GoPro Hero 5 Black, Hero 5 Session and Karma drone unveiled
American action camera manufacturer GoPro, launched their new Hero 5 series last night. The three products on offer are the flagship Hero 5 Black, Hero 5 Session and Karma drone. The Hero 5 Black, priced at $399 is water resistant out of the box for 33 feet/10 metres. Its 12 megapixel sensor can shoot 4K video at 30fps and 1080 video at 120fps. It now comes with an integrated 2-inch touch screen and GPS functionality. Being waterproof, it eliminates the need for an external housing.
The second offering, the smaller cube-shaped Hero 5 Session, will use a 10 megapixel sensor also capable of shooting 4K video at 30fps and 1080 video at 120fps. The smaller camera size means some sacrifices, namely, the lack of a screen, no GPS capability or the ability to shoot in RAW video formats. Both cameras will come with electronic image stabilisation and voice activation. At the moment, the cameras can understand seven languages, but this number will increase with future updates.
In terms of battery, the Hero 5 Black gets a 1220mAh battery, while the Session gets a 1000mAh battery. Both cameras will support MicroSD cards with at least a Class 10 rating. Recording times will vary according to the capacity of the memory card.
Undoubtedly, the star of the show is the new Karma drone. Priced at $799, the drone's four arms and rotors (one rotor per arm) fold neatly into the body making it small enough to fit in a backpack. The remote control for the Karma is shaped like a conventional gaming controller, and it is said that first time fliers will find it easy to control the drone.
While the Karma will support only the Hero 4 and Hero 5 cameras, the Hero 5s will support existing mounts, so there won't be a need to spend more if you already use a GoPro. There will also be a new software called GoPro Plus, which will have a monthly subscription charge of $5. For that, you will get cloud storage for easy editing and sharing, discounts on mounts and accessories and free music for videos.
In India, the GoPro dealer is Stereovision and they have branches across the country.