GoPro is finally announcing the new 4 Silver and Black:
It , of course has the new 30fps 4K and - not surprisingly costs $100.00 more than the last one so now $499.00.
Probably using the new Ambarella 9 chip, but no mention made of built in electronic image stabilization which is a feature of the Ambarella 9 chip.
http://www.ambarella.com/uploads/docs/A9%20Product%20Brief%20120813-2.pdf
The new Silver is also $100.00 more and has the nifty built in color touch screen.
Nice, but not earth shaking and a bit disappointing.
Why no stabilization (My Sony AS100V does remarkably well even on a quad with no gimbal) and why didn't they include the touch screen on the Black, you'd have thought they could have afforded it.
Sadly seems more notable for what they didn't do than what they did.
Still 4K at 30fps is more important than ever and that will certainly drive "pro" sales.
Here is the GoPro site: http://shop.gopro.com/cameras
The reason I said "sort of" is that the announcement says coming soon.
Our local hobby shop has been told they can start selling on October 5th.
Best Regards,
Gary
Comments
Personally it's the first time i am willing/considering to buy a gopro camera. I too don't like the touch screen and would be helpful to know whether the touch feature can be turned off cause using a strap on the gimbal might mess things up a bit. I don't buy it that 4k 30fps will be an efficient way to run the camera due to heating problems and battery consumption. Also having some control over exposure is very helpful as in hero 3+ everything got burned very easily. The spec are all very bright and promising. The low end 124 USD version doesn't convince me. They just want to hit the competition on sj4000 models which is hard to beat. I bet the clone market will achieve go pro hero 3 results within a year around the same price so i really doubt it is a winner.
Hi Rob,
Jello is definitely reduced (quite a lot actually) when IS is on on my Quadcopter anyway, pretty much unusable without it.
Its on my Flip FPV Pro but is hard mounted without a gimbal although it is connected to the rubber supported mid frame.
I have recently added some Align Gel.
I will try and take some videos over the next few days with IS on and off so we can all see what difference it makes.
With IS on I would still get a bit of jello a couple times during a flight, usually when climbing or stopping a descent.
With IS off it was much more frequent and pervasive.
It would help if I was a better pilot! :-)
It will be interesting to find out why they left it off of the GoPro or if they add it later.
I was looking at the comparisons of the cameras and a couple things struck me.
The new 4 Silver is very much like the old 3+ black except it has the new touch screen and better sound and low light response. So definitely better than the old Black and at the same price.
The 3+ White seems to have hardly any better specs than the new $129.00 GoPro Hero the only justification I can see is the ability to take an FPV transmitter feed out of it which the new camera doesn't have.
Basically the White is an Orphan that will probably disappear.
The new Silver actually seems to be the best bang for the buck unless you really need 30fps 4K.
And the new GoPro Hero seems quite a bargain.
The new Black seems to give the least for the most money.
Best,
Gary
Gary, did you test if the AS100V IS does or does not make jello worse? I haven't been able to stop the jello on mine, but I have not tried turning off the IS. It's probably worth a shot.
Hi Mark,
I agree, mandatory image stabilization generally sucks, but on my Sony AS100V it can be selected to be on or off and the new type of electronic stabilization that it (and the Ambarella A9) uses is way more effective than your traditional IS.
They actually oversample from a larger chip than the acquired image (4 pixels to 1 pixel) in addition to a large overlap at all edges.
This allows them to anitalias way more effectively and faster than ever before.
It isn't perfect, but it is very effective at reducing or eliminating jello as well as the jerkiness usually associated with requiring a gimbal.
Is it as good as a brushless gimbal - No, but it is good enough for a whole lot of uses and it is more than ten times better than the old image stabilization.
And I agree it needs to be able to be turned off.
And when it comes to the Ambarella A9 chip that GoPro is using that appears to be (at this point anyway) exactly what GoPro has chosen to do because IS is an intrinsic capability of the chip.
I personally would have preferred if they had let us make that choice.
Best Regards,
Gary
Well, as far as image stabilization goes - I alway prefer NOT to have it. Weather it is SLR/DSLR or any camera. IS tend to give jello image and screws the whole shot. If you need IS - use either your skillful hands or brushless gimbal. Gimbal is a proven way and it offers a rock-solid stabilization. But do not screw-up the camera by adding IS, especially the one I can't turn off. Sony IS sucks!
Apparently the electronic demands of the 4K 30fps would heat up the camera and make the touch screen inoperable - according to:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/09/29/gopro-introduces-new-...
And here is Wireds review as well:
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/go-pro-hero-4/
I also didn't mention the new $130.00 GoPro Hero - there, now I did, likely one of the better things for us for everyday bash around use on our Quads.
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