Probably the worst kept secret over the last week, but if you haven't of heard already, GoPro has just announced three new cameras. 4K 30FPS, a touch panel and a very inexpensive entry level model.
Before we go any further, load up the GoPro demo film below, select 4K, go fullscreen and enjoy!
Pretty stunning you will agree and all shot on the new GoPro Hero4 which they are saying has double the performance of previous models.
"For the past twelve years, our passion has been to make it easy for people to self-capture jaw dropping, professional quality footage of themselves engaged in their favorite activities," said GoPro Founder and CEO, Nicholas Woodman. "That passion led us to embark on our most ambitious design and engineering effort ever, and the result is nothing short of the ultimate GoPro—the HERO4 Black. We can't wait to see what the world captures with it."
The main interest to us here is that the new Hero4 will shoot 4K at frame rates that mean the footage can be incorporated into traditional programming. It won't be long before the 4K footage filled cards start to appear in edit suites. One advantage here is that if you are editing 4K on a 1080 timeline, you will be able to reframe and offer a wide and close angle without quality loss. Very handy as we receive a lot of GoPro material with stray objects around the edge that ideally need to be removed.
Hero 4 Black
- Incredible ultra high definition 4K video at 30fps allows for life-like video capture as well the ability to extract 8.3 megapixel video stills to use as photos
- Faster high resolution frame rates of 2.7K at 50fps and 1080p at 120fps
- 12MP magazine cover-quality photos at burst speeds of 30 photos per second
- Updated user-interface with improved discoverability and access to key camera controls
- 50% faster Wi-Fi combined with Bluetooth delivers enhanced GoPro App performance and improved power management
The Hero4 Black will retail for $499 and be available for purchase on October 5th. Unfortunately you don't get the wifi remote included this time.
Hero4 Silver
- Brilliant built-in touch display allows for easy camera control, shot framing and playback
- Professional quality video capture at 2.7K30, 1080p60 and 720p120
- 12MP magazine cover-quality photos at burst speeds of 30 photos per second
- 50% faster Wi-Fi combined with Bluetooth® delivers enhanced GoPro App performance and improved power management
The Hero4 Silver will retail for $399
GoPro Hero
This energy level camera is also interesting to us as its low price means that more of them will appear on shoots. It captures 1080p video at 30fps and 720p video at 60fps. Built in to its own underwater housing, the Hero will retail at an amazing $129.
GoPro Studio
The companion application has also had an update. Flux (which we imagine is some type of optical flow) enables slomotion and speed ramping effects. It also supports HiLight tags from the Black and Silver which are registered when a button is pressed on the camera to identify the best moments. It would be great if these indicators could translate to keywords or favourites in FCPX.
The new version of GoPro Studio is live now.
Did you know that GoPros account for half of all the video cameras sold in the US? (maybe not including iPhones) No, we didn't either until we watched this extract from CBS This Morning. You'll find an interview with GoPro's CEO Nick Woodman after the CSI plug.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
