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GoPro finally debuts its portable Karma drone

64 points by stoev 10y ago

craigkerstiens 10y ago
The actual gopro site for it at https://shop.gopro.com/karma https://shop.gopro.com/karma
samfisher83 10y ago
For that price you can get a DJI p3p which has lightbridge, a proven gimbal, longer battery life etc. The main advantage this has it has it is a little more portable. I think they should have sold it for 500 bucks.
- stoev 10y ago
  Exactly. Plus, the range is worse by approximately 80% (depending on the DJI model), the battery life and maximum speed are lower by approximately 20%. With the camera included, it is 50% more expensive than a Phantom 3 Advanced. On top of that the field of view of a GoPro camera is too wide for a drone, DJI have a much more adequate setup. GoPro should have at least supplied a small lens that would fix this problem. As for portability, assuming that one would be using each brand's backpack to transport each drone, they are actually very similar in size: GoPro: 540 x 320 x 150 mm DJI: 447 x 318 x 229 GoPro would have a much better chance if they had entered the market at the right price (~500 USD) and emphasised the qualities they are known for - durability and reliability.
  - t3ra 10y ago
    You also get a stabilizer which is like osmo.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    >As for portability, assuming that one would be using each brand's backpack to transport each drone, they are actually very similar in size: GoPro: 540 x 320 x 150 mm DJI: 447 x 318 x 229 That's when the GoPro is folded in the bag?
    - stoev 10y ago
      Yes, that's a comparison of the dimensions of the two backpacks.
  - EA 10y ago
    the older GoPro cameras offered these FOVs. Unsure what the Hero5 offers. Wide FOV - 17.2mm Medium FOV - 21.9mm Narrow FOV - 34.4mm
mtw 10y ago
Does it have vision features like DJIs? Like follow and track a moving object
- mesh 10y ago
  They did not explicitly mention that in their keynote, which would suggest to me they don't have it.
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  It doesn't look like it, no. Shameless plug for a buddy of mine's startup: the Staaker drone does autonomous follow and track (based on radio signals, not vision), makes really sweet stabilised videos with different hover/follow patterns, and has gotten the best reviews out of all the action sports drones launched so far. It's almost like having a personal helicopter camera crew, but without the $10k/hour price tag. https://www.staaker.com https://www.staaker.com
  - dannylandau 10y ago
    Nice! How does it compare to the Lily -- https://www.lily.camera/ https://www.lily.camera/ It never shipped, but just curious
    - at-fates-hands 10y ago
      Most drones do have this kind of functionality. Even the 3DR Iris+ (which isn't supported anymore) has these features and you can still find it for $200-$300 less than the GoPro. The only problem is since its not supported, parts are harder to come by. The 3DR Solo is the replacement and they're supporting this model exclusively. I believe all the Yuneec drones have all these features and well under the GoPro price point. For a few more dollars, you can get a lot more drone with they Yuneec Typhoon H: https://yuneec.com/en_US/products/typhoon/h/overview.html https://yuneec.com/en_US/products/typhoon/h/overview.html Just a personal preference, but I've heard DJI has the worst customer service. When I was in the market for my first drone (2014), I was shocked at all the forum posts about their customer service: http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/horrible-dji-customer-service.19877/ http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/horrible-dji-customer-s... https://www.reddit.com/r/djiphantom/comments/3b2jvp/honestly_how_bad_is_the_dji_customer_service/ https://www.reddit.com/r/djiphantom/comments/3b2jvp/honestly... Maybe they've gotten better, but I stuck with 3DR and have had good experiences with them. They respond to emails really fast, if I call, they're patient with me and have helped me out a few jams where my drone was acting up. I didn't have to ship it to them, they walked me through the troubleshooting until it was fixed. Full disclosure: I own two 3DR drones and a Yuneec Q500. Both companies are US based companies with US based customer support.
bishnu 10y ago
It would appear the drone is only capable of filming fit, attractive people.
- evan_ 10y ago
  Unlike those other marketing videos that use exclusively unattractive people
  - coldtea 10y ago
    In fact that would be a nice thing to champion. Unlike the trend that has most corporate ads show token ethnic people for "diversity" in numbers non representative of their percentages in the population and absolutely not representative of their corporate presence -- whereas e.g. the real Board of the company is 9 white men and an asian. Non attractive people, on the other hand, or regular people, so to speak, are the vast majority -- fat, short, too tall, too skinny, etc. So it would nice to have all ads display "attractiveness diversity". E.g. if a panel of independent "judges" deems that the people in the ad are too attractive (e.g. all model level pretty), the ad gets canned. This would help with tons of people's complexes, things like anorexia, teenage anxiety, etc.
    - tothepixel 10y ago
      Marketing is often based on aspiration. Using the most attractive people doing the most exciting things is what sells for things like this. You would be willfully throwing out ROI to promote "feelings".... Tough sell.
      - coldtea 10y ago
        >You would be wilfully throwing out ROI to promote "feelings".... Tough sell. Hence the mention of panels that can axe non conforming ads, etc. I'm not talking about voluntary adherence to those advertising principles, rather something like regulation.
        10y ago
TheGRS 10y ago
Something that bothers me about these drone cameras is that when people are using them in remote spots (i.e. the top of a hill or a lake at the base of a mountain in a national park) they generate a TON of noise. I went backpacking at Jefferson Park this summer and was woken up to the serene sounds of a quad-copter flying over our little lakeside spot. Lovely. Hopefully it doesn't scare off wildlife.
- biztos 10y ago
  Maybe it's time to learn the boomerang...
- baldfat 10y ago
  You should camp in wilderness with a military base near by. Canoeing in a REMOTE lake and I get buzzed by 2 jet air craft. OR they decide to do night bombing on a site not used in 20 years a few miles away. That stuff is scary.
- pierotofy 10y ago
  Report it to the park's ranger. UAV operations are not allowed within U.S. National Parks.
  - abakker 10y ago
    Technically, I believe it is legal to fly a drone into a National Park, as long as you are not inside of the park while operating. From the NPS website, "Launching, landing, or operating an unmanned aircraft from or on lands and waters administered by the National Park Service within the boundaries of [insert name of park] is prohibited except as approved in writing by the superintendent." Because the FAA controls jurisdiction over the airspace, the NPS can't prevent UAV flights, but, they can regulate the operators.
    - BHSPitMonkey 10y ago
      Then what is the meaning of the distinction "from or on" in the quote you provided?
Splendor 10y ago
> "After a planned early 2016 planned release, Karma is finally ready to take flight." "Finally" seems harsh to me in this context.
- coldtea 10y ago
  6 months in tech are like 5 years in regular life...
abakker 10y ago
The problem with the go pro in a drone is that you lose either 1) the durability/waterproofness of a go pro case (the key selling point for me), or 2) the ability to live view through it reliably. If go pro had an interface to use their normal go-pro mounts on a drone, but had a special case with a control port passthrough, they'd be in good shape. It is attractive to know that if I crash my drone, at least the camera won't die. This looks like it gets neither good range/quality or durability, unless the camera is one of the "spare parts" that their site so glibly advertises. Having flown DJI phantom 3s, and some custom drones to lift Canon 5D3s, I can tell you that the biggest source of nervousness in flying for me is recovering the camera. With a DJI, I am willing to take closer, riskier shots that often end up better. With the 5d3 and now 5DSr, I can get MUCH better shots, but it is risky. I suppose I would feel different if it were professional and I had full coverage insurance.
- fudged71 10y ago
  Huh? The new GoPro Hero 5 is waterproof without a case and fits on the drone...
  - abakker 10y ago
    Ah, I missed that. My go pro, the hero 4 black, is not waterproof and currently fits in that drone as well. Additionally, go pros have been used on 3DR drones for a while, but without the benefits of being waterproof. The case also affords protection for the lens, which the drone does not allow.
1024core 10y ago
After all these years (yes, all 3-4 of them), you'd expect the battery life to be higher, like say 1 hour? Every drone seems to be stuck at between 20min - 30min of battery life.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

64 points by stoev 10y ago

The actual gopro site for it at https://shop.gopro.com/karma https://shop.gopro.com/karma

For that price you can get a DJI p3p which has lightbridge, a proven gimbal, longer battery life etc. The main advantage this has it has it is a little more portable. I think they should have sold it for 500 bucks.

stoev 10y ago
Exactly. Plus, the range is worse by approximately 80% (depending on the DJI model), the battery life and maximum speed are lower by approximately 20%. With the camera included, it is 50% more expensive than a Phantom 3 Advanced. On top of that the field of view of a GoPro camera is too wide for a drone, DJI have a much more adequate setup. GoPro should have at least supplied a small lens that would fix this problem. As for portability, assuming that one would be using each brand's backpack to transport each drone, they are actually very similar in size: GoPro: 540 x 320 x 150 mm DJI: 447 x 318 x 229 GoPro would have a much better chance if they had entered the market at the right price (~500 USD) and emphasised the qualities they are known for - durability and reliability.
- t3ra 10y ago
  You also get a stabilizer which is like osmo.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >As for portability, assuming that one would be using each brand's backpack to transport each drone, they are actually very similar in size: GoPro: 540 x 320 x 150 mm DJI: 447 x 318 x 229 That's when the GoPro is folded in the bag?
  - stoev 10y ago
    Yes, that's a comparison of the dimensions of the two backpacks.
- EA 10y ago
  the older GoPro cameras offered these FOVs. Unsure what the Hero5 offers. Wide FOV - 17.2mm Medium FOV - 21.9mm Narrow FOV - 34.4mm

mtw 10y ago

Does it have vision features like DJIs? Like follow and track a moving object

mesh 10y ago
They did not explicitly mention that in their keynote, which would suggest to me they don't have it.
semi-extrinsic 10y ago
It doesn't look like it, no. Shameless plug for a buddy of mine's startup: the Staaker drone does autonomous follow and track (based on radio signals, not vision), makes really sweet stabilised videos with different hover/follow patterns, and has gotten the best reviews out of all the action sports drones launched so far. It's almost like having a personal helicopter camera crew, but without the $10k/hour price tag. https://www.staaker.com https://www.staaker.com
- dannylandau 10y ago
  Nice! How does it compare to the Lily -- https://www.lily.camera/ https://www.lily.camera/ It never shipped, but just curious
  - at-fates-hands 10y ago
    Most drones do have this kind of functionality. Even the 3DR Iris+ (which isn't supported anymore) has these features and you can still find it for $200-$300 less than the GoPro. The only problem is since its not supported, parts are harder to come by. The 3DR Solo is the replacement and they're supporting this model exclusively. I believe all the Yuneec drones have all these features and well under the GoPro price point. For a few more dollars, you can get a lot more drone with they Yuneec Typhoon H: https://yuneec.com/en_US/products/typhoon/h/overview.html https://yuneec.com/en_US/products/typhoon/h/overview.html Just a personal preference, but I've heard DJI has the worst customer service. When I was in the market for my first drone (2014), I was shocked at all the forum posts about their customer service: http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/horrible-dji-customer-service.19877/ http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/horrible-dji-customer-s... https://www.reddit.com/r/djiphantom/comments/3b2jvp/honestly_how_bad_is_the_dji_customer_service/ https://www.reddit.com/r/djiphantom/comments/3b2jvp/honestly... Maybe they've gotten better, but I stuck with 3DR and have had good experiences with them. They respond to emails really fast, if I call, they're patient with me and have helped me out a few jams where my drone was acting up. I didn't have to ship it to them, they walked me through the troubleshooting until it was fixed. Full disclosure: I own two 3DR drones and a Yuneec Q500. Both companies are US based companies with US based customer support.

bishnu 10y ago

It would appear the drone is only capable of filming fit, attractive people.

evan_ 10y ago
Unlike those other marketing videos that use exclusively unattractive people
- coldtea 10y ago
  In fact that would be a nice thing to champion. Unlike the trend that has most corporate ads show token ethnic people for "diversity" in numbers non representative of their percentages in the population and absolutely not representative of their corporate presence -- whereas e.g. the real Board of the company is 9 white men and an asian. Non attractive people, on the other hand, or regular people, so to speak, are the vast majority -- fat, short, too tall, too skinny, etc. So it would nice to have all ads display "attractiveness diversity". E.g. if a panel of independent "judges" deems that the people in the ad are too attractive (e.g. all model level pretty), the ad gets canned. This would help with tons of people's complexes, things like anorexia, teenage anxiety, etc.
  - tothepixel 10y ago
    Marketing is often based on aspiration. Using the most attractive people doing the most exciting things is what sells for things like this. You would be willfully throwing out ROI to promote "feelings".... Tough sell.
    - coldtea 10y ago
      >You would be wilfully throwing out ROI to promote "feelings".... Tough sell. Hence the mention of panels that can axe non conforming ads, etc. I'm not talking about voluntary adherence to those advertising principles, rather something like regulation.
      - 10y ago

TheGRS 10y ago

Something that bothers me about these drone cameras is that when people are using them in remote spots (i.e. the top of a hill or a lake at the base of a mountain in a national park) they generate a TON of noise. I went backpacking at Jefferson Park this summer and was woken up to the serene sounds of a quad-copter flying over our little lakeside spot. Lovely. Hopefully it doesn't scare off wildlife.

biztos 10y ago
Maybe it's time to learn the boomerang...
baldfat 10y ago
You should camp in wilderness with a military base near by. Canoeing in a REMOTE lake and I get buzzed by 2 jet air craft. OR they decide to do night bombing on a site not used in 20 years a few miles away. That stuff is scary.
pierotofy 10y ago
Report it to the park's ranger. UAV operations are not allowed within U.S. National Parks.
- abakker 10y ago
  Technically, I believe it is legal to fly a drone into a National Park, as long as you are not inside of the park while operating. From the NPS website, "Launching, landing, or operating an unmanned aircraft from or on lands and waters administered by the National Park Service within the boundaries of [insert name of park] is prohibited except as approved in writing by the superintendent." Because the FAA controls jurisdiction over the airspace, the NPS can't prevent UAV flights, but, they can regulate the operators.
  - BHSPitMonkey 10y ago
    Then what is the meaning of the distinction "from or on" in the quote you provided?

Splendor 10y ago

> "After a planned early 2016 planned release, Karma is finally ready to take flight." "Finally" seems harsh to me in this context.

coldtea 10y ago
6 months in tech are like 5 years in regular life...

abakker 10y ago

The problem with the go pro in a drone is that you lose either 1) the durability/waterproofness of a go pro case (the key selling point for me), or 2) the ability to live view through it reliably. If go pro had an interface to use their normal go-pro mounts on a drone, but had a special case with a control port passthrough, they'd be in good shape. It is attractive to know that if I crash my drone, at least the camera won't die. This looks like it gets neither good range/quality or durability, unless the camera is one of the "spare parts" that their site so glibly advertises. Having flown DJI phantom 3s, and some custom drones to lift Canon 5D3s, I can tell you that the biggest source of nervousness in flying for me is recovering the camera. With a DJI, I am willing to take closer, riskier shots that often end up better. With the 5d3 and now 5DSr, I can get MUCH better shots, but it is risky. I suppose I would feel different if it were professional and I had full coverage insurance.

fudged71 10y ago
Huh? The new GoPro Hero 5 is waterproof without a case and fits on the drone...
- abakker 10y ago
  Ah, I missed that. My go pro, the hero 4 black, is not waterproof and currently fits in that drone as well. Additionally, go pros have been used on 3DR drones for a while, but without the benefits of being waterproof. The case also affords protection for the lens, which the drone does not allow.

1024core 10y ago

After all these years (yes, all 3-4 of them), you'd expect the battery life to be higher, like say 1 hour? Every drone seems to be stuck at between 20min - 30min of battery life.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]