I have both a mirrorless and a GoPro, but the new GoPro 1 Mission Pro ILS is unlike any other camera that I’ve seen. Interchangeable lenses have arrived on a still tiny GoPro, but unbelievably there's no autofocus!

The brand that has become a household name for action cameras has ventured into mirrorless cameras for the first time. The GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS brings several features from its longstanding action camera line into a tiny mirrorless camera with a 50MP one-inch sensor and a Micro Four Thirds mount.

But bringing the GoPro-like features into mirrorless cameras for the first time means that the Mission 1 Pro ILS is unlike any other mirrorless camera on the market. For starters, the Mission 1 ILS looks exactly how I’d imagined a GoPro with no lens would look, including the front and rear screens and a rather compact body. Surprisingly, it’s not much heavier than the Hero13 Black at 197g – only 38g / 1.34 ounces more than the earlier action camera.

But while the Mission 1 ILS brings GoPro’s style and yes, it’s much-loved stabilization, to the mirrorless world, the camera’s list of features isn’t without its oddities, including a mismatched sensor and mount and a lack of autofocus.

I’m a photographer who often uses a GoPro to shoot behind-the-scenes videos while I’m using my mirrorless camera. I sat down with GoPro to take a deep dive into the company’s first-ever mirrorless camera.

GoPro Mission 1 ILS: A one-inch sensor with Micro Four Thirds lenses

The GoPro Mission 1 ILS uses a one-inch sensor capable of 50MP stills and open gate video up to 8K60p, with slow-mo modes for 4K120p and 1080 at 960 fps. The camera supports 10-bit GP-Log2 and will have LUTs for color editing. The Mission 1 Pro and Mission 1 action cameras use the same sensor.

The camera uses a Micro Four Thirds lenses – a move that makes a lot of sense for a first-ever mirrorless, as that means the Mission 1 ILS will be compatible with hundreds of existing lenses at launch, without having to wait for a range of lenses to be developed.

The one-inch sensor is smaller than the Micro Four Thirds format that GoPro is borrowing the lens mount from, which will give the camera a 3x crop factor. A 50mm lens, for example, will look like a 150mm lens.

That’s going to help GoPro’s first mirrorless have an advantage with getting telephoto reach and close-up macro. However, that will make getting wide-angle shots more challenging – though not impossible. Lenses like the Olympus 7-14mm will act like a 21-42mm lens – so significantly less wide-angle than the 15mm equivalent lens that’s mounted on the fixed lens cameras in the Mission series.

The Mission 1 ILS isn’t the first mirrorless camera to use a one-inch sensor – Nikon’s now defunct 1 series also used a one-inch sensor on compact mirrorless cameras, with its own bespoke range of lenses, launched between 2011 and 2018 before the shift to the full-frame Z Mount system. Like the Nikon 1 series, the Mission 1 ILS is a rather compact mirrorless system – but unlike the Nikon 1, it’s launching at a time when compact cameras are trending.

GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS: A surprisingly compact design

GoPro says the Mission series is the smallest, lightest 8K open gate cameras yet – and the ILS is actually lighter than the Mission 1 Pro with a built-in lens. The GoPro mirrorless weighs 197g / 6.94oz with a battery installed – although that, of course, doesn’t include the weight of whatever lens is paired with the camera body. In comparison, the Hero13 Black is 159g / 5.6 oz – just 38g / 1.34oz lighter.

The camera body measures 89.6 x 58.7 x 46.1 mm (3.52 x 2.3 x 1.8 inches) – that’s less than 20mm / 0.7 inches wider than GoPro’s Hero13 Black.

The body will have a similar build quality to the fixed lens Mission cameras, but, since the lens is interchangeable, the ILS camera isn’t waterproof. GoPro did note that, if you mount a weather-sealed lens to the front, the camera would be splash-resistant, but it will need a housing to go underwater.

That compact size doesn’t leave much room for physical controls, but GoPro still fit in an LCD screen at the back and the front both. Most controls will be adjusted using the screen, which does have a revamped user interface and full manual controls as well as auto modes. Like the company’s action cameras, the Mission 1 Pro ILS uses microSD cards.

The GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS doesn’t have autofocus

While GoPro’s action cameras use fixed focus, that’s not possible with an interchangeable lens camera. The Mission 1 Pro ILS is manual focus only.

Manual focus only cameras aren’t uncommon in the cinema camera world, where many creators prefer to manually focus or use rigs with follow focus systems. But, it is uncommon for cinema cameras and vlogging cameras targeting a more entry-level creator to skip out on the autofocus.

The GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS seems poised as a prosumer model straddling the gap between action cameras and cinema cameras. Using manual focus will make using the ILS come with a higher learning curve than the Mission 1 Pro with a built-in, fixed focus lens.

Creators can still mimic the fixed focus technique using zone focusing, a longstanding technique that uses a narrower aperture to keep anything at a certain distance in focus. But, this technique will still have that higher learning curve than using a camera with autofocus.

One of the recurring rumors that I’ve seen over and over has been that GoPro would create a mirrorless camera – and now the action camera giant has finally gone and done just that. While the ILS carries the stabilization and compact design GoPro is known for, it comes with a 3x crop factor and manual focus.

GoPro needs a big win right now as the company continues to post financial losses and announces layoffs. The big question is, is the Mission 1 Pro ILS the win that the action camera giant needs right now? As a photographer who uses both mirrorless and GoPro action cameras, I’m intrigued by the stabilization, the 8K video, and the tiny design – but I really wish the camera had autofocus.

While GoPro’s new fixed lens Mission cameras will arrive at the end of May, GoPro fans will have to wait longer for the mirrorless camera. The camera is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2026 – so sometime between July and September.

Pricing has not yet been announced.

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