GoPro Launches Karma Drone and Voice-Controlled Hero5 Cameras (cnet.com)

The long-awaited GoPro drone has officially launched. Dubbed Karma, GoPro's new drone works with the Hero5 and Hero5 Session, two new flagship cameras. The Hero5 features a 2-inch touch display, 12-megapixel photos with RAW support, built-in GPS, electronic image stabilization, waterproofing up to 33 feet (10 meters), and voice control. The GoPro Hero5 Session on the other hand consists of a tiny cube camera that is capable of 4K video recording at 30 fps and 10-megapixel photos. It too is waterproof up to 33 feet (10 meters) and offers support for voice commands. You can say, "GoPro, start recording," and it will start recording. They are also both cloud-connected, meaning they can auto-upload photos and video to an account when the camera is charging (requires a paid subscription to GoPro's new cloud service). While the Karma works with the Hero5 and Hero5 Session, it also works with the Hero4 cameras. CNET reports: The Karma's small, too. Like fold-it-up-and-stick-it-in-a-regular-backpack small. In fact, it even comes with the backpack. And of course it's made with the new Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session cameras, but will also work with the Hero4 cameras. So you're not stuck with a camera that's permanently attached to a drone, you're getting a camera you can use on its own or in the drone. Perhaps its greatest asset is the three-axis camera stabilizer on the drone. Not only will it keep your video looking smooth in the air, but it can be removed and attached to the included Karma Grip. GoPro says the grip can then be used handheld, perfect for running, riding, skating, etc. alongside your friends, or mounted on other gear. Karma arrives on October 23 for $799 without a camera, $999 with a Hero5 Session and $1,099 with the Hero5 Black.

Comments

That makes me think..

[hcs_$reboot]

need to buy some curtains..

Re:That makes me think..

[LeftCoastThinker]

Aaaaand now we have yet another flying camcorder for the crooks and peeping Toms to invade your privacy and harass your family with... Awesome! /sarc

GoPro rock

[Cederic]

I'm enough of an irrational photography purist to want and demand an interchangeable lens and full control over my photography (and video). However: There is just so much awesome, in-focus, useable footage out there taken on GoPro cameras that most photography equipment just wouldn't be light enough, portable enough, small enough or durable enough to capture.

So GoPro rock. If the drone matches their cameras for sheer simple 'fitness for purpose' then I'm going to find it hard not to buy one.

Re: GoPro rock

[Anonymous Coward]

There are dozens of drones Ma y years old that hang a gimbal with a GoPro. Btw one can't hold a GoPro with a self stick with a gimbal riding a horse... far too much movement to expect image stabilisation to work.

Who care about cheap rebranded Chinese cameras?

[fubarrr]

Who care about cheap rebranded Chinese cameras?

yes

[pepesito]

yes

Needs a different voice trigger

[Solandri]

Tour guide: "If you've brought along a GoPro, start recording when we hit this section of the rapids tomorrow. It's a wild ride and you want to be sure to get it on video."

Next day just as they're about to start their raft trip: "WTF? Why is my GoPro saying the memory card is full and the battery is almost dead?"

Fooled me once

[sdguero]

I had major issues with the GoPro 3 series when they were released. It was a latent failure that existed in the the silver/white series which had a slower flash memory controller than the black series. I had several microSD cards get corrupted, and tons of destroyed video data from three different cameras (all "silver" models manufactured during first 6 months of the product release).

The company never took responsibility. Never admitted to the hardware problem (friend of a friend works at GoPro and later confirmed they had a flash memory controller problem was fixed with a hardware rev). Support was non-existent. I wasted probably 40 hours of my life messing with firmware, testing, reaching out to gopro, and finally returning the cameras. Luckily I bought my second one at Best Buy (first was from Amazon) so they let me return that failed unit and then it's replacement failure for store credit (it had been months since I'd purchased the first one).

They were also actively gaming the Amazon reviews. I had my review removed twice.

Long story short, I vowed to never buy another gopro product.

Re: Fooled me once

[Anonymous Coward]

Friend of a friend

Re:Fooled me once

[Xest]

Interesting to hear this as I nearly bought the Hero 4 black for taking footage whilst diving, but was warned off it by numerous people saying that in the housing the thing just overheated and shutdown within about 10 minutes.

Sure enough, hundreds of complaints about this online. I ended up buying the Hero 4 silver which has been a fantastic piece of kit and I can't complain at all about it, but I still to this day can't for the life of me understand why the Hero 4 black was even allowed to stay on sale given that it was basically faulty out the box in that it would fail quickly in the housing it was shipped with.

I'd never buy a new GoPro release now if they're willing to ship something so fundamentally broken on release and keep it on sale for years after their tech support are admitting to people that that's just how it is. This is a real shame because their working kit is really impressive.

Re: Fooled me once

[sdguero]

Yes. My best friend worked with the guy for years, then the dude went to work at GoPro. My buddy asked him because I was bitching so much about the corruption issues. All of us are software engineers.

Re:Fooled me once

[sdguero]

I don't think the Hero 4 line had any of the problems I had, but obviously they had some QA misses.

The new cameras are probably OK. My problem isn't so much with the quality of GoPro products as with how they handled the failures I encountered. Instead of admitting to it and helping customers find a solution, they did their damndest to actively sweep it under the rug. The heat from the Hero3 failures was so bad that the CEO was forced to respond at one point. It was a very frustrating thing to read. Instead of addressing the actual problem (it WAS a hardware problem, not software!), he talked about how GoPro users are a tribe, and we need to be patient with customer service, and of course keep buying gopro products because us shills (ahem, i mean customers) are such amazing people with amazing lives to record and share.

I found the letter: http://goprouser.freeforums.or...

Garmin VIRB Ultra30 forced this

[Danilushka]

When deciding to upgrade from my Hero 2HDs, I decided to go with the Garmin VIRB Ultra30, which has all the features GoPro just announced for the Hero5 plus integration of sensors (like heart rate, altitude, temperature, speed, power, foot strike, etc.) which can be added as overlays to videos in the VIRB editor. Also syncs with your mobile phone (via app) for camera control. The Hero2 HD had an arcane and clunky interface clunky, needed extra packs for poor WiFi, and I wanted more modern cameras with 2.7k and 4k capability. The only downside, which is temporary, is that accessories are limited for now, but the VIRB Ultra uses the GoPo mount so I can use all my mounts. Spare batteries are the one thing I miss so far. Competition drives market innovation once again.

That's It?

[Greyfox]

That sounds like a rehash of the Hero 4, with a gee whiz feature that a large part of their target demographic won't be able to use. You know what I want? I want a full 360 degree VR camera. One that doesn't pose a snag hazard when a parachute gets deployed and won't throw off my aerodynamics. Somewhere out there is a company with the vision to create such a thing, and I'll purchase my next camera from that company.