We were expecting GoPro to make an official announcement on their products this week, and they did not disappoint at all. What they unveiled are products to tell the world that they intend to be on top of the action camera world and expand into other territories to bring the fight to other big competitors.

By the looks of it, GoPro have their sights on Garmin, Sony, Olympus, and DJI with their new product offerings: the Karma Drone and Hero5 action cameras:

Hero5 Black

Airsoft players will be more interested in the new action cameras from GoPro so I start with the Hero5 black and it is a major upgrade that before you pull the trigger on buying other competitors’ offerings, it’s best to check out its features. One feature that many users have been clamoring for is an LCD Screen, which the Hero4 Silver has but the Hero4 Black doesn’t even though the Black version commands a more premium price. For the Hero5 Black, it now comes with a 2-inch LCD Touchscreen on the back and simplified controls.

That also means there will be no Hero5 Silver edition, making your choices simpler --- the Hero5 Black or the Hero5 Session.

As for video resolutions, the 4K is at 30fps whilst 1080p Full HD recording can be done at 120fps, allowing for better slow motion footage when editing the video. Audio is also enhanced and the Hero5 Black comes with 3 mics and adjusts automatically to the mic that has the best audio coming in.

With Voice Controls, the Hero5 negates the unique offering from Garmin’s Virb Ultra 30 which has this feature and you can bark commands at the Hero5 better than the Virb Ultra 30. You can command it to take stills or photo burts whilst taking a video or doing a timelapse and it can understand 7 languages.

You many not necessarily need the waterproof case to bring the Hero5 underwater as it can go skinny dipping up to 33 feet but if you are unsure, then use the waterproof case which can also serve as protection case in airsoft games.

Another feature that we want to see in the newest Hero action camera is built-in electronic image stabilization that many of its competitors such as Sony, Olympus, and Garmin offer though Sony offers optical stabilization on their new X3000R action cam than the rest. For those who want more control on the quality of output, it can now shoot in RAW and WDR.

Hero5 Session

Now, the Hero5 Session is a bit as capable as the Hero5 Black albeit, it is smaller and does not have an LCD Screen. It can record at 4K 30 fps and 1080p at 90fps, it is waterproof and can also take voice commands. The other features not available on the Hero5 Session are RAW + WDR photos and location capture.

If you are on a budget and want a smaller action cam that you can use for everyday lifeblogging purposes, then you can opt for the Hero5 Sessions.

Both the Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session come with Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity. Users can opt to upload their video and image files to the GoPro Plus Service Cloud which is their subscription service for users. As for editing the footage on the go, GoPro has the Quik mobile app which they acquired previously.

GoPro Karma Drone

What I can assume when GoPro were designing the Karma, they have DJI in mind as DJI now have established themselves as the company to be reckoned with in drone technology and have started to encroach into the market of GoPro with the release of the DJI OSMO which is a 4K camera with a 3-axis gimbal for smooth videos. The release of the GoPro Karma Drone hits DJI in both areas --- drones, and handheld camera stabilization for budding videographers.

So does that mean the GoPro Karma Drone is a two-in-one product? Yes it is and that should make investing in the Karma Drone more feasible as compared to getting a DJI Phantom Drone and and DJI OSMO (or its new OSMO mobile gimbal for smartphone cameras) which will rack up your costs significantly. 

But before that, let’s go into the features of the Karma Drone. It is a very much a portable drone to bring along as it has been designed to fit in a backpack by retracting its four rotor arms into the main body where they click into place and ready to be placed inside the backpack.

If you are a console video gamer, then you would welcome the Karma Drone’s controller as it has been designed like a video game controller. It is easy to use and with the GoPro Passenger App, you can have friends help you out as you fly the drone as they can watch the video and control the GoPro action camera used on it.

The GoPro Karma Drone does not come with Hero5 action cams in the package by default and you will need to buy them separately and there is a Karma + Hero5 Black/Hero5 Session bundle. The drone will work with the Hero5 Black, Hero5 Session, and the Hero4 Black.

It is not yet as sophisticated as other drones in the market, especially the DJI Phantoms and the Inspire One but it does come with presets for shooting such as dronie, cable cam, reveal, and orbit that can be more than enough in covering an airsoft event.

Now, the Karma Drone comes with 3-axis stabilization. The action camera is mounted far upfront of the drone so that propellers are not in the way when recording is taking place. Now, this is where a unique feature comes in as the camera mount of the Karma Drone is also a 3-axis handheld gimbal for the Karma Grip, allowing you to do handheld video recording that is smooth with the gimbal. This goes against the DJI OSMO and the DJI OSMO Mobile and if you look at the Karma Grip, it looks almost like the OSMO grip.

The Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session will be available on the 2 October 2016 with a price of $399.99 and $299.99 respectively. The Karma Drone will be released on the 23rd of October 2016 with a price of $799.99 and the Karma Grip has a price of $299.99 and the same release date as the Karma Drone.