GoPro Mission 1 Photography Review - NOT FIT FOR PHOTOS

[OpenWindowManiac2]

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---I bought the GoPro Mission 1 to replace my Iphone 15 in my casual underwater nature photography hobby. I didn't expect it to be much better than my old Iphone, most of the tech in the Mission 1 is aimed at 8k video, not stills. But a compact, natively waterproof 50mp camera with modern processing seemed like a fitting replacement, and GoPro's ad campaign for the Mission 1 series definitely hypes up its still photo taking capability. They have a photo gallery on their website, and they will sell you a grip which makes it feel like a DSLR.

Unfortunately I was not able to get images anywhere near this quality out of the Mission 1 (If these were shot on a GoPro I suspect they were shot with the ILS model). Here's mine, with the light mod and Point and Shoot Grip.

For the people buying this thing for what it is mainly marketed as, a next gen action cam, this machine is awesome. Unfortunately, the only way to get decent stills off this camera seems to be to shoot 8k video and screengrab what you want, and even then it's way behind my 3-generations old base model Iphone 15.

I took some images comparing the Gopro Mission 1 to my base Iphone 15 and my Nikon D80 shooting through a 70-300mm telephoto. I am posting this because I wish I had seen an instance of someone else using the Mission 1 for stills, specifically nature photography, before I bought. I'll start with what the Mission 1 shoots best;

Landscape

It does landscape shots just fine. Detail gets lost in the shadows, especially if you zoom in,
but nothing offensive. I took some night long exposures and they came out good too.



Scenery

The Mission I shoots scenery inoffensively, but closer shots are where it starts to come apart:








Close Shots

Trying to get any sort of close shots is where I started to get disappointed with the Mission 1's performance.
Details are lost as the cameras focal length is almost 3 feet. Moreover, the cameras brain tries to fill in the gaps with very noticeable upscaling. Complex elements such as
tree branches become convoluted and twisted, and the pictures take on an overall plasticky/pastel look. This cactus pad is not that small (about the size of my hand) and
this was as close as the GoPro could get without being out of focus (the shot had to be cropped in quite a bit). Clearly this camera wasn't going to work for close-ups, but I tried one for fun.


Closer Shots

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These pictures were taken with the factory GoPro camera settings. Although they give you a lot of control over the camera settings (Shutter speed, ISO control, White Balance, Exposure, and more) I couldn't get much better photos out of the Mission 1 by messing with them (you can turn the egregious AI upscaling down a bit with the Sharpness setting, but I couldn't figure out how to turn it off, even when shooting RAW).

If you are trying to shoot 8k video with human subjects, as are most potential buyers of the Mission series, this camera excels. But if you are one of the few people like me looking for a waterproof, shockproof camera for stills and the GoPro Mission 1's 1 inch sensor and next gen software catch your eye, there are much better options, such as the classic OM TG-7 Tough.

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