GoPro is perhaps most famous these days for making the cameras that people strap to their drones for amazing views of volcanoes and fireworks. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company is embracing its drone-centric identity and creating its own line of consumer drones equipped with high-definition cameras.
GoPro’s multi-rotor helicopter drones will launch next year and will reportedly cost between $500 and $1,000.
The small, waterproof GoPro already produces some of the coolest footage shot on land and in water. Drone photography and videography are skyrocketing in popularity, and GoPro evidently wants to capture more of the market around these endeavors.
Drones allow access to hard-to-reach places, and for years, GoPro has been the company enabling drone owners to record their views of those places. It was only a matter of time before the camera company bet big on the drone technology, too.
In September, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave drone filming the green light, legalizing the use of drones to shoot films provided the studio received the appropriate permit. This will open door for more drone’s-eye-view aerial footage in Hollywood productions.
But even as enthusiasts and artists use UAVs to record Earth porn and action movies, camera-equipped drones also raises a number of privacy and surveillance concerns. One woman found this out the hard way when a drone caught her sunbathing topless and she ended up in a real-estate advertisement. Sometimes it’s Earth porn and sometimes it’s real porn.
Photo by Gordon Tarpley/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
