It’s not often I would say this, but if you want a camera that you turn on and simply press the go button to shoot video or taker a photo, then the new GoPro Mission 1 is probably not the camera for you.
It will do this of course, most cameras will, but you would be wasting your money as the GoPro Mission 1 is no longer the “simple” action camera many thought the earlier models were.
In fact it is quite astonishing what GoPro has managed to pack into a camera not that much larger than the model it supersedes.
The model I have been sent for review is the Mission 1 Pro version which over the standard version adds a couple of shooting option, specifically 8K60 in 16:9 ratio and Open Gate 4:3 8K30. (Open Gate means the camera records using the entire active area of the sensor, rather than cropping it down to a specific aspect ratio like 16:9). You also don’t get the 10 second burst slo-mo and some formats have half the frame rate in the standard Mission 1.
Shooting Options
It is well worth spending time exploring all the options at your fingertips with the Mission 1. For instance, there is a bunch of shooting modes available out of the box including Vlog, Subject Tracking, Sport POV Lapse and Night Effects amongst others. You can even modify these to suit your own needs.
Slo-Mo 480 frames /sec
Additionally, you can create your own and add them to the inbuilt ones and simply recall them by tapping the Mode button.
One of the inbuilt presets eliminates a traditional thorn in GoPro’s hide; Low Light. Earlier GoPro models had two main drawbacks that competitors like DJI and Insta360 solved years ago. Firstly they were terrible in low light and secondly, were prone to overheating.
If the second has been fixed in the Mission 1 series will be seen in time, but the first, that of low light issues has definitely been solved with a Low Light preset. In fact it is better than good, its excellent.
The new Type 1 image sensor is the major reason for this and is also behind the higher frame rates available in the Mission 1.
No matter which recording mode you use, they all support 10-bit colour sampling. For those who are not aware what that actually means, for a camera with 8-bit sampling, there are 256 shades per colour channel which equals approximately about 16.7 million total colours. With 10-bit, this gives you 1,024 shades per colour channel, or around 1.07 billion total colours.
What that all means is far better image quality, and for those who colour grade their video and photos much more headroom to play with.
In addition to the presets, there are also several colour profiles available to you such as Cinematic, Flat, GP-Log2 in SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) and Natural and Vibrant in HDR (High Dynamic Range).
After my forays the other week with DaVinci Resolve and shooting in D-Log2, I’d be shooting in GP-Log2 for serious work and grading later, but this is not for beginners. The Cinematic profile or Vibrant would be better choices dependent on subject of course, but play around with all the profiles to get used to what they do.
It’s also imperative you get to understand what exposure and the use of neutral density filters in order to get the best out of the Mission 1’s capabilities (I have tutorials on these things at my CC-TV YouTube portal). With the Mission 1 you have access to both manual and automatic exposure, but for best results, as always, manual is preferred.
Of course, the Mission 1 also takes still images up to 50Mp in both JPG (ultra-wide or linear) and RAW.
Views
The lens in the Mission 1 like all action cameras is fixed aperture – in this case f/2.8 (ah no, the DJI Action 6 has variable aperture of course, the only at this stage to do so). But you do get three viewing angles with SuperView being the widest giving a 16mm view according to the specs. In the middle is Wide which gives you a variable 15-24mm angle and the final is Linear at 22-27mm.
Bear in mind that the wider you go, the more distortion you’ll get though, and so Linear would be the preferred “standard” mode for most users.
And if you really, really must, there is a digital zoom, but I’d encourage you to instead shoot in 8K And crop the image down for better results.
Stability
The Mission 1 has two levels of stabilisation; HyperSmooth and HyperSmooth Plus designed to remove and jumpiness in the footage when shooting. The Plus version for when things get particularly rocky, crops the image a bit further than the standard HyperSmooth.
I’d have used HyperSmooth Plus on my fishing trip in Broome recently for example. (I used a DJI Action 6 on that trip, and the equivalent is RockSteady+)
The Screens
One complaint I always had of earlier GoPros was the almost inability to use them in bright sunlight due to the use of LCD screens. The Mission 1 has an OLED rear screen that eliminates that and is viewable in both landscape and vertical modes. The front screen is still LCD, but both are far better than on the Hero 13 series by some magnitude. One drawback is that the front screen doesn’t support touch which would have been a bonus especially for vloggers wanting to change settings.
Audio
Audio is captured by four mics with omnidirectional pickup. It is 32-bit so has a wide range but by the very nature of it, also picks up background noise. For vlogging purposes or if you want to eliminate those background sounds, I’d suggest the GoPro Wireless Mic Kit or similar. I did successfully pair and use the Sennheiser Profile Wireless mic, but as GoPro uses a proprietary Bluetooth system, there is no guarantee models from say DJI or RØDE will work, although you can use a TRS cable and adaptor to the USB-C port, or via direct cable with the Mission1 Media
Mod.
Accessories
Previous GoPro models have created an entire ecosystem of accessories with quite a cottage industry booming in that area in addition to GoPro’s own. With the Mission 1 as I mentioned yesterday, I did get the hand grip that I find very useful, with the only drawback in reality that you have to remove the camera to access the USB-C port to transfer images to a computer or change the battery. There is also a waterproof housing available, and I would always recommend that when having a GoPro near water simply as extra insurance. Additionally there is a Media Mod as mentioned and an ND filter kit.
These accessories are designed specifically for the Mission 1 as of course, the camera body is a different size to say the Hero 13, but things like mounts, lights etc and even batteries will work from the 13 series with the Mission 1.
There is also a Volta 2 tripod / charger available for the Mission 1.
Bear in mind though the batteries for the Mission 1, called Enduro 2, have a longer life than the original Enduro battery. GoPro says you’ll get 137 minutes at 4K60 as a guide.
That does not apply to the add on lenses though such as the Macro or Ultra Wide; I’d expect there to be dedicated Mission 1 ones in the near future.
Voice Control
Voice Control has been carried over from the Hero series. “GoPro, start recording” or “GoPro, take a picture” and the camera responds. It is also possible to switch modes (“GoPro, video mode,” and “GoPro, photo mode”), turn the camera off (“GoPro, turn off”), and start or stop recording (“GoPro start recording,” “GoPro, stop recording”).
Pricing
This does get a little confusing as there are different levels, and already GoPro has ben offering extra discounts. As it stands today (but double check me on this of course at time of purchase), what we have is:
- Mission 1 $949.95
- Mission 1 Pro $1099.95
- Mission 1 Pro Grip Edition $1299.95
There is however “Subscriber Pricing” which is around $150 off these numbers. Further, there has been special bundles announced:
- The MISSION 1 PRO Ultimate Creator Edition (AUD$1,849.95) includes GoPro’s Fluid Pro AI gimbal with AI-powered subject tracking, Wireless Mic Complete Kit, Light Mod 2 and MISSION 1 Series Media Mod.
- TheMISSION 1 PRO Creator Edition (AUD$1,699.95) includes the MISSION 1 Series Media Mod, Volta 2 Battery Grip and Wireless Mic Complete Kit.
- The MISSION 1 PRO Mountain Bike Bundle (AUD$1,219.95) pairs the camera with a Handlebar / Seatpost / Pole Mount and Chesty performance chest mount for immersive trail footage from multiple perspectives.
Conclusion
There is more to the GoPro Mission 1 than at first appears to the eye. The extra features and functionality GoPro have built into this new model takes it way beyond simply an action camera and into the wider camera market. Some features such as timecode sync for multicamera use take it into the pro area, and of course down the track we are told there will interchangeable lens versions of the Mission 1 available with a 4/3rds standard mount.
One thing that cannot go unmentioned is the difference in price of the Mission 1 series to the Hero 13 series. There is a jump of $300 on the base version Hero 13 Black to the Mission 1 and $450 to the Mission 1 Pro.
This is I why I mention at the start that if all you want is a base action camera, then the Mission 1, while able to that job admirably with all the lessons that GoPro have learned about that genre in the camera in terms of ruggedness and size, what the Mission 1 is capable of takes it much further than anything at this stage a Hero 13, DJI Action or models from Insta360 offer.
The Mission 1 is a camera you need to learn to use to get the best from it, otherwise you are wasting your money.
I’m impressed with the GoPro Mission 1 I have to say and am, looking forward to exploring it further for times I can use it to full extent.
But there is one thing I’d like GoPro to look at and that is supplying a lens cap with the camera.