Can a GoPro seriously be a good camera for photography?

I had a rare Friday with a clear schedule so decided to get a long overnight run in over Dartmoor. Along the way, I thought I’d really test the GoPro and see how well it performed as a camera solely for photography.

What is the point of GoPros?

I have a three (plus one) camera rule. I use a Leica Q2 and Fuji X-T3 for professional work and a Panasonic LX100 as a second camera for events/documentary work and playing about with the kids. That ticks all the boxes and means I have the super-high resolution, super-fast AF speed and super-portability needs sorted.

However, a couple of years ago, a wedding couple asked me to get some video footage, so I bought a GoPro Hero 11 for wedding videos and mounted it on top of my X-T3. I made it very clear that I was not a videographer and if they wanted real footage then I’d gladly help them find one, but they just wanted a few clips and were happy for me to experiment.

It worked better than anticipated and I enjoyed having the small compact form factor that was also robust and fairly care-free for day-to-day life. The GoPro is obviously a great option for running and bikepacking.

Really testing the GoPro Hero 11 to get the most out of it.

I noticed that Lightroom had some calibration profiles to correct the GoPro fish-eye distortion, that I was never a fan of. This meant I realised I could get some “proper” wide angle landscape and documentary styled photographs with the GoPro.

The plan was to catch the train to Newton Abbot and run to Okehampton with an overnight backpack that had my stove, quilt and bivi bag in. As is the way, it didn’t quite go to plan when I rolled my ankle 30k in. This was after I had already had to retrace my steps back up from Widecombe on the Moor to find the phone that had dropped out of me bag.

I’m experienced enough to know that two strikes mean my stars weren’t aligning so I made a Plan B and looped round to Hound Tor to find my way back to the train station. It turns out that my gammy ankle was unstable enough to roll again which meant I throw the towel in and got a friend to give me a lift.

I don’t like bailing on trips but on the positive side, I had a good long day out, found my phone, and still managed a 37k run. More importantly, I had some interesting photos on the GoPro to play with.

Photography editing tips for GoPro cameras with Lightroom CC.

Check “Enable Lens Corrections” and click on “Change Profile”. Then in the dialogue box that opens, find GoPro and make sure you change from Fusion to Hero 10. This corrects the fisheye effect but still gives quite a square aspect
4×3 is a good crop aspect for photos with nice sky or foreground, whereas 3×2 is closer to a traditional mirrorless camera
The 27-megapixel images have plenty to play with and allow for tight cropping. This is good because the lens correction profile does soften the far edges a bit.
I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of dynamic range GoPro sensors had, with plenty of recoverable highlights and shadows. Don’t be afraid to push it a bit. I’d say there’s more information in the highlights than my Q2.
The Kevin Mullins presets work quite well on the GoPro Hero 11 files