Pros & Cons of Using a GoPro as an Everyday or Travel Camera

I often get asked whether GoPro cameras make good travel cameras and whether you can take a GoPro exclusively and leave the larger traditional cameras at home.

It’s a good question. GoPros have a lot going for them that make them an attractive option to throw in the backpack for a travel adventure. GoPro’s own marketing has gradually moved away from hardcore adventure all the time to a more general audience and touting GoPros’ versatility for all sorts of photography.

And while I’m focusing here on using them for photos, their video quality is excellent for the price and size. They’re small and light, rugged, and the image quality is remarkably good. And they’re very easy to use.

And perhaps the most important thing: they can go just about anywhere. Heading to the beach or hitting the slopes? GoPros can handle water and snow without blinking. They can handle bumps and knocks well by themselves, and even more so if you put them in a protective housing. There’s also a huge range of accessories available for them, some made by GoPro and many more made by aftermarket manufacturers.

That’s a lot of things going for them.

But there are also downsides, so before you rely exclusively on your GoPro for that once-in-a-lifetime trip, here’s a rundown of what I see as the main pros and cons.

I should make it clear that I’m talking here about non-professional travel photography. That is, when you aren’t creating the photos for clients, editors, or stock agencies. All of those have a different level of quality and technical requirements that GoPros mostly can’t meet—at least, not yet. There are other cameras that might be a better fit for that, such as the Sony RX0 II.

Cut to the Chase

I go into much more detail below, but if you’re just looking for some quick recommendations, these are the models from GoPro’s current lineup that I’d recommend as everyday and travel cameras. You can click on the links to get the current price on Amazon.

• GoPro HERO11 Black. It’s their current flagship model and has all the latest bells and whistles.
• GoPro HERO10 Black. This is the previous model, but it’s still an excellent option. And because it’s the older model, there are often good deals to be had on it.

Both of those models have screens on the back and work with mostly the same accessories (including mounts, housings, remotes, SD cards, and batteries).

Using a GoPro as Everyday or Travel Camera: The Good

They’re tiny. They’ll fit in your pocket. So there’s no problem with trying to find space in your luggage or exceeding carry-on limits. And no security guard is going to stop you from using a “professional” camera.

They’re rugged. GoPros are built to go in places that cameras generally have no business going. Heading on a beach holiday? Sand and water are no problem. Heading to Southeast Asia during monsoon season? GoPros will handle the downpours without breaking a sweat. (I’ve put together some tips for using GoPros in and around water in a separate post.)

Point and shoot. The automatic settings aren’t perfect for every situation, but they work surprisingly well across a remarkably broad spectrum of shooting. And with the new night modes, that includes nighttime and low light as well. Basically, it’s very hard to mess up a photo with a GoPro because of the wrong settings. It’s a fixed focus, exposure is calculated automatically, and there’s really not anything to attach or detach.

Wide-Angle. GoPros come with that distinctive ultra-wide-angle fisheye look. It’s possible to change the settings to a narrower perspective, but that’s just cropping the image. But wide-angle can be a double-edged sword. It’s wonderful for big subjects or if you can get in very, very close to take the shot. It can create a great immersive look that especially suits action shots. If you want to capture the immense scale of being under the main dome of St Paul’s Cathedral or the cramped quarters inside an Antarctic expedition lifeboat during a drill, wide-angle is the way to go. But most of the time, it’s pretty terrible for wildlife unless you can get up really close and personal with the animals, and it’s often not great for people shots unless your subjects don’t mind being a bit stretched.

The rule of thumb is that you’ll need to get in very close to your subject, or it’ll be small in the frame. And you can remove the fisheye effect in post-processing.

To compare it with a perspective you might already be very familiar with, here’s an example compared with the perspective from a standard iPhone (not one with the fancy multi-lens camera).

Here’s another example. They were both taken from the same spot, with the cameras one on top of the other, and haven’t been cropped at all in post-processing. You’ll also notice the very different in-camera results–I haven’t applied any post-processing or color correction to either of them.

Using a GoPro as Everyday or Travel Camera: The Not-So-Good

Battery Life. This is a biggie. You’re going to have to think about managing the battery life of your GoPro. In ideal conditions, you might get a few hours of use if you’re lucky, or maybe a little more. But most of the time, you’ll run out of juice well before a day is out, even with conservative shooting.

There are strategies you can use to overcome that. You can swap the battery out, use an external battery, or, with a couple of older models, add a long-life battery, but making sure that your camera is ready to go when you need it will require some planning and dedication while you’re traveling and is likely to become a bit of a pain at some point. So have a plan in place before you go. Go prepared. Ideally, take a spare battery with you (and have it charged).

Mediocre Low-Light Performance. While GoPros have been getting better in this regard with each new model, their low-light performance still isn’t very good. It’s a tiny sensor in there, and while the resolution has been bumped up in the latest models, the size of the sensor hasn’t (more megapixels doesn’t necessarily mean better image quality). Newer models have a night photo mode that’s mostly about longer shutter times, but the high-ISO performance of GoPros frankly leaves a lot of room for improvement.

No Zoom. It’s a fixed lens, so there’s no zoom. There’s a narrower field of view mode, but that’s not an optical zoom-it’s just cropping the image.

Now, there are exceptions. Some of the more recent models have a digital zoom. For reasons I go into detail about elsewhere, I don’t really regard it as a proper zoom–it’s more like a glorified cropping.

Responsiveness. One of my pet peeves with GoPros is that their controls aren’t as responsive as they could be. There are two things I mean by that. One is that the shutter is mechanically spongy. That’s by design, to stop accidental shots, but it means that the shutter pushes back when you try to press it and isn’t as precise as on many other cameras. The other is that the software simply isn’t as quick as it could be. The combination of those two things is like the old shutter lag problem on steroids–they are quite sluggish. It doesn’t matter much when shooting video, but if you’re trying to take photos of a fleeting moment or something moving, there’s a reasonable chance you might miss the shot. And that’s especially true if you turn the camera off to preserve battery life—they take a long time to turn on.

And come to think of it, there’s a third area of this responsiveness issue. GoPros have a notorious habit of locking up from time to time. I’ve owned a bunch of GoPros of different models, and although newer models seem to be less prone to it, it still happens.

Controls. The GoPros in the current range offer some control over things like ISO setting, exposure compensation, exposure meter type, and shutter speed. But accessing those options is a real pain compared to most cameras. If your subject is staying still and you have time to fiddle, great. If not, your best bet is to treat it as a fully automatic camera. The latest models, such as the HERO8 and HERO9, use shooting presets that are handy for quicker access to settings you regularly use, but if you’re used to a mirrorless camera or DSLR, it can take some getting used to the lack of quick exposure controls.

Color Balance. The image quality for GoPros is excellent for brightly lit outdoor shots. That’s the bread and butter shot for GoPros. But in other scenes, the color balance can be a little too cool or just goes a bit haywire. You can change it in something like Lightroom or Photos, but out of the camera, the color balance doesn’t suit every scene. If shooting photos, choosing the RAW mode (with .gpr files) gives you more flexibility with adjusting white balance when post-processing.

Where GoPros Beat Smartphones

These days, most of us carry a camera around in our pocket in the form of a phone. And the camera functions in them can be very, very good.

As well as ever-improving lenses and low-light performance, they have apps or functions that include time lapse, burst mode, manual exposure control, and, of course, HD video. And because they are, by definition, connected devices, it is simplicity itself to share the photos even in real-time with friends and family or the wider world on something like Facebook, Instagram, or 500px.

So if smartphones can do all of that, why not just use your smartphone? That’s not a bad option, but taking along a GoPro does add some value.

They’re rugged. The obvious one is waterproofing and all-around ruggedness. Even without separate protective housings, GoPros can take a beating relative to many other cameras and phones. And even in the most civilized travel, you’re probably going to run into times when water is a factor, most likely from rain, but perhaps it’ll be from the spray of Niagara Falls as you go out on the Maid of the Mist. Or swimming. Or diving. Or boating. Or surfing. And so on.

Newer phones are getting much better about being water resistant, and getting a fully waterproof casing for a smartphone is possible, but it introduces other limitations.

And it’s not just about being waterproof. A GoPro in its housing is much better at dealing with being dropped and knocked than most smartphones and is less paralyzing if it breaks.

Mounting Options. GoPro realized early on that having a camera that could go anywhere wasn’t much good if you couldn’t put it everywhere. So they created an impressive array of mounting options that has since grown exponentially as third-party manufacturers got in on the action. If you can think of somewhere to attach a GoPro, chances are there’s a mounting accessory that will do the trick nicely. That goes for bikes, car hoods, drones, chests, helmets, sleds, surfboards, kayaks, and so on. Magnet mounts. Clamp mounts. Suction mounts. Floating mounts. You can even get mounts that you hold in your mouth–designed particularly with surfers in mind.

Privacy. This is probably a second-tier issue, but there is virtue in a camera being a camera and nothing else. Stuff can disappear when you’re traveling. You might put it down and leave it on a sidewalk cafe in Rome, or it might be pilfered by a pickpocket in downtown Bangkok. If that happens to a GoPro, you’ve lost a camera and perhaps some photos. If it happens with your phone, you’ve lost a phone, your photos, and your means of communication. And maybe the phone’s new owner now has access to all your email, contacts, and web logins. In short, losing a GoPro can be annoying, but losing a phone can be a major problem.

Where Smartphones Beat GoPros

GoPros are great, but there are things that smartphones do better.

Sharing. The big area where smartphones trump GoPros is the ability to share your photos quickly and easily. Smartphones are natively connected–that’s why they exist, after all. In recent years, GoPro has been putting a lot of effort into this area, and it’s now much easier to share footage or photos from a GoPro. They now offer a much more connected experience using mobile apps and their GoPro cloud service (which is a paid subscription service). So GoPros have improved in this a lot, but it really still needs a smartphone as the intermediary, and it’s still not as seamless as sharing a photo or video directly from a smartphone to just about any social media or communication service available.

Battery Life. Even the most basic phone has much better battery life than a GoPro. And it’s not even close—smartphones win hands down.

Editing. You can do basic edits to GoPro footage on a smartphone using the GoPro Quik app, but you’re still using a phone, and there’s a huge range of other video and photo editing apps available on phones (and you can import your GoPro footage into many of them once it’s on your phone).

Tips for Using a GoPro as a Travel Camera

Plan ahead for battery life. Whether that’s taking spare batteries, taking an external battery pack to charge the camera on the go, or adding a long-life battery. Most of the time, you’re going to be away from your hotel room or cabin for more than 2 hours at a time, so if you want the GoPro to be ready to capture that magical moment, it’s going to need some juice left.

Get in close. The wide-angle perspective can be great, but if you’re standing back from your subject, it’s just going to end up a speck in the frame. So get in close and make the most of the immersive perspective that wide-angle provides. Because of the super-deep depth of field of the combination of fisheye lens and fixed aperture, it’s almost impossible to be too close and out of focus.

Set the default to Single Photos or Burst Photos. The default mode is a setting where you can specify what function you want as the default when the camera turns on. I like to set the camera to single photo mode as the default mode, so that when it powers up, it starts in that mode without having to scroll through the options. By doing that, I still have available the QuickCapture option for shooting video right off the bat.

Use some kind of case. They might be rugged, but the lenses of both the camera and the housings can still be scratched in the rough-and-tumble of travel. And scratches are bad news for sharp photos. It doesn’t need anything fancy–just something that provides at least some protection in your bag.

Take some anti-fog inserts. This is only relevant to most HERO4 models and earlier or if you’re using a separate waterproof dive housing, but if you’re going anywhere that’s damp and/or humid (or for snorkeling or diving), anti-fog inserts can come in very handy. GoPro housings can fog up in some conditions. An anti-fog insert can soak up the humidity that’s caught inside the housing and help prevent blurry, foggy photos. They’re cheap and light and easy to pack just in case. You can find them here.

Take a Combination Self-Stick/Tripod Stand. These lightweight and collapsible options come in very handy in all sorts of settings. And they pack away much small and lighter than regular travel tripods.

There’s a huge variety of these available, but many of them do much the same thing and are quite inexpensive. Don’t forget to make sure that it either comes with a GoPro mount attached, or you can pick up a tripod mount adapter to convert any standard grip/tripod to work with a GoPro.

Use the Highest Quality Photo Mode. Yes, the files take up a little more space, but it’s not that much in the grand scheme of things, and you won’t end up regretting that you skimped on resolution when you want to blow that once-in-a-lifetime shot up as a print to hang on your wall.

Plan Ahead for Backing Up Your Photos. This isn’t specific to GoPros, but it’s pretty easy to fill up a memory card quickly with a GoPro if you’re shooting high-resolution video, although that’s much less of a problem with still images. There are various strategies to not running out of space, from taking spare memory cards to backing up to a hard drive or the cloud on the go. GoPro now offers a paid subscription service that is designed specifically for this purpose.

I use one of these, which has a built-in card reader (although not a native microSD slot), but it’s probably overkill just for a GoPro (I use it for all my travel shoots.) A more cost-effective option for traveling with a GoPro is something like the WD MyPassport Wireless which also gives you the benefit of being able to take your data like movies, files, or music with you just like a regular portable hard drive (it has a built-in SD slot, so you’ll need to take a cartridge adapter as well, but they’re very cheap and come with many microSD cards). Oh, and make sure you get a memory card that’s fast enough to take advantage of all the GoPro’s video modes–here are some recommendations.

Settings and Accessories

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking a GoPro out of the box and shooting with it as-is. But when using a HERO4 Silver or Black as a travel camera, there are a few minor things I’ve settled on for my own preferences. [I hope to update this section soon for the newer models.]

Aluminum cage. When water and sand aren’t factors, I put my camera in an aluminum cage. It’s not waterproof, but it’s very strong. It leaves the buttons, ports, microphones, and memory card slot easily accessible. You can use either the GoPro mounting system or a traditional regular tripod screw. And you can choose to either leave the lens exposed, which is great for preserving maximum image quality (and there’s a clip-on lens cap). (And yes, as you can see, I’ve taped over the brand name. I tend to do that with all my cameras because I often end up in places where it’s best not to flaunt expensive brand-name equipment.)

Gekkopod. The Gekkopod is a tiny, bendy tripod. It can wrap around a pole or handlebars as well as stand up on a table. You can also use it as a handle for shooting handheld. They really are incredibly versatile, and they’re so small and light that it takes up basically no space in my bag.

Softcase. I use a small fabric pouch. It’s nothing fancy and doesn’t have any padding, but the advantage is that it takes up next to no space in my camera bag. But it does protect against scratches on the lens, which is mainly what I’m going for.

Small external battery. I keep a small, light external battery similar to this one in my camera bag. It means I can charge the GoPro while on the go or even connect it to shoot when the internal battery is dead, if need be.

Exposure settings. There’s no “right” answer for what settings to use, and it’s well worth experimenting for what best fits your preferences, but here’s what I have mine set on most of the time:

• Wifi: Off. I only turn the wifi on when I’m using something that requires it. Otherwise, it does drain the battery a bit.
• Image Format: RAW (.gpr). The newer Black models have a RAW image format for still photos that has an extension of .gpr. It captures a JPG simultaneously as well, so you still have the convenience of using the JPG if you want, but the RAW version gives you more potential for milking better quality out of the image in post-processing.
• Default Mode: Single Photo. This sets the shooting mode that the camera is in when you first turn it on. It saves time scrolling through the options. Some models also have a QuickCapture mode, but that only works with video and time lapse. You can also use it in conjunction with the default mode, setting the default to photos and using QuickCapture for video and thereby get both options.
• Protune: On. Protune isn’t available on all models (it’s not on the HERO (2018), for example). Turning Protune on opens up a suite of options that aren’t available with Protune is turned off. Think of it as something like a basic “professional mode.” The photos aren’t going to look as snappy out of the camera, but it gives you more flexibility if your post-processing in something like Lightroom or the GoPro app.
• Protune Option / ISO Limit: 800. Higher numbers give a brighter image in low light, but it often comes at the cost of more grain and image noise. Lower numbers are finer and have less image noise, but the image will be darker in low light. It’s important to note that this setting isn’t specifying shooting at a particular ISO but rather setting a limit for the auto-ISO. The camera will choose the lowest setting it can get away with, so even if you set it to 800, if you’re shooting on a sunny beach, it’s going to shoot at ISO 100. But if you’re shooting in lower light, it will try to use the best option up to the ISO limit you set. Some models now offer a wider range.
• Protune Option / Color: GoPro. The other option is flat. If you truly want maximum control in post-processing, set it to flat. The GoPro setting gets you part of the way there and looks better right out of the camera. Here are some examples.
• Sharpness: Low. I prefer to apply sharpening in post-processing, and it’s much easier to add sharpening than remove its effects. But unless you plan to add sharpening in post-processing, the High (default) or Medium settings are a better bet. I have a detailed explanation of Protune sharpening options here.
• Protune Option / Exposure Compensation: 0. When shooting with a DSLR or mirrorless, I’ll often underexpose slightly to bring out rich colors. But GoPros don’t have a wide dynamic range, so there can be limited latitude to recovering shadows or highlights even when shooting RAW. Aside from some specific situations that have difficult lighting, applying no exposure compensation works very well. (Pro tip: some models have a spot meter or “exposure control” that lets you fine-tune which part of the frame to use for the automatic exposure calculations.)
• Auto Power Off: 5 mins. It’s easy to forget to turn a GoPro off, and it doesn’t take long for the battery to run out. So having it turn off automatically after 5 minutes of not being used helps preserve the battery while also keeping it on long enough to be convenient. It does mean having to wait a few seconds the next time you turn it on, but ultimately that’s better than a dead battery.

Charging and Compatibility

GoPro’s charge with the USB standard. So long as you take an AC adapter or travel adapter like this that’s compatible with the socket in whatever country you’re in, you don’t need to worry about things like 110V vs. 220V (or 240V) (at least, not when it comes to your GoPro or most other mobile devices). Nearly all USB AC chargers on the market now are 110-220 switchable, but that’s something worth checking on your device before jetting off. Newer models that use a USB-C cable can also take advantage of quick charging, if you’re using a compatible quick charger like GoPro’s own Supercharger. They’ll also charge without that special charger, but it won’t be as quick.

You can also charge from a DC-USB charger in a car or with an external battery. You can also take spare batteries and use a dedicated battery charger that also uses the USB standard.

So whether you’re headed to Europe, Australia, or Africa, just be sure to take a standard travel adapter, and you’ll be all set. I take one of these to charge all my USB devices at once.

Which GoPro?

When I first posted this, I recommended the HERO4 Silver, largely because the built-in LCD screen is very convenient to have when travelling. It means you can see what you’re shooting and frame the shot with more than guesswork. With most of the newer models, you can get a through-the-lens live view with the GoPro mobile app, but it can be much quicker and more convenient to have that view built right onto the camera.

Since then, GoPro has released several newer models. They generally fall into two styles: the traditional GoPro shape or the smaller, cube-like Session models.

While there’s nothing wrong with using one of the cameras in the Session range as an everyday camera, the newer models in the larger shape, such as the HERO6 Black, HERO5 Black, and HERO (2018), all have a built-in screen.

Some other features that can come in handy when using a GoPro as a travel camera are:

• GPS. This is a feature built into the Black models.
• Video Stabilization. Several of the newer models (including some of the Session models) include built-in electronic stabilization that can help with creating smoother footage right out of the camera.
• RAW Image Format. The Black models include the ability to shoot still photos in RAW format. While they’re not as convenient to share right out of the camera because it requires some post-processing (although it creates JPGs simultaneously, so that’s not much of a problem), if you’re aiming for the highest possible image quality, RAW is the way to go.
• Quik and GoPro Cloud Service. And, finally, the newer models are compatible with GoPro’s cloud service, which is useful if you’re travelling without a computer.

So the models I’d recommend right now are the HERO6 Black, HERO5 Black, or HERO (2018). The HERO (2018) is GoPro’s entry-level camera and doesn’t have all of the features I’ve just mentioned, but it has enough of them to make for a good option as an everyday camera.

That said, any of the GoPros will work well as a travel camera. So if you already have one, there’s really no reason you can’t use what you already have.

I’ve put together more detailed side-by-side comparisons between these models at these links:

• HERO (2018) vs HERO6 Black
• HERO5 Black vs HERO (2018)
• HERO5 Black vs HERO6 Black
• HERO5 Black vs HERO4 Silver
• HERO5 Black vs HERO4 Black

You can find more comparisons between other GoPro models here.

Wishlist to Make GoPros Closer to the Perfect Travel Cameras

Do GoPro’s make for the perfect travel or everyday camera? No, they don’t.

They do offer opportunities most cameras don’t, and you can get some cool photos and footage out of them, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Overall, in my own shooting, at least, I’m pretty happy with the overall set of features, and I’m not suggesting that they should mimic everything about a traditional compact waterproof camera. I’d just like for some features and functions to be implemented better. I’d take improvements in these areas over new features I don’t need any day.

• Improved sensor that works better in low light. This would also presumably add better dynamic range. There are limits to what can be done with the tiny sensor used in GoPros–you simply can’t (yet) get the type of performance you get out of a much larger full-frame sensor–but modern smartphones show that better is definitely possible.
• More responsive controls (i.e., faster to turn on or off and take photos).
• Use internal buffer for still photos so you don’t sit around waiting for each photo to write to the memory card before you can take the next one.
• Better battery life. I know I tend to harp on the battery life of GoPros, but a dead battery brings things to a grinding halt. And dead batteries are something you run into much more quickly with GoPros than most other cameras. ¹ But this is also one of those things that is very limited by the physical size of the camera, and I confess I’d be disappointed if the cameras became bigger to accommodate a larger internal battery. And there are, after all, options available to add an external battery.

Of course, the way I want to use GoPros isn’t necessarily how everyone else wants to use them, and it only makes sense that GoPro focuses its efforts on where they see the most viable market.

Conclusion

So can you use a GoPro as an everyday or travel camera? Absolutely. So long as you work with its limitations and play to its strengths, you’ll end up with some spectacular photos of your adventures, and probably some that there’s no way you could have gotten with a more traditional camera. And as a nice bonus, you can shoot some top-notch video to boot.

It’s especially suited to things like beach holidays, anything involving water sports, and anything adventure-y. It’s also great for holidays with the kids. It’s less suited to urban travel visiting the sites, but it will work for that. They’re generally not very good for going on safari because the wide-angle lens will just leave the wildlife as tiny specks in the frame. Unless you plan to get uncomfortably close to the wildlife, that is…

I’ve gotten in the habit of throwing one in my pocket when I head out, because you never quite know when you might be able to grab something interesting.

1. To be fair, as well as clear, other small action cams suffer similarly brief battery life–it’s not just GoPros.[↩]

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