Story Highlights
- GoPro has proved why they are special from all other cameras
- GoPro can be used for all sports (videos to watch)
- Prices and Accessories for the GoPro
- GoPro can be used for many other things than sports
- What’s next for GoPro?
- GoPro makes it fun with fun videos, daily giveaways and apps!
What’s a GoPro?
Cameras have just about everything nowadays: panorama lenses, self-timers, instant focusing, and night-vision mode. There’s even a camera that takes 3 trillion frames per second!
The only thing missing was a hands-free camera that could come along for a ride and capture people’s everyday or once in a lifetime adventures. Thanks to 37 year-old Nick Woodman, we now call that the GoPro.
- Each small portable GoPro is only 2-3/8″ w x 1-5/8″ h x 1-3/16″ h
After a surf trip in Australia, Woodman was inspired to make GoPro’s first camera in 2004: a wristwatch that could capture 10 seconds of footage at a time. Seven years and five editions later, the GoPro HD Hero 3 now shoots 60 frames per second at 1080pixels, has built-in Wifi, and can capture video in 3D.
Sales representative for GoPro, Justin Delgado, says GoPro is unique because of it’s versatility.
“GoPro is the most versatile camera out there for mounting. Most other cameras can only mount one way, but the GoPro can mount in almost any way,” Justin says. “You can put it on your helmet, strap it to your chest, mount it on a ski pole if your skiing, really everything.”
The camera can also create a time lapse by setting the camera to go off at intervals of your choice: every half second, every second, every three seconds, whatever! Here is a cool time lapse of someone driving home in Florida with the GoPro strapped to their car. “360 Degree GoPro Panning Time Lapse Driving Home”
The GoPro is known worldwide and is used in movies, TV shows like Mythbusters, and music videos like Justin Bieber’s.
GoPro Sports
People are using the GoPro to capture video of snowboarding, mountain biking, jetskiing, skydiving, and more.
Junior biological sciences major Parker Kalan decided to get the GoPro because he thought it would work perfectly for the sports he plays. “Their ads appealed highly to my genre of athletics,” he says. “I love to shred, snowboarding mainly, but also surfing and skating.”
Leo Holler, VP of Sales of Brother International, says he initially got the GoPro to videotape his mountain biking trips. “I like the compact size and high quality video. I used to have a small Sony helmet cam, but it required wires connected to a video camera that you carried in a backpack,” he says. “I love being able to use it for motorcycle riding and mountain biking but I really want to try it scuba diving sometime.”
Price & Accessories
The GoPro ranges from $150-400 depending on the model and comes in white, black and silver, each color containing different features. You can purchase lots of different accessories to use with the GoPro: tripods, wrist straps, helmet straps, different mounts (EX: surfboard mounts,) TV plug-ins, 3D video system and more! The newest GoPro (HD Hero 3) just hit stores recently. You can watch a video/trailer for it here!
The GoPro is sold at Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Amazon, and other local hobby stores, ski shops or camera stores.
GoPro is Growing in Sales & Uses
CEO Nick Woodman said in the GoPro: HD Hero 3 Launch Presentation on 6 November 2012 that GoPro has quickly become one of the fastest growing camera companies in the world. “This company recognized the larger opportunity was building passion cameras for the world full of passionate people that wanted to document and share their life experiences, but weren’t able to,” he said.
Below is a screenshot I took of a video Woodman showed at the presentation of him and his son, Huego. “This is the first time Huego was ever on a bicycle and I captured it and I can relive this for the rest of my life thanks to the product this company made,” he said.
People are finding lots of different ways to use the GoPro besides sports. Doctors are filming surgeries to teach others with, a mother wore one while giving birth, and even firefighters use it in action (see for yourself here!)
Although Parker bought the camera for snowboarding, he has found other uses out of it. “Sometimes I film my friends partying and doing dumb things at our houses,” he says. “Then I can upload them to YouTube or save the files for us to laugh at time to time.”
Leo says the GoPro is important to him not just for showing friends and family the cool footage he captured, but for himself to look back on.
“I save the videos for the future when I’m too
old and need to watch the glory days,” he says.
What’s Next?
Justin (GoPro sales rep.) says although the HD Hero 3 has just been released, GoPro is still looking to move forward. “The next thing for GoPro is probably just going to be a new camera with new features and better features. We’re always looking to improve on what we have,” he says.
Extra Fun
You can go to GoPro’s Youtube Channel to look at all the videos they post each week of activities using the camera from playing with cats to swimming with sharks!
The GoPro website has lots of cool things to check out from ‘photo of the day‘ to ‘giveaways‘ where you can enter to win a GoPro or GoPro accessories EVERY SINGLE DAY!
You can also check out the photo of the day on the GoPro App along with videos of the day. It even allows you to control your camera through the app! There’s a second GoPro app called the GoPro Guide that helps you figure out how to use your camera including assembly, troubleshooting, camera modes, settings, battery, connectivity and more!
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