There have been rumors, leaks and very detail-thin information releases about GoPro’s Karma drone circulating the web for months by now (as we’d covered on at least one occasion) and many tech watchers were definitely wondering when this interesting new drone from the famous 4K action camera maker would finally arrive. Well now it finally has and it’s quite a cool little toy.
The Karma is quite compact, small enough to fit into a shoe box and it can also be neatly folded up as needed for carrying it around. With this, what you also get your hands on is a robust stabilization system which is removable, attachable to a handheld grip and usable for recording crystal clear 4K video while on foot as well.
Next, GoPro added the ability to record GPS data. Some of this is a bit unclear as to how exactly the GPS data will be used (for example, can you overlay speed during a recording?). Right now it just says it records position. But I’m sure those answers will become clear soon. This feature puts it back in the camp of the vast majority of action cams these days that have GPS within them.
However, GoPro has set itself apart by introducing the ability to record RAW images (photos) – which is pretty cool. They also introduced a new HDR mode (which they call WDR). It allows you to get more dynamic shots for photos.
GoPro has introduced a field of view option, which aims to simplify how the images will turn out from a zoom and perspective standpoint. So now you’ve got Medium, Linear, Wide, Superwide, and Narrow. Some of these were there before, but Linear is new. The idea there is to remove the fisheye effect. Other companies have had this for a while, but it’s nice to see GoPro join that crowd. More importantly though, what GoPro does is make it easy to see the impact instantly within the preview window – as opposed to after selecting the option. Garmin doesn’t currently do this today for field of view types (though they do it for pro settings).
The Karma does not come with its own 4K camera included if you buy the basic $799 model but an upgrade to the $1,099 package does come with GoPro’s new Hero 5 4K action camera and in any case the drone is fully compatible with all versions of the GoPro Hero camera, including the also 4K-capable Hero 4 Black. So if you’ve already got one of these, this is probably the most ideal UAV you can get for them. For stabilization, there is the already-mentioned 3-Axis gimbal which can also be used for handheld shooting and during flight, its stabilization hardware does a robust job of keeping the Karma’s video feed smooth and sharp.
Unlike many other drone designs (such as DJI’s best-selling Phantom drones) the Karma has its camera mount along the front of the drone instead of beneath itself and according to GoPro, this design is the case in an effort to eliminate the appearance of rotor blades in video and photo stills when the drone is flying forward at a tilted angle.
Source: 4k.com & dcrainmaker.com
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