Are the stock lenses in a Hero4 Black and Hero4 Silver the same?

richnat · Feb 6, 2018

The title pretty much says it all, are the physical lenses in the H4 Black and H4 Silver the same?

IrishmanPDX · Feb 7, 2018

Yup, it's just a hardware difference between the two camera's.

CAMXPOSURE · Feb 7, 2018

I saw a post by Drone Worship- he mentioned about a firmware upgrade that does something to the linear something something “”””” I don’t have GOPro
and I couldn’t understand how software would change the optical specs of a lens unless it was a crop thing - I for one don’t like action cam FOV- prefer a narrow FOV 110-90

David Boulanger · Feb 7, 2018

The linear profile only works in some resolutions and frame rates.

DJMc · Feb 8, 2018

CAMXPOSURE said:
I saw a post by Drone Worship- he mentioned about a firmware upgrade that does something to the linear something something “”””” I don’t have GOPro
and I couldn’t understand how software would change the optical specs of a lens unless it was a crop thing - I for one don’t like action cam FOV- prefer a narrow FOV 110-90

It's firmware version 5.0 for the GoPro. It's in-camera correction to produce a linear view without a lense change. It's not the same a Peau et al style lense change, but it's a software option that produces something similar. As David says, it's an app selectable option for for some, not all, resolutions/FR.

Trade off with v5.0 as against v3.0 is you loose the stop start control from the apps (Solex or Solo), manual start required.

I use v5.0.

skyhax · Feb 8, 2018

You don't lose stop/start. You lose "on" only. So after turning the camera on manually, everything else is the same as the other firmwares.

richnat · Feb 8, 2018

I've used the linear profile on my H4 Black and while it works, it does not look nearly as good as a flat lens (I used a 3.88) combined with the pink corner fix from Peau.

David Boulanger · Feb 8, 2018

richnat said:
I've used the linear profile on my H4 Black and while it works, it does not look nearly as good as a flat lens (I used a 3.88) combined with the pink corner fix from Peau.

Plus your limited . No 4K. 2.7 @ 30fps. Its ok for 1080, but no substitution for a flat lens.

DJMc · Feb 8, 2018

Not forgetting OP doesn't own a GoPro, I think we all know what we're saying...

David Boulanger · Feb 8, 2018

DJMc said:
Not forgetting OP doesn't own a GoPro, I think we all know what we're saying...

He does own at least one. Sounds like two.

DJMc · Feb 8, 2018

Yep, sorry my mistake.....realise I was answering another contributor not OP.

richnat · Feb 8, 2018

FWIW, I now own three GoPros (I realize the question above wasn't intended for me). I have a H4B with a 3.88 flat lens and pink corner fix, a H3+B and just got a H4S. The new Silver intended to be used with my Skylab gimbal. I sought out the Silver so I'd have a screen and can see what I'm recording as I record it in the gimbal. The gimbal isn't capable of handling my Blacks with the screen bacpac attached.

richnat · Feb 8, 2018

David Boulanger said:
Plus your limited . No 4K. 2.7 @ 30fps. Its ok for 1080, but no substitution for a flat lens.

My 4s allow for 2.7 @ 30fps and linear but that's the highest setting available with linear. Of course it is moot on my 4B because that's the one that got the 3.88 flat lens. The new 4S will be used in linear most of the time unless I upgrade it to a flat lens.

vision · Feb 10, 2018

Where did you get your 3.88? Did you have to re-balance the gimbal with that lens?

richnat said:
FWIW, I now own three GoPros (I realize the question above wasn't intended for me). I have a H4B with a 3.88 flat lens and pink corner fix, a H3+B and just got a H4S. The new Silver intended to be used with my Skylab gimbal. I sought out the Silver so I'd have a screen and can see what I'm recording as I record it in the gimbal. The gimbal isn't capable of handling my Blacks with the screen bacpac attached.

richnat · Feb 10, 2018

vision said:
Where did you get your 3.88? Did you have to re-balance the gimbal with that lens?

Directly from 4K Lens (who I believe is the supplier to many US sellers who dramatically mark up the price).

4K LENS | Online Store for 4K Rectilinear Gopro Camera VR Mapping Lens

They are a Honk Kong company. I suggest dealing with them directly and not through ebay or AliExpress. They have a responsive customer service attitude and very reasonable prices. China Post tracking sucks rocks, but once it hits the US mail system you can track it closely. Took less than two weeks to get to me. The price was (and is) $40. I got free shipping when I bought mine. If you ask me, I think it is as good as the 3.97 Peau sells. If you need the 3.97, they sell the same lens for noticeably less than Peau does.

I did not have to rebalance the gimbal. But then I custom balance my gimbal anyway to accommodate the filters I use. It is a pretty easy thing to balance the gimbal.

The lens does not fit as snuggly into the lens housing in the GP as the stock lens did but a single layer of Teflon tape snugged it up so it would take and hold a sharp focus. The lens comes with a new mount that it fits into more snugly but I didn't care to go to all the trouble of swapping out the mount and like I said, the Teflon tape made doing so entirely moot. I have posted pictures I've taken with this lens elsewhere on the site. It is even more incredible performing after the pink corner delete. The lens has a higher dome than the stock lens and as such does not fit into an unmodified GoPro waterproof housing as the lens touches the housing's glass lens window before the camera fully seats in the housing. You can easily modify the housing to accommodate this difference if you feel the need.