desktop app, select an individual clip, add the overlays to it, and adjust them as you like. You must then save that as a new clip, and then you can pull sections from that new clip into your edit. It’s a bit cumbersome—it would be nice to be able to add, remove, or tweak the gauges while you’re in the edit screen—but it’s definitely nice to have the option to add these.Ěý

Some things don’t always translate to video, so it’s nice to be able to show exactly how quickly you got down the line on that wave, how steep that snowboard run was, or how many Gs you pulled on that mountain bike run. GoProĚýsays it’s looking atĚýadding overlays to the Quik mobile app as wellĚýbut can’t yet confirm a date. Until then, you’ll have to geek out on your desktop about your now-quantifiable shredding.

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Shooting action footage with a singleĚýGoPro is so last year. If you really want to capture the moment, go with the new .

The five-inch aluminum cube is designed to hold six synchronized GoPros and will capture 360-degree video at up to 8K. The resulting footage is meant to beĚýviewed on a VR device for a truly immersive experience. The accompanying Kolor software does the stitching for you.

$5,000 (Includes the box, components, andĚýsix Hero4 Black cameras),

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