Review: GoPro Mission 1 Pro
GoPro shook up the action camera world earlier this year, announcing the Mission 1 series of cameras, offering 8K video and the biggest image sensor you can get in an action camera. The Mission 1 series is now here, and after spending several months shooting with it on bikes, paddleboards, sailboats, zip lines, and more, I can say with confidence that this is the best action camera you can buy.
The Mission 1 Pro offers sharp, clear 8K footage with class-leading color-accurate video, excellent dynamic range, and great low-light performance (a place where other GoPro’s have struggled). And they’re every bit as waterproof, durable, and capable as you’d expect from a GoPro. The downside is that the $699 price also makes this the most expensive action camera you can buy, meaning it’s not necessarily the GoPro for everyone.
A Pro-Level GoPro
Anyone who has ever tuned in for a GoPro earnings call (could be just me) knows that GoPro has long wanted to make a camera aimed at cinema professionals. That’s what the Mission 1 series is—it’s the Hero camera but with video quality that can be mixed with cinema-level cameras. There are three Mission 1 cameras, the entry level Mission 1, the slightly better Mission 1 Pro, and the Mission 1 Pro ILS, which uses interchangeable lenses based on the Micro Four Thirds mount. The ILS is the model that pro filmmakers will probably be most drawn to, while the other two cameras, while still chock-full of features for pros, will appeal to the original GoPro audience—those of us looking for a tough camera that can withstand just about any adventure.
The ILS model hasn’t been released, but both the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro are available today. I’ve been testing the latter for several months. The differences between the Pro and non-Pro models are minimal, mostly in terms of frame rates that are available to each. Generally speaking the Pro can shoot higher frame rates and is better for slow-motion footage.
The first thing that jumped out at me on unboxing the Mission 1 Pro is that it’s very nearly the same size as the Hero 13. I was expecting the larger sensor to require more space, and it is wider due to the enlarged lens housing, but otherwise the Mission 1 Pro is almost exactly the same size as the Hero 13.
The Mission 1 Pro is still very much a GoPro and sat well on all the mounts I normally test action cameras with. It is heavier, and that weight feels more to the front thanks to the larger lens housing, but the only time I noticed this was when mounting on a helmet.
The other significant design difference from the Hero 13 is the much larger buttons. They are raised up higher and easier to press, making the Mission 1 Pro the first GoPro I’ve used that’s just as easy to use while wearing gloves or even mittens.
The exterior of the camera may show its GoPro DNA, but the internals of the Mission 1 Pro are unlike any action camera that’s come before. There are two big upgrades inside, the first being the new Type 1 50-megapixel sensor. Note that some people refer to this a 1″-type sensor, but there’s nothing about the sensor that’s 1 inch, so we’re using the name Type 1 sensor. A Type 1 sensor is 13.2 x 8.8 mm, which, while quite a bit bigger than anything else in an action camera, is definitely not physically 1 inch in any dimension. With that confusion out of the way, it is a big sensor, and it yields much higher-quality video than I’ve ever seen from an action camera.
The larger sensor area allows for 8K video capture at up to 60 fps. It’s actually a little bit bigger than 8K, because that 8K footage is still 8K even with HyperSmooth stabilization turned on. (HyperSmooth makes about a 10 percent crop.) The sensor can even do 4:3 open gate capture at up to 8K 30 fps, which is as high (even higher) than what some mirrorless cameras are capable of shooting.
I am tempted to say that very few of us need 8K footage. You might have had the same thought. But 8K allows you to crop and zoom in significantly, while retaining the ability to export 4K video. This is especially true with the GoPro’s very wide, 156 degree field of view (146 with HyperSmooth on). Even if you have no plans to ever export anything as 8K, the ability to crop in post makes the Mission 1 Pro a more powerful camera than most action cams.
Interestingly, there is no 5.3K video option like you find in the Hero 13 Black. The Mission 1 Pro does 8K, 4K, 1080p, and 1440p if you shoot in 4:3. I found that I did kind of miss the 5.3K because I rarely needed all 8K (which makes for huge files), but have become accustomed to having more than 4K. I should also note that the ratio options have changed to 16:9, 9:16, and 4:3, there is 8:7 as in the Hero 13 Black.
Along with the higher resolution, you get much better slow-motion video in the Mission 1 Pro, which can shoot 4K at 240 fps and 1080p at a staggering 960 fps. Shooting at 960 fps allows for some remarkable footage that still looks very good, and plenty sharp enough for YouTube and web video. The catch, because you knew there was one, is that you can only shoot 10 second bursts at this frame rate.
The second major upgrade inside the Mission 1 Pro is the GP3 processor, which is responsible for many of the video and image improvements, including the new low light modes, high frame rates, and in-camera subject tracking.
There’s also the new GP-Log2 recording option. This is the second version of GoPro’s log format and it’s considerably better in my experience. Getting too in depth on log recording is beyond the scope here (GoPro has a great overview of the GP-Log2 format), but much of the power of the Mission 1 Pro lies in shooting log. More on that below. At the same time, the default color profile remains excellent, with by far the most natural looking color rendering in all the action cameras I’ve tested. I prefer the Mission 1 Pro over the Hero 13 in this regard, though the difference is subtle. All of which is to say, if you don’t want to shoot log and color grade in post, you don’t have to.
What’s Great About the Mission 1 Pro
High on my list of reasons to buy the Mission 1 Pro is the new slow-motion capabilities. Not only can you shoot 4K video at 240 fps, but you can use the 2X zoom while doing it, which opens up shooting possibilities no other GoPro can match. What I really like is that the resulting slow-motion footage does not have that “action camera” look. It looks like it was shot with a “real” camera.
Also high on list of reasons to buy the Mission 1 Pro is that, in my experience, when properly color graded, footage from the Mission 1 Pro pairs seamlessly with footage from any other camera. This is especially true in good light, but overall the look of footage is leaps and bounds beyond the Hero 13. Some combination of the bigger sensor, better lens, 10-bit GP-Log2, and higher bit rate leads to more cinematic looking footage than I’ve seen coming out of an action camera.
Other great improvements include support for fast charging. You can get to 80 percent in about 20 minutes, fully charged in just over 30 minutes. Battery life is great too, I managed about 3 hours shooting 4K 24fps. I was also impressed to see that the battery itself, while bigger, is backwards compatible with the Hero 13 and vice versa, which is a nice touch if you happen to have quite a few extra batteries lying around (and let’s be honest, what GoPro user doesn’t).
The low light performance is also a highlight. I don’t need a camera that sees in the dark, but it’s nice to be able to shoot in twilight and get usable results. For all the ballyhoo about how bad low light performance is in older GoPros, I never found it all that limiting, but if you did, the Mission 1 Pro is your camera. I’m happy to report that GoPro has exercised considerable restraint with the new Low Light mode, there is none of the heavy processing and weird artifacts that often plague low-light modes.
Out of the box with the default color profile the Low Light mode in the Mission 1 Pro most closely matches with you get from the Insta360 Ace Pro 2, which is really solid. But don’t forget that the real power of the Mission 1 Pro comes from shooting GP-Log. When you do that in low light, and then color grade yourself, the results are better than any other action camera I’ve tried. My one gripe is that you can’t control noise reduction in Low Light mode.
There’s way too much to cover in a short review like this, but it’s worth saying that audio is improved, with more mics, the rear screen is slightly bigger, and the settings menus are more extensive and easier to customize. It’s also worth calling out that GoPro Lab has alternative firmware for the Mission 1 Pro, which enables quite a few interesting features, including up to 300 Mbps video.
What’s Not So Great
To get the most out of the Mission 1 Pro you’re going to want to post process your video. It needs to be edited and color graded to pull the most value out of what you can shoot with the Mission 1 Pro. This makes perfect sense given that it’s partly aimed at pro filmmakers who are naturally going to edit and color grade their footage. If you go this route, you will end up with better looking movies than what you’ll get from any other action camera. The downside is that this is a lot of work. I’ve joked in quite a few WIRED guides that I have a massive amount of video footage sitting on hard drives waiting for me to edit it. I really do, and I still haven’t got around to editing it.
Editing video is time consuming, and if you aren’t determined to do it, you’re better off with the Hero 13, which produces pretty good-looking (if slightly oversharpened) video out of the box. Can you get the same look from the Mission 1 Pro? Sure, but then you’re not using the thing you paid for, namely pro-level features like GP-Log, lower amounts of sharpening, and so on.
Occasional jitters in low light mode. If you shoot in very low light, well past blue hour, you may see some jitters in lights and highlights as an artifact of HyperSmooth. It’s hard to fault GoPro here because there are limits to what an onboard processor can do. There’s also an obvious solution to this: Turn off HyperSmooth and use a gimbal.
It is heavier. I bring this up because someone will probably be bothered by this. Personally, I didn’t notice it.
Should You Buy It?
You don’t need the Mission 1 Pro to make great videos. Go look at GoPro Creative Director Abe Kislevitz’s YouTube channel, especially this video, which was shot years ago on a GoPro 9, and is leaps and bounds better than what most of us are going to make with a Mission 1 Pro. What you need to make better videos are skills that come from practice, not new cameras.
That disclaimer out of the way, if you want the best action camera on the market, this is absolutely it. The Mission 1 Pro blows every other action camera out of the water and will deliver footage that no other action camera can match. If you have the extra money I would get the Mission 1 Pro over the non-Pro version for the better slow-motion capabilities, but if you don’t need that then the non-Pro version saves you a bit of money.
If you’re a pro, you might want to hold out for the ILS model with the interchangeable lens, which is coming later this year. While it sacrifices some of what makes an action camera an action camera, it could potentially be even more useful.