CLOSExEmbedLOS ANGELES — Welcome to the Drone Wars, where action-camera manufacturer GoPro is rivalling No. 1 drone manufacturer DJI with its own take on a flying camera.For $800, you get the GoPro drone, stick mount, propellers, a cool controller with video playback that can be seen in bright light and a large backpack to carry everything around. If you have a GoPro Hero 4 black or silver camera, it will fit on the Karma with a $29.99 adapter, which GoPro says will be available "soon."The good:GoPro's Karma has a low price ($800 without camera; $1,100 with new Hero 5 camera), is easily operated and is small.  At 4.6 inches high, it folds up into a (non-cluttered) backpack.It also comes with an added steadicam-like bonus rig, the Grip, that lets you put the Hero on a stick mount for the same sort of smooth shots you see in the air.The bad:Karma is actually heavier than we are led to believe from marketing videos, (2.2 pounds vs. 1.6 for the new $750 DJI Mavic), and some of the cool operational drone features from the Mavic just aren’t there in the Karma.That said, DJI knows drones, and GoPro knows photography.

The Karma trumps the Mavic with a superior camera, but Mavic is the better drone.Before you leave the house, you’ll be charging a lot of items — the drone, controller, camera and stick. The drone’s flight time is only about 20 minutes on a charge.Inside the backpack, instruction on usage is scant. GoPro press reps suggested I start with YouTube tutorials, which paid off.GoPro could badly use a new hit. Revenue was down 47% in its second quarter. backpack wfp systemThe company is scheduled to announce third-quarter earnings Thursday.The launchWhen I brought the Karma to a deserted parking lot on a Wednesday afternoon to try it out, everything worked as advertised. backpack masuk kabinI turned on the drone and controller, saw the propellers start to turn, pressed the launch button and up she went.best backpacking stove for philmont

I adjusted the left and right joysticks, and it started soaring through the skies. To record footage, I clicked record on the front of the controller. When I was ready to land, I hit the “land at launch” button and the Karma came right back down to where we started.Watching the footage at home, I was impressed with the color, clarity and especially the smoothness.If you haven’t considered drone photography, know that it’s a whole different world and perspective,  and for the first time, we land dwellers don’t need helicopters to capture it. efish backpackFor a world that lives mostly in smartphone images, your drone footage — both in the air and on land — will really pop.jual tas laptop bodypack kaskusWith its tiny size and ability to connect it to virtually anything, even dog collars, GoPro has legions of fans among the surfing, cycling and action sports community. efish backpack

But while some of the footage is stellar, anyone who has shot GoPro knows much of the footage is shaky. The cool stuff you see online has been heavily edited, just showing the good stuff.With the Karma, for the first time, image stabilization is available for a GoPro, via the three-axis gimbal, which uses motors to steady the image, both in the skies and on the ground, via the steadicam Grip.My test footage looked steadier in the air than on the ground, where it was slightly shakier, when walking, than what I’ve seen on the DJI Osmo, a similar drone-camera-tech-on-a-stick product that starts at $299.That said, the video quality on the GoPro Hero 5 trumps both the Osmo Mobile, which uses smartphone cameras, and the plain $549 Osmo, which has its own camera. With the Osmo, you get a way larger viewfinder — your smartphone, which makes it easier to compose images.If you’re a fan of these sweeping, cinematic footage (and I am), you’ll just have to edit out the rough patches.Either way, adding a drone to your camera bag (not that it would fit …) can bring your photography to a whole new level, literally, and this year, we get models that are cheaper, easier to use and just a whole lot of fun.

Remember that the Federal Aviation Administration requires drones be registered with the government and that many cities have banned the use of drones for personal or professional use.  website to find out where you can fly before leaving home.Have questions about drones and photography? Let's chat on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham. Listen to the daily #TalkingTech podcast on Stitcher and iTunes.Skip to Main Content Anderson Elementary Dual Language School Arabic Immersion Magnet School (AIMS) Barbara Jordan High School Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan Bellfort Early Childhood Center Billy Reagan K8 Educational Center Black (Frank) Middle School Carnegie Vanguard High School César E. Chavez High School Challenge Early College High School Clemente Martinez Elementary School Daily, Ray K. Elementary David G. Burnet Elementary DeBakey High School for Health Professions East Early College High School

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