GoPro's HERO 7 Black turns any hoodlum with four hundred bucks into a Kai Neville, Joe G, Blake K etc.
Two winters ago, we took to Mexico for a video instructional series with Filipe Toledo and Lakey Peterson.
To record the event, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of RED cameras and their myriad accessories were loaded into large bags and dragged all over Manzanillo and throughout the radiant state of Colima.
And these cameras were wonderful etc, but when the footage was returned for editing, it struck me how we could’ve shot the entire thing on the GoPro’s and Karma drone the Hawaiian filmer/surfer Anthony Walsh had brought.
A stabilisation gadget called a gimbal, which Anthony had affixed to the little POV cameras, meant he could get dramatic panning shots without camera shake or the need to sit a man on a dolly and track and push him around.
It was revolutionary, I thought, and I recorded hours of silky footage of the house’s dancing chihuahua, panning back and forth across the tiled floor and from hind leg to pointed snout.
Two years is a long time in the tech world and GoPro, who’ve been wonderfully kind to us, incidentally, including co-sponsoring our upcoming Toledo feature Part 3, have squeezed that gimbal into the HERO7 Black.
Except it ain’t a gimbal.
It’s electronic stabilisation so it doesn’t go to pieces in high-wind, high-shock scenarios. HyperSmooth is its very prosaic name. You got a jerky hand or you’re bouncing around in the truck en route somewhere exotic? The sorta footage that gives your pals seasickness? Watch those tremulous frames disappear on screen.
Next thing: TimeWarp. Squeeze a long part of the trip, the drive, the hike in, whatever, into a compressed vid.
Live streaming: Be the next Gravy, Rothman, O’Brien. Stick your head in front of the hole, make funnies, caress shorebreaks on your softie. Transmit straight to Facebook Live and see if you can hit WSL numbers.
And when you gotta do a couple of stills for the promo packaging, press SuperPhoto. HDR and so forth.
Four hundred bucks means it’s gonna go to someone you deeply care for or the pal who never quite cut it in the water and, therefore, must be relegated to filming work.
Or shoot yourself, edit out the dregs, and emerge a star.
Here’s the HERO7 Black at work in the hands of Anthony Walsh, primary water shooter, with POV, for the Toledo movie.
And a little big-wave crash with Kai Lenny.