One of the welcome new features of the Hero 5 Black and the Hero 5 Session is the ability to stabilize video. This is not new technology by any means most of the top smartphones have implemented digital and optical image and video stabilization for several years now. However the Hero 5 duo is GoPros first attempt to implement this feature into its cameras. Stabilisation does not work when shooting in a 4K resolution as it uses a technique of cropping 10% of the video frame to achieve smoother footage.

I opted to do a test to see what the image stabilization difference is between the Hero 5 Black and The Hero 5 Session if any. My tests concluded that booth do a similar job smoothing out the footage. It’s not a mind-blowing smoothness by any stretch, in fact, I find my iPhone 6s Plus has better image stabilization built it but definitely a noticeable difference than footage with stabilization turned off. It’s a good start for GoPro and something they can build on and improve with new generations.

GoPro along with the Hero 5’s released a new handheld gimbal stabilizer for GoPro Hero 5 Black that is also compatible with the Hero 4 cameras called the Karma Grip. This handheld gimbal is simply amazing at capturing Hollywood cinematic smooth footage. We will be doing a full in-depth review of the Karma Grip soon.

Karma Grip Canadian Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mDXn7f

Karma Grip U.S. Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mDTO0J

Watch our video to view raw GoPro footage comparing the Hero 5 Black against the Hero 5 session to see which has better stabilization.