GoPro has used the Hero name since 2004, but the action camera giant is ushering a new era of cinema cameras with the Mission 1 series – and the upcoming 8K, 50MP cameras are already taking home awards.
GoPro announced the Mission 1 series ahead of the NAB Show and, rather than calling the tiny cameras “action cameras,” GoPro is calling the Mission 1, Mission 1 Pro, and Mission 1 Pro ILS “cinema cameras.” That’s due to the series's larger one-inch sensors and 8K capabilities, which, excluding the more affordable Mission 1, are also in open gate.
GoPro – who recently announced layoffs for 23 percent of its staff – needs the Mission 1 series to be well-received. The cameras don’t ship until May 28, but, recent awards suggest that the upcoming cameras have been well received.
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During the NAB Show, the first time that the cameras were on display, the series took home three show awards, including the Best In Show award from RedShark News for the full series, while GoPro’s first mirrorless camera, the Mission 1 Pro ILS, won the CineD Best of Show award for the camera category and was one of ten to receive the ProductionHUB Awards of Excellence.
GoPro wasn’t among the awards given out by the NAB Show, where the Overall Project award went to BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve 21, which now supports photos as well as videos, and awards in the camera category went to Zenith Cameras, the Fujifilm GFX Eterna 55, Sony PXW-Z300 Camcorder, and the PortalCam spatial Camera for virtual production.
The GoPro Mission series was one of the key announcements during the National Association of Broadcasters Show held last week in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the awards hint at the cameras being well-received, alongside GoPro opening pre-orders early due to “enthusiasm from the community.”
All three of the newly announced Mission 1 cameras use the same one-inch Quad Bayer sensor with video up to 8K and photos up to 50MP. The GoPro Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro look more like a classic GoPro with a fixed 15mm equivalent lens. The key difference between those two is that the model without the Pro in the name tops out at 8K30, and Open Gate is only available at 4K and lower resolutions. That differentiation means the GoPro Mission 1 retails for $599 / £529 / CA$819 / AU$949 while the Mission 1 Pro retails for $699 / £599 / CA$949 / AU$1099.
The third camera in the lineup is perhaps the most unusual: The GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS is the action camera giant’s first mirrorless camera. The ILS launches later than the other two models, expected sometime in the third quarter of 2026.
Without the ultra-wide fixed lens that allows GoPros to use a fixed focus in design that keeps everything a certain distance from the lens in focus, the Mission 1 Pro ILS is a manual focus-only camera. The ILS uses a Micro Four Thirds mount on a one-inch sensor, which means a 3x crop factor. The ILS will list for the same price as the Mission 1 Pro.
Pre-orders for the Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro are already open from GoPro’s online store.
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