GoPro Hero 7 White Action Camera Review

This is my detailed review of the GoPro Hero 7 White action camera. The White is one of three Hero7 series action cameras. Black, Silver, and White.

They were released back in September 2018.

The Hero 7 white is the entry-level camera which has the least features compared to the Silver and Black.

The Hero 7 Silver is a mid-level action camera that falls in between the other two in terms of features and resolutions.

Then the Hero 7 Black being the top-level camera in this series and is the successor of the GoPro Hero 6 Black.

Now let’s turn our focus again to the Hero 7 White and go over its specifications and features in detail.

But just before I delve in the review, here’s what to expect from the Hero 7 White.

The GoPro Hero 7 White‘s maximum video resolution is 1440p at 60 frames per second, it can take 10 megapixels still photos and shoot time lapse video.

I will try my best to provide you with as many details as I can so you can decide on whether or not you will get this camera.

I have gathered all the Hero7 White specs and compiled them into a comprehensive table, see below.

GoPro Hero 7 White Specs

Design & Components

Weight and Dimensions

The GoPro Hero 7 White’s design is a bit close to the older GoPro Hero 6 Black and is almost identical to the Hero 7 Silver.

The GoPro Hero 7 White’s dimensions are 62.3 W x 44.9 H x 28.3 D (mm) and it weighs 92.4 grams or 3.26 ounces.

The exterior is rugged and made of rubber-like coating with a light gray color to differentiate it from the Silver and Black editions.

Touchscreen

There is a 2-inch touchscreen on the backside of the GoPro Hero 7 White. No small LCD screen on the front like the one you see on the Black edition.

The touchscreen is the same in all the series 7 GoPro cameras. You can use it to change modes, settings and watch the playback.

Lens

The Hero 7 White lens size is 1/2.3 inch with an aperture of f/2.8. It only has one digital lens and can shoot in a Wide field of view. No other field of view is available.

The maximum angle you can get with the wide field of view is 149.2 degree diagonally on the 1440p resolution with no zoom.

The lens is not replaceable.

Ports and Sockets

On the left side, there is one USB-C port for charging and data transfer and one socket for a micro SD card. The micro SD card should be of decent quality, GoPro recommends a class 10 or higher micro SD card.

Make sure to format your new micro SD card before using it.

There is no HDMI out port on the Hero 7 White so you can’t playback your shoots on a TV or other monitors. and you can’t use it as a webcam either.

Microphones

There are 2 microphones on the Hero 7 White, they provide good quality audio I would say but not as good as the Black edition cameras for instance.

It does some wind noise reduction using the 2-mic processing.

There is no possibility to add an external microphone to the Hero 7 White.

Waterproof

The GoPro Hero 7 White is waterproof up to 10 meters or 33 feet without any waterproof housing.

If you need to use it for deeper dives then it would be wise to invest in a GoPro waterproof housing for GoPro Hero 7 which can make the camera waterproof down to 131 feet or 40 meters.

Controls and Buttons

Accessing Menus and Modes

The GoPro Hero 7 White has two buttons, a shutter button at the top to start/stop videos and to take still photos. And a power/mode button at the right side to power the camera on and off and to switch between modes.

The Hero 7 White has similar but more simplified on-screen menus than other GoPro cameras due to its lack of features and settings compared with the more advanced models.

It has three modes: Video, Photo, and Time Lapse Video.

In each mode, you can change resolutions and use features like Zoom, Short Clips and Photo Burst (I will talk about these in detail later on).

To switch between modes, you can either use the touchscreen or the power/mode button when you are underwater and can’t properly use the screen or even using voice commands.

Voice Control

Controlling the camera with your voice is possible, things like changing modes, starting/stopping video recording, taking photos can be done using voice commands.

There is no Wake on Voice feature.

Remote Control

The only way to remote control the 7 White is via the GoPro app using a mobile phone since the GoPro Smart remote is not compatible with this camera.

Check this guide to learn how to pair the GoPro app with your GoPro camera.

Video

Video Resolutions

As I mentioned in my introduction above, the maximum video resolution on the GoPro Hero 7 White is 1440p which might not be satisfactory for some people, especially for those looking for more detailed videos.

The other available video resolution is 1080p also known as full HD.

1440p and 1080p are somewhat similar, they both have the same width but the 1440p has more length.

So in terms of aspect ratio, 1080p is 16:9 and 1440p is 4:3, so not as wide as the 1080p.

Here are the resolutions in pixels (width x length):

• 1440p: 1920 × 1440
• 1080p: 1920 x 1080

These are the only two available video resolutions on the Hero 7 White, not so much of a selection, but remember that this is an entry-level camera and has the least features in the Hero 7 series action cameras.

Check the video at the end of this review to see the video quality with stabilization as well as some test photos.

Frame Rates

When it comes to frame rates, the maximum frames per second for both 1440p and 1080p is 60fps. This is also the only option available for frame rates.

With 60 fps, you will be able to do 2x times slow-motion videos.

Codecs

The video encoder on the Hero 7 White is the H.264 (AVC).

While it does a good job at compressing videos and encoding them in .MP4 video files, to make them smaller in size without losing much quality, it doesn’t compete with the better H.265 encoder which is only available on the Hero 7 Black.

Technically, you won’t need H.265 since the max resolution here is 1440p. H.265 is more useful when you’re shooting in higher resolutions like 4K for example.

Bitrate

Bitrate is the amount of data needed for a one second of video. The bitrate on the Hero 7 White is 40 Megabits per second when shooting in 1440p resolution.

Slow Motion

The higher the frame rate, the slower you can make your slow-motion videos.

And since the Hero 7 White can shoot a maximum of 60 frames per second, you will only be able to play it back at 2x times slow motion.

For every additional 30fps, you add 1x time slow motion. So for example, with 90fps, you can do 3x times slow motion, with 120fps, 4x times.

To record videos in slow motion, first tap the slow-motion icon (that looks like a snail) at the bottom center of the touchscreen to enter the slo-mo mode then push the shutter button to start recording.

Stabilization

The GoPro Hero 7 White is capable of doing electronic video stabilization and it does a good job of keeping the videos as smooth as possible.

Of course, don’t expect the same HyperSmooth stabilization of the Black version. But it is good enough to prevent bumpy and jittery footage.

Short Clips

This camera has a feature where it can shoot short video clips that can be easily saved to your phone then shared to your social media channels and also to create QuickStories with your GoPro app.

To shoot a short clip, you should be in video mode first, then tap the icon at the bottom left of the touchscreen then press the shutter button to start recording.

You will see a red line circling the border of the touchscreen, this will indicate how much time you have left in your video clip.

The video clips are 15 seconds long but can be changed to 30 seconds. Simply go to Dashboard > Preferences > Defaults > Clip Length.

You can use video clips in combination with slow motion.

Protune for Video

Protune which is GoPro’s advanced settings menu that lets you have more control over settings like ISO, shutter speed, color temperature, and others, is not available on the GoPro Hero 7 White.

Digital Lenses (FOV)

The only available digital lens on the Hero 7 White is the Wide field of view. With most action cameras, we are used to having at least three digital lenses/Field of View (Wide, Normal and Narrow) but not on the Hero 7 White.

This means that all your videos and photos will have a wide angle.

Here’s the focal length equivalent for the wide field of view for both aspect ratios:

Wide 16:9 FOV: 6mm – 33mm (videos)
Wide 4:3 FOV: 15mm – 30mm (videos and photos)

Zoom

You can zoom while in video mode, just tap on the loop lens icon at the bottom right of the touchscreen then use the slider to choose how much zoom you want.

Zoom cannot be used with slow-motion mode. It will automatically turn off.

Photo

Photo Resolution & Formats

The GoPro Hero 7 White can take 10 megapixels still photos. This is the only available photo resolution on this camera.

The photo quality is not bad actually but as I said earlier, you can only take photos and videos in a wide field of view since this is the only FOV available on the camera.

I wouldn’t mind it but many people do because they might want to take regular photos with a narrower field of view.

All photos are saved in .JPEG format which is a compressed photo format to reduce file sizes so they take less space on the micro SD card.

The GoPro Hero 7 White cannot take photos in RAW format.

Here are some photos taken with the Hero 7 White:

Protune Photo

Protune is not available on the GoPro Hero 7 White, so there is no way to change settings like ISO, shutter speed, and many other options available on the more advanced GoPro cameras.

Exposure Control

If there are sections of your scene that are very dark or very bright, you can use exposure control to fix this.

Like other GoPro cameras, the GoPro Hero 7 White has two exposure control options: auto and locked.

With auto exposure, the camera will automatically base the exposure on the area you selected on the touchscreen.

With locked exposure, the camera will lock the exposure on the area you selected on the touchscreen until you cancel it.

Burst

Photo burst mode is available on the GoPro Hero 7 White. You can take 15 photos in one second.

Burst mode is perfect for capturing fast-moving objects or activities.

Just press the shutter button once and the camera will take the 15 shots and save them to the micro SD card.

Continuous Photo Capture

Continuous photo capture is achieved by pressing and holding the shutter button for as long as you wish to while the camera is in the regular photo mode.

The camera can take 4 photos in one second, to stop capturing, simply release the shutter button.

Timer

A photo timer is useful when you wish you take selfies or a photo with your friends or family.

There are two options on the Hero 7 White, 3 seconds and 10 seconds.

Video Time Lapse

The GoPro Hero 7 White can only shoot time lapse video.

Time lapse video is when the camera captures frames at a time interval then compiles them into a single video file.

The available intervals on the Hero 7 White are: 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, 60 seconds.

You can use either the 1440p and 1080p resolution with the video time lapse, however, you’re stuck with the wide field of view.

Battery

The battery on the GoPro Hero 7 White has a capacity of 1220mAh. However, unlike the other GoPro cameras, the battery here is built-in and non-removable.

This means that first, if the camera battery dies, you won’t be able to use it until it is fully recharged.

Second, in case the battery goes bad, the camera will become unusable. This will eventually happen with usage.

As per GoPro, the battery should last around 107 minutes when shooting in 1440 at 60fps with slow-motion ON, and around 147 minutes when shooting in 1440p at 30fps.

With 1080p at 60fps, you should be able to get around 160 minutes of video recording.

This is based on optimal conditions, like not using WiFi or voice control and in an ambient temperature.

However, while going through user reviews, I saw that many people couldn’t get more than 90 minutes of video recording.

Audio

As I mentioned earlier, there are 2 microphones on this camera. The audio quality they produce is good but not excellent, can’t really compare to the Hero 7 Black for example.

The Hero 7 White uses software to process the audio coming from the two microphones and eliminates wind noise frequencies.

Here’s a video shot with Hero 7 White with stabilization ON. It also includes some still photos:

Problems Encountered by Users

• Battery life: some people couldn’t get more than 60 minutes of video footage (again this depends on the environment and temperature)
• Camera keeps freezing
• Average video quality

To Conclude

I think with the Hero 7 White, GoPro’s goal was to create an entry-level action camera for the people who are looking for basic functionality without the sophistication and the standard features that comes with the GoPro camera, and for a lower price of course.

The Hero 7 White can shoot videos up to 1440p at 60fps, it takes 10 megapixels photos, shoots video time lapse and can be used underwater.

For such a basic camera, the only drawback I see is the non-removable battery which is inconvenient as you won’t be able to shoot continuously.

In my opinion, the GoPro Hero 7 White is suitable for kids and for those who are looking for an easy-to-use action camera to take some cool shots for their social media accounts.

However, for GoPro fans who are looking for high-quality 4K videos and more control over the settings, I would recommend you look at the Hero 7 Black or even for a non-GoPro camera like the Akaso V50 Elite which comes at the same price as the Hero 7 White but with much more features and 4K capability.

You can also check my guide on the best GoPro tips and tricks to learn more about how to use your GoPro in different scenes and activities.

I hope you liked this GoPro Hero 7 White action camera review.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment in the comments section below. 🙂

GoPro Hero 7 White

6

Video Quality

6.0/10

Photo Quality

7.0/10

Features

5.0/10

Easy of use

7.0/10

Value for money

5.0/10

Pros

• Good photo quality
• Easy to use

Cons

• Non-removable battery
• No 4K video resolution

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