Journalist Ammar Al Waeli is very lucky. While on assignment for Iraq’s Afaq TV in Mosul a sniper bullet almost hit him in the upper torso, but a simple GoPro saved his life. Video of the harrowing experience is below:  The bullet strikes Ammar Al Waeli’s GoPro mounted to his body armor at 0:17 and completely disintegrates the camera. CNN is reporting that he was uninjured during the encounter. The Iraqi city of Mosul has seen heavy fighting since late 2016 as the Iraqi military has attempted to regain control of this major city from ISIS fighters. Other photojournalists from several other news agencies have been on the ground reporting from Mosul over the last few months. Journalist Gabriel Chaim captured the devastation from the air using a small drone. You can view his footage HERE. Source: CNN

NAB 2017 saw the introduction of the Sennheiser MKE-2 Elements waterproof microphone for GoPro Hero 4 Action Camera. Curious as to how it is possible to make an waterproof external microphone for a GoPro? Read on for all the details!  Sennheiser microphones have proven to be one of the leading standards for audio recording, and now they are tackling the lack of good-quality audio for small action cameras, such as the GoPro Hero4. When a GoPro is housed in the waterproof casing, the audio suffers and sounds muffled, but the new Sennheiser MKE-2 Elements waterproof microphone aims to guarantee better audio even in the most action-packed sequences.   As Achim from Sennheiser describes it, the development of an external audio solution like this proved challenging as the camera itself is kept completely sealed in its housing. Situating the microphone outside of the sealed compartment, your are exposing it to dirt, dust, snow, ice and of course water, so obviously a waterproof solution had to be implemented. Sennheiser took their “sweat-proof” stage application technology one step forward, and created this “waterproof” solution. Here is a great “side-by-side” example, between GoPro’s internal microphone capabilities against the Sennheiser MKE-2 Elements: The unit is built into its own backdoor casing for the GoPro housing which accommodates the battery-extension from GoPro, it plugs right into the GoPro’s USB port and the audio is controlled by GoPro’s auto-level functions. The microphone itself is suspended on a soft mount to reduce rumbling noise and is covered by its very own waterproof windshield. The Sennheiser MKE-2 Element is waterproof up to 1m for approximately 30 minutes. Sennheiser MKE-2 Elements for GoPro Hero 4 is available now for $199.95. Sennheiser is also working on a GoPro Hero 5 solution, but pricing and availability for that product are yet to be announced. What do you think of the Sennheiser MKE-2 Elements? Would you use it to improve your GoPro’s audio? Please let us know in the comments below.

The new GoPro Fusion is a virtual reality camera capable of capturing 5.2K video. Content producers are being given the chance to enter a pilot programme to take the new product for a spin. Virtual Reality has already kicked off like a storm, with big companies such as The New York Times and DiscoveryVR at the forefront. The immersive photos and videos are a social media gold mine, and many have jumped to get their share of it. GoPro themselves introduced the Omni – a six camera array – a few years ago, while others have resorted to Back-Bone to modify their GoPros with 220-degree FOV lenses and additional 2, 3 or 4 camera arrays. According to GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman, GoPro Fusion has “the ability to capture every angle simultaneously… as though you had six GoPro cameras fused into one, whether filming for VR or traditional fixed-perspective content, Fusion represents the state-of-the-art in versatile spherical capture.” Have a look at the GoPro Fusion promotional video below: Content Producers can register for a pilot programme on their website. For everyone else, GoPro plans a limited commercial release of Fusion by the end of 2017, with details on pricing and other specifics provided at launch. We will be taking a closer look at GoPro’s new product at NAB this year, so be sure to tune in for more details. Do you want to get your hands on a GoPro fusion now? Will you be applying to the pilot programme? Let us know in the comments!

The GoPro Karma Grip Extension Cable and El Grande pole will allow you to capture even more extreme perspectives, while updates to the HERO5 family will improve performance. GoPro Karma Grip Extension Cable The GoPro Karma Grip Extension Cable for their handheld stabiliser allows you to separate the gimbal and camera section from the control handle. This means you can mount your GoPro and gimbal combination to a helmet, chest bracket, bike handlebars or any number of other positions, while keeping the remote control handy and out of the way. This way you don’t have to reach for the camera if you want to change settings in between shots. The coiled cable offers a total length of up to 89cm, which should be sufficient for most setups. It will be available from April 9th for $99. El Grande GoPro have also announced the El Grande selfie stick — or “collapsible pole” if you want to use the official name. With a total length of 97cm, it will allow you to get wider selfie shots, just be careful not to get it in the shot! It also offers a swivel head with 360 degrees of rotation to get the angle just right. When collapsed, it packs down to 38cm for portability. The El Grande pole will be available from April 9th for $59.99. Just… you know, make sure you’re not compensating for other… shortcomings. HERO5 Firmware Updates On the software side of things, GoPro has also announced firmware updates for their HERO5 generation of action cams. Performance improvements on the HERO5 Black include the ability to extract a photo from a multi-shot series and further photo mode shutter settings in Protune. The update for the HERO5 Session, on the other hand, unlocks 4K/24p video resolution, as well as enabling all fields of view in  the 1080/48p setting. Both HERO5 cameras will now also feature voice-control in Russian, Korean and Portuguese. For more information, head over the GoPro’s news page HERE. What do you think of these news from GoPro? Let us know in the comments section below.

GoPro’s leadership team may have hoped to turn things around in 2017, but so far the news coming out of the camera manufacturer isn’t good at all. The company is cutting an additional 270 positions, on-top of 200 layoffs that occurred late last year.  GoPro – Yet more job cuts in 2017 We originally reported on GoPro’s financial turmoil back in 2016, and their fortune just doesn’t seem to be improving after a year that saw the company lose a whopping $373 million dollars. They have struggled to innovate in an action-camera segment that has become increasingly crowded over the years. Furthermore, other missteps such as the Karma drone recall and missed earnings projections have clearly done very little to ease the fears of investors. Many of the job cuts will be affecting the virtual reality and media teams of the company. They say these cuts will amount to a $200 million savings on operating expenses in 2017. “We’re determined that GoPro’s financial performance match the strength of our products and brand. Importantly, expense reductions preserve our product roadmap and we are tracking to full-year non-GAAP profitability in 2017,” said CEO, Nicholas Woodman. Image: GoPro Karma drone. Their stock rallied significantly on news of their cost-cutting measures. On Thursday, GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman appeared on CNBC and said the company didn’t capitalize on improving camera technology within smartphones. “Where we fell out a little bit in our post-IPO years was that we failed to make GoPro contemporary and failed to align with the smartphone movement.” – Nicholas Woodman. 2017 will be a make or break year for GoPro, so it will be interesting to see what they have up their sleeves on the product side. Could we expect them to release a 4K smartphone in partnership with Microsoft in the near future? 

Nothing screams “action cam footage” more than the stuttery, stroboscope-like motion caused by the high shutter speeds used to compensate for high exposure on sunny days, making it particularly difficult to match to other cameras. Read on to see how you can fundamentally change the viewer’s perception of your action cam footage with the use of some GoPro ND! One of the first things you learn as a filmmaker is to use the 180° rule for your shutter speed, a techinque based on the shutter mechanism of old film cameras which effectively means that you should always use a shutter speed equal to double the reciprocal numerical value of your frame rate in order to achieve a smooth motion sequence (e.g. a shutter speed of 1/48s when shooting at 24 frames per second). The resulting motion blur of moving objects in the frame creates a smoothness that is an intrinsic part of the “cinematic look”, and it has a huge impact on the viewer’s experience. This, however, poses a problem when using small action cams like GoPros: their fixed aperture (around f/2.8 in the Hero5 Black, for example) means that the only way to correctly expose the image is by adjusting shutter speed and ISO. F/2.8 on a bright sunny day in snow-covered mountains means the shutter speed can easily drop down to the neighbourhood of 1/2000 – 1/3000s, which translates to zero motion blur even for the fastest action scenes. To bring the shutter speed down, you need to use heavy neutral density (ND) filtration. In our example above, this would be a 5-stop or ND32 filter (32 = 2^5). This reduces the shutter speed from ~1/3000s to ~1/94s, which is close to ideal for a typical action sports frame rate of 50fps. Now, a quick online search for GoPro ND reveals that ND8 and sometimes ND16 filters are what’s mostly available, which is clearly not enough for our example above. PolarPro GoPro Hero5 Black cinema series filters Here’s where the PolarPro GoPro Hero5 Black cinema series filters come into play. The set includes an ND8, ND16 and ND32 filter as a replacement for the front lens element (the HB5 lens cover), using multi coated glass in an anodized aluminium frame. You basically unscrew the original front lens cover on your GoPro Hero 5 Black, and replace it with the PolarPro GoPro ND filter. The result is a nice, flare-free concept that works very well! I did have a little trouble, however, when fitting the GoPro ND as the tolerances are very tight, and you could almost break your fingers while attaching them. I have contacted PolarPro with regards to this problem, and they replied that all orders would be replaced with new filters automatically and free of charge, as there was indeed a tolerance issue. That is some really good customer service! For my skiing video above shot in Flachau, Austria, I mostly used the ND32 filter, and the ND8 on the cloudy shots, which was not enough to produce motion blur. For these scenes, I should have used an ND16 – see if you can spot it! As you can see, the filtration creates a nice motion blur, which in my opinion completely changes the character of the action cam sequences. The GoPro ND makes the footage look organic, helps the subjects stand out from a more blurred background, and on top of that the H.264 encoder has an easier job of distributing the limited bandwidth of ~60Mbit/s in the image to reduce macro-blocking. It certainly does not scream “action cam footage” any longer! Since there are no exposure aids on the GoPro, it can a bit difficult to decide which ND filter to use. I used the manual shutter option and set it at 1/100s in order to match my 50fps, and tried different filters until I got a nicely-exposed image, judging only from the LCD back screen. I then swapped the shutter option back to AUTO, and set the max. ISO to 800 to allow for some automatic exposure compensation by the cam. Using the linear field of view and the Karma Grip (which I reviewed in an earlier post here) offers the additional advantage of spending almost no time in post with image stabilization or optical correction issues. I did use the Protune flat settings, however, so I did add some saturation and contrast. All in all, I can highly recommend the use of ND filters on your action cam as it truly changes the viewing experience and makes it much easier to match action cam footage with other cams. The PolarPro ND filters are just one option, with others including filter sets from Freewell, Holaca, Sandmark and others. In any case, make sure you choose filters that use high-level multicoated anti-flare glass! Figure 1 and 2: Nice, cinematic motion blur created by the heavy ND filtration. A new world of GoPro imaging opens up! GoPro settings for the video above: 2.7K 50p, linear field of view (no fisheye!), max ISO 800, Protune flat, lowest sharpness. The cam was used in conjunction with the GoPro Karma Grip Gimbal, and the time lapse sequences were shot using my Sony A7S II. The PolarPro Cinema Series Filters are available here: US: LINK EU: LINK

The RTS 360 Clip action camera adapter is a new product claiming to make it easier and faster to mount action cameras and rotate the shooting angle. Changing the position of a GoPro or any other action camera usually takes some time. Changing the horizontal shooting angle, for example, often requires adding an extra 90-degree plastic part and dealing with multiple screws. This can sometimes be annoying due to a lack of time or inability to tighten those screws properly. The new action camera adapter from RTS aims at dealing with these kinds of problems. It uses a GoPro-type mount which has become a standard in the action camera field, so it should also be possible to use the adapter with the majority of other action cameras. There are GoPro-type mount adapters available for most action cameras, and some of them – like the Yi action cams – are using GoPro-type mounts accessories and housings exclusively. The RTS 360 Clip action camera adapter makes it easier to rotate the mounted camera by simply twisting the round adapter to face the desired direction and then locking it in position. With its simple lock and quick-release mechanism, the adapter should also make it easier to unmount the action camera and mount it elsewhere using only one hand. The adapter makes it easier to switch mounts. Source: RTS The idea is to have the lower mount component firmly screwed on all mounting equipment like chest harnesses, monopods or helmet mounts to be able to conveniently release the action camera, mount it on another piece of equipment, adjust the angle and shoot – all without the need to loosen and tighten any screws. Although I think it will still sometimes be necessary to adjust the vertical shooting angle using a screw, this mount will certainly help when repositioning your action camera. At this point, it is not clear whether the RTS adapter will ship with a few spare lower components to equip all your other accessories with, or if these will be available separately. There is no information about price or availability yet. For more details, feel free to check the product’s official website. Do you think there is a use for an action camera adapter like this? Or are the benefits not enough to buy one? Let us know and comment below.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, when I decided to invest into an electronic GoPro gimbal I was torn between the Removu S1 and the GoPro Karma Grip to stabilize my new Hero 5 Black. They both sport similar features, but which of the two will prove to be the best GoPro gimbal? The features of the Removu S1 are quite impressive, as Nino pointed out in his blog post. Being able to use it in wet conditions is a real plus, not to mention other neat features like the remote controller or exchangeable batteries. The GoPro Karma and the Removu S1 gimbals in their respective cases, side-by-side. As you may remember, I ended up pulling the trigger on the GoPro Karma Grip mainly because of its neat integration with the GoPro Hero 4, 5 and Session action cams. However, funnily enough, when I mentioned to Nino that I was planning to write about the Karma Grip, he asked if I could include the Removu S1 in the review, as he had one lying around at cinema5D HQ in Vienna. So I took both GoPro gimbals for a head to head comparison, the result of which you can see in the video above. Again, the test featured my dog as a main character, a role he seems to be getting more and more used to. GoPro Gimbals – Observations Both GoPro gimbals are about the same size and weight, and both come in a nice case. The Removu S1 gimbal in particular looks and feels like a quality piece of high-tech, and it made me wonder if had made the wrong decision purchasing the Karma Grip. However, the head-to-head footage comparison clarified everything, with a clear win for the GoPro Karma Grip. As usual, putting priducts into real-world use reveals how good they really are, regardless of what the specs say on paper. With respect to their respective carry cases, the Karma Grip’s is light-years more practical for me, as it accommodates the whole gimbal + cam assembly. The Removu S1 has to be disassembled to fit into its case, and it takes a little while to set everything up. The Karma Grip case is perfect for taking along on a mountain bike trip, but the same can’t be said of the the Removu case. Although I did find some issues with the Karma Grip, I would rate the problems I found with the Removu S1 as quite severe: First and foremost, the major task of stabilizing the footage does not work as well as with the Karma Grip. There are micro jitters all over the footage of the Removu S1. The Hero 4 Black bumps into the Removu body at certain angles, which sometimes causes the gimbal to lose the horizon (see the test footage above). However, it auto readjusted during recording a little later. At one point, the Removu went completely mad for no obvious reason, oscillating vertically and hitting the hard stops quite heavily. I felt I had to immediately turn it off to prevent damage. I could not restart it afterwards, as it would always oscillate heavily from side to side. I thought it was destroyed. Then, I went online and found the “calibration” feature in the manual of the S1. I performed the calibration having to use a small screwdriver, after which it functioned properly again. Not nice, as this never happened at all during my Karma Grip testing so far. If that happens in the field, you can forget the gimbal for the rest of the day. By the way, the test footage above was shot after this calibration process. Strangely enough, when I fitted my Hero 5 Black to the Removu to check if the sound was better than on the Karma Grip (where you can hear the brushless motors), I found the footage to be completely unusable (see test footage around the 1:39 mark). Some housing vibrations (possibly of the brushless motors) were spoiling the audio on the Hero 5 Black video file. Luckily, I was using the “RAW” audio feature, which separately records individual WAV files from each of the 3 mics, and the front stereo track was OK and proved usable. Unimpressed with me looking stupid comparing gimbals: My dog. Conclusion Hats off to Removu for offering such a rich, innovative feature set on the Removu S1 gimbal. Unfortunately, it doesn’t perform as well as the Karma Grip on the major task of stabilizing the footage. That’s why I am glad I purchased the Karma Grip. Despite some small firmware glitches, the Karma Grip performs amazingly overall AND comes in a very usable carry-on case that fits the whole assembly perfectly. One issue which is not resolved yet, however, is audio. Here, the Removu has potentially an advantage, as this GoPro gimbal supports the Removu M1 and A1 microphone package. But this may be a story for a separate post. If you are a video blogger, sound is probably more important to you than a rock-steady image, so I would recommend the Removu S1 and the Hero 4 Black, as this combo gives you much better sound than the Karma Grip. For everything else, I would definitely recommend the Karma Grip. Will either of these be your new favourite GoPro gimbal? Have you had any experience with other similar products in the market? Let us know in the comments section below!