Hello all....
I am a new Karma user, having purchased the drone-with-Hero-5 package about a month ago. Yesterday I took to the air for the first time -- why so long between purchase and first flight, you may ask? The thing didn't work. After much contact with Karma Support (n Sydney Australia) it was diagnosed that the 'cage' on the gimbal was faulty. GoPro were good (as were the Support people I spoke with - no probs there) and finally a new 'cage' arrived (dispatched from Singapore to Adelaide South Australia). The package also included a 'hex' screwdriver to undo the old cage from the gimbal. Installed the new cage - and SUCCESS! Everything 'talked' with each other! While waiting for the new bit, I upgraded to software version 2. Yesterday (after calibrating the thing) I took gingerly to the air for the first time up to about 200 feet, firing off in the 'video and photo' mode. Practiced two take-offs and touch-downs, with shooting in between. As a pro videographer/photographer and journalist, I've got to say I am very impressed with the quality of both the video and the stills. To get the same in the past, I would have had to hire a chopper with pro-Sony Digi-Betacam (or similar), swapping with a Canon 5D to get similar stills shots. All that being so however, I am very wary about letting the thing 'have its head', having read about the troubles experienced by other Karma users more experienced than me. Admittedly I only want to use the thing to capture POV views of properties and/or rural scenes at about 100-200 feet, so I'm hoping it will prove reliable for that. In the meantime, I have had GoPro Support reset my 30 day money-back guarantee commencing today, in the event that I encounter more problems and/or I feel that it is unsafe to fly in any way. One further gripe: To upload new firmware for the Karma Grip, one must have the latest 'ducks guts' Apple operating software or Windows 10 to do the firmware upgrade. I am an Apple user using v10.6.8 and don't want to upgrade to later Apple operating systems as all my (extensive) video-editing/vision manipulation software works just fine on 10.6.8 -- and as an old computer tekkie once said to me: "If it ain't broke, don't stuff around with it!" And of course, ANY Windows system is an absolute PANE (excuse the pun!) As I don't have mates with the latest operating software on either platform, I am unable to update the Grip - which is a pain in the A@!!% !! GoPro Support told me the Grip software upgrade is only minor - but nevertheless, I'd like to do the upgrade anyway. I wonder why it can't be updated using the Controller as everything else is?? Anyway....will report again in a couple of weeks after I've got some more experience up my sleeve......
I am a new Karma user, having purchased the drone-with-Hero-5 package about a month ago. Yesterday I took to the air for the first time -- why so long between purchase and first flight, you may ask? The thing didn't work. After much contact with Karma Support (n Sydney Australia) it was diagnosed that the 'cage' on the gimbal was faulty. GoPro were good (as were the Support people I spoke with - no probs there) and finally a new 'cage' arrived (dispatched from Singapore to Adelaide South Australia). The package also included a 'hex' screwdriver to undo the old cage from the gimbal. Installed the new cage - and SUCCESS! Everything 'talked' with each other! While waiting for the new bit, I upgraded to software version 2. Yesterday (after calibrating the thing) I took gingerly to the air for the first time up to about 200 feet, firing off in the 'video and photo' mode. Practiced two take-offs and touch-downs, with shooting in between. As a pro videographer/photographer and journalist, I've got to say I am very impressed with the quality of both the video and the stills. To get the same in the past, I would have had to hire a chopper with pro-Sony Digi-Betacam (or similar), swapping with a Canon 5D to get similar stills shots. All that being so however, I am very wary about letting the thing 'have its head', having read about the troubles experienced by other Karma users more experienced than me. Admittedly I only want to use the thing to capture POV views of properties and/or rural scenes at about 100-200 feet, so I'm hoping it will prove reliable for that. In the meantime, I have had GoPro Support reset my 30 day money-back guarantee commencing today, in the event that I encounter more problems and/or I feel that it is unsafe to fly in any way. One further gripe: To upload new firmware for the Karma Grip, one must have the latest 'ducks guts' Apple operating software or Windows 10 to do the firmware upgrade. I am an Apple user using v10.6.8 and don't want to upgrade to later Apple operating systems as all my (extensive) video-editing/vision manipulation software works just fine on 10.6.8 -- and as an old computer tekkie once said to me: "If it ain't broke, don't stuff around with it!" And of course, ANY Windows system is an absolute PANE (excuse the pun!) As I don't have mates with the latest operating software on either platform, I am unable to update the Grip - which is a pain in the A@!!% !! GoPro Support told me the Grip software upgrade is only minor - but nevertheless, I'd like to do the upgrade anyway. I wonder why it can't be updated using the Controller as everything else is?? Anyway....will report again in a couple of weeks after I've got some more experience up my sleeve......
