GoPro fly in to the Drone market

The camera people GoPro enters drone market and updates Hero video cameras with more features.

GoPro has entered the popular drone market with the release of its new Karma drone, and has overhauled its Hero line of cameras and launched the Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session, along with a new cloud-based service for editing and sharing video called GoPro Plus. All exciting stuff.

The Hero5 Black is the most powerful and easiest to use GoPro ever, according to the company. It shoots 4K video at 30 frames per second and takes 12MP photographs. The camera is waterproof to 10m without a waterproof case, it has simple 1-button control but can be controlled by voice with seven supported languages, and has a distortion-free wide-angle lens and stereo audio recording.

There’s also the new Hero5 Session, which uses the same compact case design as the original Session but ramps up video quality to 4K at 30 frames per second and 10MP photos. Like the bigger Hero5 Black, the Hero5 Session will auto-upload photos and video to the cloud when it’s charging. It’s similarly waterproof without an extra case, has voice control and simple 1-button control.

These new cameras can be fitted to the Karma drone that is foldable and small enough to fit in the included backpack. A small controller pilots the drone with a touch display providing an overview of the footage the attached Hero5 camera is getting, so you don’t need a separate phone or tablet to see what the drone is seeing. The drone has a 3-axis camera stabiliser, which can also be removed from the drone and used with the new Karma Grip to capture smooth handheld footage. It has built-in camera controls. The Grip is very interesting as it bring stabilization to the GoPro camera market.

“With these new products, we’re delivering on our promise to make it easy to capture and share engaging stories,” said GoPro’s founder and CEO, Nicholas Woodman. “HERO5’s ability to auto-upload photos and videos to a GoPro Plus account dramatically simplifies mobile, on-the-go editing, sharing and enjoyment. This is a game-changing experience that we will continue to build upon.”

Woodman adds, “We’re stoked to launch Karma and show how much more it is than a drone. Karma packs Hollywood-caliber aerial, handheld and gear-mounted image stabilisation into a backpack for $799. It’s so easy to use, a beginner can have fun straight away.”

Coming to the UK next month. Price to be set but retails in the US for $800 and will ship Oct 23rd. See more at Go Pro Website.