Camera Gear

The GoPro That Thinks It’s a Cinema Camera Is Now One of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2026

GoPro’s $699.99 Mission 1 Pro ILS made TIME’s Best Inventions of 2026, joining the Nikon RED ZR and Fujifilm’s instax mini Evo Cinema on the list.

GoPro’s Mission 1 Pro ILS, the company’s first camera with interchangeable lenses, has been named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2026. TIME’s entry for the $699.99 camera carries the headline “GoPro goes cinematic.”

It’s one of three video cameras on this year’s list of 300 inventions, alongside the Nikon RED ZR and Fujifilm’s instax mini Evo Cinema. All three appear in TIME’s Consumer Electronics category.

What TIME Recognized

The Mission 1 Pro ILS pairs a 50MP 1-inch sensor and GoPro’s GP3 processor with a Micro Four Thirds lens mount, in a body that weighs 197 grams. It records up to 8K at 60fps and 4K at up to 240fps, with 10-bit GP-Log2.

TIME’s write-up says the camera “shatters that silver ceiling,” referring to the quality ceiling action cameras have long hit compared with dedicated cinema gear. The mount is the key to that pitch, since it opens the camera to a wide range of existing Micro Four Thirds glass.

There are limits. The mount has no electronic contacts, so it works only with lenses that offer manual focus and either manual aperture control or a fixed aperture of f/4.5 or wider.

An Award Run for the Mission 1 Series

The TIME nod adds to a long list of awards for the Mission 1 lineup since its launch earlier this year. In a September announcement, GoPro counted 11 industry awards from 10 publications across the series, including a SlashGear Hot List pick and a TechRadar recommendation for the ILS model specifically.

The recognition comes during a difficult year for the company. GoPro has faced a going-concern warning in its filings and a Nasdaq compliance notice, and YouTuber Markiplier has become its largest shareholder.

The Other Cameras on the List

The Nikon RED ZR is Nikon’s first dedicated Z-mount cinema camera, developed with RED. It shares its imaging hardware with the Z6III, drops the viewfinder and mechanical shutter for a 4-inch screen, and records 6K at up to 60fps in RED’s R3D NE RAW format. TIME’s entry is titled “Pro filmmaking goes portable.”

Fujifilm’s instax mini Evo Cinema is the first video-capable instax camera. It records short clips, prints stills on instax mini film with QR codes that link to the video, and takes its design cues from a 1960s Fujica Single-8 film camera.

Competitive Context

At $699.99 for the body, the Mission 1 Pro ILS sits well below most interchangeable-lens cameras that shoot 8K. Its most direct comparison is Micro Four Thirds bodies like Panasonic’s Lumix GH7, covered in GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS vs. Panasonic GH7. The GH7 adds autofocus, electronic lens support, and a much deeper feature set at a higher price.

The Nikon RED ZR targets a different buyer: filmmakers who want RAW cinema output from a full-frame body. For a closer look at how it stacks up within Nikon’s lineup, see Nikon Z5 IIc vs. Nikon ZR.

The Signal in the Noise

TIME’s list is a general-audience award, not a technical review, so it says more about the idea than about image quality. The idea is a durable, pocket-size camera that can take real lenses.

The reviews from camera outlets have largely backed that idea, with the manual-only lens support as the main tradeoff. For filmmakers already working with manual glass, or rigging small cameras for B-cam, car or crash-cam work, it remains one of the more interesting options of the year. For GoPro, a TIME nod is good publicity at a time when the company needs it.

Would you put a Micro Four Thirds lens on a GoPro for B-cam work? Share your setup or your doubts in the comments.