GoPro Hero 10 Black Review

The motivation for this write-up, to document the GoPro Hero 10 Black review is to inform action camera lovers about the pros and cons of Hero 10.

The latest Hero 10 Black is in my hands, but it’s an entirely new world for me. I bought it a few months ago and found it an exceptional, standard, and ideal camera for travel and routine capturing.

I am doing almost every type of photography and videography with this tiny beast Hero 10.

Surprisingly, Hero 10 is an awesome gadget for vlogging with high-quality voice and shaking-free footage. The fun part is that I have used it almost everywhere, from outdoor to indoor and earth surface to underwater.

It took a lot of a couple of days to learn and understand giant hero 10. Each time I use it, a new question bumped into my mind.

I did a lot of research to learn the functionalities of Hero 10.

The moment I bought the Hero 10, a torrent of questions clicked in my mind, iteratively.

I have sure this GoPro 10 review will be quite beneficial for questions about GoPro hero 10. having similar queries rushed your mind after or before having an action camera of GoPro Hero.

Editions Cost and Release Date

The flagship GoPro Hero 10 Black is available in three editions, as per GoPro Hero 10 official news the release date for all the editions is as under:

GoPro Hero Versions with Release Date

Hero 10 Black

Hero 10 Black Creator Edition

Hero 10 Balck Bones

16 September 2021

31 March 2022

12 April 2022

$349 / GoPro Official

$531 / GoPro Official

$399 / GoPro Official

The release date of GoPro Hero 10 Black was 16 September 2021

GoPro Hero 10 Black Creator Edition became available for consumers on 31 March 2022, available worldwide.

GoPro Hero 10 Black Bones was released two weeks after the creator edition on 12 April 2022, only available for the US.

The GoPro HERO 10 Black and Creator Editions are currently available for purchase worldwide, while GoPro Hero 10 Black Bones can be only purchased in the US.

Most people are googling for GoPro hero 10 white available, Keep in mind that the GoPro Hero 10 may only be available in black. The Hero 7  comes in three different colors: silver, black, and white.

Waterproof Test

After Hero (2014), All the versions of GoPro Heros are waterproof.

While Hero 10 is waterproof without a case out of the box.  Hero 10 Black is highly rated for underwater shots.

The underwater depth for Hero 10 without a casing is 33 ft /10 meters.

Though it does not require housing or a waterproof case can maximize the duration and depth up to 196 feet for aqua activities. 

I used it for more than 30 minutes continuously in a swimming pool. It worked beyond expectations. The below video is a first-time underwater test of Hero 10.

GoPro Hero 10 Black Review: Underwater Testing

Hero 10 Battery Life

The battery performance of the Hero 10 battery depends on various factors, like environment, video performance, recording preset, and extra features in the background.

My Hero 10 battery took roughly 40 minutes to completely drain the battery. I was recording with my brand-new Hero 10 in 4K at 30FPS with factory-enabled functionalities at a temperature of 20° C.

The battery drains very quickly in very hot and cold weather.

The recommended temperature written on the GoPro Hero 10 manual is 14° F ~ 95° F (-10° C ~ 35° C).

While it dies rapidly if recording in 4K or 5.3K with very hot weather high frame rate, enabled hyper-smooth, Wi-Fi, and voice command features.

How many Megapixels is GoPro Hero 10?

The Hero 10 has 23.6 Megapixels for photographing high-resolution shots with amazing results.

It has better and more impressive results in daylight with natural and neutral colors, sharper details, and awesome contrast.

Hero 10 is packed with a standard sensor size of 1/2.3″ (0.43 inches (1.09 cm)) and an f/2.5 aperture.

You will be amazed to know that Hero 10 Black is the only version having an f/2.5 aperture, whereas all other Heros have only an f/2.8 aperture.

Photography with Hero 10: Resolution, RAW, HDR, and Zoom

Yes, it’s a great photographing gadget for capturing Landscapes, Actions, and Night Photography.

Because the primary purpose of GoPro is to capture and record action moments. Sadly, it is not a good choice for Portraits and close shots.

The 23-Megapixel, 1/2.3” sensor, HDR, natural color, RAW support, and High Stabilization provide super doper amazing results for Night Photography (Long exposure) as well.

While capturing photos and videos, the minimum distance from the subject at least should be 1.5 feet (ca. 46 cm), otherwise, the subject appears blurry.

The best thing about Hero 10 is that it does support RAW format with GPR extension. GPR stands for General purpose RAW format.

Sadly it only works with the wide lens. Below is a Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) photo taken with Hero 10

A fisherman sailing boat on river Indus ad Kandhkot. GoPro Hero 10 Black Review Shot
GoPro Hero 10 Black Review Shot: Chachar Tribe man with his boat on river Indus.

GoPro Hero 10 does not support 360 capturing shots.

There is a separate device GoPro Hero-Max for capturing 360 moments, but the ultra-wide lens allows photographers to capture the broad spectrum.

Hero 10 also does not have an optical zoom feature Like SLR cameras. It uses the digital zoom feature by switching between Lenses – Narrow, Linear, Wide, and Super View. This so-called zoom feature of Hero 10 can be used for both capturing video and photos.

Vlogging with Hero 10

Personally, I believe that Hero 10 is the roadside Romeo of all the available cameras for vlogging. It is one of the greatest cameras for vlogging. Because I found it incredible while filming action and outdoor shots, especially in good and visible light. 

Another reason for choosing Hero 10 black as vlogging camera, is its amazing adaptability from waterproof to sandstorms making it versatile, pull, and record. It is one of the best choices for action and outdoor vloggers, particularly where proper and visible light.

The exceptional features like Horizontal leveling, HyperSmooth 4.0 stabilization with no distortion, exceptional 4K video recording, and noise reduction feature for improved audio quality are highly remarkable.

Hero 10 Low Light Performance

Is GoPro 10 good for low light? All the Hero Editions, including the Hero 10, are the worst cameras for capturing in low light. My colleagues and I have had the worst experience with Hero 10 in low-light photography.

There is no low light or night vision supported in any GoPro hero action device. There are no best low light settings for GoPro hero 10, all the settings failed.

I do highly recommend that never trust any GoPro device for recording in low light situations, particularly an indoor stage event or concert.

Since it is designed only for outdoor and action movements with suitable light.

Although the latest Hero 10 has a dedicated Night Mode feature with shutter speed and pro setting.

Pro settings can be adjusted manually for optimal video quality in low light conditions.

Consequently, use Hero 10 wisely when there is proper light.

Concludingly, never ever use Hero cameras for indoor and poor lighting locations.  

Does GoPro Hero10 have GPS?

Yes, it is equipped with an excellent internal GPS feature.

Unlike mobile phone GPS, the GoPro GPS is used for collecting telemetry information on video, the information consists of GPS coordinates, altitudes, speed, and elevation.

However, it cannot be used to track or locate the stolen or missing GoPro.Don’t worry, you can track and locate your GoPro Hero 10 device within a range of 10 meters.

It can be located and tracked using Quick App via locating camera feature.

Sadly, it can locate the camera only if within the app range.

GoPro Hero 10 Overheating Issue

The things that cause GoPro to overheat are Hero 10 extra features and other factors, consisting of but not limited to, Temperature, Poor Memory Card, and Length + quality of video recording.

It is the flagship model and comes up with a lot of cool extra features and functionalities which makes it quicker to overheat as compared to other models.

It has an advanced GP2 processor, WiFi, GPS, HyperSmooth 4.0, 23 megapixels + SuperPhoto with HDR, capture snapshot from video 15.8 MP from 5.3K 60fps (16:9), Multiple color modes, 8x slow motion at 2K with 240 FPS and much more cause of overheat.

Hero 10 HyperSmooth 4.0

According to GoPro’s official article, HyperSmooth 4.0, a built-in gimbal without any jerky and bulky video, is an advanced level of electronic image stabilization (EIS).

It provides Very Tight Cropping with image stabilization and 45-degree Horizontal leveling as compared to previous HyperSmooth versions. Hero 10 Hypersmooth works flawlessly with a 4K recording.

Hypersmooth was first introduced in GoPro Hero7 Black as HyperSmooth 1.0 till now it has 4 versions.

The Go Pro Hero 7 was the first model to include Hypersmooth picture stabilization.

Best SD-Card for GoPro Hero 10

I did purchase Hero 10 Black from GoPro Official store, it shipped with a 32GB micro-sd card of SanDisk Extreme Pro V30.

As per GoPro’s official recommendation, the best micro sd cards for GoPro are SanDisk Extreme, Extreme Plus, Extreme Pro.

GoPro Hero 10 Black Review, GoPro hero sd card requirements, and compatibility chart.
GoPro Dd Card requirements and Compatibility (source gopro.com)

After Sandisk sd-cards, the Lexar Professional 1066x Silver Series are the recommended ones for delivering better performance on Hero 10.

Always use High-Quality SD Cards, they tend to record high-resolution video flawlessly without making your device slower.

The recommended GoPro hero 10 sd card requirements for exceptional and uninterruptable HD, UHD, and 4k video recordings are a High-Performance MicroSD with a capacity of 512GB and 1TB.

These cards reduce the burden on especially image processing, GPU, and battery. Taking into consideration, the GoPro hero 10 sd card compatibility, the compatible cards for the 10 Black are microSDHC and microSDXC cards.

Please keep in mind that all models of the GoPro Hero come without an SD card, however, some dealers, particularly Gopro.com, include one.

Hence, you must order it in a bundle or purchase an SD card separately.

GoPro Hero 10 Video File Size

A 32 GB card can hold up to 35 minutes of video of 4K resolution, 100 fps, High bit rate, and High Sharpness.

Whereas it records approx. 56 minutes of video of 1080 resolution 100 fps, High bit rate, and High Sharpness.

The lasting of storage capacity depends on the size and quality of a video. Specially bitrate (number of bits per second while recording a video) and sharpness (intensity of pixels to make the photo clear) take too much storage

Hero 10 Charger, Battery, and Charging

GoPro Hero 10 Black does not come up with a charger, but it can be charged with any available Type – C Charger.

However, there is a charger available for charging extra batteries for Hero 10.

Hero 10 uses a lithium-ion rechargeable and removable battery of 1720 mAH.

Charge a Hero 10 is very simple, first open the side cover, and next attach the type-c charging cable.

The standard way of utilizing a USB 5 volt/1 amp or 5 volt/2 amp phone charger is ideal.

In reality, charging the GoPro using a phone charger is perfectly safe. You may use the normal smartphone wall charger, or upgrade to the charger for a faster charge.

It takes 2 hours on 5V / 3A fast charging to completely charge the battery. Because I do charge my Hero 10 black with a rapid Type-C charger that comes with Redmi Note 9 Pro. It takes up to two hours to completely charge hero 10.

How do I connect and play my GoPro Hero 10 footage with the TV?

Yes, it works well with Micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, which requires media mode. Please do remember that Type – C to HDMI cables do not work, so avoid wasting both time and money, as I did. There are five 05 multiple ways to watch GoPro recorded videos on a smart TV, like Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable via Media Mode for smart TVs and Composite RCA cable for older TVs. Either by transferring it into a USB flash drive or inserting a micro-SD card into an SD card adapter and then mounting it at the card slot located on the TV.  The best way to play GoPro recorded videos on TV is to transfer the files to a USB flash drive and then attach the USB to the port of the TV.

Why does GoPro split up the long videos?

There are two main factors for splitting up a video into chunks or chapters while recording. The first one is due to the file size limitation of the FAT32 file system because it supports 232 counted as 4 GB. Thus, it splits the videos as soon as it reaches the size of 4 GB. Another factor is chaptering, an international standard for dividing the video into well-balanced chunks to avoid corrupting or destroying the complete footage. Remember, GoPro shatters the video recording into chunks by size, not by duration.

How to transfer files from GoPro Hero 8/9/10 to Windows PC or MacBook?

There are two ways to transfer files from any GoPro hero device to Windows PC or MacBook. The only way to you wants to transfer files between, go pro to your PC, you need the original Type- C cable that comes with your GoPro device. Remember that transferring files without having the original data/charging cable is not possible. In case of non-availability of cable, the captured videos and photos can also be transferred using a micro-SD card adapter, by mounting the adapter in the port/slot provided in your laptop or card reader.

Did I miss any questions? If yes, feel free to ask in the comment so I research the question. You can read my complete articles by clicking here