Have we done this yet?

“Karma”, the new GoPro drone thing looks like an impressive little system.
Foldaway drone and a steadicam gimble that pops off the drone so it can be used handheld.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1C6QRodsc8[/video]

I did laugh at the marketing bollocks in the launch video. Apparently it is “much more than a drone”; it’s “an end-to-end life capture solution”.

Not quite sure how that works, presumably it is surgically inserted in the womb then removed shortly after death?

Apparently the new Session is “the most durable GoPro we’ve ever made”
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qpK7giZPX4[/video]

While the new Hero5 Black is “the best GoPro we’ve ever made”
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjOX0sC4TX4[/video]

(When did “GoPro” turn into “Apple with campervans and beards”?)

Aside from the bollocks though it all looks like interesting kit.

(When did “GoPro” turn into “Apple with campervans and beards”?)

Since people with beards and campervans decided to call themselves hip and apparently fashionable

Joking aside, as a complete product, Karma looks very good and well thought out. My wife was talking about wanting a go-pro type camera to record out lad as he grows up … the Karma ticks all of the boxes that I can see I would want.

Wired were not too impressed with the Karma. Doesn’t have a follow mode, so you need a friend to record your sick edits.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/gopro-karma-drone

Karma is nice, but no follow me feature, which I thinks lets it down a bit.

I’m pretty unconvinced by the need for a follow mode.

Realistically how often are you in a situation where a drone could automatically follow you without having to worry about crashing into trees, buildings, pylons, cables, etc.

Sea kayaking maybe?

Casey Neistat has a nice vlog of him trying out the Karma. He makes the good point that portability wins the day. The best camera is the one that you take with you.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf16mp6Nbh8[/video]

I was surprised to note that the Karma seems to be a few generations behind their competitors – not a great starting point. As above no ‘follow me’ but no collision detection either mean it’s an RC quadcopter rather than a drone is it not?

I suspect they’ll sell a few to MTBers, like the first GoPros and the Chesty the first couple of vids will look great, but within a few months it’ll lose it’s shine.

As above no ‘follow me’ but no collision detection either mean it’s an RC quadcopter rather than a drone is it not?

It’s a blurry line, but I think generally autonomous hands-off flight = drone.

This looks quite interesting too:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bk-Yz9fzUk[/video]

Crazy times we live in.

@GrahamS I think for me, I tend to use the Gopro when out with the children. Now they are getting bigger, and we are starting to go out more, and do more adventurous stuff (oldest is 7) like small trails etc. It would be nice to have it follow us, with me having to call him back, stop him etc so we can do shots.

Not that we use the GoPro much, but I just think that would be probably the only feature for a quad/drone I would use at the moment.

I do like the gimbal stick thing that comes with it though.

Realistically how often are you in a situation where a drone could automatically follow you without having to worry about crashing into trees, buildings, pylons, cables, etc.

Sea kayaking maybe?
For me this is it, unless your out at sea or in the desert by yourself I can’t see the follow being much use, as for footage, somebody piloting it will probably deliver you a better result – something like sweeping around to capture a jump front on then swinging back to follow or flying ahead of the rider looking back.

I can hardly think of any rides where I could have run it in a follow mode that you would slog it up the hill for, hand held steady cam on the other hand!!
(edit just seen the price 😮 )
https://shop.gopro.com/APAC/stabilization

I’ve watched those videos and it does look like a nice bit of kit but after flying it over the house and the kids being vaguely interested I’m not sure what I would use it for and who would watch the footage.

(edit just seen the price :o)

Yeah £250 for the stabiliser, not cheap. But I don’t think they ever are.

DJI charge £289 for their Osmo Mobile (that stabilises a phone). And £489 for the model with the basic camera.

I guess that’s the market they are aiming for.

By the time you’ve committed to spending £250 on a stabiliser and £350 on a Hero5 Black, you might as well go the whole hog and get the Karma system that includes both of them, plus a drone and carry case for £1000.

I know several freelance video/photographers that are getting the Karma package. Lots want the flexibility of having a drone available for shoots/events, but there was nothing on the market that was mobile and offered quality. The Gopro nails it for them, and it’s a relatively good price.

It needs to be a good price so they can afford to get a licence to use it commercially…

What sort of cost is involved in that eddiebaby?

The CAA sites says the commercial ”Permission For Aerial Work” costs from £112 to 224 a year, which doesn’t seem too bad.

But it also sounds like you need some kind of third-part assessment which I suspect is a licence to print money.

In order to fly a drone for commercial purposed you’ll need to pass a course first http://www.thegreatcircle.uk/uav-commercial-pilot-training which is about a grand.

THEN you can apply for permission from the CAA which will be another £200, and then you can buy your drone and do some filming.

Oh, and a crappy little GoPro one with a 20 minute battery life 🙄 isn’t going to cut it when you’re going to do commercial work

http://store.dji.com/product/matrice-600?from=menu_products

That’s what you want

Oh, and a crappy little GoPro one with a 20 minute battery life isn’t going to cut it when you’re going to do commercial work

I suspect that depends what you are doing.

Casey makes the valid point that portability is a very useful feature. The Matrice 600 may well be amazing, and ultimately get much better shots, but I don’t fancy strapping it to my back while I am riding. Do you?

I don’t think the Karma is meant to replace highly-specialised industrial application or Hollywood drone photography. Clearly there are better platforms when money and weight are no object.

I suspect their intended audience is someone like Casey who just want to mix in a bit of drone footage with the rest of their YouTube video.

Incidentally I’d be interested to hear how the drone restrictions in the US compare. He seems to regularly fly within 50m of people, in congested areas (downtown New York), and doesn’t seem to catch any flak for it.

(why roll eyes at 20 minutes flight time by the way? That Matrice you linked costs over five times the price and according to the specs “With TB47S batteries, the M600 can fly for 35 minutes with no extra payload or 16 minutes with 6kg of payload.”)

Oh, and a crappy little GoPro one with a 20 minute battery life isn’t going to cut it when you’re going to do commercial work

Comparing a £700 drone with a £4000 drone is missing the point, fantastically.

Who the **** is that annoying Casey chap and why do almost 5M people give a shit about what he thinks?

World has gone mad, someone please stop it so I can get off.

I thought the vid was ok. And made some good points about carrying cameras in general. Not bothered by his other vids though.

Who the **** is that annoying Casey chap

Film-maker, director, actor, public speaker, adventure traveller, founder of Beme, general nice guy, and one of the most prolific, influential and successful YouTubers ever.

Most recently GQ’s “New Media Star” Man of the Year Award.
Self made-man going from high-school drop out living in a trailer park with a baby at 17, to directing Mercedes and Nike commercials and flying in $21,000 airline seats.

Also a snowboarder.
And a cyclist.
And owner of an epic man cave/shed

🙂

why do almost 5M people give a shit about what he thinks?

He makes good films and many people (like me) watch much more YouTube than traditional TV these days.

Oh well, good luck to him then, I found him annoying but you having such a crush on him probably cancels that out. 😆

I was impressed before I was sent this link
Highlight for me are the 4K camera and 4 mile range.
http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/dji-mavic-pro/preview/

I have a Dji Phantom 3S which is ace apart from the hard shell backpack I have to carry it about.

I see the new foldable DJ model is called the Mavic Pro, isn’t that a trademark infringement or doesn’t it count across industries?

Yeah the new DJI Mavic does look very interesting:

[video]https://youtu.be/p1d_ptE6yrc[/video]
http://singletrackworld.com/2016/09/dji-mavic-pro-a-tiny-new-drone-with-big-boy-features/

Highlight for me are the 4K camera and 4 mile range.

The GoPro is 4K too. But the Mavic does easily win on range.

It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.

From the specs it looks like the Mavic is smaller, lighter, faster, has far better range, and does subject tracking and collision avoidance.

BUT.. the Karma does allow you to remove the camera and gimbal, so for a very similar price you are getting a GoPro with optional stabiliser as well as a drone.

directing Mercedes and Nike commercials and flying in $21,000 airline seats.
Also a snowboarder.
And a cyclist.
And owner of an epic man cave/shed

I though CFH was older than that tbh

And Casey says…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPG1Xa5Uqwo[/video]

😀

4 mile range.

Flyable using line of sight is the legal maximum distance in this country.

Just in case some honky visual link provided by an android phone app running a link to facebook website and the mobile internet goes tits up (what are the odds!) etc.

Incidentally I’d be interested to hear how the drone restrictions in the US compare. He seems to regularly fly within 50m of people, in congested areas (downtown New York), and doesn’t seem to catch any flak for it.

Yeah, all change this year, new laws came to force in August I think.

Weirdly, no specific law for the 50m of people thing – but FAA recommend to avoid people and crowded places IIRC. There is a 400m max height rule. Line of sight needed at all times. Don’t fly into an airliner. Avoid airports.

You need a CAA cert to fly it for commercial purposes. Earning a living via youtube vids made with a drone probably counts as commercial purposes. There’s also a “recreational” license as well but I imagine that’s fairly noddy and mostly done for registration purposes.

Anything over 250grams has to be registered, $5, fill in the website form, receive number, put a sticker on your drone. Mahoosive fine if caught with unregistered.

There’s other stuff, I forget the exact details, but its all broadly similar to the UK regs.

Just in case some honky visual link provided by an android phone app running a link to facebook website and the mobile internet goes tits up (what are the odds!) etc.

Yeah that’s totally not how POV links work (which I suspect you know), but okay I understand the sentiment.

Sadly it makes POV drone racing and other fun stuff illegal.

Yeah, all change this year, new laws came to force in August I think.

Interestingly in that Mavic video Casey gets busted but all they do is move him on a little and he flies it somewhere else instead (and apparently loses all visual contact with it).

Seems to me that legislation has been scurrying to keep up with this for a while and that huge numbers of people are going to be blatantly flying illegally for quite some time.

The DJI Mavic is the first drone that’s tempted me so far. Quality vs Convenience seems to have hit a magic point – Now it’s just price.

In a couple of years this will be £300-400 probably, which is still a bit dear for me, but maybe splitable as a group cost for a bit of fun on a group holiday.