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
It is funny! Many people say "Price is too high" and so-on.. on the end GoPro can't keep-up with demand on highest price cameras. I remember GP 3 Black were never in-stock at local Best Buy store, I had to wait for a month for my pre-order to arrive from B&H Photo.
GoPro can set any price nowdays and can't fulfill the orders for the first 6 months, and that's the reality.
GoPro 3+ Black now $350 in stores, including the remote. New DG 4 Black is $500 without remote - do your math:
GP 3+ Black + $80 remote is $350 making it $270 for the camera
New GP 4 Black is $500 - difference is $230, almost twice the price.
I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up yet, but one of the main things I do with my GoPro is take aerial still shots. The current GoPros (3+ BE) is mysteriously gimped in still image mode because you can't adjust any settings (can't adjust exposure, white balance, color, anything), but you CAN with video, which makes no sense at all. It's pure laziness on GoPro's part that they chose to have these "Protune" controls for video, but not still images. I can buy a $100 cheapo digicam and be able to control those things.
But now with the GoPro 4, low and behold, now we can adjust those things for still images?! Unless they do the right thing and produce a software update for the now old 3+ BE and give it the same controls, the only way to describe this is thoroughly disappointing and a slap in the face.
I'm sorry, but $500 for all of that with minimal tangible updates is just not good enough. I'm just baffled that with the billions GoPro made from their IPO, this is their big new announcement. 4K at 30fps is great and all, but if you don't support a really high bitrate, all that detail is just going to get crushed from compression anyway, so then what's the point in 4k?? GoPro needs some serious competition because it just feels like they've stopped trying and instead just upped the prices because they can.
Hi Chim,
Good call.
I was one of the first purchasers of the Hero 3 Black, entirely a dismal experience.
The battery overheated and turning the camera off didn't stop it, you had to remove the battery.
Their customer service wasted a huge amount of my time getting me to reload the firmware which made no more difference the fifth time than the first time.
I finally returned it and likewise made a decision to never get a GoPro when it was first released - at least a two month wait.
Here is my Blog about it:
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/gopro-hero-3-cameras-for-planes...
I am looking at the deals on used Black 3 and 3+ on EBay right now to see if anything worthwhile might go by there.
Best Regards,
Gary
Note that the new cheap clunker Hero model cannot be removed from its case, which means it will be heavy. And you can buy a nice used H2 on eBay for the same money.
Good catch on the missing remote, Gary. What's next, the lens will be an optional extra? Like Detroit before they went bust, making spare tires, AC, etc. etc. options?
I've owned all major GoPro models since the first Hero and have seen nothing since the Black 3 worth buying for my needs. A lot of hat, no cattle...
Also after the total fiascoes of the 3-series release and subsequent customer service nightmares I would never buy a new anything of theirs for a month or two.
Don't get me wrong, I really like my Black 3 and would buy another. But I don't much like the direction I'm seeing them going.
Just noticed they also don't include the smart remote with the Black anymore and the smart remote is $80.00 so for an equivalent system it is actually $180.00 more for the new black versus the old black.
Except for 4K 30 FPS and 1080P 120 FPS the Silver which is actually noticeably superior to the old black (at the old black price) plus has the color touch display seems like a much better deal for most of us.
Good image stabilization is much harder to accomplish when the input image has a serious fisheye. Maybe that's why gopro didn't bother.
I do not fly helis I fly fixed wing. Have GP 3 Black and shooting 1080P 60fps fixed (no gimbal). Had a bit of jello on powered flight and then I put a bit of rubber around camera - jello is gone forever. Check The Black Sheep videos - do you see any jello? And they fly a lot!
I also shoot videos with my Canon DSLRs without IS (I never bought IS lenses). When I had DV cams - never used IS as well. All my videos are quite stable, no jerks or jello.
By adding had-coded IS without off switch on GoPro, company will effectively remove me from their client list. That's one of the reason I do not buy Sony - they think for me without consideration. Their IS suck 99% of the time.
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
Nice features (especially the low light and 1080@120 fps)!!! But at $500 i don't think its the best option to risk on our already expensive multirotors. But that's just me and my shallow pocket book.
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