GoPro notes

Power

(verify)

Power draw

Assume that standby showing video and/or charging may takes under 0.5A, and charging while previewing, or active recording, can take nearer 1A (I've seen our Hero 9 draw 1.2A). Recording may may be around 0.7A with simpler settings, e.g. lower framerate, resolution, hypersmooth off (note that 'stationary video' mode does some of that).

The recommendation for a 2A power supply seems to come in part from leeway with the plethora of crappier-than-advertised USB power supplies out there - it's easier to overspec what to get, than to test each supply.

Battery related

Batteries for various models are around 1.7Ah, so expect maybe 90..120 minutes of recording under simpler settings, maybe half that with maximum quality.[1]

Charging should take two hours, on a dedicated charger (inside a GoPro it may take more - or the same two-ish hours with a good USB power supply - GoPro themselves sell one, which may be a little overpriced but seems a known good quantity).

It seems that on USB power, you might get either recording (while on) or charging (while off or previewing(verify)), but not recording and charging at the same time presumably a decision based on considerations of heat and/or power source capability?

As such, there are footnotes to using it as a long-term dashcam or perpetual webcam, to the sound of 'not guaranteed by gopro, but there seem to be ways'.

Relatedly...

Can you power the thing through USB without the battery? (a.k.a. passthrough power)

On many models, yes. Note that you need the power source, and the cable, to be able to carry enough current for whatever you're doing.

It needs to be able to comfortably supply 1A. Recommendations are for things more capable than that.

The GoPro itself seems to do a basic test (illustrated by the fact you can disable this ), though I'm not sure whether this is a charging protocol thing or a voltage depression test.

If it doesn't power on, it failed that test. You can tell it to just trust the power source, but not via standard settings, and it's not a good idea (no guarantee for stability) unless you know what you're doing.

In some ways USB without battery will also run colder (because there's no charging going on) meaning less risk of heat-based shutdown, though note that a stationary GoPro (wedged into a setup) doesn't get air-cooled as much as the designers may have assumed so that's not a guarantee.

USB power on and trigger

https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/usb/

Labs firmware

===QR control fragments

Camera mode mV mVP performance mVE endurance mVS stationary ()

Audio and video settings

• FPS

p24 p25 p30 p50 p60 p100 p120 p200 p240

Wind reduction

aS off

aS on

aA auto

Video settings

Lens

fW0 wide

fN narrow

fL0 linear

fH linear+HL

fS superview

fV hyperview (11)

Max Lens Mod

oX1fW enable wide

oX1fX enable superview

oX0 disable MLM

• spot metering

oSM0 disable spot

oSM50,50 position=middle

(exposure lock)

protune

• reset t0
• color: tcG for vibrant, tcN for natural (10/11), tcF for flat
• depth (11 only?): td0 for 8-bit, td1 for 10-bit
• white balance

twA for auto

twN for native

tw23 for 2300K

tw28 for 2800K

tw32 for 3200K

tw40 for 4000K

tw45 for 4500K

tw50 for 5000K

tw55 for 5500K

tw60 for 6000K

tw65 for 6500K

• minimum and maximum ISO

e.g. twNi8M2 for 200 to 800, twNi64M64 for 6400; numbers are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and min can't be higher than max

• lock shutter

ti64S0 auto

ti64S360 360

ti64S180 180

ti64S90 90

ti64S45 45

ti64S22 22

(ti64S10, ti64S5, ti64S2)

• EV compensation

tx-2

tx-1.5

tx-1

tx-.5

tx0

tx.5

tx1.5

tx2

• sharpness

tsL low

tsM medium

tsH high

Processing options

• Hypersmooth

oX0e0 off

oX0e1 on

oX0e2 high

oX0e3 boost

oX0e4 auto (11)

• hindsight

hS0 off

hS1 15ec

hS2 30sec

• duration

dR0 off

dR15 15sec

dR30 30sec

dR60 1min

dR300 5min

dR900 15min

dR3600 1hr

dR3600 2hr

dR9999 3hr

• camera auto off
  • oR0C0 (never), oR0C1 (1 min), oR0C5 (5 min), oR0C15 (15 min), oR0C30 (30 min), possibly more

• display auto off
  • oR0C0S (never), oR0C0S1 (1 min), oR0C0S2 (2 min), oR0C0S3 (3 min), possibly more

• WiFi

oR0C0W0 (off)

oR0C0W1 (on)

oR0C0W2 (2.4 only)

oR0C0W5 (5 only)

oR0C0W1

• GPS:

g0 for off, g1 for on

• Voice control:

v0 for off, v1 for on

• voice language

oR0C0L0 US english

oR0C0L01 UK english

oR0C0L02 AUS english

oR0C0L03 IND english

oR0C0L1 German

oR0C0L2 French

oR0C0L3 Italian

oR0C0L4 EU spanish

oR0C0L41 NA spahish

oR0C0L5 Chinese

oR0C0L6 Japanese

oR0C0L7 Korean

oR0C0L8 Portuguese

oR0C0L9 Russian

oR0C0L91 Swedish

• QuikCapture

means that the record button can be used to power on and record, which you may want during action (and probably not while it's packed)

q0 for off, q1 for on

• default mode

dL for last, dV for video, dP for photo, dT for timelapse

• beep volume

oV0, oV1, oV4, oV7, oV8, oV9, possibly more?

• display brightness

oB1, oB4, oB7, oB9, maybe more?

• LEDs

oD0 (all off), oD2 (rear only), oD4 (all on)

• orientation lock

oR0 (unlocked), oR1, oR2, oR2, oR2,

• set time, e.g. oT230731161750 meaning 2023, jul, 31, 16:17:50

https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/custom/

https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/usb/

https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/

Conditional/delayed

• start capturing at boot [2]

• start capturing based on speed (from GPS)
  • !SK30 over 30km/h
  • !SK30-90 30 to 90km/h
  • SK5-10H3 5 to 10km/h with 3s hold time

• start capturing based on gyroscope and/or accelerometer (e.g. for drone use) [3]

• start capturing based on video motion
  • !SM1

• start capturing based on time

• start capture based on sound [4]

https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/custom/

https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/usb/

Even more advanced stuff

https://gopro.github.io/labs/control/extensions/

Use as webcam

There is a "GoPro Webcam desktop utility"[5].

It talks to the GoPro over USB, though using some custom faff to do so, instead of being a standard UVC device, which also takes over control over the GoPro in a way that isn't fully integrated with everything else. It will absolutely act as a webcam and if that's enough you're good - but it doesn't seem to pick up the same camera settings (e.g. ISO) you set in the video mode, you may not get remote control at the same time, and other such details.

Also, in my experience this was not very reliable - it would sometimes stop communication in a way that only a reboot seemed to fix