GoPro Hero 9 Black vs GoPro Hero 8 Black Action Camera Spec Comparison

Spec Comparison of the GoPro Hero 9 Black and the GoPro Hero 8 Black

In this comparison table, we have each action camera side by side with all of their specs and features so we can compare them and share individual features that you may be interested in to see which action camera is best for you and your photography and film making.

General Differences

The GoPro Hero 9 Black was recently released, as of 16th September 2020 whilst the GoPro Hero 8 Black was released in October of 2019, which makes it just under 1 year old since its launch date.

There is a price difference of over $100 depending on if you buy the Hero 8 Black new, on sale or refurbished and the Hero 9 Black is launched with an RRP of $449 brand new. Is the Hero 9 Black worth the extra $100+ with the new features it has launched, we find out.

Physical Comparison Between the GoPro Hero 8 Black and the GoPro Hero 9 Black

Physically there aren't that many improvements, it has some major improvements with its camera and other features which means physically the Hero 9 Black is larger than the GoPro 8.

The new GoPro Hero 9 Black is slightly larger than the Hero 8 with the dimensions of 72 × 55 × 33 mm, making it 6mm longer in its length, 6mm longer in its height and 4mm thicker than the Hero 8.

This means a volume comparison of 91.50cm³ for the GoPro Hero 8 Black and 133.00cm³ for the Hero 9 Black, which is an extra 41.5cm³ larger in total. Not a huge difference but slightly noticeable in hand.

Because it is larger, it also means that it is heavier too, with a total weight of 180 grams, it's almost 54 grams heavier than the GoPro 8.

One improvement for the Hero 9 Black is that it has now re-introduced the removable lens feature that the GoPro Hero 7 Black had. This means if you get a scratch on your original camera lens or you want to modify it with a different lens type, you can do this without any issues on the newer GoPro Hero 9 Black.

The biggest physical improvement is that of the front color screen, which means you can frame the shot up exactly as you would if you were pointing the action camera forwards.

It's still used as an info screen, like the Hero 8, but has the extra feature of displaying what the camera can see, which is a huge improvement and means it's caught up to the likes of the DJI action cameras with the same feature.

Performance Comparison Between the GoPro Hero 9 Black and the GoPro Hero 8 Black

When it comes to the performance between the two action cameras, it looks like there are some improvements here for the newer Hero 9 Black, below we'll go through these.

You get a slightly larger battery with 30% more capacity and that means almost an extra 30 minutes recording time, compared to the 100 minutes you'd get with the Hero 8 Black.

The charge time has also come down, meaning when plugged in you can charge almost twice the speed.

This gives the GoPro Hero 9 Black a much better uptime score of 52 out of 100. This means for every 100 minutes, the GoPro 9 can be used and recording for 52 minutes out of this time. Compared to the 29/100 for the Hero 8 Black, nowhere near as good.

They have stuck with the waterproof housing out of the box, which means no extra waterproof case so you are good to go snorkeling, surfing, and swimming with the action camera and not worry about it breaking.

You can remove the battery from the Hero 9 Black, just like the Hero 8 Black, which is great for swapping out cameras and using the Hero 9 Black all day long.

The connectivity features and shape are very similar, the usual rounded corner brick shape, as well as both, having voice control, as well as wifi and Bluetooth connection to your smartphones and other devices.

Photo and Video Comparison of the GoPro Hero 9 Black and the GoPro Hero 8 Black

Here is where we start to see more differences between the two cameras and their features. The GoPro Hero 9 Black has finally had a new image sensor upgrade, in the form of the Sony IMX 677.

It has been with the Sony IMX277 for the past few years and over several models now, but they've moved on to a new sensor, hence the price increase and it has opened up a few options to them in terms of performance of its the camera for both photography and videography.

It's still the same image sensor size as the GoPro Hero 8 Black, at 1/2.3" which is 7.66mm diagonally, so relatively small to larger style cameras and the 1" versions of the Insta360 and the Sony RX0.

This means that the camera now has a 20mp capable photo resolution, compared to the 12mp of the GoPro Hero 8 Black.

You also get an increase in terms of video resolutions, moving from 4k video in the GoPro Hero 8 Black to the 5K video resolution at 5120 x 2880 pixels available in the GoPro Hero 9 Black. This is an incredible improvement, both in the physical sensor and the video output resolution, and now means you can do things like record in 5K video resolutions and crop down to 4K in post to create more smooth video footage and even zoom in. Even though this is digital manipulation, nothing is being upscaled and means that you can post to Youtube and other services online in 4K and show the exact composition you want. This is the true benefit of recording in larger video resolutions in our opinion.

You get the HyperSmooth 3.0 which is an improvement over the 2.0 version on the GoPro Hero 8 Black and this includes some code improvements as well as horizon leveling which wasn't seen on the GoPro Hero 8 Black.

You get a tonne of shooting modes with the Hero 9 as you did with the Hero 8 Black but a few more as a bonus, such as scheduled capture which means the camera will turn itself on, record and stop as you scheduled it to do so.

You get similar shooting modes and frame rates with 1080p at 240fps if you want slow-motion footage which will slow the video down up to 8x compared to standard frame rates of about 30fps.

3 internal microphones, just as the GoPro Hero 8 Black had, with wind noise reduction, so no improvements here.

Summary of Comparison

As you can see, there are some major improvements, such as the front color screen, a brand new image sensor, which is probably the biggest change of all, having had the older IMX277 image sensor on several previous models.

It was time for the GoPro Hero 9 Black to upgrade this and it has, which means it's opened the door to new video resolutions, new photo resolution of 20mp, and more features for both video and photographs within the camera.

We think this GoPro Hero 9 Black is the best release they've had since the GoPro Hero 5 Black, which was the first to change to the waterproof housing and touch screen capabilities.

Add to that, the improvement of image stabilization and better battery life, this seems like a serious upgrade over the previous Hero 7 and 8 Black action cameras.