It’s been a busy week for GoPro.
Fresh off the heels of the announcement of their impending quadcopter—a drone for capturing video—GoPro dropped another game-changing declaration on the world. They will partner with Google’s new virtual reality platform Jump to create 3D VR videos with their own, 16-camera rig. On top of another completely separate rig to create spherical video, naturally.
The constant ability to adapt to emerging technology marks a level of savvy that’s kept GoPro on top of the consumer action camera market. With Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus, we can expect the virtual reality market to boom in the upcoming years, even months, and GoPro is taking measures to ensure that they not only won’t get left behind, but are positioned to pull ahead of the pack.
Their new collaboration with Google represents a concerted effort to seamlessly blend 3D video tech with the instantaneous nature of social media—the footage will be easily uploadable to Youtube, etc.
Yet even their classic cams, the newest of which is the Hero4, remain the standard in the industry. Shooting at 1080p at 60 frames per second, the video quality speaks for itself. But it’s not just a camera; it’s a brand that has user compatibility at the heart of its mission. GoPro has built their devoted following by anticipating the needs of their audience with additions like every single mount under the sun, usually delivered to us before we even realize we need it. Yes, there is a mount that your dog can wear.
No brand has permeated the market with such carefully considered thoroughness to their approach—it’s clear that virtual reality is simply one of the next frontiers we can expect the company to tackle.
Photos by GoPro