First Look: GoPro's new Hero 4 Session mini-camera

CANNON BEACH, Oregon—Get ready for a different way of looking at GoPro cameras.

The familiar little silver box that's been attached to bike helmets, surfboards and the backs of turtles has a new look: an even smaller, tiny black box that is seemingly half the size of the traditional Hero, which was minuscule to begin with.

GoPro says the new $399 Hero 4 Session is the smallest, lightest, easiest to use camera it's produced. I've been using the camera for a few days, and while there's a learning curve and a re-think to how you capture footage, GoPro is right: it is simpler to operate.

Current Hero cameras have a complicated, hard-to-read menu system that is easiest to navigate when using the GoPro app on Apple and Android phones. But to do so requires pairing the camera with the phone, and using Bluetooth, which sucks heavily at your GoPro and phone batteries .

The new Hero has basically a one-button operation. You want to shoot video? Turn it on and it starts recording immediately. If you prefer time-lapse, hold the button down longer, and the camera starts to instantly snap stills.

This will take some getting used to. You can't turn the camera on first to set up, and make sure your settings are correct, as it will start recording. Prepare to spend extra time editing.

But anyone who's ever had to get the Hero dressed up in underwater housing before slapping it to a surfboard will love the ease of the new Hero: no housing required. It's waterproof as is.

I swam with it in a pool, dunked it in a river, even dropped it into a glass of water, and it kept recording, without any issues.

Many of the accessories for Hero cameras will work with the Session, but not the LCD backpack, which enables the photographer to compose his or her image.

Last year's model, the $399 Hero 4 Silver, has been my favorite GoPro to date, since it has a built-in LCD, and the new $299 Hero + LCD has the viewfinder too. I missed having the viewfinder on the Session, although GoPro says you can use the app for composition. I wasn't able to pair the review Session camera with the app on my iPhone.

GoPro says the quality of the footage on the Session is higher resolution than the new Hero +, but lower than the Hero 4 Silver.

To the naked eye, checking out the footage on a MacBook laptop while on vacation here last week, I couldn't tell much of a difference. Footage shot in bright daylight looked terrific, and as with other GoPro cameras, footage shot in low light was pretty much un-useable.

I'll be back with a full review of the Hero 4 Session camera later this week.

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