Review of the GoPro 11 Hero Black for Wedding Videography
Why Use a GoPro 11 for Wedding Videography
I bought a GoPro 11 in December 2022 and I was interested to see if the quality of this upgraded model with it’s new sensor was now good enough to use as a B or C camera for my Wedding Videography
The Sony cameras I am using currently are excellent for video, allowing me to capture the video in 4K resolution, so the bar is set quite high.
I am a hybrid Photographer and Videographer based in Cornwall and I was looking for something easily portable with good stabilization to take along on outdoor photoshoots.
The GoPro 11 offers 4K @120fps something my current Sony Cameras do not, this is ideal for slo-mo work such as confetti shots etc. It also offers 10 bit colour which is pretty unique at this price point and offers a significant upgrade to 8 bit colour.
What I was also interested in was the horizon lock and the improved stabilization, ideal for on the go, fast paced shooting such as you get at weddings.
How was the Go-Pro 11 in practice?
My first trip out with the GoPro 11 was to my local beach with my family at Christmas, this 1st video was shot @ 4k 120fps and slowed down 4x and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro
I was quite impressed with the quality of the footage
I was quite impressed by the footage and I had a wedding coming up in between Christmas and the New Year, so I took it along.
The 2nd video is of some of the groom preparation in good light captured at 4K 24fps, this footage is something I used in the highlights video of the day.
During the ceremony I had the go pro setup as my 3rd Camera and captured the whole ceremony around 15 mins footage @ 4K 24fps. I found the Go-Pro did get quite hot. The lighting was reasonable good in the ceremony room but I did notice some loss of sharpeness, probably due to the noise filtering used by the Go-Pro, compared to my Sony cameras.
This next clip was from the Bridal preps and the lighting was not that great and we can now see the effects of the noise filtering that the Go-pro uses in low light. Unfortunately this footage is not something I can use
Is the GoPro 11 going to be part of my wedding day video set up?
In conclusion, I am happy to use the footage from the GoPro in good lighting, it offers good stabilization and the horizon lock is a great feature. The ability to use 4K /120fps for slo-mo footage is something I can see me using a lot in the future. The downside is the heavy filtering used in low light conditions, leading to a loss of sharpness and the limited zoom meaning I have to be a bit more intrusive than I would normally be on a wedding day.
Overall I’m impressed with the GoPro 11 it packs a lot of technology into a small package.
Alchemy Photography
Cornwall wedding photographer and videographer
Update September 2024
Had a beautiful wedding recently and the weather was very sunny so I tried out the Go Pro for a confetti shot 4k @60Hz slowed down by 50%
I was impressed with the clarity it produced
