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In a more real-world test, the Hero 9 usually lasted me half a day, so you'll still want to pack an extra battery if you're planning a full day of shooting. In a side-by-side 4K test with the Hero 8, the Hero 9 lasted 23 minutes longer, running for a full 2 hours and 11 minutes. It's worth noting that battery life has improved too, thanks to a larger battery. It makes the Hero 9's front screen considerably more useful.
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With the Osmo Action, you manually switch from front to rear screen as needed the Hero 9 has both ready to go at all times. But while DJI got there first, GoPro has one-upped it with an always-on design that somehow doesn't affect battery life. The DJI Osmo Action camera beat GoPro here by several years, and it's something I've missed whenever I switched back to GoPros. The other major new feature is the full-color front screen.
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I figure it's better to have the image in 14.7-megapixel JPG than miss the shot entirely in a quest to get a RAW image. That's primarily how I've been using the Hero 9-always in video mode. Shooting in the dedicated photo mode still has some advantages, particularly the ability to shoot RAW images, but in my testing I was more than happy with the JPG results pulled from video 95 percent of the time. The great thing about this is that you can leave the camera in 5K video mode and then pull out high-quality still images later, so there's never a chance you'll miss the action. That's a high enough resolution to be perfectly usable not just on the web, but in print. The new sensor also brings the ability to grab a 14.7-MP still image from videos.