GoPro Hero 5 and Karma Drone are a thing now.

[Dylan Couper]

Not so closely guarded secret...

Hero 5 and 5 Session.
https://shop.gopro.com/International...l?cgid=cameras
GoPro is now no longer the only top action cam without GPS and without IS of some type (electronic now). LCD screen is now built in and button layout is changed. Don't think a lot of people will be trading in the Hero 4. I'm much more looking forward to the new Sony.


Ok a few years late to the party but... Karma drone!
https://shop.gopro.com/karma
Much more interesting! Includes a Hero 5 Black for $1100. Gimbal detaches and mounts on a stick. Basically, you get a Hero 5, a Phantom sized drone and an Osmo for the price of just a Phantom. Which hey, GOOD DEAL! And the controller looks good! Built in screen & clamshell looking design.

[Pat Reddy]

Wow:

GoPro HERO5 + Karma: The Launch - YouTube

Pat

[Steve Burkett]

Okay I have to admit, the whole package is definitely down on my Christmas list.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Me thinks a lot of second-hand DJI drones will be appearing in the classified section very soon...along with a few Osmo et al stick gimbals!

[Jack Zhang]

Where are the specs? They're not listed anywhere on the page. Being vague for the sake of vagueness, are we?

Edit: Only up to 4K30p, just like the Hero 4 Black.

[Pat Reddy]

B&H has the specs:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ro5_black.html

Not all of them, but it will give you the highlights.

Pat

[Dan Brockett]

Some of the limitations of the Karma drone are apparent...

1. 20 minute only flight time. Which means if you are cautious and want to be conservative, really 17 minutes flight time.

2. Less range than other drones

3. It would be interesting to do a shootout with the Go Pro Hero 5 versus the built in gimbal cams on the competition.

4. Lower top speed than competition if you need fast flyovers or to track ground vehicles


But some of the other features are super cool

1. Size and weight look to be more manageable than a lot of the competition. Folding is very neat.

2. Simplicity. Just from the look of the interface, it looks super easy and simple, perfect for the casual drone user like most of us who just want to fly and shoot, not become pseudo pilots. Nice to not tie up your phone or iPad.

3. The dual pilot/camera op thing is very smart, that's what the pros use on the big drones, a pilot and a camera op.

4. Accessory city. Anything Go Pro makes has thousands of accessories available and this will be no different. The Hero 5 looks to be an incremental improvement that doesn't give us everything we want but it does make it better. I still like my Hero 4s so this is just gravy.

It seems as if Karma will be the Toyota Corolla of drones, a bit underpowered, small but very accessible and the number one seller in the world. Many of us just want to get our feet wet with a drone and will not be using it for paying clients/with insurance, etc. For the casual user, this thing looks like a winner to me but I would reserve final judgement until it ships and the reviewers and testers are all over it.

[Pat Reddy]

For me the real selling point is the detachable Karma Grip gimbal which can be detached from the drone and used handheld or attached to a vehicle or your body. This is what they used for the super-stable shots on the beach, the snowboarding, and on the mountain bikes. it also has 1440p at up to 80p.

Pat

[Zach Love]

Is the Karma grip sold by itself?

[Pat Reddy]

Yes it is.

[Jeroen Wolf]

Same distortion as Hero 4... c'mon GoPro! This is a great toy for selfie-folk, not filmmakers...

[Dan Brockett]

Go Pro makes mass market sports cameras. The fact that many pros use them for all kinds of shooting doesn't mean that Go Pro really cares about what pros want. This new generation proves that. They will remain useful for certain things for me (car shooting, POV, plant cameras) but they will not be a well rounded professional tool.

The most important thing they could add, IMHO, is more than about 8 stops of latitude. I have my ND filters and polarizers for them but I often shoot in situations where blown out skies or no shadow detail are the end result and it's frustrating. A Pro Go Pro at a $1,000.00 including removable lenses and 12-14 stops of DR would be a hot seller for pros, but Go Pro, at this point, is still trying to be a mass market product manufacturer.

[Pat Reddy]

Hi Dan,

I could be wrong about this, but to me it looks like there might be better handling of highlights and improved dynamic range in the Hero 5 compared with the Hero 4. The snow in the demo video actually has good detail. Of course, in a demo video like their's they will try to control the situation to make the camera look as good as possible. They are right to market it for the masses, but it is good enough to be very useful for professionals. I am very used to seeing GoPro shots in documentaries and reality TV shows. The frequent use of the cameras in broadcast contexts shows that they fill a niche in that world as well.

Pat

[Greg Boston]

Most of the drone crowd is giving the Karma a "meh" response. Myself included.

[Paulo Teixeira]

They should have tried releasing this drone a little earlier. If it was a year ago, it would have been competing with the Parrot Bebop drone but now you have the Yuneec Breeze and the soon to be released DJI Mavic. Still, one major thing good about that GoPro Karma over the $500 Yuneec Breeze is the gimbal. The Breeze has a digital stabilizer that doesn't work in 4K. We'll see how the Karma compares to the DJI Mavic since that also has a gimbal.

I'm talking specifically people who wants a good quality drone but not have it be too big. Not everyone will want to take a Yuneec Typhoon H or Phantom 4 on trips especially if you're a backpacker.

One thing that I notice is that the controller looks a lot like the NVidia Shield Portable. Some people have bought the NVidia Shield Portable to control their Parrot AR and Bebop drones instead of using a smartphone.

I really need to get a 4K capable drone myself.