Tag Archives: Nick Woodman

GoPro Hero 6 What will it Take?

GoPro Hero 6

It is no secret that GoPro had a pretty bad 2016 in terms of sales performance and the Karma Gate battery off incident. The company is loosing money but still shows signs of life. In the 4th quarter of 2016 GoPro was profitable on a non-GAAP basis with income of $42 million.  With the stock closing price today of $8.90, a far cry from the nearly $90 it was worth in October 2014, there needs to be a change of epic proportions if the company is expected to remain viable.

There are threats from new technologies like AR, VR and Snapchat Glasses among others that threaten to impede the company going forward. How can a camera company evolve overnight to survive in such a market.  We believe the answer is by innovating it’s way out of the whirlpool that it finds itself in. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

DJI Mavic Pro vs GoPro Karma Slowmo!

DJI Mavic Pro vs GoPro Karma

There has been extreme excitement over the last month for both the GoPro Karma Drone and the DJI Mavic Pro being the first truly portable and collapsible drones that offer professional features and a quality camera. However when we focus on the video quality it is clear that by several measures the Mavic Pro seems to be a step down compared to the DJI Phantom 4 and here lies the main issue between these two competing platforms.

GoPro has not been a quality champ ever since the DJI Phantom 3 came out. The Hero Camera with much more wide angle distortion and less sharpness was a letdown by being pretty much the same since the last refresh of the GoPro Hero 3+ several years ago. The GoPro way has been footprint reduction and feature addition instead of image quality hikes. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

GoPro Hero 5 Black and Karma Drone Lift Off!

karmagopro1

There was probably no other camera out there with more expectations to raise the high frame rates threshold than the GoPro Hero 5 Black.  Disappointingly they stayed the same as what we had in the Hero 4 Black of last year.  However there is a lot to like in the new update and the Karma Drone might be the real upgrade for the camera line by using a handheld stabilizer that works in your hand and in the air within the same bundle.

The Hero 4 Black and Silver are still relevant and usable in the new Karma drone with no adjustments. It is good of GoPro to still support their camera line but it is hard to fathom why the GoPro 3 Black and 3+ are not supported since they basically are very close in shape and design to the Hero 4. It may be time for some creative people to come with a way to use these cameras in the drone. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Olympus TG-Tracker Has 240fps HD Video!

OlyTGTracker

The Just announced Olympus TG-Tracker Action Camera is something of a cross between an ultra-portable camcorder and a Sony Action Cam. It has a flip LCD screen, 4k 30p video, built in LED light at 30 Lumens Continuous, GoPro Mount compatibility, No need for a housing, Sensors that record vector data much like the Garmin VIRB of last year and pretty good ruggedness.

The action camera space is getting more crowded and the Olympus TG-Tracker must work overtime to get attention away from Sony and GoPro Hero as the established leaders.  As to the ruggedness of the camera Olympus claims 100ft water tightness which may seem optimistic but doable. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

GoPro Hero 5 Rumored Specs!

Hero5Negative

The GoPro Hero 4 series has been quite successful for the company and many are thinking what can they offer next when it comes to camera specs.  The Hero 4 Session showed that miniaturization and form factor change is possible at GoPro and we will not be surprised to see a change in shape and size on the Hero 5 to reduce it’s footprint.   The GoPro mount has also been holding back the platform miniaturization as to remain compatible with accessories and grips of all kinds.  What could happen is to remain compatible but introduce a stronger and smaller mount with some sort of adapter for backward compatibility. This transition will open the way for more portable and stealthy cameras.

Our biggest hint of where the platform is going is what the new Ambarella H1 chip provides.  It is an evolutionary chip-set with a few features geared to UHD recording which suggest that 4k will be the focus going forward. → Continue Reading Full Post ←