Considering there are now a number of competitors offering action cameras at nominal rates than GoPro and offering more or less the same experience, the company was bound to come up with something innovative, in order to grab people’s attention. If their latest effort is any indicator, the new Fusion GoPro camera could well be the best VR camera out there, if the company can play its cards right.
The new Fusion can record superior sharp images that are spherical and can primarily be used for virtual reality. Unlike its regular offerings, GoPro does not necessarily want its new Fusion cameras to be part of the adventure aesthetic that its action cameras are capable of. Instead, GoPro wants it to be placed in the more serious content creation market for developers and videographers alike to create mainstream content with higher quality and functionality.
The company says that the Fusion is as good as having six generic GoPro cameras into one body. Since until now, only Facebook, with their Surround 360 cameras and now GoPro will be the first to initiate truly high definition 360-degree video formats thanks to their high-quality cameras. This means that videos can be viewed at 5K with no problem. The company has not shed light on the specifics of the unit, but the camera will feature a unique mode called OverCapture which enables users to make a normal video and have it cut out form the spherical video. This means that this camera can record the entire surrounding and let users choose which section of that video they would like to use for the main shot, which is an ingenious way of handling multiple perspectives.
While earlier builds consisted of several GoPros being attached to a frame in order to provide a similar experience and using software to stitch those videos together. However effective it was, it was a very expensive affair and with the Fusion, the cost is considerably lessened. Based on Engadget’s conversations with the company, the Fusion will be first used by partners for making content and is also accepting applications from professional content creators (hopefully, people like Casey Neistat) in order to drive some hype. The camera should be available for retail by the end of 2017, but the pricing has not yet been revealed by the company.
Having said that, buyers might probably want to start saving already, since the camera is touted to be the company’s most expensive offering till date. The possibilities that can emerge from camera like this is seemingly impossible, however, and it will be exciting to see how production companies and content creators will be able to maximise the potential of the Fusion.