Welcome to another installment of Editor’s Review from FREESKIER. Each week our editorial staff provides in-depth, honest reviews about the gear they’re testing on a weekly basis. Our goal? To point you towards the best brands and products on Earth so you can trust your equipment whole-heartedly and have as much fun in the mountains as possible. Read up on GoPro’s Karma Grip, below, then visit us again tomorrow for more awesome gear coverage.
GoPro’s Karma Grip has been a complete game changer for me this season when it comes to capturing footage both on and off the hill. From our 2017 Ski Test at Snowbird, Utah, to our Park Test at Aspen Snowmass to just this past weekend while shooting a friend’s wedding, it’s consistently allowed me to capture beautiful, smooth footage that looks and feels professional. I’ve used other gimbals before, but the Karma Grip is by far my favorite due to its flawless function, its perfect compatibility with a GoPro camera and its versatility. For those looking to step up their filming game, look no further.
The first thing you’ll notice when using the Karma Grip is how insanely smooth and stable it makes your video footage look. Whether you’re skiing, running, biking or participating in any other kind of active movement, when using the Karma Grip your video will look as though it was captured by an top-level pro cinematographer. Just this past weekend, as aforementioned, I used the stabilizer/grip to shoot video at a friend’s wedding and had many guests ask me about it. I happily let them try it themselves, watching as they shook the grip violently—imitating what might happen if you were running downhill or skiing through choppy snow—trying to outsmart (read: outshake) the device. We played back the footage on the GoPro HERO 5’s touchscreen and “oohs” and “aahs” reverberated. I also distinctly recall one, “holy sh*t, that thing is amazing.” As I expected, the Karma Grip perfectly countered their movements resulting in a fluid, professional-looking video. (Check out the video, below, of a side-by-side comparison of shooting footage with and without the Karma Grip, courtesy of Abe Kislevitz.)
The shake-free footage is just one amazing feature of the Karma Grip. What truly sets the product apart from its competitors is how perfectly compatible it is with a GoPro camera. When you have your camera locked into the gimbal, you can turn it on and off, switch between modes, mark clips, start and stop recording and more, all by using the controls on the Karma Grip. It is a true extension of the camera. I’ve found this to be especially useful while skiing. At our recent Park Test, for example, I could follow-cam our testers through the terrain park at Snowmass Mountain, capturing multiple clips by simply pressing a button on the gimbal. Thanks to the intuitive, easy-to-use controls, I never had to stop to change settings.
To top everything off, the Karma Grip can be used in a variety of different ways: Aside from its basic handheld function, the device can be attached to the Karma Drone for beautiful aerial footage. It can be body-mounted or attached to a backpack so you can capture stable footage without needing to use your hands and even attached to a longer pole to capture different angles (like what Matt Cook does while filming Bobby Brown at Mammoth Mountain in the video, below). Once you own the Karma Grip, a whole world of filming possibilities opens for you to explore.
If you’re looking for new ways to capture mind-blowingly-awesome footage of your wildest adventures, experiment with new tech or take your filming to the next level, GoPro’s Karma Grip is the easy answer. Through my experience using other gimbals, I can confidently say it’s one of the best on the market and its ability to be used in a variety of ways only makes it more valuable. Get one, get out there and capture shots that’ll make ’em say “damn.” —Sarah Sherman, Social Media Coordinator.
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