Comparing the Original 2004 GoPro to the Newest One Is Ridiculous, But We Did It Anyway

It ’s been a wild drive for GoPro . It go from a niche camera ship’s company for surfers , to a spiritualist heavyweight that was impress money , and now to a troupe undergo turgid - scurf layoffs , andpublicly consider selling itself . Oof . Rather than mob on , we adjudicate to flash back to happy time . So , I went on Amazon and bought the very first GoPro Hero tv camera , to see where it all began .

The original Hero establish in 2004 and sold for $ 20 , which is exactly how much I paid in 2018for a used one , so kudos to GoPro for making a gadget that really retain its note value ! It did n’t shoot video . In fact , it was n’t even digital . It was , basically , the glorify disposable film tv camera from my young person , except it was n’t disposable , and it was broken and rainproof . You just pop in a bowl of 400 speed moving picture ( Google what “ photographic picture ” is ) , seal off it up , wind it for a really long time , and then you ’re well to go .

I ’ve used just about every action mechanism camera of line since I started write for Gizmodo , nearly seven years ago now . I used the firstGoPro Hero HD , and have used virtually all the GoPro , Sony , Garmin , Contour , Yi , etc . cameras right up through theHero6 . I assure you this because , man , it ’s backbreaking to imagine that this hulk , clunky matter evolved into these tiny little top-notch cameras .

The original Hero next to 2017’s Hero6.

The original Hero next to 2017’s Hero6.Photo:Brent Rose

GoPro ’s CEO Nick Woodman come up with the mind because he was a surfer and want a way to beguile some photos when he was out with his booster . The camera boast a wooden-headed , waterproof housing and strap for attaching it to your wrist . It lays down flat against your arm , then when you ’re ready to take a exposure , you undo a Velcro shoulder strap , and the photographic camera hinges up into position . After you snap the pic , you reattach the strap . Easy , right ? “ You do n’t have to have an expensive tv camera to get great photos,”Woodman said on in an visual aspect on QVCback in 2005 . “ You just have to have the camera on - hired man the present moment something exciting is happening . ” So , I admit it and a Hero6 snowboarding in Mammoth and Aspen to seek it out .

First of all , this television camera is not small and unobtrusive like its New - daylight brethren and sistren . It is a big brick of a thing , and even when it ’s strapped down it feel very bulky on your arm . I worry that I ’d take a declination and somehow it would break my wrist , but fortuitously that never happen . Actually , the strap arrangement mat highly secure and I never feel like I ’d drop off it . Then again , losing a $ 20 camera is n’t conk to bankrupt your vacation . Lose a $ 400 Hero6 and you ’re going to be pretty pissed at yourself .

The most annoying thing about the mounting system is that the shoulder strap that holds the photographic camera down is set just above the finder , so it ’s liable to get in the way of framing your shot . Also , you have to wind your camera in between every snapshot , which is a pain in the buns , especially when you moot that “ action cameras ” are have in mind for high action office . With the Hero6 , I can fire off a flare-up of high - resolution still at 30 frames per second . If I were really profligate with the Hero , I could maybe fire off one photo every three mo , and at a much lower resolution thanks to the crappy plastic crystalline lens .

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And that brings me to the most startling revelation about the original Hero of Alexandria : It actually kind of sucked for action ! Even with 400 speed picture show on a bright day , it just does n’t have the shutter speed to capture a fast - moving matter . I tried support still while my friends go by me , and I adjudicate shooting a photograph as I follow them down . In both caseful it was hazy as my uncle on Christmas .

Another vainglorious shock absorber was just how much narrower the field - of - view on the original Hero is compared to its generation . GoPros these days have the rough eq of a 15 mm lens , which gives it about 120 degrees horizontally . The original Hero is only about half that wide , coming in at 28 mm . That means you get right smart less of the landscape in your dig .

More interestingly , one of the things that action cam are most used for is that selfie angle , because their wide lenses get a lot of you in the shot as well as plenty of background to offer setting . The original Hero just is n’t great for that .

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Also , Isle of Man , this matter really struggles in low ignitor , which is n’t surprising turn over it ’s modified to the ISO 400 film I popped in there , whereas the Hero6 can crank its ISO up to 6400 and still be fairly usable . This became peculiarly clear during an subaqueous test I did in a puddle just as the sunshine was going down .

But lest you recall this whole thing is just move to be me crapping on a 20 buck television camera from 14 year ago , let me tell you what I like . The photos this matter produces have such an awing time of origin flavour to them . They make something that I took last calendar month reckon like it was taken in the seventies . It ’s a real life Hipstamatic filter … that you ca n’t remove .

The pic are grainy , nidus is n’t majuscule , and there is n’t much in term of color . Those gouge away , though , I really kind of love it .

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That allege , would I deal it for the Hero6 ? Of course not , what a ridiculous question ! Even if we set aside that the new breed of natural process cams can shoot video ( at incredible resolutions and frame rates ) , the still are so much better , sharper , more snappy , and easier to work with . The camera is smaller , too , and it has a million utile options and feature ( hello , wi - fi ) . Really the only two things the original Hero wins on are price ( I intend , it ’s 20x loud ) , and the fact that the battery will never die on you , because it does n’t have one .

There was something else that I leave that I have a go at it and hat with old film camera : The waiting . There ’s no inst gratification . You take a few photograph you ’re excited about , coolheaded , but now you have to await until you ’ve finished the bowl before you get to see them , and you do n’t want to waste that film on nothing , so it take you some clip before you ’ve found enough worthy subjects . supply in the modern problem of trying to find a place that actually still develops celluloid and it ’s going to be a while before you get to see your shot . There ’s something about the anticipation that was always so bittersweet . You wonder if the shots turned out like you hop , like the scene look in your memory , and it makes you feel positively lightheaded until you get to open that envelope and find out .

In this showcase , what was inside the envelope was n’t extremely amazing , but that was n’t really the point of this exercise . We wanted to see the prototype . The loud , niche camera that would end up create a billion - dollar industry . Even if the product was n’t great in this iteration , the estimate was , and without that seed , well , we would n’t know what it looks liketo fly a wingsuit through tiny gaps in cliff , what an bird of Jove determine as it hunts , or any identification number ofincredible things that have bequeath us slack - jawedover the last decade . I ca n’t foreshadow what the future hold up for GoPro , but it was fun to hit back into its past tense and see how it started .

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