GoPro Hero10 Black Bones Is Ready To Be Your Wingman For Stunning FPV Drone Footage
GoPro just launched what it's billing as its lightest camera ever, the Hero10 Black Bones. It's not for everyone, or even the typical adventurer that might purchase an action camera, whether it's GoPro model or something else. Instead, GoPro stripped its Hero10 Black camera down to just its barebones assembly to make it easier for drone pilots to take stunning aerial photos and videos.
That's to say, the Hero10 Black Bones is purpose-built for drones, and as such it's missing parts and pieces you'd find on a regular handheld camera. For example, it doesn't have a display or a speaker, or even a battery compartment. GoPro is catering to a specific audience and intends for the Hero10 Black Bones to be the best FPV (first person view) drone camera around.
"Bones is an important step in our strategy to leverage GoPro’s core camera-technology to produce derivative products that address the needs of a specific audience of customers," said GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman. "Bones delivers Hero10 Black image quality and performance in a lightweight body that is ideal for aerial cinematography."
By stripping the Hero10 Black down to just the essential components, GoPro was able to reduce the weight to just 54 grams, making it suitable for 3-inch class and bigger drones. The recording modes are the same as GoPro's flagship camera, including up to 5.3K at 60 frames per second and 4K at 120 frames per second. Here's a full rundown of top FPV video modes...
- 5.3K Wide 60/50/24p
- 5.3K SuperView 60/30/24
- 5K (4:3) Wide 30/25
- 4K Wide 120/100
- 4K (4:3) Wide 60/50/30/25
- 2.7K (4:3) Wide 120/100
- 2.7K Wide 240/200
It also boasts HyperSmooth 4.0 image stabilization and comes with a license for ReelSteady stabilization.
GoPro says the Hero10 Black Bones is easy to mount on drones with a single screw boss. It also comes with an optional in-box adapter for the GoPro mounting system. Incidentally, GoPro also told The Verge that this is the first GoPro that requires soldering skills—since it doesn't have its own battery, it draws power from a drone's 2S-6S battery pack rated from 5 to 27 volts.
"Since the dawn of FPV, pilots have been adapting GoPro’s versatile Hero cameras to capture incredibly immersive perspectives in flight—going as far as sawing them apart to engineer a better solution to address their needs,"said Pablo Lema, GoPro VP of Product. "With Hero10 Black Bones, the FPV community now has the lightest GoPro ever—an easy to set up, no-compromise, custom-designed camera designed for the FPV use-case. We’re excited to see how far the community can push the limits of FPV content creation with HERO10 Black Bones."
The GoPro Hero10 Black Bones is available now for $499.99, or $399.99 with a 1-year GoPro subscription. It's a better deal to go the latter route, as an subscription runs $49.99 and includes unlimited cloud backups and auto uploads, unlimited use of the Quik app, up to half off at GoPro's webstore, and a no-questions asked camera replacement policy. Even if you aren't interested in the subscription, it's cheaper to go that route initially and than cancel the subscription before it renews.
