Ultimately, the GoPro Karma Gimbal is an ‘OK’ gimbal

GoPro’s Karma Grip motorized gimbal mount was first released as part of the Karma drone kit. Part of the marketed appeal of the GoPro Karma is that it’s more than just a drone. Specifically, it’s a drone that has a removable gimbal to allow you to take the camera/gimbal and attach it to a separate handle (called Karma Grip) that you can use without the drone.

In order to do this, you’ll utilize the lock-ring to unlock the gimbal from Karma the drone, and attach it to the Karma Grip.

Once you’ve done so, you can then lock the Karma Grip itself, ensuring the gimbal stays put:

On the back of the gimbal are four buttons and four LED status lights.  These lights state the battery power of the gimbal, which is charged via USB-C cable.

The other four buttons are used to:

Record button: Start/stop video recording, or take a photo
Mode/Power: Change between photo/video modes, or power on/off the gimbal
Highlight button: Set a highlight tag that GoPro apps can use later to identify something exciting
Lock Orientation button: This is used to lock the orientation of the camera.

This last button is notable as it allows you to keep the camera either level to the ground, or set at a specific orientation.  This is useful when you may want to film something not level with the horizon, such as a bike computer on your handlebars.

The Grip is designed to be able to clip into the Karma mounting ring, which allows you to then mount it to any GoPro compatible mount location.

And example of this is the front of the Seeker backpack, which even has little elastic straps to keep the bottom portion of the gimbal in place.

All of which is solid, even more so since the gimbal is lightly water resistant – meaning it’ll stand up to rain/snow. However the connectors between the camera and the gimbal are not.  Thus it won’t work in the water, and if you have a Hero4, then keep in mind the water resistance there isn’t ideal (whereas the Hero5 is fully waterproofed).

Still, there are some challenges. First is that the gimbal blocks much of the camera’s display screen – thus making it harder to see what you’re filming. Second, it lacks a microphone port, which matters to some folks. On the Hero5, I find the onboard audio so good that it’s rarely needed. But lastly, and most importantly – the gimbal often gets out of whack.

Meaning that the gimbal calibration becomes off kilter, and the image starts to tilt.  This is usually noticeable within as little as 30 seconds of running. Correcting such tilt in post-production afterwards is a pain in the ass.

Ultimately, the GoPro Gimbal/Grip is an ‘OK’ gimbal. It’s just that there are great gimbals available for half the price, and half the weight. Plus those other gimbals are far more flexible in compatibility.

 

 

 

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Though Gopro Karma Grip lack a few more features, it fits my needs

Bought GoPro Karma Grip at end of Nov. Works great with the hero 5 black, great case it comes in. The grip is easy setting up and using, make sure you do update on GoPro site for camera and grip, it recognizes right away when plugging in USB to computer, it directs you every step of way. It is pretty durable and I read complaints on it being noisy, but I don’t have that problem. The device does lack a few more features as the DJI Osmo‘s, but it fits my needs perfectly. I do have a problem with how long it takes to charge, ( hours ), but once it’s charged with the GoPro camera connected, it seems to last a good while. After charging, I had it in case with camera connected about 5 days without use, and the bar lights on the grip were still full. Then I used it to film about a hour straight without pausing, and the light on bar went down only one notch, and the GoPro camera went down from 96percent to 95percent, so it seems to hold charge pretty well ( I also use the GoPro supercharger to charge ).

The stabilization is pretty good, after testing quick movements and light jogging around yard, this produces stabilized video shots, you wouldn’t think so while filming, seems like the footages are jerky, but it’s not.

Now when using this and looking at your filming while recording, the bracket bar does hinder some of your viewing, but it’s not too terrible. I did think though when using the camera off of Karma Grip, it does have good stabilization when you go into menu and set this up, but when you connect the camera on to grip, that stabilization cut’s off and you now use the grip internal stabilizer, would be nice if it could hold camera and grip stabilization, you would even double the stabilization. So when the Karma Grip shuts your camera stabilizer off, you have to remember to set it back in menu when not using the grip. I have not used this in heavy sports action like biking, etc… but it suits my needs when I want to pull out quickly to do some videoing in close quaters and semi fast movements. I can also use my voice commands when using this grip. I would highly recommend this.

Scan GoPro forums and Amazon to discover a long topic of “Karma Grips button’s don’t work”.

“I fully charged the Karma Grip, hooked up my Hero 5 Black and tried to turn it on. The grip showed 4 lights, the stabilizer kicked in but the camera did not turn on. I manually turned on the camera and tried to use the shutter button on the Grip. It did not work.”

“Don’t buy this. I was so looking forward to this stabilizer, as I think the GoPro 5 (which I love) makes the best camera for a stabilizer. But this Karma Grip is so buggy. I turned it on and off 20 times (I counted) and only once, did it turn the camera on, and never could I get the “record” button to work on the grip. I’m all for trying to make things work, but this buggy out of the box is a huge red flag. ”

Many owners have the same issue and returned it for repair.

“I returned my Karma Grip for a replacement, I hope the replacement works, I find the build quality of the grip to be good, it was good to see the grip charging the GoPro but all functions around recording and power on/off where unresponsive.”

I think it’s the firmware problem, maybe firmware update makes it works with the Karma Grip.

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GoPro Karma vs DJI Mavic Pro:Which one is for you?

Now the GoPro Karma drone is back. It is once again listed on the GoPro website but disappointingly with no accompanying editorial to provide explanation for the recall and relaunch story, nor detail of any enhancements. What we know is that GoPro has improved the battery latch of the device to avoid it from slipping out of place which leads to a loss of power. This design reportedly keeps the battery intact and in place even when there are strong vibrations of the drone. And it maintains its portability compared to other drones available to the public. It was reported that the drone also has the removable gimbal stabilizer.

If the re-released GoPro Karma remains the same as on its initial launch except the improvements mentioned above, then we could make a comparison between the relaunched GoPro Karma and the Mavic Pro.

Design

The Mavic Pro is about the size of a water bottle when folded, and if you’ve had any one-liter beverages lately, that’s not far off. Folded up, the Mavic Pro has dimensions of 83x83x198mm. By comparison, the folded up Karma measures 89.9×224.3×356.2mm. It’s not that small when folded up. The Karma is still a drone that you would need a specially made case for when transporting it. The Mavic is a completely different story. You can fit the Mavic into almost any backpack or bag.

The Mavic Pro weighs in 734g while the Karma weighs 1006g.

Remote Control and Operating Range 

The Mavic Pro remote controller features an LCD screen with essential flight info and can be paired with your smartphone for powerful auto-flight features and a live 1080p video feed from the drone.  It’s small—smaller than an Xbox controller when folded—and flying a drone with joysticks offers more control. Since you can use various phones, the specs of your touch display are up to you. The Karma controller has a built-in 5-inch, 720p touch-screen display, making for a flying experience that feels a bit like a video game.

The Mavic Pro can be flown at a distance of 4.3 miles (7 km) away from its controller, flight time is 27 minutes (in best conditions), max speed is 40mph while in Sport mode.As for the GoPro Karma,the max controlling range is 1.86 miles (3 km), flight time is 20 minutes (in best conditions), max speed is 35mph.

Flight Modes

Just like the Phantom 4 the Mavic Pro has front facing obstacle avoidance, and it has all of the same flight modes like tap fly and active track. It also uses the DJI Go app, which means that it should work with third party apps for additional functionality in the future. On the other hand, GoPro says you should be able to fly the Karma with little to no experience with drones, and capture amazing shots with some of it’s preprogramed flight modes. Unfortunately there’s no follow features on the Karma. You get a 2 point cable cam mode, dronie mode, reveal mode, and orbit mode. These are the same features that other drone manufacture has had for the past year. Upon its initial launch, the Karma was criticized for a lack of functionality, even the basic ‘Follow Me’ was missing.

There are no sensors on the bottom of the GoPro Karma. Sensors like cameras and ultrasonics are what make drones more stable when hovering or when GPS isn’t available and the Karma doesn’t have any of these things. This means that the Karma is not going to be a good choice if you ever want to fly it indoors.As for the Mavic, it has two cameras for 3D vision positioning and ultrasonic sensors for accurate hight holding. Not only that, it also has dual gyros, accelerometers and compasses for more accurate data and redundancy. all of these features work together in the background, so you don’t have to worry about setting any of this up.

Video Quality 

Mavic Pro comes with a built-in camera that can shoot footage in 4K at up to 30fps and 1080p resolution at 96fps. It’s also capable of snapping 12-megapixel stills. The minimum focusing distance is 0.5m and the sensor itself is a 1/2.3-inch unit. Those are some pretty impressive specs that match DJI’s Phantom 4 drone.

When it comes to GoPro Karma, it has opted to make its drone compatible with its latest action cam, the Hero 5 Black. But the Karma’s Stabiliser, which holds the camera, will also work with the more affordable Hero 5 Session and even the 5’s predecessor – the Hero 4 Black and Silver.

If you’re using the latest Hero 5 Black, you can expect to get similar specs to the Mavic Pro. That’s 4K footage at 30fps, 1080p footage at 120fps – a higher frame rate than the Mavic’s 96 – and 12-megapixel stills.

Making the camera detachable in this way has several benefits, and chief among these is the attachment mechanism itself, which comes in the form of the Karma Grip.

The grip comes with the drone, and features a professional-quality stabiliser that should make for fluid footage. But most impressive is the fact that the grip can be removed from the drone and used as a grip to shoot freehand – with the added stabilisation feature – or mounted on other gear such as the Karma Case or Seeker sportpack. It’s also got built-in controls so you can operate the attached camera without having to touch it.

Price

The DJI Mavic Pro costs $999 for the drone or $1299 for the bundle. As for the GoPro Karma, it is basically available in the two options. One is Karma without a GoPro camera which costs $799.99 and the other is Karma bundled with GoPro Hero5 Black which will cost $1099.99.

So which drone should you really buy?You must have an answer now.

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DJI Osmo vs GoPro Karma Grip: Gimbals at war

DJI Osmo and GoPro Karma Grip both work great and produce quality video that’s mostly smooth and silky. There are some key differences that are worth noting and they’re mostly the result of DJI being a drone company and GoPro being a camera company.

The DJI Osmo starts at $559 and includes a camera. The GoPro Karma Grip is either $299 or $799 when bundled with the Karma drone — neither version comes with a camera. Compatible GoPro Hero5 cameras start at $299 though the Karma Grip works with the older generation Hero4 Silver and Black cameras, too.

Camera

DJI offers several different versions of the Osmo with the top of the line model sporting a large imaging sensor comparable to some of the best handheld cameras on the market. Called the Osmo Pro, this version costs $1999 and uses a micro four thirds sensor. We tested the Osmo, which costs around $550, and uses a smaller sensor, though it’s still capable of capturing up to a 4k resolution.

The GoPro Karma Grip uses GoPro cameras and is compatible with the older Hero4 camera as well as the new Hero5 and Hero5 session. These cameras sit atop GoPro’s line and offer fantastic video quality for their size. These GoPro models also offer advanced video fine tuning options that allow the user to adjust the color balance, temperature and more.

In our testing we found the Osmo to be slightly clearer but the GoPro Hero5 had more natural color and saturation. Side-by-side, the GoPro’s video looks superior though it should be noted that DJI recently released a newer version of the Osmo that features an improved camera at a slightly higher price.

Stabilization

Both the Osmo and Karma Grip have similar stabilization getups. And they both produce similar results. It doesn’t matter if the camera is stuck to a car racing down the highway or held by someone riding a skateboard, the video produced by these devices will be more clean and smooth than without the gimbal.

In this regard, these devices are nearly equal. They both work as advertised. In our testing we found little difference in the stabilization of the Osmo and Karma Grip.

The one difference comes in the form of a trigger. The Osmo features a button the front of the grip that lets the user lock the camera in place. Think of it as super stabilization and a handy utility to make videos look just a little more polished. The Karma Grip has a similar feature but it doesn’t work as well.

Gimbal

Think about how GoPro cameras are generally used: point and shoot. For the longest time, GoPro cameras didn’t even have a built-in screen. The camera required the user just point the camera at the subject. That’s how the Karma Grip works, too.

The Karma Grip is just a gimbal where the Osmo is more of a shooting platform. With the Karma Grip, users point the camera at the subject and start recording. Depending on the camera used, the device might have a rear-facing screen to line up the shot, but even then, the gimbal’s design partly obstructs the user’s view of the tiny screen.

The Karma Grip does not have any camera movement controls. Users have to move the grip to move the camera. The result is easy but basic movements.

The Osmo is different from the Karma Grip. DJI included a small joystick-type button that can move the camera even while the grip stays still. The result is a finer control of the video. Have the Osmo mounted on a tripod? This little button can let the camera move while everything else stays still. There’s even a button that causes the camera to quickly spin around into a selfie mode, pointing the camera backwards at the user.

The Karma Grip’s buttons echo its point-and-shoot mantra. There are just four buttons including the power button and they’re flush mounted with the grip behind a rubber pad, which seems to suggest the Karma can withstand a bit of water. The Osmo feels more delicate.

Screen

I’m not sure about you, but I like my cameras to have screens. When using the GoPro Karma Grip with a Hero5 or Hero4 Silver the user has a screen to properly frame shots. The Osmo lacks this and requires an operator to connect their smartphone, and mount it on the side.

In theory, having a built-in screen seems like a natural advantage. However, the screen on the back of GoPros are so tiny that they’re hardly useful and the design of the gimbal places one of the joints directly behind the screen. It’s a strange design and kills some of the appeal.

To use a smartphone with the Osmo the owner has to connect the devices using DJI’s app. The process can be painful and take several minutes to connect. And then, the phone juts out the side of the device and hangs precariously off the side. A smartphone is not required to use the Osmo though. Users can point and shoot video all day long. The video is recorded locally on a microSD card and only on a phone when the user downloads the media.

The DJI apps gives the Osmo user a lot of control over the video, though. The app is full of video settings and adjustments and makes transferring media from the camera to the phone an easy process.

So which one?

Comparing the Osmo and Karma Grip is like looking at a luxury car against a sport utility vehicle. They do not line up perfectly. The products are for different people even though both have similar feature sets.

Still, the comparison must be made. DJI and GoPro are quickly becoming major forces in the consumer electronics world and the Osmo and Karma Grip will compete on the market.

Choosing between the Osmo and Karma comes down to the buyer’s ecosystem and desired use. The prices are similar when all things are considered. Buy the Karma Grip if the camera is going to strapped onto a mountain bike to race down a mountainside and then at a water park with the kids. Buy the Osmo for capturing smooth shots for your indie film or if you occasionally take a bike down a mountain. Of course, both cameras can do both, but since the GoPro can better survive rough activities, it makes sense to purchase it if the camera will be used as such. Likewise, if the ability to properly frame a shot is needed, the Osmo is a better buy.

Listen, I hate to leave a comparison article with a soft conclusion, but both the DJI Osmo and GoPro Karma Grip are quality pieces of hardware. Just different.

(Via Techcrunch )

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