How good is the GroPro Hero 7 Black for photography whilst wild camping?

Here’s a review on the new GoPro Hero 7 Black specifically for wild camping photography.

GoPro Hero7 Black Review

I wild camp a lot, actually it’s part of what I do for a living. It’s not the easiest thing to promote. Photographs help!

I’ve been a keen photographer since I was 8, did a course in my 20s and turned my kitchen into a dark room but of course that all just experience that some would say is useless today. Nowadays it’s all digital. I’m ok with that. In fact, instead of taking one of the Nikons out wild camping with me I now take the GoPro.

If I’m with a customer on a 2 day expedition across the Lake District or doing the Coast To Coast I don’t want to be taking a 500g camera, 700g tripod, etc. with me do I? You have to focus on the job at hand. Carrying a GoPro, mini Manfrotto tripod and a charger, you’re looking at 500g. It’s much more efficient.

GoPro Hero 7 Kit Bag

So, here’s my kit for starters:

GoPro Hero 7 Black
GoPro 3-Way Camera Mount
Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod
Manfrotto Universal Smartphone Clamp
GoPro Hero 7 Charger
GoPro Hero 7 Charger Cable
Anker 20100 Power Bank (8 phone charges)
Anker 20100 Case

I already had a Hero 4 Silver so there have been a few updates.

GoPro Hero7 Improvements
Hypersmooth (Advanced Stabilisation)
4K video – Update: What’s great about this is that you can steal a 4K still image straight out of the movie. I’ll put one in the blog when I get the chance.
Timewarp (Hyperlapse)
Superphoto (like HDR)
Improved Apple integration – Update: Instead of switching the connection on and putting codes in, I can now just go into the GoPro app, select the Hero7 Black and it’s connected automatically, much smoother than the Hero4 Silver.

I paid £329 and got a 32 Gig SD card. You should really buy a battery charger as well which comes with a spare battery. I did and this means I can charge both batteries in the van on the way out or using a Anker 20100 Powerbank (see my blog) whilst out at camp.

GoPro Hero 7 Black Wild Camping

So I took it out camping with me on Friday and I’m almost happy I got it just for this one photograph. I set it up on a little tripod on single photo in night mode, shutter speed 20 seconds.

Ingleborough Wild Camp Moonbow Vango Banshee 200 c

The tiny focal length and f2.8 aperture means that everything is already in focus! There’s no messing around with ‘manual settings’.

GoPro Hero 7 Black Night Photography

It’s never going to be perfect is it? You have a purpose built Nikon made for capturing minute detail with a billion colours, the SLR will always win. Or will it?

How good does that photo actually have to be? Even the photos on this web site are ALL reduced in dimentions AND then optimised down to 200k! When I’m out with a client or on an adventure of my own these days I can’t compromise ‘the mission’ for the sake of getting perfect photos, I have to settle for less than perfect.

One problem with the SLR is focussing on anything when it’s dark. I won’t go into it here but focussing on infinity to get a crystal clear stars is tricky. When you’re knackered after a day’s trekking, freezing cold and need to be up early out of your tent next day maybe your priority isn’t with the photography.

The Hero 7 has a super-small lens so the focus is just awesome, no focusing during the day or lighting up something far away to try to focus in the dark!

Instead of taking 6 photos to stitch them together in post you can also get a great wide angled shot and tweak that in Photoshop later, saves a lot of messing around.