GoPro announces a new drone and the waterproof Hero5 Black

GoPro announced a new lineup of devices, including a drone, and a couple new cameras. People have long been capturing amazing aerial footage by mounting GoPro cameras to drones, so it seems logical that GoPro, who already make a wide variety of mounts to accompany their cameras, would venture into the drone space with a model of their own. People have also been using GoPro cameras underwater for many years. Until now that has necessitated enclosing the camera in a waterproof shield of some kind. GoPro’s new waterproof cameras will make capturing footage in or near the water much more convenient.

GoPro announces a new drone

GoPro announced a new drone called Karma, a foldable model that has a gimbal in front to capture footage without anything getting in the way from the drone’s body. The Karma and the included controller don’t come with a GoPro Hero5, unless they would be bundled, so pricing depends on that. For the time being, the Karma won’t be available at Best Buy Canada.

Other drones are technically capable of mounting GoPro cameras, as has been evidenced online (do a simple search on YouTube), while others have their own 4K cameras attached.

The DJI Phantom 3 4K and Phantom 4 are two that fly really well and shoot video and photos in 4K. The Yuneec Q500 is another that flies well and shoots in 4K, so the Karma will have some stiff competition, particularly on the flying side.

DJI will soon be announcing the Mavic, a small foldable drone that will likely be another great option for enthusiasts.

New Hero5 cameras are waterproof!

GoPro has announced two new POV action cameras in the Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session, updating the company’s flagship model and adding new features to make it the most interesting yet. Improved image quality, waterproof body and built-in GPS round out some of the latest additions.

Starting with the Hero5 Black, the camera appears to be similar in size to the Hero4 Black, except that the new model is waterproof out of the box. Previously, waterproof housings were required to ensure the camera was safe from water damage. It can dive down to 33 feet, so is certainly good enough for snorkeling or shallow diving. Waterproof housings to let it go deeper will be available, too.

The camera shoots footage in 4K at 30fps—the same as its predecessor—plus 2K at 60fps or 1080p HD at 120fps. Still photos are at 12-megapixels with RAW support. All controls and settings can be managed on the 2-inch touchscreen, which was a feature the Hero4 Silver had, but the Black didn’t. Now, the Hero5 merges them both.

Built-in GPS means there’s no need to keep a smartphone around to piggyback off its own signal to tag location data. More interestingly, the camera will have its own voice recognition system (in seven languages, including French and Spanish) to let you issue commands, like starting or stopping a video or shooting a still image. There are others beyond that, of course, including powering it on or off, doing a timelapse video or shooting a still photo while recording video.

The Hero5 Session is more scaled back in that it doesn’t have the touchscreen, but it can still shoot in 4K at 30fps, is waterproof and has the voice command system, so that’s a good trade-off. Still images are at 10-megapixels, but otherwise, there aren’t major drawbacks to this one.

Not surprisingly, the new cameras maintain GoPro’s vaunted mounting system, so if you have built a collection of them over the years, fear not, they will be fully compatible.

GoPro did also mention a new cloud-based service called GoPro Plus to store content, but it will only be available in the United States at launch, with Canada likely to follow at a later unconfirmed date.

The new GoPro cameras will be available in early October.