GoPro Hero 8 is not particularly great at low-light photography, so you’d better opt for a specific low light settings.

They will prevent you shots from looking noisy or grainy.

In this post, you’ll discover all the recommended GoPro HERO 8 Black low light settings.

 

Suggested GoPro Hero 8 Low Light Settings


Now that you know of all the factors affecting GoPro HERO 8 low-light performance, let’s proceed with the recommended low-light settings for the GoPro HERO 8 Black.

Here are the recommended GoPro low-light settings:

GoPro Automatic Low Light Setting: Turn On the Low Light Mode

GoPro Manual Low Light Settings:

  • Frame Rate: 24fps / 25fps / 30fps
  • ISO Limit: 1600
  • EV Comp: +1.0

You can find more useful information in this video:

My SECRET GoPro LOW LIGHT Settings Revealed (All GoPros)

Here are the GoPro Hero 8 low-light settings explained:

Enable Low Light Mode

This one is the most obvious setting to use in low-light. Just turn on your GoPro’s built-in Low-Light Mode and you’ll achieve some awesome shots in low light or during the nighttime. When you enable the low light mode, your GoPro Hero 8 will automatically adjust frame rates according to prevailing light conditions. This setting is especially helpful in scenarios where the light is constantly changing, for example, during a concert.

While in most cases, enabling low light mode would suffice for low light or nighttime shots, if you still feel that your shot isn’t looking good enough, then you should try the following manual settings:

Use Low Frame Rate

You should not use high FPS in low-light scenes because higher frame rates lower the amount of light entering your camera lens, and as a result, darken the resulting image. Therefore, you should select low frame rates like 24fps, 25fps, or 30fps on your GoPro camera. It slows down the shutter speed of your HERO 8 camera and lets more light reach your camera’s lens.

Increase ISO

Higher ISO values result in brighter images. Therefore, you may ISO in low-light situations. However, keep one thing in mind – increased ISO also increases noise. So, whenever you think of increasing the ISO, do it appropriately. The default 1600 ISO Limit on the GoPro HERO 8 is, usually, the best setting for low-light shots.

Increase EV Comp

Exposure Value Compensation or EV Comp is another setting that affects the brightness of your GoPro HERO 8 footage. It adjusts the brightness within the prevailing ISO Limit. The default EV Comp value on the GoPro HERO 8 is 0.

In low-light conditions, consider increasing the EV Comp by +1.0. This will result in a significantly brighter image.

 

To have a full overview of the various GoPro Settings, take a look at this post:

 

Factors Affecting GoPro HERO 8 Low Light Performance


Here are the main factors that affect the low light performance of the GoPro HERO 8 Black:

Aperture Size

An aperture is, basically, a hole present in the lens of your GoPro HERO 8 Black. It controls how much light passes through the camera lens. The aperture size is defined in terms of “f-stop”. The smaller the number, the more the light and the brighter the image.

Here’s the full range of aperture values in different cameras: f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32, f/44, f/64.

Note: There’s no way to control the aperture size of your GoPro HERO 8. It is fixed at f/2.8. But, this size is big enough to let adequate light in even in a low-light scenario.

ISO Limit

This setting helps control the GoPro HERO 8 image sensor’s sensitivity to light. A higher or lower ISO value usually means the image sensor is more or less sensitive to light. As a result, the footage is either brighter or darker. The ISO Minimum and Maximum values on GoPro HERO 8 range from 100 to 6400. Higher ISO values result in brighter images, but with greater noise. Lower ISO values, on the other hand, result in darker images, but with less noise.

Note: Do not raise the ISO settings too high in your GoPro because if you do this, you’ll probably end up with a grainy or noisy image that can’t be fixed in post-production.

Frame Rate

Frame rate or FPS (frames per second) implies the number of images captured per second in a video. A high FPS usually means a smoother video. But, it also lowers the amount of light and, therefore, darkens the resulting image. This is due to the fact that faster shutter speeds shorten the exposure time of each frame. As a result, less light reaches the camera sensor.

So, a high frame rate isn’t recommended in low-light situations.

Image Sensor

Another setting that affects the low light performance of your HERO 8 is its image sensor. Please note that, like aperture size, the image sensor is an in-built characteristic of the camera and you can tweak or control it. The larger your camera’s sensor, the brighter the resulting image.

The GoPro HERO 8 sensor size is 1/2.3-inch.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

I hope this guide helped you learn about the best settings for low-light on the GoPro HERO 8 camera 🙂

 

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