GoPro Mission 1 Pro Review: The Best Camera You Can Buy

At the top of the list of reasons to buy the Mission 1 Pro is that, in my experience, when properly selected, the images from the Mission 1 Pro stack up like no other camera. This is especially true in good light, but overall the image of the game jumps by a margin than the Hero 13. Another combination of a large sensor, a good lens, 10-bit GP-Log2, and a high level leads to films that look better than I have seen out of an action camera.

Another major improvement includes support for fast charging. You can reach 80 percent within 20 minutes, fully charged in just 30 minutes. Battery life is good too, I managed about three hours of 4K 24fps shooting. I was also impressed to see that the battery itself, despite being large, goes back and forth with the Hero 13 and vice versa, which is a nice touch if you happen to have a few extra batteries lying around (and let’s be honest, what a GoPro user doesn’t have).

A dim light is also visible. I don’t need a camera that sees in the dark, but it’s nice to shoot outside when it’s dark and get usable results. For all the ballyhoo about how low light is in older GoPros, I’ve never found a limit, but if you do, the Mission 1 Pro is the camera for you. I’m happy to say that GoPro has restrained itself a lot with the new Low Light mode, there are no heavy and strange noises that usually plague light models.

Out of the box with the default color mode the Low Light mode in the Mission 1 Pro is very similar to what you get from the Insta360 Ace Pro 2which is really strong. But don’t forget that the real power of Mission 1 Pro comes from shooting GP-Log. If you do this in low light, and do it yourself, the results are better than any other camera I’ve tried. My one gripe is that you can’t control noise reduction in Low Light mode.

There are many ways to describe it in a short review like this, but I have to say that the audio is updated, with more mics, the back screen is a little bigger, and the settings are more and easier to change. It is also worth mentioning that GoPro Lab has another firmware for the Mission 1 Pro, which supports several interesting features, including video up to 300 Mbps.

What’s Not So Good

Photo: Scott Gilbertson

To get the most out of Mission 1 Pro you’ll want to upload your video. It needs to be adjusted and color changed to get the most out of what you can shoot with the Mission 1 Pro. This makes sense because it only focuses on well-known filmmakers who will naturally edit and select their films. If you go this route, you will have videos that look better than you can get from any other camera. The downside is that this is a lot of work. I’ve joked in several WIRED tips that I have tons of videos sitting on hard drives waiting for me to edit. I really do, and I couldn’t fix it.