Gopro released the Hero4 Silver Point of View (POV) camera in the third quarter of 2014, and is a much improved camera from all its predecessors. It is available in three variants; the Hero4 Silver Surf, Hero4 Silver, Standard and Hero4 Silver Music. To be be realistic there aren't three versions of the same camera, rather there are distinct accessories that adapt it to the different applications. For instance, the Hero4 Silver is delivered in a standard watertight housing that adapts it to surfing or wet conditions. The housing protects the camera from water up to an immersion depth of 40 meters. Thus, depending on your projected use, you could choose accessories for one kind and not the other. The Hero4 Silver is shipped with a standard clear polycarbonate housing with a shockproof lens designed for extreme action.
What makes the Gopro Hero4 Silver particularly Tick?
At first sight, the Hero4 Silver does not look much and indeed it doesn't! It is slightly larger than an ordinary sized matchbox and weighs approximately 83g! You virtually cannot expect anything more than just a toy from a camera this size! You can literally pocket it without noticing you ever carried it at all until you reach out to your pockets. Although the Hero4 Silver maybe be outdone by its size, its not all lost because this feature makes it very versatile in application. You can mount on music instruments to capture onstage footage for your session or if you are surfing kind, mount it on your surf board and capture those exhilarating moments while surfing the waves. Its fun isn't it?
High Quality Audio Capture
We all like clean sound for our video shots. Gopro's sound pick up microphone and sound engine is able to capture natural, smooth high fidelity sound during video shoots. Hero4's embedded microphone gives you exception performance with nearly twice as much the dynamic range of Hero3+ Black Editions. The dynamic range of a microphone is the measure of the difference between the loudest and the quietest Sound Pressure Level a microphone responds to linearly. The bigger this difference, the better the performance of the microphone and pickup up range. To complement the already excellent microphone, the Hero4 Silver is compatible with a myriad of third part mics, which you can connect using a 3.5mm Mic Adapter. This is particularly not optional if you want to achieve professional or near professional audio quality.
The sound quality also depends a lot on the backdoor you use. Hero4 Silver is delivered with three types of backdoor covers; a
Standard Backdoor that makes its housing watertight up to an immersive water depth of 40 meters and protects the camera from water, dust, dirt, and sand. Unfortunately, using this back cover produces the worst sound quality as it locks out most of the sound from camera microphone.
The Touch Backdoor offers a somewhat improved audio experience than the standard backdoor because it allows more sound to reach the microphone. The
Touch Backdoor also allows you to use the Touch Display screen and remains waterproof up to only 3 meters of water. The touch functions however, do not work under water. The best audio quality is achieved when a non-waterproof
Skeleton Backdoor is mounted on its housing allowing a more natural and better sound pickup by the built-in microphone. Unfortunately, this type of back cover offers little or no protection to your camera. Always use this backdoor only when there is minimal risk of damage due to dirt, dust and water.
Built-in WiFi and Bluetooth for Easy sharing and App Control
Nowadays a gadget that does not provide the convenience of wireless connectivity does not rank well with most us - 'gadget lovers'. And the Hero4 Silver does even a better job; it is equipped with both Bluetooth and WiFi for data transfer and control. Through WiFi, you are at liberty to connect to a Smart Remote[sold separately], which allows you to access all Hero4 Silver camera functions over WiFi up to a range of approximately 180 meters. The Smart Remote is a wearable accessory and remains watertight up to a depth of 10 meters below the water surface. It is a must have add-on accessory for skiing and surfers alike, for quickly starting or stopping the recording or even tagging captured footage for convenient playback without the need of reaching for your surfboard for camera controls.
Additionally, through WiFi, you can control the Hero4 Silver, preview shots or footage, playback footage, share content via text or email, Facebook, Instagram, etc. All this is achievable through the Gopro App freely available on Apple store and Google Play. The Gopro App intuitively turns your smartphone into a wireless Remote with all camera functions, settings and navigation.
Bluetooth like WiFi, achieves the same purpose as WiFi but with a limited range of only 10 meters line of sight. WiFi is also preferred because it achieves better data latency, high bit rates and is more secure than Bluetooth. For instance, because of high data rates achievable with WiFi, it would take you a shorter time sharing or uploading the same video to your PC than over a Bluetooth connection.
High Quality Video Capture
As tiny as the Hero4 Silver is, it is able to capture stunningly high quality images; be it stills or video footage - like any professional would hope for. Among many, 4K, 2.7K, 1440p, 1080p, 960p and 720p resolutions are available for ultra wide Field of View (FOV) for NTSC or PAL TV system. The Hero4 Silver is ready to quench the need for your application, whether it is cinema quality capture you require or TV film production, the Hero4 is ready for the task.
Built-in Touch LCD Display
Unlike its Gopro predecessors, the Hero4 Silver conveniently features an LCD touch Display screen to access camera settings, navigation menus and to preview or playback your video footage and photos.
Mounts made for your Hero4 Silver Music
Like in my introduction to this article, I mentioned that the Hero4 Silver is sold in three variants; Hreo4 Silver Standard, Hero4 Silver Music and Hero4 Silver Surf. So for Hero4 Silver music, you will have mounts which enable you to attach the camera to music instruments included. You can thus mount the camera onto mic stands, guitars, turntables and other stage equipment to capture unique and stunning for your audience. The mounts range from frames to adhesive mounts for moveable instruments like Guitars, Keyboards and others. Please note that some of these accessories are sold separately.
Mounts for your Hero4 Silver Surf
The Hero4 Silver Surf is shipped with mounts for your surfboard to allow you capture stunning and immersive Point of View footage during your wave surfing sessions. Capture every moment of you fun time summer at the beaches with the Hero4 Surf that is water resistant up to 40 meters.
Protune your Photos and Video
The Camera has a software feature called Protune, which if turned on, adjusts captured video for professional productions. Protune delivers cinema like less compressed video which gives you flexibility in color correction during post production.
Full tech specs of the Hero4Gopro Silver Camera
VR
|
fps
NTSC/PAL
|
FOV
|
SR
|
AR
|
4K
|
15, 12.5
|
UW
|
3840x2160
|
16:9
|
2.7K
|
30, 25, 24
|
UW, Medium
|
2704x1520
|
16:9
|
1440p
|
48, 30, 25, 24
|
UW
|
1920x1440
|
4:3
|
1080p
|
60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24
|
UW, Medium, Narrow
|
1920x1080
|
16:9
|
1080p
|
60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24
|
UW
|
1920x1080
|
16:9
|
960p
|
100, 60, 50
|
UW
|
1280x960
|
4:3
|
720p
|
120, 60, 50, 30, 25
|
UW, Medium, Narrow
|
1280x720
|
16:9
|
720p
|
100, 60, 50
|
UW
|
1280x720
|
16:9
|
WVGA
|
240
|
UW
|
848x480
|
16:9
|
VR - Video Resolution, FOV - Field of View, SR - Screen Resolution, AR - Apsect Ratio.
The Field of View (FOV) determines how much detail is captured in a single shot. Ultra Wide (UW) achieves the greatest image detail with increased image stability, and is suitable for closeups and action shots where you want to capture as much detail as possible within a single frame. Similarly, medium FOV provides for mid-range picture detail and moderate image stability. If you prefer to capture content at a distance always use the smallest field of view since it gives you better image distortion performance.
You will notice from the table that the 720p mode gives you the highest frame rate video capture at 120 fps. Since frame rate is the number of still images captured in one second of video, it implies that the higher the number of stills captured every second of video, the smoother the representation of the corresponding video scene. So in this case 720p gives the best performance for sporting or high motion picture for a Hero4 Silver.
However, based on scene lighting conditions, the Hero4 Silver can also adjust the frame rates automatically for optimum performance. This feature is called
Auto Low Light.
In photo mode, the Hero4 Silver captures photos by default at 12MP Ultra Wide picture (Megapixels), which corresponds to a screen resolution of 4000 x 3000. Other Mid-range FOV settings at 7MP and 5MP are possible for resolutions of 3000 x 2250 and 2560 x 1920 respectively.
Photo mode has three capture settings;
Single,
Continuous and
Night. In
Single mode only a single photo is captured at a time. Contrastingly, in
Continuous mode, a series of photos are captured while holding down the camera shutter button until it is released. Under
continuous mode you can choose capturing continuously; 5 photos in 1 second or 10 photos in 1 second or even 3 photos in 1 second - this being the default.
The
night mode presents a customizable exposure time of up to 30 seconds for a single shot. The extended exposure time allows for an appreciable amount of light to reach the CMOS image sensor to achieve better image quality for the low light night conditions.
In multi-shot mode, you are able to take multiple shots of up to 30 photos per second with the Hero4 Silver. Multi-shot mode similarly presents three capture modes;
Burst,
Time Lapse and
Night Lapse.
In
Burst mode, you can invariably select burst rates as follows; 30 photos/1 second (Default), 30 photos/ 2 seconds, 30 photos/ 3 seconds, 10 photos/1 second, 10 photos/2 seconds, 10 photos/3 seconds, 5 photos/1 second and 3 photos/1 second.
With
Time Lapse mode, you automatically capture a series of photos at timed intervals which are factory set to 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30 and 60 seconds. This capture mode is suitable for good lighting scene conditions such as daylight conditions.
This is the typical capture mode for night lighting condition. With your Hero4 Silver in this mode you can take a series of photo shots at specific intervals and exposure times, which are somewhat longer than the time lapse intervals.
Night Lapse Intervals are factory set as follows; 15, 20, 30 and 60 seconds, 2, 5, 30 and 60 minutes.
On the side of the Hero4 Silver there are two ports; the Mini USB and the micro HDMI port. The mini USB port supports charging, PC file transfer and playback. You can as well connect a 3.5 mm stereo microphone to this port using an adapter connector or connect a compatible composite cable for TV playback.
The micro HDMI on the other hand, supports HDTV playback. Please note that some of these accessories may not be available Hero4 Silver box since they are optional.
The Hero4 Silver camera comes without a memory card. But is compatible with 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB
and 64GB microSD, microSDHC and microSDXC memory cards that you can purchase from anywhere. Gopro advises use of microSD cards with a Class 10 or a UHS-1 rating particularly for increased reliability.
Hero4 Silver supports AAC audio codec at a sampling rate of 48kHz. It features an advanced AGC (automatic gain control) with a multi-band compressor. The AGC is some form of feedback circuit that monitors the output level and ensures that it does not vary significantly from the desired level. On the other hand, a multiband compressor divides the frequency spectrum into distinct bands, so that each has its own unique compression
settings. This allows for a longer attack time for the low band frequencies (bass) to punch through, while keeping a shorter attack time in a higher band to keep the high frequencies in check. By using a multiband compressor, it is possible to closely tailor the compression to the different elements in a mix and compress the recording more transparently than with a standard single-band compressor. The goal of the AGC and multiband compressor is to produce a quality audio experience for the entire audio range of frequencies.
The Hero4 features a built-in mono microphone with approximately two times greater dynamic range than its HERO3+ Black Edition counterpart. It also supports an External stereo microphone that you can connect to the 3.5mm microphone adapter. If high quality audio is a must, then so too is an external microphone.
Protune Advanced Video and Photo Capture
Protune software offers the flexibility required during post production editing because it delivers almost raw video and photo shots with little or no compression optimized for professional film productions. And through your creativity, you can adjust settings for Color, ISO Limit, White Balance, Sharpness and Exposure, to create a great production.
With white balance you are able to adjust the color tone of videos and photos to your desired taste.The camera is by default set to automatically adjust color tones based on the scene. However, other modes are also available like 3000k [Warm light], 5500K [Slightly cool light], 6500K [Cool light] and the Native mode [ Industry standardized optimized color].
Two color profiles are available; Gopro Color (default great color with protune turned off) and Flat Color profile (Neutral color profile that can easily be corrected to match footage captured with other equipment).
The ISO range of a camera is synonymous with its sensitivity. This Protune feature adjusts the camera's sensitivity in low-light environments, and creates a balance between brightness and resulting image noise. Image noise refers to the degree of graininess in the image. By Default, the Hero4 Silver video camera is set to 6400 which implies a brighter video in low lighting scene conditions at the expense of increased noise. Other options of ISO limit 1600 ( for moderately bright video with moderate noise) and ISO limit of 400 (For darker video with low image noise) are available for selection too.
The ISO limit settings for photo shoots are somewhat different. ISO limit 800 being the default value [for darker photos in very low light and increased image noise], 400 [for darker photos in low light and moderate image noise], 200 [for bright photo in indoor lighting with marginal image noise] and 100 [for bright photo in outdoor lighting with marginal image noise].
The sharpness of Camera is the measure of how much detail a given camera reproduces in a video or photo shoot. Protune's default setting for Hero4 Silver is High [for Ultra Sharp image] with Medium and Low settings for moderately sharp and soft images respectively.
This Protune setting applies only to Night Photo and Night Lapse. The shutter regulates the amount of light reaching the CMOS image sensor which directly correlates with the amount of time the shutter is open. This setting can be set to Auto or Fixed. Auto applies only to Night Photo and the Shutter remains open for up to 2 seconds. The Fixed setting allows for longer exposure time in the range of 10, 15, 20 and 30 seconds.
Exposure Value Compensation
Exposure Value Compensation (EVC) affects the brightness of your video footage. It can particularly be helpful in optimizing image quality while shooting in contrasting scene lighting conditions. This Value ranges from -2 to +2.
The Spot Meter setting optimizes footage covered from a dark environment while pointing the camera towards a brighter scene like filming the outdoors from inside a car.
The QuickCapture button is a very convenient setting as it lets you, at the press of a single button, turn on the camera and automatically start capturing Time Lapse photos or shooting video.
Battery Power Requirement
The Hero4 Silver uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery rated at 1160 mAh, 3.8V, and 4.4 Wh.
The operational life of your supplied battery very much depends on your usage activity. In many instances, a single battery charge may not last you through several hours of continuous shooting. So it is advisable to have a backup battery to ensure it lasts you through your activity coverage.
When the Hero4 Silver Camera is mounted in its Standard Housing, it remains water tight up a submersible water depth of 40 meters. Beyond this depth, the housing may unpredictably begin to leak in water.
Like earlier on mentioned the Hero4 Silver is a very tiny gadget weighing only 83g (2.9oz) and approximately 147g together with its housing. It measures (L x W x H): 3" x 1.5" x 2.5" inches in its housing.
