GoPro HERO3 Black Edition – 4K, Protunes and CineForm Studio Propel The Action Camera To Cinematic Heights

HDVideoPro by Neil Matsumoto

Back in 1999, GoPro Founder and CEO Nick Woodman wanted to create a camera that would enable surfers to take high quality stills and in 2004, GoPro released its first camera, a 28mm wrist camera that shot 35mm film. As digital technology exploded, the small upstart company became synonymous with the social media generation with over 3 million cameras being sold. (A new GoPro video is uploaded to YouTube every minute.)

But for indie filmmakers, GoPro’s fixed lens and “good enough” technology wasn’t worthy of producing cinematic movies.

Holding Out For A HERO3

Typically at media junkets for camera companies, journalists sit in air-conditioned boardrooms taking notes as corporate executives conduct Power Point presentations on imaging sensors and lens mounts. To launch their new camera, GoPro invited journalists from all over the world to take part in a Land, Sea and Air adventure that included swimming with sharks, flying in fighter jets and racing motorcycles at 130-mph around the Sonoma Raceway. It’s one thing for journalists to get excited about the presentation of a new camera system but it’s unthinkable for them to fear for their own lives. In short, it was a media event for the ages!

I’m sure you’ve seen the big announcement for GoPro’s new HERO3 Black Edition camera. With a price tag of only $399, the specs are truly amazing. For one, the camera is smaller, lighter and twice as powerful. The tiny action camera shoots 4K at 15-fps, 2.7K at 30, 25 or 24-fps, an MP4 codec whose 45-Mbps bit-rate rivals the 5D Mark III’s ALL-I codec, built-in WiFi, improved low-light performance, and can shoot 12-megapixel stills. The HERO3 is no longer your daddy’s wearable camera anymore. read more...